Chicago 2009: Michael Shanks – New Stories, No Socks

The reason that Michael Shanks gets invited back to Chicago every year and is already booked for next year is downright obvious. If you can’t see why after reading this . . . go back to whatever pitiful Stargate-less planet you came from!

Michael has a habit of not dressing up for these occasions. More than once he’s shown up in a T-shirt and a baseball cap, with a scraggly half-grown beard on his face. This is a bit irritating because the cap and beard make it hard to get good pictures and see his face. Michael has called it his “lazy daddy” look. When I see that, I get out my “take off that cap or else!” look.

I think Creation might have gotten enough comments to realize that this was getting annoying to us fans, so they added something to Michael’s schedule: “Super Suave Photo Ops!” This means Michael has to shave and dress up. Then they scheduled his stage time afterward. Thank you Creation!

When Michael came out, we went wild. I mean he looks AMAZING in black! Michael seemed to like our reaction. He took some time posing for us, even turning 180° on request. Cameras were going off like crazy, and yes, there was some whistling going on! After giving us his customary greeting of “Hi! How’s everybody doing?” to which he got many happy shouts in reply, Michael said, “I’m just going to point it out now so that someone doesn’t later. I forgot to pack socks for this outfit.” He lifted up a pant leg to show us his very bare ankle in his black dress shoe. Then he had a seat – he’s one of the few who actually sits and stays seated on stage, which is nice because pictures come out co much better then they are not in constant motion (Dan Shea!) – and said “I’m dressed up! This is for all you wankers that complained about me always showing up with a hat on or unshaved or meh meh meh meh. So this is my (puts his thumb to his nose, fingers straight up and wiggling, and makes some indistinguishable sound).” Well really, Michael, when you come unshaven with a cap on, you look like a freaking hobo! And I mean that in the kindest way possible!

“So how’s everybody been? [Audience shouts “Good!”] So you guys beat the Canucks in the playoffs, huh? . . . (Letting his smile slide, he muttered) you suck. . . . Yeah Chicago’s going to have a good team going for it, which really sucks. Now we’re going to have to listen to this constantly for the next 5 or 10 years (Scrunches up his shoulders and makes an unhappy face).

“Does anybody have any questions? Because I could just sit here and yammer for a while, but I’m sure there’s some queries that some people might have.”

I should mention up front that a lot of what Michael says is said with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek. Listening to him you can tell, but it’s difficult to make that come across in this format.

A fan comes up and says she has a serious question for Michael. “I can’t wait. I’m on the edge of my seat (scoots to the front edge of the chair, grinning).” The fan asked, Was there anything you wanted Daniel to do that you never really got the chance to? “I don’t know. I just watched that video and a pretty much think he’s done it all [We laugh]. That was a good video, it was pretty well put together.  I get why it won. Where is she? [Gatewhale waves from the front row] Good job! Well done! I also realized how many times Daniel has been shot. That wasn’t even how many times he’s died! It was how many times he’s gotten hurt! That was something.

“Was there anything I wanted Daniel to do? I never honed on anything specific. You know, maybe go to Atlantis and spend more time there than he did. [We cheer] Maybe jump on the Destiny Ancient ship that’s in Stargate Universe, I don’t know [We cheer!!]. Just little things, but no, I think I wanted to delve a little more into his back-story about him being an orphan and foster homes and stuff like that, but I’m not sure what kind of story you tell in that regard but that would have been interesting thing to do. I think in terms of doing stuff, Daniel did a faire bit. He got to be beat up and make out with the chick and (looks up innocently) make out with a chick, and make out with a chick again . . . I love that show.  No, he did a faire bit, so I’m pretty happy with the time on the show.”

Michael did a three-episode part on 24, so someone asked, How was it to get killed back Jack Bauer? “I didn’t get killed back Jack Bauer. I got beat up by Kari Matchett. (Wincing, whines) I got beat up again, man! And some funky stuff happens in Sanctuary that I won’t get into because it hasn’t aired yet.” Thanks a lot Michael! Dangle the carrot and then snatch it away!

What was it like working on Burn Notice? “It was fantastic. Hot. Really hooooot. Bruce Campbell calls it ‘projectile sweating’ What makes it even more hilarious is I’m walking around in jeans and a heavy shirt for most of the last episode that we did. We’re filming out on the beaches and whatever. Jeffery Donovan doesn’t sweat (gives us a wry look). So I’m feeling like I’m an alcoholic or something where I’m having to change shirts after every take. It was really hot, very very humid there. Wonderful experience working with everybody, I really enjoyed the finished product, the shows. I still have an ongoing friendship with Matt Nix, the creator, and was just at Comic Con with the show this past July, and I had a great time, it was a great show.”

