Patrick Currie brought to life three very different roles in his three seasons on Stargate SG-1, from Fifth — the villain we couldn’t help but relate to — to the quirky Eamon and valiant Chaka, a role he took on from Dion Johnstone. Patrick joins us LIVE to discuss the characters, his career and answer your questions!

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Timecodes
0:00 – Splash Screen
00:30 – Opening Credits
00:56 – Welcome and Episode Outline
02:08 – Patrick’s Start in Acting
03:53 – Memorable Roles
04:50 – Fifth – A Role that Moved Patrick as a Person
07:51 – Auditioning for Fifth and Getting Into Character
10:35 – “She Promised” – the Moment Fifth Freezes
12:46 – If not for betrayal, would Fifth had remained loyal?
13:59 – Did Patrick think Fifth would make a return?
15:24 – New Order
18:07 – Working with Amanda Tapping
19:43 – Torture Scenes
24:08 – Replicator Carter and Fifth’s Defeat
25:21 – Did Fifth destroy the other human-form Replicators?
27:26 – Eamon and Space Race
30:32 – Serrakin Make-Up and Prosthetics
34:08 – Getting to Know the Character Through Make-Up
36:15 – Future Stargate
37:30 – Fan Questions: What drew Patrick to the character of Fifth?
42:16 – Difficult Character Preparation
44:35 – Taking over the character “Chaka”
47:28 – Would Patrick have changed any of the roles he has done?
48:43 – Villains or Heroes?
50:32 – Content VS Art and Patrick’s Current Projects
52:53 – Wrapping up with Patrick
55:04 – Post-Interview Housekeeping
59:26 – End Credits

***

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read
Welcome to Episode 198. No 178, I’m getting ahead of myself, of Dial the Gate. My name is David Read. Thank you so much for joining me for this episode. Patrick Currie, who played Fifth, Eamon, Chaka. He’s going to be joining us for this hour. But before we get started, if you enjoy Stargate, and you want to see more content like this on YouTube, means a great deal if you hit that Like button. It makes a difference with YouTube and will help the show continue to grow. Please also consider sharing this video with the 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 the Dial the Gate and GateWorld.net YouTube channels. As this is a live episode, Patrick is joining us here presently. And so if you are in the YouTube chat, my moderating team is standing by, consisting of Tracy and Antony, and they will take your questions for Patrick and we’ll ask them in the last third of the show. Until then, he is all mine. Patrick Currie, guest star Stargate SG-1. Sir, it is a privilege to have you. I’ve really been looking forward to this one. Thank you for being here.

Patrick Currie
Thanks for having me.

David Read
How did you get into this industry? How young were you when you knew that this is what you wanted to do for you know, this period of your life? What was the pivot point for you?

Patrick Currie
I think just being really unpopular in high school and not being able to play sports. So, I ended up in the theater program. And it was, I found a family. I found friends. A great amount of passion and then went off to audition for university and got into a very good program. There were only two in Canada at the time and once finished the program moved into film, television.

David Read
It has been wild watching the film and television industry just absolutely explode as far as Canada goes. I mean, it’s always had some kind of a presence but not like this. I mean, you know, we the industry heavily leans on it. Now this is a this is a great thing.

Patrick Currie
Yeah, it’s completely taken off. I mean, when they were originally I was in Toronto, and they already had a very Canadian based film industry itself. But the TV expansion across the west, when I moved out here, it was just starting. 21 Jump Street was just ending its run, I think, when I got here, and then X Files and then it just became like a sci fi capital in a lot of ways.

David Read
Right. Is that, so you came to Vancouver?

Patrick Currie
Yeah.

David Read
Okay, what were you some of your most memorable gigs earlier on?

Patrick Currie
Most memorable gigs, memorable gigs. early on.

David Read
I loved you in Galactica.

Patrick Currie
Yeah. Battlestar Galactica was great. No, I did. I did an episode about a TV show called Breaker High with this young actor named Ryan Gosling. Yeah, that was back in the day. It still plays on the white TV channel. I love it. Yeah, my nieces and nephews friends have a good laugh of that.

David Read
Yeah, I saw him on Goosebumps back in the mid-90s. You know, the people that you don’t expect it or just don’t, you know, have any idea are going to explode they just take off. So, you know, you’ll have to everyone has to start from somewhere. So, where can you tell me a roll that pushed you in ways that you didn’t anticipate on the page? Or that you really got to sink your teeth into that moved you as a person?

Patrick Currie
Oh gosh, I don’t know. I mean, I would have to say Fifth was probably one of the most emotionally connected characters, which I think is why he resonated so well with the audience and why I’ve been so blessed to go to so many conventions. Because, yeah, I remember, I prepped for it and I’m struggling a lot because I was playing it as an alien. And then a buddy of mine, we were running lines, and he was like, “That’s not how you’re going to do it, is it?” And I was like, “Oh,” and then I realized, this actually has to go to betrayal. So it has to start at love and you go to betrayal. And that story arc is not a fun one to have to go through.

