They’re the future of the program… The Air Force… God help us!

Dial the Gate checks in with actor Courtenay J Stevens who brought the memorable, self-sacrificing Elliot to life. He was one of David Read’s first interviews on GateWorld and we are privileged to have him return here to discuss his life, career, and memories of SG-1 and Atlantis!

Share This Video ► https://youtube.com/live/QW5UIvYgmNU

Visit DialtheGate ► http://www.dialthegate.com
on Facebook ► https://www.facebook.com/dialthegate
on Instagram ► https://instagram.com/dialthegateshow
on Twitter ► https://twitter.com/dial_the_gate
Visit Wormhole X-Tremists ► https://www.youtube.com/WormholeXTremists

SUBSCRIBE!
https://youtube.com/dialthegate/

Timecodes
0:00 – Splash Screen
00:21 – Opening Credits
00:54 – Welcome and Episode Outline
01:58 – Cirque du Soleil
06:02 – Travling the World
08:25 – Getting Cast as Elliot
10:22 – “Proving Ground”, “Summit”, and “Last Stand”
14:40 – Elliot the Person and that Gut-Wrenching Final Scene
18:13 – Cast Memories and Filming “Proving Ground”
23:39 – Military Aspect and Show Longevity
27:47 – Theatre Work
35:28 – Prepping for an Emotional Performance
38:26 – Current Projects
42:32 – Fan Questions and Additional Stargate Appearance
44:50 – Keras from “Childhood’s End”
48:32 – Richard Dean Anderson memory
50:38 – Did Elliot and Lantash Survive? And Working with Grace Park
52:08 – How Courtenay prepared for Last Stand’s end scene
55:07 – Wrapping up with Courtenay
57:40 – Post-Interview Housekeeping
1:00:09 – End Credits

***

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

#Stargate
#DialtheGate
#TurtleTimeline

 

TRANSCRIPT
Find an error? Submit it here.

David Read
Hello everyone, and welcome to episode 185 of Dial the Gate, the Stargate Oral History Project. I am your host David Read and we have Courtenay J. Stevens, Lieutenant Elliot, joining us for this episode. Before we get into the thick of it, if you enjoy Stargate and you want to see more content like this on YouTube, please 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 a Stargate friend and if you want to get notified about future episodes, click the Subscribe icon. Giving the bell icon a click will notify you the moment a new video drops and you’ll get my notifications of any last minute guest changes. Clips from this live stream will be released over the course of the next few weeks on the DialtheGate and GateWorld.net YouTube channels. As this is a live show, as most of our shows are, I have a moderating team in the YouTube chat standing by. Go ahead and submit your questions for Courtenay. They’ll get them over to me and we will ask those questions in the second half of the show. In the meantime, he is all mine. How you doing brother? Courtenay J Stevens.

Courtenay J Stevens
I am doing well, David. Good to see you.

David Read
It’s good to see you man. We were just catching up here. You were one of my first interviews on GateWorld. I don’t know if you recall that horrible lighting situation that we had. Oh my god, I could not light a camera to save my life and it was a crappy camera. Oh man, that was one of the most awful experiences of my life to get home to look at that footage and be like, “this guy looks like he’s sitting on the sun’s talking to me.” I felt so bad. So I want to apologize for that.

Courtenay J Stevens
I’ve been waiting 19 years for that apology.

David Read
How has life been treating you? How’s the the acting world has been treating you? How have you been personally? Talk to me here. Tell me what’s been going on in your world? You know, the second half of your life.

Courtenay J Stevens
Since we last saw each other. It’s funny because I remember it was in Vancouver and it was Granville Island, we were doing a play and I think it was in between shows, I think we hung out on a picnic bench and chatted.

David Read
Something to do with a bus if I remember correctly.

Courtenay J Stevens
That’s right yeah, great. I remember you going “what is this? What are you doing?” The idea of the show was it’s called the Number 14 and it went on for 25 years. It was multiple characters that start in one area of a city, in Vancouver in this case, and then they went through all the different neighborhoods. I think it was six actors playing several hundred characters in different masks.

David Read
Oh my god. Oh wow.

Courtenay J Stevens
Physical nonsense. A lot of my life is in theater and in in physical theater which is this kind of catch all term but a lot of it is making funny with my body, making story with my body. A lot of it like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, that kind of clown goofy good things, but not scary clowns. That’s sort of what a lot of my career has been.

David Read
Wow. Okay. Can you talk about Cirque du Soleil a little bit. What a wild ride that must have been. Tell me about that.

Courtenay J Stevens
That was amazing. I was about four years doing that. I think probably 300 cities and we went to thirty or forty different countries and we were on the road. Every week or two we are changing cities and it was great. We were like rock stars, hopping on our plane on the tarmac, just finishing the show, getting on and flying and opening up another wing in an airport and pouring out and running. There’s about 125, 130 of us traveling as a group and with our own catering and our own support staff. So sometimes security to, we were in Russia and South Africa, we had to have guys who were packing heat.