I believe this fan wanted advice as an actor, and asked, What’s the best way to go about playing a bad guy like Victor? “(Chuckles) I’m not going to tell you.(Laughs) I joke about it but, the bad characters are fun to play because they don’t have any kind of social confines. Especially a character like Victor on Burn Notice, where the guy has no under-rules or boundaries.  Michael Weston has boundaries, but Victor doesn’t. He can operate outside of everything.  In my particular case I decided that the screen wasn’t big enough for me to I had to chew every piece of scenery in it. I think the best thing that you can do when you play those kinds of characters is, first of all, if there’s an opportunity to enjoy playing them, you do. And secondly I think to play them well I really think that you have to understand them, and I mean that they don’t think that they’re bad guys, they are people that are operating with their own separate agendas. Then you marry that with enjoying the fact that you’re operating outside the realm of normal law and procedure, and you have a great villain. Someone who is a great counterpoint to what us usually a very stalwart, straight, writing by the rules kind of protagonist. That’s what really makes it fun. So I think you just really have to get them and try and understand them and relate to them. I don’t think you can play a character in any realm well if you don’t  like them.”

Someone asked about one of my favorite episodes, ‘Lifeboat’, in which Michael really got to amaze us with his talent by having to play multiple characters. “I was just talking to someone the other day about the differences between film and TV, and one of the things that people don’t understand when you get into the TV realm is the time confines that you’re working with.  (Almost starts to laugh) There’s nothing rocket science about it other than where you come from in terms of where you come from in your own training and your own experience in bringing characters to the fore. I got the script for ‘Lifeboat’ two days before we started shooting it. So, Brad [Wright] warned me that there was something big coming but he didn’t want to (grimaces). There’s this weird political thing that goes on. They don’t want to tell the actor too much in case it changes. They get attached to something emotionally and then they get the finished script and if that’s not there anymore, they might get a little bent out of shape and ask to shift it back to the way it was. So actors are kind of one of the last people to get the script. (Smiles) Big mistake in this particular case, because I had to play four different people, and there’s supposed to be many different people running around his head that you saw smidgens of. In the two days that I got for it, I was still working shooting the previous episode. So what was hilarious about it was I would go home at night and I would go through my DVD collection – literally, this is how rocket science it is – go through my collection and go, ‘I think this guy is like this, and this personality is like this,’ and I’m grabbing Jack Lemmon from The China Syndrome for Tryan, who’s the helpful worker-bee character. We had the tape of the young gentleman who played the boy [Keenin], we had his audition tape so I did a lot of mimicking of him. With Martice I started off doing Ray Finds from Schindler’s List, and kind of got character developed into Patrick Stewart  as an evil elf or something like that. It got kind of paired down. Martice started off with a thick German accent and it ending up being torn down to a faux-British – it’s standard English dialect, is what it’s called, where you just spoke very proper. Most people with go ‘(in a high whiny voice) Is he doing an English accent?” No, he’s just speaking very precise. I think those were the major personalities. So basically I went home and crammed watching The China Syndrome 45 times, and watched Jack Lemmon, his characterization for Tryan. Martice, I kind of took Schindler’s List and paired it down to this other specific character. You don’t want to just throw up a mimicking of some other actor work, you want to kind of develop it yourself. I always call everything we do in TV ‘work in progress’ because it is. It’s by no means a finished product.  You go out there, rehearse it twice, and then you’re filming. It’s always kind of funny when things actually go well it’s kind of strange.”

A fan told Michael that she and a friend were having a debate. One said that in ‘Full Circle’ Anubis’s weapon destroyed just the Stargate, the pyramid, and the Abydonian’s settlement. She said that the whole planet was destroyed. She wanted Michael to say who was right. Without hesitating, Michael explained, “It was the pyramid and the area around the pyramid, and when they go back and the end up on this faux-reality where – they’ve ascended, they’re just giving them one last look. When that all goes away, the planet is still there but the pyramid and everything else is gone. So the planet is still intact as far as I know. Unless someone has a counterpoint to that that makes sense. (Looks around) Is there an astrophysicist in the crowd today? (Laughs as he sees how upset the fan is at having lost the debate. She says “thanks!”) You’re welcome. Sorry!”