David Read
No, and it’s a lot of meat. In terms of one episode, it really takes up what is like, you know, the second and third, you know, of three pieces of of that story. There’s a lot that happens in there. What material were you given in the audition process? Were you aware, you know, when you were auditioning that there was going to be like he was going to be abandoned? You know, was that presented to you when you are auditioning? Or did you find that out when you got the full script? I’m curious to know when you found that out.

Patrick Currie
Um. I didn’t know at the audition. In the breakdown, it did say that he was going to be abandoned. But I didn’t actually have all the scenes. I think the scenes I had were, I think this scene was when I’m talking to Carter about having carried them back.

David Read
Okay, in the engine room. All right. Yeah, this is…

Patrick Currie
That one I remember specifically.

David Read
It’s one of the defining moments, maybe before we really get into Fifth I should I should say, I was just reading through the comments earlier and someone, General Maximus had put, this was before we started, you know, “I agree what they did was necessary evil. And you can understand why they did it. But it was also the first time I, this viewer, was disappointed in them for their moral conduct.” And it’s like, wow, you know, that really, that really says it because that team is about heroes. And what they did to him was for the greater good, but it was also the wrong thing to do. You know? There’s, there’s there’s a lot going on there in that scene. Tell me about finding that character, you know, going okay, so you were going to play him more alien and you switch to a more, more human charateristic?

Patrick Currie
Well, I had auditioned for Stargate so many times. I got in constantly, and it was like lab technicians, military people all the time. And you know, you’re giving, your young actors so you’re giving everything to every single audition. And I remember the last audition I did before Fifth. I was like, at the helm, spaceships were flying outside, doing the audition. And it ended and Peter DeLuise stopped and looked across and he leaned across and “You know man, that was awesome.” He’s like, “You nailed every audition, you come in for it.” And he’s like, “But it’s not you. None of them. None of them are you.” And so I called my agent after that. And I just said, “I’m taking a break. Taking a break from Stargate can’t do it anymore.” It’s been like 30 auditions. Rejection is just too much from one source. And I guess I was a waiting, maybe. I don’t know how long it was, could have been a year or so. But she called me up and said, “They requested you for this audition.” And I said. “No.” And she said, “No, they are asking you to come in for this. They know your work. They’re asking you this time, please come into this one. And it’s a guest star.” So I was like, “Yeah, okay, I’ll go, I’ll go for it.” Then I got the sides. And I was like, “Okay, this is way more interesting.” But I was still a bit reserved, because you get burned so many times, you’re just like, “Oh, do I really want to give 100%?” And so I think I was holding back. And I said, I was like I said I was running lines with a friend of mine. And he was like, “Are you, that how are you going to do it?” And he was like, “You really have to like, let go of all the acting part of this. This is one of those ones you get you’re not just a word sayer, you’re not just doing lines. This is one of the ones where you really got to invest.” You know, and in theater we do that all the time. You have more time to work with material and rehearse with the people and feed off those relationships and inform your character. So I was really lucky to have a friend who went, went to the mat with me. And we worked the scene out and got to the emotional truth of it. And it was, it was tough. I’ve got to say, you know, once you book a gig in that space, you can perform it over and over again. But getting there, it was a, it was a struggle. There was a he pushed me really hard. There were some harsh words at times. Like, like, just, he was he’s really good. And he was like, “It has to be vulnerability, and he can’t fake it. You just can’t.” You know, and when I watched him back, yeah that, like, can see why people comment on that last moment.

David Read
When he freezes, right.

Patrick Currie
Yeah. And it’s just like, oh, yeah, we have to record those things. So you don’t have to keep going over them again and again.

David Read
Well, you see the look on an expression on, right when he freezes. You know, it’s the moment in my opinion, you may you may agree or disagree with this. It’s the moment when the… I guess it’s, I don’t know if it’s disappointment is the correct characterization turns to anger. And it’s right there. That’s in my opinion, when the time is frozen he’s not really trying to analyze what’s happened anymore. He knows that they’ve betrayed him. And it’s damn! It’s a powerful scene, even they’re arguing on the ship, “We shouldn’t have done this.” And Jack’s like, “What do you suggest?” You know, what was the alternative? So it’s a great, it’s a great episode of television.

Patrick Currie
Yeah, I think that it’s definitely not a planned moment. It’s that transition that you’ve seen towards the end, if that’s your reading into it, it’s that. Like, when I watched, it was just like, is literally disbelief, like he just looks and he sees it, it’s like, it’s a new feeling and it’s just sort of washed right over him. And it’s just like, we all have that in life, when we’re trying to like, someone gives you bad news in public. And also you have to put up the You mean, like your, your emotion is gonna switch. And for one millisecond, there’s the truth of the level of truth in that pain or whatever. And then you put up the public acceptable version of pain because, you know, you have to pretend it doesn’t hurt because everyone knows it’s gonna hurt. But you want at least put on that face and the way they edited it, it’s beautifully, beautifully done that he’s caught right in that raw, first time he’s ever, ever felt that feeling, ever. He doesn’t know how to process it. And it’s just hangs there.

David Read
If there had been, I’m curious as to your opinion on this, if there had been a difference in the circumstances where they could have gotten away with him aboard the ship where like, for instance, the the replicators wouldn’t have like held on to the the landing gear and prevented the ship from escaping. Do you think that he would have continued to remain loyal to them all the way through for, you know, into like potential missions together in the future as an advisor, you know. Or do you think that he would have transformed at some point into something more akin to his family’s true nature? I’m curious as to what you think.