David Read
Not every place has the same kind of standards of expectation…in terms of like…especially when you’re going to big cities. Anything can happen. That’s crazy.

Courtenay J Stevens
Yeah, that was always well, like you’re hanging out late at the bar, and you’re still hanging out and Igor is in the corner, kind of just making sure everyone gets home safely.

David Read
Did you get a chance when you’re in the cities and in these different parts of the world to really enjoy the place that you’re in? Or was your career so busy that you only had a chance to run into a bar after a show and decompress? Did you ever really get to experience the cities that you were visiting?

Courtenay J Stevens
Well, yeah. The joke is my wife always laughs because it’s like we’re the clowns and the clowns have our funny, have our silly. You would show up and the acrobats are always training and doing stuff and making sure they’re physically fit and flying and really focusing on what they’re doing. The clowns are just kind of like putting out and just going doing a mic check and like, “okay, great.” We just show up for the show so we had a lot of time. Sometimes the set would take time to travel between different cities so we had a lot of time. It was a fantastic, fantastic journey.

David Read
That’s legit. I have been to 30 countries now and I am working on your number. I’m so pleased that I have been able to do that in my life; to be able to see so many different parts of the world and there are so many parts of the world that I’ve still got to get to. I think that there is just something…I think it’s important to recognize that those of us who are blessed enough to be able to travel and be able to see these different parts of the world and how different people live their lives and how different and amazing all these different cultures are. I think it’s important to remember that, take the moment every time we’re in a place to really appreciate that we’re here and not everyone gets to see where this other place is and gets to experience this different part of the world. I always have to pinch myself when I travel abroad because it’s a blessing that most people don’t get to do.

Courtenay J Stevens
Yeah. No you’re right. It gives you perspective to and understanding. Especially to for people who have who have moved to, in my case Canada to the States, from somewhere else, for whatever reason. That sort of change too, whatever the circumstances are coming to a new country. Very different for everyone but yeah, I feel the same way. I love traveling.

David Read
How did you get Elliot? Can you take us back? Did you take a look at the episodes that I sent? Or are you like, “No, I’m sorry. I can’t get into that.”

Courtenay J Stevens
Well, I am familiar enough with them, I think. It’s wild too that I’m even here because I think I was only on four episodes. The Stargate fans are phenomenal. I really appreciate it because it’s kind of a blip in the sense in my life. It’s the highlight of my career but some people did the show for many, many years where I had a pretty short, short and intense, hop on because the first episode was very full on. Even during the pandemic too, I had several people reach out to me and I had some some fans saying that they’ve been rewatching and sending me things. I thought, “oh my god, like this is amazing.” It was just perfect, just kind of what I needed. You know, you’re in a pandemic and people saying, “Hey, this is really great. Thanks for that.” That kind of lifted lifted my spirits. Originally getting cast in it, I think I auditioned several times for other episodes. So they’re interested is what it felt like. Then Proving Ground came along and I thought “Oh, this is a really good part, you are gonna want to dive into this good opportunity” and knowing that they were already interested in me. I auditioned and I got it. It was kind of as simple as that.

David Read
You had a great lineup of people with you. You had Grace Park, you had David Kopp. One of my favorite lines for the entire franchise is O’Neill saying “they’re the future of the Air Force, the program. God help us.” Oh, man. You did something with this role in just a handful of episodes that have continued to stick with people. I always think back on season five fondly in part because of you. In those few episodes, it is a distinct arc. As a guest star, how often do you get to do that? That’s more rhetorical, but I mean, it’s a wild ride.

Courtenay J Stevens
As I understood it, at the time, it was like a pilot within the series, so this was pre-Atlantis. The idea was, “Okay, we’re gonna see if these four characters can become the new squad and it’ll be a spin off.” I think that’s what they were exploring with in Proving Ground. I don’t know if that’s fact or not, but that’s what I remember at the time. Then it was a one-off and then I think the other two episodes when Elliot came back wasn’t originally supposed to happen. Then I think they changed their mind on where the pilot was gonna go, what Atlantis was going to be, and they plugged us into some other storylines.

David Read
It’s entirely possible, I’ve not explored that thread with the folks who created Proving Ground. Are you familiar with JR Bourne? Martouf had died in season four but Lantash had lived obviously, he found his way to you. But Martouf, JR, was supposed to come back for that two parter and there was a scheduling conflict. Itt made a lot of sense to adapt one of the roles from the recent episodes and give you a chance to spread your wings a little bit more and do something in Summit and Last Stand. For that part of it, that’s where that story arc came from. They couldn’t get JR so they gave it to you guys, or they gave it to you to carry on. David Kopp came back as Grogan later in the season. Unfortunately we didn’t see Hailey or Satterfield again. It’s great to see a team of writers who are looking back and say, “Okay, what do we have here? What do we have in the inventory? How can we adjust this forward and expand on on the stories that we already have?”