What has playing Daniel taught you about life? “That death is not the end? If at first you don’t succeed, try try try try try again.”

Who was more fun to battle, the Goa’uld or the Ori? “The Ori made more sense and they were less cheesy. They had more personality from the sense that with the story of . . . (whinces, giving us a blank look) Tim Guinee’s character? What was this name? Tomin? [We confirm that] I always forget these things, (points to his head, making a little circle) I’m getting old. With Tomin’s character you got to see this more empathetic side, so then he became a little more demensionalized [Yes, he just made up that word]. The followers became more demensionalized.  The Ori, in terms of a fundamentalist religion argument, made a little more topical sense. (Looks upward, thinking, and then looks at us innocently) Topical. Like the solution. Um . . . I found the Goa’uld rather . . . like how we described them. Cheesy, overdress, over the top bad guys. So I enjoyed that part of the story, that made more sense to me than the fluffy (overemphasizing the vowels, kind of like he did when he played Ma’chello in ‘Holiday’) Goa’uld.”

After having your character killed off so many times, when they tell you they are going to kill Daniel again, do you respond, ‘Are you REALLY this time?’ “I think you always need to ask that question. I remember that in the very first season of the show, Brad Wright – I think I’ve told this one before but I love to tell it – Brad Wright and I are sitting on a plane. We’re going to the TCA conference in Pasadena. He taps me on the shoulder and he’s sitting behind me and he hands me a script and says, ‘Only read to the end of the teaser!’  So I read it and it’s all taking place at Daniel Jackson’s funeral. (Looks back and forth across the hall, lips tight.) I finish reading and I look back at him like, (glances over his shoulder to look at Brad with a ‘What the heck?!’ look on his face) and he says, “(really excited) You’re done? Ok, good! (Reaches up and takes the script back!)” It was then I gleaned that maybe some sick satisfaction was gotten out of torturing your lead characters, killing them and bringing them back. I think Brad, he loves putting the characters in jeopardy  and having legitimate stakes. To have the characters die as he seems to do episode after episode, end even Continuum was like, ‘Oh, we’re getting shot again? (Sarcastically) Oh my God.’

“It does get a little old in that context, but for working on other shows like Burn Notice,  and when they were squibbing me up [setting up the fake blood packets to look like he was shot] I got this big lecture from the stunt coordinator about, ‘(in a monotone, very fast) you’ve got to keep your hands away from the squibs coming out, this is very dangerous, not a lot of actors like to do this, you’ve got to be very careful . . .’ I’m like, ‘(nodding) Uh huh, yeah, I know, I know.’

‘(Monotone) No seriously, you’ve got to keep your hands away from the squibs coming out, this is very dangerous, it’s very important, I don’t want anyone getting hurt . . .’

‘I know, man. Dude! This is like the forty-fifth time I’ve been shot! All that’s coming out of here (indicating the squibs on this chest) is blood, right? The syrupy red stuff?’

‘Yeah yeah yeah.’

‘Ok, well I’ve had like fire coming out of there, and sparks. This is nothing. This is child’s play. Trust me.’

“I think you always have to ask whether or not this is once and for all, but I’m getting kinda used to it.”

A young girl came up to ask, Out of both Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, what is your favorite episode? Michael just couldn’t resist. “(Looking at her like he’s not sure he heard her correctly) Stargate Atlan-Atlan-Atlantis? . . . (Looks at us) What is that? (Smiles) My favorite episode of both series? (Looks up at the ceiling for a minute, microphone on his chin) I think it was when David Hewlett did . . . Naw, just joking! (Laughs) I don’t know. It’s hard to pick a clear-cut favorite. I liked our 2-parter ‘Heroes’, in the seventh season of SG-1, so I’m going to go with ‘Heroes’. It always seems to be the strongest one.”

What do you miss most and what do you not miss about each of your former co-workers? “(Kinda whiney) The whole cast? (Put the microphone to his cheek and sighs heavily with an expression that says, ‘Oh my God, what I do for you people . . . ‘) Ok, let’ establish right now, I miss nothing about Gary Jones.” Michael sits there, shaking his head, waving his free hand, while we’re laughing and I’m thinking, ‘Where’s Gary? He has to come out and defend himself!’ But no Gary appears, and Michael continues, “I can’t think of one thing that I miss about that tiresome little man.