Patrick Currie
If he had left with them? And his family was frozen in time? Yeah, I think so. It’s a nature versus nurture thing. Right? And I think that he is, yeah, his surroundings would have been informed what he had become,

David Read
So he would have continued to stay a positive force?

Patrick Currie
Yeah, I think so.

David Read
Yeah. It makes it even worse. Oh, gosh, yeah, we really, they really cut their losses on this one. Obviously, that no future is guaranteed. Did you have an inkling at some point that, “Oh yeah, this has got to be continued?” Or was it just like, “You know what, maybe that’s it.” And that was a great one off and as far as the character goes, if you have to end it on a scene, that’s a great one to end it on. What were your thoughts?

Patrick Currie
I think I actually didn’t anticipate him coming back. I’m pretty sure yeah, that was I thought it was a great episode, a great guest or to have on my resume, and I enjoyed the performance. It’s amazing opportunity filming. But yeah, I don’t remember thinking there are shows where I definitely always think, “Oh, they gotta bring me back.” And they never do. I thought that was it. It was like okay, yeah, I think that storyline is done, right? For that character anyway, not all Replicators, but for that character. So yeah, I was shocked when they, when I got the call to go back.

David Read
You had the, I um, obviously no fan can know only the people who are creating the show and season over season for a while there they weren’t sure if they were going to do another one. And all of a sudden they did, like okay, well, what what content is fresh to mind? And what can we, what can we pull forward from the past? What did you? Okay? So New Order part one you find you get, I’m assuming you get a phone call, you find out that you’re coming back. What are your first thoughts? And what did you first, you know, see on the page?

Patrick Currie
Oh, I was just excited. Like, I didn’t having played, having had to work so hard to find that vulnerability. No, I mean, as actors, that’s what acting school is about. I spent four years doing, you know, in tights, in a studio voice, movement, all that stuff, getting to emote raw vulnerability, like, that’s just what we do. And then I go into the audition for this one, it gets to that place, and then it comes back. And it was like, whew, don’t have to do that again. Because he’s gone the other way. Yeah. Although, I mean that I’m joking about that. But to maintain the audiences in the end he becomes a sympathetic character. I know that because of the fan reception. But you can play someone evil, and not really from the truth, and you don’t, you won’t, win people over, as much.

David Read
I would never have characterized him as evil. I’ve characterized him as betrayed and angry, you know? We see it even in New Order part one is, is definitely anger. New Order part two is, okay, I’m finding now that I have her I’m finding a place where we can possibly move forward now. Because there is there’s a great scene where she’s on her hands and knees, and she’s begging him not to torture her again. And you can see it in his face and how he, you know, puts his hand through her hair. It’s like, even I can’t do this anymore.

Patrick Currie
Yeah, it’s, I mean, it’s the sad, the humanity of it is so sad because we all know what it’s like to be, or many of us know what it’s like to be dumped. Right? And as much as you’re plotting the revenge of the vengeance, all you’re thinking is, unless you love me again all that’s out the window. And that’s what he’s playing with in that whole New Order part one and part two, right? Just like, but he has a limited skill set of tools available to him to to win her affection. So it was pulling out the ones that he has, and it’s a those are two tough episodes.

David Read
Oh, man. What was it like working with Amanda?

Patrick Currie
Brilliant. I mean, brilliant from the very first first episode. Like I was pretty green. I hadn’t really done a lot of stuff. But I guess she’d done the show when there was season six. Was it?

David Read
You were in season six? Yep.

David Read
You carried on to that one at a time back to the Prometheus.

Patrick Currie
Yeah. She was just such a grounding force. And totally connected, totally there with you. Relationship is instantaneous when you start playing the character opposite Amanda. And we did we filmed I think it was the scene, you have seen the ship, where she tells me that I brought them in. I can’t remember.

Patrick Currie
But at one point Amanda and I shot a scene where they had run out of time because Richard Dean Anderson had to go, okay, somewhere. And they had, I’ve never shot like this before, but like that a two camera setup. So I was doing my lines over here, and she was doing her lines over here, and we’re supposed to relate it to each other. And she could tell that I was I was not getting it. Like it was a whole new technique that I have no idea how to deal with. Because you can hear the person saying the lines to you over there and your body needs to try to respond to that. But you got to stay over there. And she just coached me through that. And then playing the scenes with her in New Order was a lot of fun.

David Read
We, GateWorld was was on set at the time. During those those torture scenes Darren was there and he met with her briefly but she, you know, could only just basically say “Hi,” because she was so involved in getting into that headspace. You know, they had to, not isolate her, but give her room so that she could work the material and really, you know, feel, you know, the moment of those scenes. I can’t imagine, you know even, I mean, you’re putting your hand in something you’re not like, you know, whipping or anything or anything like, like physically torturous, but it’s all in the mind and in the head. And still, you know, it’s, it would be, I can’t imagine doing that to someone.