Courtenay J Stevens
No, it’s true. I remember that. I remember that kind of coming out of the blue that summer, the other episodes, because I was doing a movie, I think. I think it just kind of fit as well as book ended what I was shooting. It all kind of came together. It was very last minute and like you say I think it was a scheduling thing. They had me kind of on hold, this may or may not happen based on [inaudible]. Like you said, it’s scheduling, it’s figuring it out, who you have and what storylines can be used in different directions.

David Read
Are you saying you were on contract for additional episodes?

Courtenay J Stevens
No, no, I was doing something else and that’s when they said those two episodes were probably going to land because of JR’s scheduling.

David Read
Got it? Okay. Hey, that’s awesome for you.

Courtenay J Stevens
Absolutely.

David Read
Who was this guy to you? What kind of a upbringing did he have? Who was this young man that he found his way into the Air Force in your mind? Who was Elliot?

Courtenay J Stevens
Oh, that’s good question. I think he was very much ambitious in the sense of having a strong sense of the right thing and fighting for right and wrong. I think there’s an innocence, like the feeling of probably grew up on superheroes and that sort of thing. So there’s a chance to be that person and have these tough choices, make the right choices as someone who will sacrifice. Even in Proving Ground, like sacrificing and then “oh, that we’re really just kidding.” and then later on to actually make the same sacrifice.

David Read
Right. He was ready to go and you know that first one “you can put me down now hero.” But then that scene at the end of Last Stand, you hear the horns, you hear the footsteps of the Jaffa. At the same time, he’s not alone, he’s with Lantash. I’m sure I told you this at the time. Summit and Last Stand were my favorite episodes at the time that they had aired. For a couple of years they were my favorites partly because of that ending. The show was so good at just, “this is it, you’re leaving us here?”, but you step back and look at it and you have enough information. You know what comes next and it’s not pretty. What did you think of that script when you got that? It’s like, well, “if we’re gonna go out, you know, this is a good one to go on.”

Courtenay J Stevens
Yeah, Obviously I wanted more right? Like you said, it was such an intense start. There was an investment in this character to begin with and then to snuff him out so quickly after establishing him. “Oh man, that’s too bad.” It seems like there’s more, there’s farther to go. But as you say, if you’re gonna go out, go out with a bang, like literally? It’s funny too. You mentioned Hailey’s “you can put me down now hero”. I remember that trying to figure out…I used to run a lot, I was training for a marathon I think. I’m a thin guy to begin with. Particularly then I think I was pretty thin. I wasn’t super hefty and strong and I had to pick her up. I remember picking her up and I think you can just see, you can just see it in the shot, she has her foot on the ground. I pick her up and she helps me out with a bit of a boost because I couldn’t pick her up. She felt insulted and I was like “oh know this is going to end badly.”

David Read
Who have of the cast did you really enjoy the most. Who’s stuck out with you over the years?

Courtenay J Stevens
Well, David and I became good buddies on that. We haven’t talked to each other for years but during that time we became good friends. Amanda was really great. She was really cool. That first episode, it was a lot. I was carrying the episode, it was quite a lot. She was very, very open and invited me back to her trailer to have lunch and sort of chat and invite me in. Sometimes it’s hard when you show up on a show that’s been running for a while, you’re the new person, right? Especially in a situation like this to show up and be the lead of the episode. Sometimes it can be a day or so to get things rolling. You’re wanting to fit in with what’s already been established, right? You’re like the new kid in school.

David Read
This is a huge guest star role. Generally in the stories, the guest stars support something that the leads are doing. There’s a lot of exposition and this was very different because it really is about the guest stars in this case and you being the leader of that group. I can imagine on a crew of 100, 150 people, in a show that’s been going very successfully, ticking along for five years, that that can be kind of daunting. I can imagine those first couple of days were a little bit stressful. Amanda has been known, I talked with Michael Welch about this earlier this week, about inviting people into her trailer in a time where the leads only have so long to decompress. Lunch hour is kind of like a sanctuary if they get one of that, but no, bring you in, let’s spend a little bit of time together, let’s become a little bit more familiar with each other in the context of the work. It made such an impression on people. I can only imagine coming into this kind of a show and be expected to carry that much of the script. On top of that, it’s a physical episode. You’re running and there’s burning fires. It’s a wild show.

Courtenay J Stevens
Yeah, I loved that part of it in particular. Like you say, the running and gunning. I really enjoy that. Like I said earlier, I’m a physical performer. That was really a treat to get all the training, practice and a lot of different military training. I think I had to drag David too at one point.

David Read
It’s all going down.

Courtenay J Stevens
I should have been been working out for this.