“(Going serious at last) Obviously Don, I just miss Don Davis. That was strange and that still is kind of an adjustment to not have General Don out there, and even his stories and stuff, so I miss Don tremendously.

“Teryl [Rothery], I miss her giddy laughter and her pure talent, she’s so wonderful.

“Amanda [Tapping] I see all the time, so I don’t really miss much about her. (Shakes his head and then jokes) I miss her blonde locks! No, when I worked on Sanctuary it was fun. I missed her giddy laugh.

“(Wrinkling up his face) I miss Christopher [Judge]’s . . . nothing.

“Richard [Dean Anderson], I miss his stories. That man can talk a dog off a chuck wagon. It became a joke, but literally in the first season of the show he would sit us down and start telling us some anecdote about when he had broken both arms and was in the hospital and had a run in with a candy striper kind of stories. (Smiles and nods) That’s actually a story. (He couldn’t keep a straight face and leans forward laughing before waving it off) Just even saying out loud is kind of wrong.  But I got into this habit of  – because he would retell the same stories – so when he started trying to tell a story, I got into a habit of trying to find a way to walk away from the conversation. Until it got to the point, I think late first season, early second season,  He would start talking about something and I would walk away (uses his hand to indicate how he would turn and walk away). And sometimes he would do it if he wanted to get rid of me. He’d start telling a story when he wanted me to leave the conversation. So I miss Rick’s stories.

“Ben [Browder] . . . Ben is another guy who . . . my God that man can talk. I miss his professionalism. I miss his dry wind and commentary on the production and film-making process. He’s like an encyclopedia of how to make TV and film, and he’s very passionate about it.

“Claudia [Black] I miss a lot about, but I’m still in contact with Claudia all the time. I miss her laughter, I miss her jokes, I miss her jibbing, so I miss a lot about Claudia. Especially working with her on a day to day basis. The most fun I hard working on the show was working with her.

“My wife [Lexa Doig], I um . . . I just miss you sweetheart.” Michael gives us a wan smile as we go “Awwwww!” Then he ruins it by saying, “That’s for anything that’s going on YouTube! I know you’re out there, too!”

How long did it take to develop that dynamic between you and Claudia Black? No, that started immediately, oddly enough. Claudia is a great team player, she’s great at finding a way to fit in. One of the best things that had never happened at that point, in seven and a half years of making the show, is an actor walked up to me and she said, ‘What can I do?’ (Looks surprised and shocked) I says, ‘Pardon?’ She says, ‘This script is about your character. What are you hoping to accomplish and how can I facilitate that?’ (Goes bug-eyed) I went, (bursts out in happy tears and hugs her! Got to wonder what Claudia made of that!) And I knew right then I’d found somebody who was about the work and about the joining together to make a better end product. And that’s what she was. All the chemistry in there was natural, the rhythm, the banter and everything like that. We had great natural chemistry in real life. We had a lot of fun working together. It just was effortless in a lot of different ways. I had so much fun at that time period when we were first working together. Whenever we got to work that closely together to banter back and forth because that banter is what we do off-stage as well. So it was very easy right from the get go.”

One fan asked a rather rambling question about what genre’s Michael has looked into in his career, mentioning a ‘film noir detective’ role in particular. “I appreciate that. I’ve never really given much thought to it. I’m still looking to do the next job, whatever that may be, so there’s a ton of stuff out there that someday it might fit into the realm of what matches up. But I’m not an actor that has a ton of options. It’s true.” Michael looked down sadly at his lap. The gentleman asking the question said, “Someone needs to develop a show for you!” Michael nodded, still kind of pouting. “Fans should start writing to producers, right?” Michael kept right on nodding with this pathetic look in his face, akin to when he played Keenin in ‘Lifeboat’. Finally he looked up, still sad, and said in a high little voice, “Thank you.”