Patrick Currie
You know, being on set is really performing. Acting is, it’s tough at times, performing on set is incredibly tough, because you don’t know what it’s going to bring to you from the acting partner, to the crew, to the weather, everything, you know, all those elements are in play. And the great thing with Amanda was the professionalism when we were filming those torture scenes, they called, “Cut,” we were both in our own spaces, separate spaces, but totally available to each other. Like you could sense there was, we were available to each other, if we as artists needed anything to get us ready for the next take. But I could tell that she needed her space in between, in every moment and, and she was respectful as well. I’ve been on show once where the person who was working with had done a lot of TV. And they insisted on talking about small talk until they yelled, “Action.” It was impossible to say my lines. Like they just finished talking about their kid, was like “dope.”

David Read
And they pull you right out of it. You know? Yeah, I’ve heard stories like that, where you know, some people just have to get out of their headspace and then they can snap right back into it. But like in terms of the other performers, where do you leave them? They have to kind of figure it out. Willy Garson, the late Willie Garson, he was like that. Rob Cooper had one scene with him and he was just chatting with him during the the 100th episode. And then they call “action!” Rob’s one seen on screen, the Executive Producer, and he just was blown away by how he could just completely flip over like that. But some people you know, they have to find their way back into it.

Patrick Currie
Anyway, it depends on the content of the scene, right? These scenes that we were doing together, were, you just had to have that space.

David Read
When you’re in one space like that, the the holding cell, the Replicator holding cell, what have you. A lot of these scenes are done out of order. But for that at least, were you allowed to go through it pretty sequentially, so that you could organically feel the movement of that.

Patrick Currie
I can’t recall, but I would imagine the way knowing that crew as much as I do. Yeah, we would have shot it. Yeah, sequentially.

David Read
Okay. And then the farm stuff was that shot before the on set had begun. There was a scene on the farm. It was probably like the interior was… okay.

Patrick Currie
No, we shot the farm, interior of the farm and the exterior of the farm were an actual farm in Cloverdale or somewhere? I can’t remember what we shot.

David Read
Amanda had longer hair at that point. So…

Patrick Currie
Yeah, um, let me think for a second. I think we actually shot the farm stuff first, to be honest, because I remember being so shocked seeing her hair and not having any idea like she like have. Yeah.

David Read
She grew it out a little bit. She never can, you know, she was playing at that time you know, it wasn’t it wasn’t standard issue in the military. So that, what, uh, what, okay, I was, the thing that I, you know, really surprised me. There were two things. The first one is that he creates a copy of her, which my understanding is that was very late in the writing process that that was added. That wasn’t always in there from the beginning that he creates a duplicate of her. And then the second thing that surprised me was how quickly, you know, in, like, we we assumed he was going to be the bad guy for the season, how quickly he’s defeated in Gemini and she takes over. That was, that was quite the, quite the twist. And frankly, I suppose you know, if any of us in our in our teenage years could duplicate the love of our life and bring them with us, I suppose we probably would. And he certainly had the power to do that.

Patrick Currie
I think at this old age, I’d say bad idea kid.

David Read
Right? Well, especially when he copies or so perfectly. So of course she’s gonna leave him too. It’s like, that was funny. I’m sorry, but that was really funny. I have a question regarding the speed. Okay, so when I think we talked about this briefly before, but I just wanted to make sure that that we get this covered as well. There was a question as to where the others went between the time that the planet was destroyed, and you appear on the spaceship all by yourself. And you had once told me that you had thought that he had destroyed all of the others in a fit of rage. Do you still hold to that? Is that is that your interpretation of it?

Patrick Currie
Um, in the first episode?

David Read
So when at the end of, next of my episode names here, Unnatural Selection, time freezes, and then we move forward to New Order, and the planet is breaking up, but yet some of the Replicators survived, led by you. Between that those two times, something had happened to the other Replicators to prevent them from all getting away, the other humanoid forms, is that you’re still your interpretation that he had destroyed them so that he could get away from them and break out of the time field.

Patrick Currie
Hmm.

David Read
Because something happened to him.

Patrick Currie
Yeah, I think. Yeah, I think I’ll stick with my original belief. Yeah.

David Read
It’s more juice anyway.

Patrick Currie
Yeah. I think he would have, yeah, cuz they were all human form Replicators as well. So they had flaws that were far beyond their nanites, state or whatever it is. So I think, I think so. And you know, I mean, they were kind of not the best family.

David Read
No, not really. No. Yeah, you could, I think you could successfully make that argument. The other two characters that you were involved with were particularly cool. One you had picked up from Dion Johnstone as Chaka, so you had to like bring in your own interpretation of it while also servicing a history with the character. And then Eamon, who was just a delight. Which one do you want to talk about first?

Patrick Currie
I snorted. Eamon I think is probably my all time favorite character that I played. Well, he’s just, I was at a convention in London and someone got up and said, “My mom thought it was Niles Crane from Frasier playing that character.

David Read
I can see that.

Patrick Currie
Okay. And Andy Makita came up to me on set. We were in the ship. And he’s like, “I just wanted to have a little word.” And Andy and I got along great. We both have East Coast roots. A he said, “I just want to put this out so you’re aware how it’s coming on camera. But you’re kind of like a lizard person. But he’s coming across a little gay.” Back then especially, that’s not what you want to hear. You know, if that’s not your intention, like, it didn’t freak me out. First of all, because I looked like a lizard. And I thought if that’s what’s coming through, then that’s what’s coming through. I mean, it’s all basically I mean, I guess the word is, like, just, yeah, it was the very Niles Crane prissiness.