David Read
The funny thing was in his next episode, he comes back for The Sentinel later on in season, he’s the only one left of his team still alive. So it’s like a role reversal for him. That was funny. Had you had firearms training before in any work? Was this a new experience for you? Or was this just “okay, let’s, let’s go ahead and learn this.” Where had that fallen for you? Had you worked with firearms before,

Courtenay J Stevens
A little bit, but not to this level. Especially really having to know military protocol. That was different, certainly being on set and had some guns. I grew up in the country, and dad had a gun, and we’d go shooting occasionally but that’s obviously a very different thing. This was definitely the most intense and I loved it. It was really cool, just to get the specifics on it and to learn, to make it look real and learn the protocol and learn how to how to move and how to run and how to shoot,

David Read
I think that would be one of the things that would really trip me up the most. There are military fans of the show. There are platoons that would watch it together. They’re going to be looking to see that you know what you’re doing. You have not only to carry this dialogue and hit all these physical beats in each of these scenes, but you have to be carrying these things like you’ve been experienced with them for years. If you don’t pull that off, someone’s going to catch it, and it’s going to be on there forever.

Courtenay J Stevens
Yeah. I can’t remember who it was but the specialist on set, he was really good. He’d be able to check after a take to make sure that “no, you got to make sure you do this. No, you haven’t that, wouldn’t do that. It’d be like this…” and just fine tuning so it was as authentic as possible.

David Read
Have you had any military fans who have communicated with you over the years?

Courtenay J Stevens
I don’t think so. Not that I’m aware of. Maybe but that hasn’t come up in conversation.

David Read
Okay. It’s the continuing longevity of this show is so supported by the number of people, who I’m in decent communication with, who have been a part of the Air Force and or the overall military, and really appreciate this show for what it is. Which is a true representation, on the Earth side of things, to their experiences. My father, a US Army Major, retired. It’s a great show that shows our men and women in uniform who make sacrifices, and like the ultimate sacrifice, just with a sci-fi setting. It must be cool to be a part of something with quality behind it that’s been treated with care and reverence over seventeen television seasons.

Courtenay J Stevens
Yeah, like that’s the thing right? It’s had such an enduring impact and there’s so much love for it. It’s been 19 years since I got it. And here we are, like, really? Oh my God, that’s incredible.

David Read
And Amazon’s gonna put out a new one here in the next six months to a couple of years. We’re just waiting to hear from them. It’s wild, the legs that this thing’s got.

Courtenay J Stevens
Yeah. Why do you think that is?

David Read
Specifically to Stargate, it’s contemporary. It’s an angle of sci-fi that is very accessible to us because it is us. I always relate back to the scene in season two where Sam’s getting ready to go off world. She’s got to go into the back of the control room to call her dad who’s going through treatments, chemotherapy treatments, because he has lymphoma. But she’s got to go and negotiate with the Tok’ra for the first time because we’re possibly getting this new ally. There is something that we can relate to with that more than a Star Trek or a Battlestar because we could be running into these folks in the supermarket and saying hello to them in the aisle and you’d never know that they were under this mountain, protecting us from this alien threat. I think that that’s tantalizing. I think that speaks to so many layers of you. And the fact that it’s got humor, it’s funny and it takes itself not too seriously. What do you think carries it forward as much as it has?

Courtenay J Stevens
Gosh. I don’t know what to add on to that. I’m not a sci-fi person specificly so I don’t necessarily know between different shows but I know that this has really hooked into people. I think you’re right, I think there certainly is some of the comedy and the accessibility. It is sci-fi and like you say, the person in the grocery store, so you can connect to it. It’s not super futuristic. It could be it could be. It could be, have this access to this portal to other other worlds and you come home or you don’t.

David Read
Right, or you don’t. I’d like to pivot away from Stargate for a moment. Is there a role that you’ve had that pushed you in ways that you didn’t expect to be pushed? Or shaped you even in a minor way as a person? Is there’s something that’s really stuck with you? That’s like, “wow, that was an experience” or “man, I’m glad I don’t have to do that again.”