The precious look on his face lasted right until someone shouted, “Make a Mega Snake series!” Then Michael went from the “poor starved actor” straight to “Heads are going to roll.” “Who said that? You said that? Stand up. (Pointing at the doors) Get out.  Out. Go.” She sits back down and Michael just glares at her out of the corner of his eyes! If it wasn’t so funny that look would make you run for cover! Finally he said, “If that EVER happens, (looks at her like he’s thinking, “I’m going to remember you . . .” ). Someone else draws Michael’s attention but I couldn’t hear what they said. Michael smiled and said “Sumuru II. You guys know waaaay too much. Who’s seen Mega Snake here?” Fans cheer and clap as Michael scans the crowd. “There’s too many of you to have you killed. Who’s seen Sumuru?” Fans cheer, but there’s fewer because that movie was not released directly in the US. Michael looks around and says, “Ok, that’s a bit more do-able. Who’s seen Lost Treasure of the Grand Canyon?” The audience erupts and the look on Michael’s face made it clear he really wanted to swear! Some fans shout comments that I couldn’t catch. Michael replied, “I’m tired of apologizing. I’m going to stop apologizing and say this, I will try for every Mega Snake (weights it with one hand) to find a Burn Notice (weights it in the other hand) to balance it out.  I can’t abolish it because, you know, it’s kind of part of making a living. But I’ll try to balance it out. For every Sumuru there’s a Judicial Indiscretion, stuff like that. For every Lost Treasure of the Grand Canyon, there’s (shakes his head, clueless) working in a septic plant, I don’t know. [Someone shouts “Under the Mistletoe” and someone else says, “Door to Door”) Door to Door! Yes! The things I have done that I’m proud of are very small. [Someone shouts “Living Out Loud”, his latest TV movie] “Living Out Loud, yes, it was good wasn’t it? Living Out Loud was good! [Someone shout “Stargate!”] (Sneers) Let’s talk about something else.”

One fan had a question about Lexa’s upcoming appearance on Supernatural. Apparently no one knows which episode of the season she will appear in! The fan explained, “Lexa said it was a blink and you will miss it part.” Michael pulled a face and said, “Oh yeah because you’re reading Twitter, right? I told her to knock that (censoring himself, only mouthing the word and not voicing it) off.” Well I guess now we know why he’s not on Twitter! “Oh God, what episode is it? I don’t know. I think it’s the fifth one. [Someone reacts down in front – they must have been reading spoilers – and Michael thinks it’s hilarious and starts teasing] Oooooooh! Do you know the name of it? [If they knew I didn’t hear it] Am I giving away spoilers if I’m giving spoilers for another show? Can I be sued? [Someone shouts “Is it the one Paul is in?”] (Looks blank) Paul? [“Paul McGillion!”] No. [“Paris Hilton?”] No, the one before Paris Hilton. (Gives us that “What the heck?!” look again, then rolls his eyes and bops himself on the head with the microphone a few times!) It’s the one where they go . . . he . . . what are the guy’s names? Dean? Dean Jenson? Dean goes into the future? Is that a spoiler for you guys already? You like spoilers. I don’t even know what I’m talking about! Jenson goes into the future and sees what the future is going to be like, and there’s like . . . Anybody play Left for Dead, the video game? [A bunch of fans cheer] I’m big into playing that right now, and there’s kind of sequences [in Supernatural] that I swear whoever wrote it is playing Left for Dead right now. There’s a scene where, in the future, their filming this in the old Watchman set, and there’s a girl crying on the ground in the dark (imitates the girls little moaning cry) with her hair over her eyes. Anybody who has played Left for Dead knows what I’m talking about. And sure enough he goes up to her and goes, ‘What’s wrong? Yaaaaahh!!!’ and she goes after him. Lexa is in that one. (Shrugs) I don’t think she does much in it. As she describes, I think she’s kind of in it to be in it. But Rob Benedict who was in Burn Notice with me is in it too.”

I believe this question was, ‘What are some shows that are on now that you’d like to be on?’ Michael kind of latched on to whatever the crowd shouted, and someone immediately suggested Castle. “What’s that about? [“A writer who works for the police”] Oh. So why would I be good at that? Nathan Fillion is on it. Oh, oh! I love Nathan, Nathan is great. [You hear that Nathan?! Have him guest star! Someone else shouts NCIS] NCIS. Well I read for the lead for NCIS, the L.A. NCIS. Chris O’Donnell got the part. They offered it to me, but not really because they kinda offered it to Chris O’Donnell. I read for it and they said, ‘You did great! Anyway, we’re offering it to Chris O’Donnell’. (Looks up, hands out like, ‘WHY?’) Warehouse 13? [Michael got a look on his face, and I knew what was coming!] Isn’t that a show that’s on the Sy (drawing a big Y in the air) Fy (draws another Y) channel?  (Smirks and leans forward, trying not to laugh) We shall not mock . . . cuz we will anyway!”