David Read
Yeah, just a little bit flamboyant. Not a lot. I think it works with the character I think it makes, it’s the same respect that Niles I think works is that there’s there is a humanity and endearing factor that’s thrown into that. And you know, you he’s a nice guy, you know, I mean, even though he designs, garbage disposal units for food storage for the Food Service Division.

Patrick Currie
Yeah. He was a lot of fun. Andy thinks that the editing was superb, especially there was I remember there’s a moment when he goes, I haven’t seen it in a long time. I didn’t get through all the episodes you sent me. But my favorite moment was I asked the guy question and then I go, “I guess not” cuz it was like a, it’s a little way they edited which is perfectly was what I want him to speak he’s just slightly catty.

David Read
Of course he had some of the best lines in that episode you know that I can’t remember the exact sequence but like the that his boss, he just calls his boss out for being a moron, “Has it occurred to you that you’re just a moron?”

Patrick Currie
The boss doesn’t say anything and then I go, “I guess not.”

David Read
It’s great stuff. How was it dealing with the makeup? Because you did this pretty back to back with Chaka and with Eamon.

Patrick Currie
Yeah, and I think it was pretty soon after Unnatural Selection.

David Read
So Unnatural Selection was in season six, and then we had Space Race and Enemy Mine early in season seven. It wasn’t extremely if, it looks like a matter of months for sure.

Patrick Currie
Yeah, no. Um, so. Yeah, I can’t remember. I kind of can’t remember if I auditioned for them. I don’t think I did. I might be wrong, but I don’t think I… I know I didn’t audition for Chaka. They asked me after I did Eamon, if I wanted to do Chaka. But the makeup would be a nightmare if it weren’t for Todd Masters and his team. Like I am slightly claustrophobic. I don’t like having my hands bound or like I don’t like having like being restrained. And when they did the head cast. That could have been the enemy. Like that was just like I was, I was terrified.

David Read
I know actors who can’t do it. Find another way. You can’t suspend my whole face in that goop for however long.

Patrick Currie
But Todd is just so personable, and so makes you so comfortable. And they poured the goo on and they could tell that my body was trying to tense up and his assistant like, she just was like, “I’m just gonna grab your hand now.” That’s cool. So she just grabbed my hand, and it actually grounded me because you were in there and you’re just thinking, “What if the fire alarm goes off?”

David Read
Any number of things, you know.

Patrick Currie
They’re saying they’re gonna take care of me, but they’re gonna run. I don’t know. But that was tough. And then do me either morning, we were in like 4 am in the makeup trailer. And it’s just for three hours of application every single morning. And then once you’re in there, and you’re kind of getting settled, you’re like, “Okay, I’m cased in my new reality, I can deal with this and more comfortable.” And then they pull up the contacts and they’re like, you know, this big, and they put those in and all of a sudden you’re like, “Okay, now I’m kind of losing one more my senses.” And yeah, that um, Eamon I got used to pretty quick because at least you could still feel your face like your muscles are tired afterwards, because you have Eamon made a lot of faces so my face was quite tired. With Chaka, it was more like being encased in cement because it’s such a deep prosthetic, you’re so far in, removed from everybody. And then when they put on the hands and the feet, and you like, you have to be taken care. Someone has to take care of you between takes.

David Read
Yeah, the chief, I would think

Patrick Currie
Yeah, they come up, you get really friendly with your, the person who’s your assistant. Between takes they come up and take your teeth out and deal with the slobber and get them cleaned up for the next take when they come back in. So but amazing, amazing, amazing crew on that, on that show.

David Read
How much of your performance, I’ve heard this answer a few different times. But I’m curious for you because you’re such a physical performer as exemplified in these. That letting you go to town with this character in in Enemy Mine how much of your performance emerges through the makeup process? You’re sitting there, you’re watching him come to life or your eyes are closed and you’re just feeling the application, one way or the other. But I imagine like your understanding of who this individual is, is coming about and informing what you’ve already learned on the page as the makeup is being applied to you or am I just reading too much into that?

Patrick Currie
That would be the case with Eamon, not so much with Chaka. With Chaka Dion had also established the character. So I was doing a lot to follow in his footsteps and had to meet the character. I mean, the makeup does almost all of it for Chaka, and then you bring performance to it. But with Eamon and, yeah, it was definitely as I was getting used to the feeling of the prosthetics on my face and how I would be able to move with the prosthetics that was sort of informing, like, his whole, like sort of movement stuff was partly coming, was partly growing as I was realizing the limitations of my normal movements.

David Read
He’s such a great character, you know, you’d be you never are going to anticipate who the audience resonates with and who you resonate with yourself as a performer until you know, all these things come together. And yeah, he’s one of those where I just wish there was some excuse for them to bring him back because he was just, he’s just delightful to watch and I’m sure you know, perform as well. So it’s good stuff. I have, with Stargate being kind of on like hiatus right now, I’ve been asking, you know, a number of different people, as there may be a a fourth series on the horizon, would you be interested in either reprising one of these parts, the ones that have not died? Or perhaps being something new in the fourth Stargate series, were MGM going to greenlight something?