Courtenay J Stevens
Yeah, or maybe “I want to do it again.” When I think back, a lot of my career has been on stage. That’s been a big focus on mine. It’s challenging to talk about in the sense that you had to be there to see it, rather than being on screen where everything is more tangible. But I think a lot of my big experiences have have been on stage and in particular, because you can’t fix it in post, right? It’s happening live and you do get, and we talked about arcs, you get that whole arc over the 60 or 90 minutes or whatever it is. You’ve put the time into to build the blocks and then you do it. That’s the biggest difference than compared to doing something on screen where you go. “I think we’ve got it. I mean, everyone seems to think we’ve got it okay”. Then you just kind of wait and then see it and you see it all pieced together and I go “thank God it worked” right. There’s a little bit more control I think on stage because you can forget your lines, someone else could forget their lines. People could walk out, anything’s possible right. I like that. So as far as one, I don’t know. I’ve had a handful, certainly on stage, that have really shaped me. I did a show too, that just just finished a few years ago, just around the pandemic starting. It was a solo show and again, physical theater. I toured it all over the world. It was Mr. Bean meets Charlie Chaplin playing the piano. It was wordless, it was silly and just catastrophe, physical catastrophe. It was such a physical challenge. It was participatory and bringing the audience up. It played in different different ways like in China it played a certain way and in Malta it played a different way. When I went over France, like that really felt like, “Oh, my God, I heard ‘encore'” like, oh, “that’s in French, they actually mean it. Oh, that’s sincere.” Yeah, that felt like…

David Read
Wow. So how much of that specific show was bringing people in from the audience would you say? I’m curious now.

Courtenay J Stevens
It would depend how engaged they were. The idea is it’s a very simple premise. I’m a concert pianist who’s going to play the best performance, the best concerto I like. The very high status and walking out and then everything goes wrong.

David Read
Can you play?

Courtenay J Stevens
Well, I had to learn for this. And then the piano kind of smokes and blows up at the end. It’s a trick piano and the legs fall off and I’ve got to stick my leg in and I’m doing acrobatics off of it. The keys break and all kinds of stuff. I have to get lost in the audience and I have to get them to help throw me back on stage and I gotta get someone off stage to come on up. There’s one show, you talk about audience participation, this one time in Japan, I couldn’t get anyone out, they were very reluctant. That’s okay, I have have other outs. Then in Malta, I was so playful with them that the stage got swarmed. It was these kids and they were so engaged. They were so happy and they were hopping on the stage. It’s like, “oh my god”, I have like 20, 30, 40, 50 kids coming up on stage. It became “this is the show, this is the live thing” and I’m running around and they’re chasing me and the teachers are trying to pull them off. It was total chaos so I learned “Oh gosh, I won’t do that one again.”

David Read
Is this a one man show?

Courtenay J Stevens
Yeah and it’s wordless, too. That’s why I could go all over the place.

David Read
There’s something special about Malta. That is a windy rock in the ocean. Man oh man. We have to share some stories about Malta at some point. Please tell me you filmed this. I would love to see it. Please tell me you filmed a session somewhere?

Courtenay J Stevens
Yes, there’s some footage out there.

David Read
Okay, I really want to see this man. It sounds like a lot of fun. There is something about connecting with an audience live, that you just cannot duplicate. One of my regrets of my middle ages is that I’ve not set aside some time and go and audition for something, local theater or anything else. It is electric, when you become a part, any part of a process that brings a show that you care about to life. Especially like a one man show where everything is hanging on you, it’s like you’re riding the top of a wave. It sounds like something like that where you have some flexibility to tailor it toward whatever part of the country you’re in, or whatever the part of the world you’re in and then on top of that, you have got to tailor it to your specific audience. You have to really read that room. You have to be ready to pivot if they’re not cooperating or it’s like “well, I have to get on to the next bit to get to bring this thing home.” How long did you do that?

Courtenay J Stevens
I did that about three years, 2016 to 2019. It was back and forth. It was mostly Europe and then parts of Asia as well. For a while I’d go over to Europe. I was almost commuting. I remember going over for a week and then coming back and then going back three weeks later and then back and then going back two weeks later. A lot of festivals and then longer runs in Asia. I was there for a longer period of time.

David Read
Is this something you could revisit? Or have you put that one to bed, you want to do something else?

Courtenay J Stevens
I think it might be done. There was talk about it coming out of the pandemic. The producers are out of France, we were talking about it, but I think it might be done. Also it’s pretty tough on the bod[y], The things I was doing was really tough. I have to respect that. I don’t know how much I want to tempt, injury, really. Repetitive strain and some of the tricks and things I was doing, my 25 year old self would have really killed. Elliot would have been great.

David Read
Elliot would be fine. There is, especially for a one man show or or a meaty role where you have an emotional depth that you have to hollow into. Taking yourself into all these different places. The thing that I can’t get over in watching some of these performances, is knowing that a person night after night, sometimes two times a day, would have to repeat that same sequence again and again. I would imagine that after a while, some of the more emotional parts that a lot of you have to portray will be so draining after a while. How do you sustain a performance for years on end that requires you to go to the darkest parts of your psyche? I’m assuming you’ve done those, again and again and again, without just wanting to go away and bury yourself. You have to partition off your mind? How do you as a performer do that? I’m curious.