This fan had 2 quick questions. What was one of your favorite cultures to interact with, and which was your favorite death? “(Sings) These are a few of my favorite things! I liked the Nox because they had the really cool hair. The runner up would be those naked white guys [from ‘One False Step’]. (Shrugs, waving his arms like, ‘How else can I describe them? D’uh!’) They’re naked white guys! Like you can’t go down to the YMCA and see that. Um, the Nox, cuz they were cool. Armin Shimerman [Anteaus] and . . . see this is where I’m so bad . . . Armin and [Someone rescues him and shouts “Frida!”] Frida [Betrani; Lya]! (Gives the fan who shouted a look like, ‘Holy cow’) I should carry you guys in my back pocket, seriously! Those guys were great.

“My favorite death. How do you pick a favorite way to go? Radioactive, poisoning, gunshot wound, full on Anubis decompression ascension . . . Anybody else have any others? Ribbon device . . . run through by Replicator Sam . . . which not everybody can say that, huh? In your dreams, big guy. Uh, uh, uuuuuhhhh, lemme get back to you on that one. I would probably say getting run through by Replicator Sam but I can’t think of all the time’s I’ve died. Have you ever just been shot? Oh yeah, I’ve been shot. In fact I was disappointed on Burn Notice. After Victor died from two gun shots I was like, ‘Really? (Mocking) Oh! I’m bleeding!’(Rolls his eyes) Yeah, I can’t think of a favorite but probably at this point getting that twelve-foot sword (makes a motion with his hand like the sword going into his chest) going through him in CGI was pretty cool. I’ll get back to you though. I’ll have to think about it because there has been a lot.”

A fan came up to ask Michael if he knew that his name was spelled as “Michel Shanks” on the front! Are you re-branding yourself? Michael looked contemplative, mic on his chin, and then said, “No, it’s for anyone who shows up and wants one of them signed, I’ll say ‘that wasn’t me’. It was an eastern European actor, Michel Shanks. It’s spelled right on that back? That’s the misprint. I always tell people that. ‘No, it’s my cousin’s brother’s aunt. He looks a lot like me but (shakes his head).’ Eastern European (nods). . . . You know you do something for a few weeks in Bulgaria and it follows you around for the rest of your life. I had this conversation with my wife at one point because she did a movie last year called Fireball. She said, ‘This is not going to be the finished title of this think when they actually show it.’ I said, ‘Yes it will.’ ‘No that’s too dumb!’ I said, ‘Honey? Remember that conversation I had with you three years ago about MegaSnake? It was too dumb a title to actually be –‘ And then I actually watched a Syfy channel marathon where they actually had Boa Versus Python. (Gives us a look like ‘yesh’) You’re not even trying!”

What to you personally think of the Ancients? This question, seemed to succeed in making Michael’s brain hurt, if the face he made was any indication! “What does Michael Shanks think of the Ancients, personally? . . . He doesn’t. I haven’t formed an opinion, good/bad, pro/con, yes!/no, nothing like that. Somewhere in between? Somewhere in between, yes. But I tend not to.”

What was Daniel doing while he was ascended? “I like to think that he was dropping in on the making of most of the American Pie movies. Just to see if there was anybody he could help. I don’t know. That’s always a question. I would have liked to have seen the episode where you see a flashback to what he was actually doing in there, but I think it’s much better to understand that he was basically dealing with a lot of politics, and he found it much better, much less complex, to be alive. It’s like being in Congress, right? ‘Ok, enough. Just let me go back to pluming, I’m ok. “

Who do you think can talk faster, you or David Hewlett? No hesitation here! “David Hewlett. We had that conversation while we were filming Atlantis last year. The thing with David is he can speak faster, but you really can’t understand a word he says. I speak pretty fast and you can kinda make it out. So when someone is listening, when we actually have a contest of saying the same thing equally as fast, he says it way faster. He’ll be done before you can say it, but you didn’t hear a word in English in there. So he can speak faster but he’s less intelligible. (Shrugs) I saw that two-parter briefly. Can anyone understand what we’re saying to each other? Is it intelligible? [“Yes! . . . A little bit”] A little bit? Like you can understand a little bit or . . . did you have to watch with subtitles? Oh, you had to watch it a couple times. Is there subtitles for the DVD’s? [“Yes!”] That’s the way to watch it. . . . The thing about it is I don’t know if I want to speak faster than David Hewlett! Because I think if you spoke faster than David Hewlett you’d actually travel back in time.”