Patrick Currie
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.

David Read
I am looking forward to what they come up with and hopefully we’ll be finding out something, you know, in the next few few months here, but the…

Patrick Currie
I mean, I would love to play Eamon again, but as a series regular, I don’t know if I’m able to do makeup that…

David Read
Oh gosh! Absolutely. I have to imagine it completely takes its toll on some people. Andee Frizzell who did the the Wraith Queens she would say that when she wore her contact lenses all day after she took them out she would have tunnel vision. She would have to be driven home she couldn’t see. This is crazy. I’ve got some fan questions here for you. Yvie Cahill says, “Thank you so much for your thoughtful portrayal of Fifth. You inserted so much humanity into that role I genuinely felt for him. What personally drew you to the character other than the work itself? Was there anything that you personally resonated with him?”

Patrick Currie
I don’t think I knew it at the time. But as time has passed on. And as I’ve engaged more and more with the queer community through the convention process, the story was very much about waking up one day, a fully realized adult and realizing that your feelings are brand new, and that you’re in a hostile environment, both externally and internally within your family. And now you have to figure out how to survive and exist within that when you are just discovering what, who you truly are. And so that’s sort of the story of queer coming out. And everybody relates to that. And adolescence, all adolescents go through that in their own way. But I think that’s why the show had such a profound, I was at a convention, and this guy walks up wearing US military gear, and I’m like, “Okay, I’m gonna talk to this person, speak to everybody, you meet everybody where they are.” And I’m starting to talk to him. And then I realized that he’s brought his child who’s an adolescent, and they have the Stargate pin in the rainbow flag. And I’m like, how cool is it that I get to be the, the meeting place for this father, figuring out their relationship with their queer child who is also figuring out who they are at the same time. And that, you know, they go into this come to this event. And that kid feels that he has a space, a tiny space, that space is there, and I’m holding it for him because I played a character who showed what that journey is like.

David Read
I think it’s so important that Brad and Jonathan Glasner, Rob Cooper created a show that could be enjoyed by the whole family and not just the grown ups when the kids had gone to bed. That they created a place, a space, where these conversations could be had about all kinds of different things. If you wanted to enjoy the show for entertainment, you could. But you know, you can open up the hood of the thing, and really have conversations, meaningful conversations, with your family about the things that were talked about on the screen. And I think that’s one of the reasons you and I are still sitting here talking about this and why we’ve got, you know, an audience of 50 current live viewers wanting to learn more, because the content is meaningful. And you can have those connections with people at the conventions, where you make, you know, you get a glimpse into their lives. It’s like, oh yeah, this is what I took part in was cool, you know? Absolutely.

Patrick Currie
As you mentioned, that last scene in Unnatural Selection, when they say to him, “We used his humanity against him.” Right? That’s a great conversation starter for families. And…

David Read
Yeah, I can’t, I mean, all of us at one time or another have, even it’s for if it’s for something trivial, like you know, like getting extra condiments at a restaurant or something. We’ve all used people to our immediate advantage one way or the other or have been used, you know. Based on where another person is, if they’re employed somewhere and we’re needing them to do something, or if it’s a friend and we need them to do something for us, either subtly or not so subtly, and it’s easy to put ourselves in that position afterwards where it was like, “Oh, I just see what happened to me there.” And I’ve been guilty of it, you know, and I feel bad afterwards and I can I try to find the person and say, “Look that wasn’t, that was not cool of me.” Even if it was intentional or not. These things can happen. Lockwatcher wanted to know what was the most difficult preparation you’ve had to endure for a role, costume, makeup, or even your character development?

Patrick Currie
Difficult preparation.

David Read
Was there a character that required a lot of research?

Patrick Currie
No, I don’t think so. But I did have a really, I spent a lot of time and went really deep in Battlestar Galactica with Enzo. I was really happy with that character. I really loved it and I was glad they brought me back for the final season just for that little cameo. But I remember finding him was tough because he’s a nasty piece of work. And although when people say it is fun to play the bad guys are pretty villains. It is. But for me just getting there. Finding that character was a lot of work. And then once I had him I was I loved playing him. It was it was a lot of fun.

David Read
In what way was he work, just accessing the the emotional boundaries of that performance or trying to justify his behavoir? Battlestars one of my favorite shows, I’ll just put that out there. So I’m totally in with you on this.

Patrick Currie
Just I mean, like I’ve known people who treat other human beings like, like he treats other human beings and I don’t want to be that person. And I don’t want to ever know how those people feel. But if I did, like I don’t, I don’t that’s not a part of humanity, I know those aren’t shoes I wanted to step into. Right? But to play the character, when you play a character for a larger story, where that truth has to be very true, so we can actually see the outcome which is a positive thing. In stories at large, not just this one. Yeah, I had to really like go to that find that ugly nasty I don’t care about anybody place. So yeah, it wasn’t a lot of fun.

David Read
Absolutely. Yvie also wanted to know when you took over for Chaka from Dion. How carefully did you study his portrayal and how did you make that role your own? I think we skipped over that a little bit. I’d like to explore that a little bit more.