Courtenay J Stevens
It’s almost like a respect of the art of the story, of craft and self that if I cut corners, I wouldn’t be able to sleep. That’s the thing too, there’s always a little bit more you want to try to make it better or different. That’s the other thing, trying not to repeat what you did the night before. So it is fresh and new and allowing it to go in a different direction. It doesn’t have to be a wildly different direction, but just different colors to come in. Again, with the audience too, because it ends up being a relationship. If they’re into it, then you can spend more time. If they’re not, then you got to pick up the pace. You have to listen to the energy in the room.

David Read
Yeah, and not wanting to compromise on your art. I like that. It’s like “if we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna give them the full value of their ticket.” They’re here to see, they’re here not to watch you phone it in.

Courtenay J Stevens
Yeah. When I was young, I remember seeing performances and being inspired. Perhaps there’s someone out there who you’re touching ideally. That’s why they’re there. You want to make sure that you’re being authentic.

David Read
Right. Absolutely. What are you working on right now? Anything in particular that we can be on the lookout for? Or is there anywhere that we can come and see you in the near future?

Courtenay J Stevens
Yeah, a couple of things. It’s ridiculous, I’ve been working on my house for a long time so come and bring a hammer [inaudible]

David Read
We can work something out.

Courtenay J Stevens
In about a month I start another play, another physical play called 39 Steps. It’s like clown and a bunch of different characters; a lot of silly silly things. My friend’s directing it and so that’s that’s really ideal.

David Read
You enjoy the physical abuse, don’t ya?

Courtenay J Stevens
I kind of do. I just did a film. I had a small part in a film recently called The Invisibles with Tim Blake Nelson.

David Read
Arthur post production. So that’s on it’s way out.

Courtenay J Stevens
Yeah. We just finished that a couple weeks ago, three weeks ago, I think. I have a small part in it, but it was nice to be on set and nice to be hanging around with a bunch of good actors and cool story and some really good people. Bruce Greenwood as well..

David Read
Hey, there you go.

Courtenay J Stevens
Yeah, he’s great. While he was here Tim had his guitar and he was playing inbetween takes, just playing a lot stuff and then Bruce would get up. He’s quite a guitar player and he was without one. I said, “Oh my gosh, I have got something kicking around that I just am not playing” and his eyes lit up so I brought it to him. He’s working out of town. I know what it’s like when you’re working out of town, you’re away from your family, and “what are you doing for the weekend?” Nothing! You’re in wherever and going out for dinner and then you got time your hands. He just tore up my guitar for a weekend.

David Read
Those are the things that you don’t forget. Those are the memories that you take with you. What a performer. What a cool guy. I haven’t watched season two of The Boys yet. What was that show like to be a part of, even in a small way?

Courtenay J Stevens
I just popped on. I didn’t even know anything about the show. I don’t even know that it had come out when I auditioned for it, I just have a small part of it, and then it became The Boys. I was like “oh, okay, that’s that show”. Sometimes too, you wonder, you want to be on a show and you want the best part on the show before it finishes. This is a small part but had I known it was going to be such a good show I may have held off and seen if something else could have happened. It’s a really a quite a series that one.

David Read
It wouldn’t stop me from continuing to audition. It’s sci-fi, anything can happen. That’s wild. That is an intense series. I personally have really come to superhero exhaustion. To have a show that turns those stereotypes on its head, and really shows the darker aspects of our society, the parts of it that are definitely real, is refreshing.

Courtenay J Stevens
Yeah, I agree. That’s a good take on it because I feel similarly that there’s a lot of content out there.

David Read
It’s hard to watch but it’s a rewarding show for sure. I have some fan questions. General Maximus wanted to know, “when you did Proving Ground did you have an idea at that point that there could potentially be more.” Like this potential spin off that you were talking about or was that only after wrapping that script?

Courtenay J Stevens
Yeah. It was in the air. It wasn’t explicit, but that was certainly the feeling that I was kind of a young O’Neill. There was potential for this to be something else. This is how long ago it was because I was doing a show in London. That’s when this didn’t happen, so the spin-off didn’t didn’t happen with this. But then Atlantis was coming up and I was doing a show in London and they were interested in me. They wanted to see me audition but it was so hard to audition from London and get the audition back to Vancouver. Because what year it was, we couldn’t just send videos or do a Zoom call like this. Just how technology has changed. So that was like “well, we can’t see you because you’re out of town.” Then I came back and I got the other episode.

David Read
I think you are one of the few who have had such prominent exposure in a show who then came back later on to do another part. Garwin Sanford I think will probably be the most notable as Narim and then came back in Atlantis as Simon.

Courtenay J Stevens
He taught me in theater school in Vancouver. Film acting yeah.

David Read
Wow. There’s so much talent in this show from all different aspects of that city up there that’s just exploded since production had ended. I meant to get to this earlier but I apologize. Tell us about coming back for Keras in Childhood’s End. Martin Gero’s first episode. Martin Gero has taken off.