Michael was asked about how he got his role as Daniel. “I auditioned for the role and I watched the movie, and I saw what [James] Spader was doing and they way that they had written him in the pilot was basically the same way, the same rhythm. So I said, ‘oh screw it, I’ll just do what Spader did and rip that off’ and they liked it. And then after a year of doing that I went, ‘Oh c%@*, I’m going to have to keep doing this rip-off of another actor’s work!’ So then I decided to kind of change it slightly, so if you notice that the Spaderisms kind of devolve over time (illustrates with a hand riding a downward slope) . . .”

IMDB says you liked watching Zena: Warrior Princess, growing up. “That’s bollix. I don’t know where that came from. On IMDB, apparently anyone can submit stuff (looks out at us suspiciously) and said I was ‘a big fan of Zena: Warrior Princess growing up. (Gives us the ‘What the heck!?’ look again)” The fan wanted to know what role Michael would have liked to play on that, and he said, “I don’t even know the show that well! I was in college when those shows were big, so I didn’t watch a lot of TV. I mean I knew that there was a hot chick or two on there, right? [“. . . Yeah . . .”] (Waves an arm and looks at us like, ‘What’s the point otherwise?’) It’s Zena! But I didn’t watch it so I can’t really tell you what it was about. I had to tell Kevin Sorbo, he was gutted when I told him I didn’t watch Hercules. He was gutted. He thinks everybody watched Hercules.  ‘Really Kevin? You think I’m going to make it must-see-TV to see you with your shirt off half the time?’”

After being taken hostage and held prisoner so many times, why was Daniel such a terrible hostage taker in ‘Bad Guys’? Michael squirmed a bit as we laughed and then said, “It was kind of written that way. There was actually a couple more scenes where it was all written for the comedic benefit of it. Who is the most unlikely person to be acting as the – it’s kind of like in ‘Proving Ground’ where Daniel is the head Goa’uld sitting in Hammond’s chair. Who’s the most unlikely guy to be running the show? And so Daniel is the chief hostage taker. It was written for the comedic factor of it. That’s why I think he proved to be rather terrible at it because it’s kind of funny for him to be bad at it. Teal’c doing it makes it dramatic. ‘Hey, this is getting kinda creepy!’ Daniel doing it makes it funny, so that’s why. Yes, you’re right. He should have learned more.”

You started acting on stage in Stratford. If they recalled you would you go back and act, and what was your favorite role that you did on stage? “I’ve thought about that. It’s difficult. The only reason why I wouldn’t go back is because I have young kids in school in Western Canada, and to transplant them physically to Ontario and specifically to Stratford is a logistical nightmare because you have to be there for nine months out of the year. What was my favorite role to play? I didn’t really do a ton when I was there. I spear-carried the first year and the second year I played some smaller roles in the production, so there’s a lot of stuff that I would love to go back to do. Oddly enough, more of the contemporary stuff than the Shakespeare.

Kind of out of the blue, Michael said, “Just out of curiosity, is anybody going to watch Stargate Universe? [Let’s just say that the crowd reaction was well mixed, and Michael could tell.] Should we do a town hall about this? There seems to be some animosity about Stargate Universe. What up with that?” Michael listened intently as people shouted about Atlantis’s cancelation, the lack of movies, and the controversy over leaked story lines. “But the trailer looks really cool, doesn’t it? I will say this. I haven’t seen enough of the show to gauge myself. As was evident by the person who filmed us up at UBC and posted it on GateWorld ,I was just guesting on an episode last week. I will tell you this. The cast is really wonderful. Robert Carlyle is totally amazing, and I do mean that. I don’t think I have to blow too much smoke up his @$$ because he’s renowned as a wonderful actor, but working with him is just like going, ‘Wow dude’. He’s incredible. Give it a chance. That’s all I’ll say. I don’t know enough about it to tell you why you should give it a chance but I’m going to watch it just to see what it looks like. It looks really cool and it’s certainly a grittier storyline than we’re used to dealing with before. Whether that will turn people on or off, I know everybody seemingly has some baggage about it, whether it be about Atlantis or you’re just (jokingly) fed up with those damn producers, whatever it’s going to be. But give it a shot because I think it looks like it’s worth it. They put some money and some time and some energy into it and they are very proud of it. I like the people associated with it and that’s why I’m saying I think it’s worth a look. That’s my peace, I’ve said it, I’m done.”