Patrick Currie
Um, well the evenings they gave me his footage. His shows, his episodes and I watched those and just tried to get from a movement perspective just went with it. Rrhythm and that sort of thing. And then I think, I don’t know can people tell that it’s not him playing the part?

David Read
I remember his makeup was a little darker. I remember they changed his makeup in some respects which kind of surprised me he. You’re only going to have the facial structure that you have. And so the mask on top of that is going to reflect that. The movements were, were very similar. And but also I could see a different physicality to it as well. And obviously, it doesn’t say “Dion Johnstone” and says, “Patrick Currie.” I was in the know going in that you were playing this role. And I think that the excuse, partly for me for that is that he’s not the same character that he was two seasons before running around in the woods.

Patrick Currie
Environment changes everything, right? So there’s a lot of things that have changed. And again, I think this I don’t recall these episodes this far in the future, but the episode, the Chaka of that I played, I thought there was some humor, like, yeah, like a good degree of lightness. And that’s probably because you right, he has changed as a character and evolved and is in this new situation. And he’s more evolved.

David Read
Yeah, he’s not wearing you know, animal skins anymore. He’s wearing constructed clothes and has taken on a role in his society. So he’s almost like a dignitary or a diplomat in his own right. So his stature is taller. And you know, I’m sure that that was deliberate on your part, you know, where you’re bringing a more evolved characterization of the character out based on who this person is now in this text versus you know, he’s got a teenager driving around with his girlfriend in the backseat of his car. You know, he’s evolved in his life.

Patrick Currie
I mean, to be honest, the coat did a lot of the work.

David Read
Okay. Absolutely.

Patrick Currie
That’s a great coat, right?

David Read
It was. Let’s see here. Raj Luthra, in each of the roles that you did, looking back this past life that you have had. Would you have, were there any changes that you observed that you would have made in looking back at some of this content? As an actor, when you review content do you review it with a critical eye of like, you know, knowing who as who I am now, I would have made a different choice there. Or do you just look at the work as if it’s encased in amber and it’s just a part of history?

Patrick Currie
I think that is more more the point. I don’t really watch stuff. I mean, I did watch a Unnatural Selection and I’m glad I did because I forgotten a lot of it. But I wouldn’t have changed anything in that performance, for sure. But no, I think you just got to walk away once you’re done. You know, and then it goes I mean, don’t forget the performances are perfected in editing and all of that.

David Read
Of course. Yeah, you’re not creating in a vacuum. Do you prefer playing more villainous personas or more heroic ones? If you have to pick or do you not look at them like that? Do you look at them just as a blank sheet? What do you sink your teeth into more vigorously, more ernestly.

Patrick Currie
The villainous ones are more fulfilling and they’re more challenging because, you know, the good characters — the villainous ones — as hard as they are to perform it’s fulfilling to actually get the final result that you want grounded in truth. There’s like, going into an audition where you’re playing a guy whose family has been murdered and he’s like, got to do all this kind of stuff. You know, sometimes that’s really meaty drama that you get to go in and like, really tap into that stuff. I find that easier to do because we’re so familiar with that. But finding the same humanity in somebody who’s killed the family right? And to find the truth in that.

David Read
Yeah. Where is this coming from? Why? Why is this behavior occurring? You know? Yeah.

Patrick Currie
Because when you play the exterior and you just play the shell, we don’t know when you see, some people are very good at playing the shell. And there are lots of great performances like that. But when people really, really find the truth and those kinds of characters, that’s when, you know, award ceremonies happen and things like that.

David Read
Right. How often do you come across content, when it’s still on the page, where it’s just, “This is no good.” Like either I’m not connecting with this character at all and I can’t see how anyone would.

Patrick Currie
Well, with all the streaming services, it’s happening a lot more often.

David Read
It seems more like content than art. So much of it, it’s like, okay, we’ve done this, because this will make money not because we have anything to say,

Patrick Currie
Yeah, and that’s why I’ve sort of moved into, I pull back from acting. Mostly at this point in time, if my agent finds something that she thinks will actually want me, that interests me or her, then we look at it. But I have three projects on the go right now. We met with a production company, I don’t want to jinx myself, but very reasonable and had a very long meeting about a project that I’ve had, I’ve been working on for quite some time. And this is the closest I’ve been to a company picking it up. And that’s all I’m gonna say about it for now.

David Read
Yeah, well, best of luck to that, you know, if it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen. So Tracy actually wanted me to ask that question. “What are you working on right now that you can chat about?” So thank you for that, you know. Yeah, I’ve had the privilege through this show of talking with a number of the former Stargate cast, like core and satellite, who, you know, as they’ve gotten older, and options have opened up or changed, like, okay, I’m not going to waste my time on something that’s not worthwhile, you know, even if it means a paycheck, if it’s not worth doing I’m not going to do it. You know, and it’s cool to watch, you know, the process evolve for people in terms of what they want to take on, and what they’re willing to take on and what you know suits them at that point in their life too. Because you can’t play the same character, you know, that you played 20 years ago because you’re not that person anymore. So it’s cool stuff. I appreciate you taking the time to sit down and talk with with me on the show. It’s been a hope of mine for a while that we could get you and I’m privileged to have you, Patrick, this means a lot to me to have you on.