Courtenay J Stevens
Oh yeah, he’s doing just fine. That was great. That was again another fun…there’s a similarity between the characters too; between Elliot and Keras in a way. Again, a character that knew what right and wrong was in a different context, in a different context and a leader and willing to do whatever it takes.

David Read
Duty.

Courtenay J Stevens
Yeah, duty. Absolutely.

David Read
That was a wild script. Part of me wishes that it went a darker way. You have to have some of that sci-fi be more uplifting and optimistic. I think if that episode had been later on in Atlantis, I think he may have gone ahead and died. I think that’s one of the more positive traits of Stargate is that it continues to promote overall a positive sci-fi. What was it like working with that cast as opposed to SG-1. They were in their first season still. Mario Azzopardi shot that episode, everyone was, no, no, was it Childhoods End? No, that was, was it Mario Azzapardi or was it…no, no, it was David Winning directed that episode. What was your experience like on Childhood’s End?

Courtenay J Stevens
Great. David was great. I remember we had a good chat and a good meeting before and he was he was really keen to discuss what he wanted to accomplish and hear my thoughts on it. He’d seen my other episodes and was confident in me. That was nice coming in with a bit of a track record with the franchise. Like you say, it was first season and they were still gelling to a certain degree. A really friendly, really friendly, easy set to go on and also because there were a handful of us coming on as well like, Dominic as well.

David Read
Yeah, there’s carrying people forward from previous episodes. It’s a great one off and it’s just a positive episode in general. Those earlier Atlantis episodes, they’re still really trying to figure things out. The show kind of went definitely in a darker tone and direction as it as it later went on. Man, Martin Gero, I’ve continued to follow his work. I’m a fan of Quantum Leap. That man, he’s like Stephen King, he just hammers them out. He’s just wild.

Courtenay J Stevens
Yeah, really impressive and inspiring. Gosh, sometimes people like that you’re like “god! What am I gonna do with my life.” [inaudible]

David Read
I’m well behind on my plans. PeaceRider – Courtenay, do you have any RDA anecdotes from your time?

Courtenay J Stevens
Well, not too many. He was great. I think he was going through some stuff at the time we were filming. The only thing I remember was that, it’s not even an anecdote. I feel bad saying this but I remember shooting my close ups with the script supervisor. Normally the other actor is off camera [inaudibe] in the scene. We’d shoot him out. We’d do his close ups and then he left frequently. He had to go. I think he had some things going on in his life that he needed to take care of. It’s not really very great anecdote.

David Read
No, but you have to be flexible in production. You have to be prepared for that.

Courtenay J Stevens
Yeah. It wasn’t him being being a jerk or anything. He had a lot on his plate. Also, we didn’t have as much to do really. Just Proving Ground, we had a little bit, a couple of scenes, but not too much. I remember Chris. I was injured, he had to he had to carry me and he was carrying me and he was getting really sick of that and he was just like “come on man, can you just act better. Just act like…you’re so heavy, just help me out.” He’s a massive massive man like he was [inaudible].

David Read
Like a rag doll on your back. Just do your thing. That’s funny. Gabby Federer – do you think there’s a chance that Elliot and Lantash survived?

Courtenay J Stevens
Oh, gosh. You know why not? Let’s say that’s happening somewhere out there. Why not? Let’s say that there’s another world, another plane of existence where they are.

David Read
Oh, that’s funny. Philippe Canat – What was it like working with Grace Park before she turned Cylon?

Courtenay J Stevens
Oh, Grace was great. Grace was easy. She was just easy and just fun and easygoing really. Lovely, lovely person. I saw her again. We worked on a show called The Border about 10 years after that. I had a brief appearance there and she was on that before she really popped.

David Read
Did you ever watch Battlestar?

Courtenay J Stevens
I didn’t. I’ve seen a few episodes. I have so many friends who have worked on it.

David Read
It’s a good show, man. It is a 70 episode movie. It is one story. It’s one of those where if you set aside time to watch it, you’d enjoy it from beginning to end. I can’t recommend it enough.

Courtenay J Stevens
Yeah. One of those things that I should watch especially because I have so many pals in it.

David Read
Absolutely. MelaD – Last Stand. In that last scene, extremely moving. Considering Elliot had blended with Lantash, you had history with Carter. A lot comes into that little moment when she puts her hand on his head and then says goodbye? Did you just play the scene honestly? It’s like, “Well, okay, I’ve got a being inside of me who is in love with you. You have been someone who has taken care of me in this program.” That’s a lot to throw at a person “okay and act!”

Courtenay J Stevens
Yeah, that’s true. I was saying earlier there was a good connection with Amanda, as a person and as an actor. She’s very, very generous. That made it easier to find that connection. I think we also…I remember I think it was…who directed it? It wasn’t Andy. Was it Martin?

David Read
For Last Sand?

Courtenay J Stevens
Yeah.

David Read
I can find out easily enough.

Courtenay J Stevens
Was it Andy Mikita?

David Read
It was probably, yes. it was directed by Martin Wood.

Courtenay J Stevens
It was Martin, yes, okay. I remember he was really nice direction. I just remember him coming in and just saying “it’s all gone, everything’s walking away and you are all by yourself.” Whatever it was just, kind of whispering, just painting the picture of helping me see the end and what I’m doing. We did that a couple of times. I can’t specifically remember what he said but I remember it being very very effective which you don’t always get. Especially in that context because there’s no sound right again so he’s able to speak over and just help with the interior thoughts. Sometimes if a person does that it could also be distracting because the interior thoughts aren’t connecting but I really respected that. He was on the same page and help kind of coach me through it. I remember being in one take too, laying against a tree and I was so into it. I think a mosquito came down and [inaudible] I think we got to take. I was just so into it. I gotta smack. I had to smack it off just to save me but she didn’t end up using that one.

David Read
You and me mosquito, you’re my last friend in the world. Courtenay, this has been really great man. It’s been good seeing ya. I wish you all the best, I do want to see this performance. I want an idea of you as a physical actor, I’ve not seen any of this. It means a lot to me that you took some time to catch up and it’s good to see you.

Courtenay J Stevens
I’ll tell you one other thing. Speaking of the blending of the two. On the Umbrella Academy I did a physical bit there in season two. A. J. Carmichael, I was like a character with a fish tank for a head and it’s just like this fish swimming around in water. That was a nice blending of those two worlds.

David Read
I’ve been meaning to watch this series. That’s something to look forward to. I’ll go check it out.

Courtenay J Stevens
Hopefully you won’t recognize me because it’s a fish in a tank. If you recognize from here down [inaudible].

David Read
That’s great. Dude it’s so good to see you, man. Thank you for coming on the show. All right.

Courtenay J Stevens
There’s still time to audition for that theater you’re talking about. To get on stage if…

David Read
You’re not wrong. My mother is I’m sure screaming right now. “Yes. Do it!” So you’re right. You have to do the things that make you happy. You have to make time for things other than just work. And I’m talking to me here.

Courtenay J Stevens
Also congrats on this. Speaking of making time and work. You’ve turned this passion for this show into your career.

David Read
It has turned out that way over the course of my life so far. I’m very thankful to Stargate and I’m thankful to everyone who has tuned in to watch us because you can’t just continue to do this in a vacuum, People have to resonate, as you know, people have to resonate with the work otherwise, you can’t just do it for you. So thank you.

Courtenay J Stevens
Good looking merch too.

David Read
I forgot to turn on the naquadah reactor. Half of the stuff is fan made, the other half is props. There are some talented people out there, man.

Courtenay J Stevens
Great, Amazing. Amazing. Well, thanks so much for having me. Gosh, and Stargate fans are the best.

David Read
They are right. Absolutely. All right, brother. You take care of yourself okay. It’s good to see you.

David Read
Courtenay J. Stevens everyone. Elliot in Stargate SG-1. Keras in Stargate Atlantis. Greg Fennstead – do you have any idea if Master Replicas has their hands on any Eaglemoss 304s to put up as they move through their catalog? I think that they were all sold out. The only one that i…where’s the 304? There it is next to the Zelda thing. This was a fanmade one. This is not from the Eaglemoss stock. I think that Darren has one, if I’m not mistaken. I know that they’ve got the gliders and the Hataks. They did a version of that, that’s also a fan made one. But I haven’t seen any of those. I would really love to have the folks from Master Replicas on to discuss the transfer of the inventory from Eaglemoss, because that was just a shock. They had made so many starships and everything else. I don’t know. If I do get wind that they’ve found, like, they pull down on a light or something and a hidden wall opens up in their warehouse and there’s the missing inventory of 304s we will definitely report on it. I’d like to get those guys on one way or another because that’s a wild story. All right, gang. We’re going to wrap it up here. Let me see here. Thanks to my moderating team, Tracy, Rhys, Jeremy, Anthony, Sommer for continuing to make the show possible. A big thanks to Frederick Marcoux over at ConceptsWeb for keeping our website going. And Linda “GateGabber” Furey as well, my producer. We’re going to keep this going. Next week we’ve got, if I’ve got the information here right, I have Tiffany Lyndall-Knight coming up on May 4th. She’s going to be joining us Australia time so for us over here Pacific Time, it’s gonna be 4:30pm on May 4th. Then next Saturday, Edward Gross, who’s writing Chevron’s Locked, that comes out this week. Check it out on Amazon. And Jennifer Spence who was on Stargate Universe, she played Lisa Park. We’ve got a lot more coming up for you before I end season three here. I really appreciate you tuning in. Thanks again to Courtenay J. Stevens for joining me this episode. My name is David Read for DialtheGate and I will see you guys on the other side.

Courtenay J Stevens
See ya