Patrick Currie
Thank you very much. And we can do it again, if you end up coming up with a whole bunch of new questions or if they come up with a new Stargate show.

David Read
Absolutely. Well, you know what, I also am doing a commentary series where we’re actually going back with select members of the cast and crew offline. And we’re doing commentaries of some of the old work. I’ve sat down with Jacqueline Samuda, with Jay Brazeau, and a few others, and I would love to sit down with you and analyze Fifth scene by scene.

Patrick Currie
Oh, so that sounds interesting.

David Read
I would appreciate it. I’ll reach out to you.

Patrick Currie
Yeah, and I wanted to mention to everyone that convention FedCon I’ll be there in Germany.

David Read
Yes. What is the date for that, FedCon Germany?

Patrick Currie
Oh, you had to ask. I think it’s May 25,26,27 around there?

David Read
May 26th to May the 28th, “Meet your science fiction stars.” Let me pull this up on the screen here. Alright. And I don’t know what it’s asking me about data protection. But yes, it’s quite the list here and you you are among them. So yes, this is terrific. Is it in? Is it in Berlin? Where is it going to be?

Patrick Currie
It’s in Bonn.

David Read
Okay. Bonn, B O N N, got it. Yes. FedCon 31. Everyone. All right.

Patrick Currie
So it’ll be my third Con in Germany. So I’m very flattered to be, have been asked again.

David Read
That’s the thing that I love about these conventions is not only is it an opportunity for you to meet the fan community, but it’s also a chance to to get out and explore a little bit more and see different parts of the world too.

Patrick Currie
Yeah, exactly.

David Read
That’s truely great. Patrick, thank you much. Thank you so much for stopping by sir. I’m gonna go ahead and wrap up the show on this end and I will be in touch with you.

David Read
Take care of yourself, man. Bye bye. Patrick Currie everyone, Stargate, SG-1’s Fifth and Eamon and Chaka. Thanks so much for tuning in to Dial the Gate. My name is David Read. We are getting ready next week for a really interesting pair of discussions. Stargate and Artificial Intelligence, I have joining us Google’s head of AI, Laurence Moroney, and Stargate: SG-1. Atlantis and Universe, Executive Producer, Robert C. Cooper. And they’re going to discuss emerging artificial intelligence as it relates to Stargate, as it relates to what we’ve been seeing with chat GPT, and open AI with Bing. And we’ve been seeing this a lot in the news lately, maybe I certainly have. Maybe the algorithms are just throwing this a lot at me because it knows that I like it. But it’s, the technology appears to be evolving faster than a lot of us anticipated. And in some cases, it’s kind of scary. So we’re gonna have Laurence Moroney from Google on with Robert C. Cooper to discuss those specific situations that are emerging now in the real world and how science fiction is becoming science fact so quickly. So, Lawrence and Robert will be joining us at 1 pm Pacific Time, this coming Saturday, March the 11th. Followed by Jack O’Neill, AI Chatbot. Q&A at 3 pm Pacific Time, Saturday, March the 11th. We have been training an AI chatbot to talk like Jack, and it’s pretty close. So if you want to tune in and ask Jack O’Neill, an AI chat bot, a question be sure to join us next week at 3 pm Pacific Time for that. So that’s going to be happening it’s gonna be pretty cool. Kate Hewlett, Jeannie Miller, on Stargate Atlantis is joining us March the 18th, Saturday at 12 noon Pacific Time. And I’ve just confirmed I don’t even have it on the calendar yet but it is we have confirmed Robin Mossley who played — I’m turning 40 this year and I can definitely feel it — he was in Window of Opportunity. And let me see, the name is blanking on me, shame on me. He played, for Pete’s sake, Malakai in Window of Opportunity and he also played Dr. Reimer in Morpheus. I’ve been wanting to have Robin on for a while because he’s the guest star in one of the biggest episodes of Stargate SG-1, or Stargate, really of all times regularly on the top. So we’re going to have Robin on to discuss those performances, after Kate Hewlett, on the 18th of March at two o’clock in the afternoon. So really looking forward to those appearances.

Patrick Currie
All right. Take care.

David Read
Before we let you go, if you like what you’ve seen with this episode, please click that Like button it makes a difference with YouTube’s algorithm. I appreciate my moderating team, Tracy and Antony, Jeremy, Rhys and Sommer. You guys make the show possible and allow me to do my job well, while you guys handle the intake questions from the fans, I really appreciate you guys. Thanks to my Producer Linda “GateGabber” Furey. And big thanks to Frederick Marcoux at ConceptsWeb, who keeps dialthegate.com up and running. We are going to also be having the voting system in place for the AI competition, the AI artwork competition, that should be ready to go in the next few days here I’m hopeful for so we’re gonna get more information soon. So for those of you, the 15 of you who submitted content, I really appreciate that. We’re going to be getting those votes tallied pretty soon and giving the fans a chance to vote on them as well. I think that’s all that we’ve got here for you. My name is David Read for Dial the Gate. Thanks again to Patrick Currie for taking his time with us. I’ll see you on the other side.