Wal-Mart has Lost Treasure of the Grand Canyon for ten dollars. “Are you trying to ruin me? If Wal-Mart is charging ten bucks they’re charging too much. You don’t want to know what I paid for it on Amazon. Why, what did you pay? Twenty-five dollars. (Looking genuinely touched) Aww, you are a fan aren’t you. I’m so sorry.”

For Burn Notice, what did you enjoy most about being in Miami? “I loved everything about being in Miami. I mean my God, what a great place to spend some time in. I wish I’d had more time to spend. I was going to go out to the Keys, and that kind of stuff. People say it’s a boating community. Well what the hell does that mean?  Like Italy? But in terms of things to do it’s so beautiful there and everything. I didn’t get a chance to enjoy much. I was located in hotel in Coconut Grove most of the time. I got to South Beach once and did a little of the designated shopping and we filmed some great locations. My first day was on South Beach, right by Starbucks in front of one of the hotels there. Great experience all around, I loved it.”

Do you have any interesting fan encounter stories? “I don’t know, they might be here . . . . Ah, I have a few. Nothing too odd, oddly enough. That I can talk about. No kind of stalkers . . . yeah there were some stalkers. It’s always different. If my wife gets a stalker, it’s a deal. If I get a stalker, it’s not. It’s just kind of a standard line, ‘Oh it’s just a chick Michael! Who cares?! Ignore them, they’ll go away.’ But if someone from prison is writing my wife letters, then we’ve got an issue. Which is true, it’s standard.

“I’ve been asked to sign some strange things. Some of you might have asked me (looks around warily and then tries to smile). This is really awkward. I’ll sign anything. Well I have! There was this one gal somewhere in Europe that – you know (waves a hand like that says it all, but if you hadn’t heard about this already, you remained clueless), pleasure device . . . . And my first reaction to it was, ‘Absolutely no (censors himself again) way!’ And then I looked and twelve other people had already signed it. (Shrugs, and then rests his chin on his hand, prompting me to say, Oh please don’t think about it too much . . . ) Which now that I think about it . . . . was I then sharing what all the others had signed it had thought? So that was one of the oddest things I’ve signed, because you had to ask yourself the question, ‘Where has this been?’ Is it the thing that when you put up all your keepsakes on the wall and you show your friends that you have that autographed picture of Kenny Baker right by his R2D2 and you’ve got the Ian McKellen signed Gandalf staff, you’ve got that . . . thing . . . [Someone shouts, “That was the purpose!”] Was that the purpose?” Michael looked around and then did a complete, classic, hilarious double-take to look at the woman who shouted, his eyes practically popping out of his head! After watching Michael squirm, the fan said, “It wasn’t me, but I know that person!” Michael squirmed for a minute more and then decided it best to move on to the next question. Good choice!

I believe the question was, Where would you like to go off-world to? “Oh, me personally? It kind of depends on which off-world. None of the planets were they turn you into a cave man and give you eyebrows the size of (measures eyebrows 2 inches wide). That’s always one of my favorite stories.  You know that episode, what was it called? [Determined to make up for Vancouver where I messed up and Michael jibbed us for losing our grip on the series, I shouted “Broca Divide!!!” I was the first one to it! Michael’s eyebrows – his normal ones –popped up and he glanced in my direction, but then he turned the other way, hiding his face behind the mic. Was I quick enough for you that time Michael? 0:) ) “I would so loose the trivia contest.

“’Broca Divide’. They shot all Amanda [Tapping] and I with these ridiculous caveman eyebrows. While we’re there, they show us the scene where Richard [Dean Anderson] is in the prison cell, slowly turning into a cave man. We looked and went, ‘He looks fantastic! That’s not embarrassing at all. Why does he look so good? . . . He doesn’t have the eyebrows on. Why doesn’t Rick have the eyebrows on?!’ The makeup artist said, ‘(in a meek little placating voice) Well he just told us, ‘Absolutely not, no way.’’ For the first five episodes of the show we were all trying to be good sports, and be, ‘Oh yes! Absolutely! I’ll do it! You guys know what you want. I want to make you realize your vision.’ After that you sit there and go, ‘Ok, so my own taste quotient does have some validity, and if I don’t look like a fool it does benefit the production, and Richard is smart for saying no, and I should have too. Ok, I got it! I’ll know that for next time.’ But in the meantime, Caveman Daniel. (Does a thoroughly over-exaggerated impression of himself from ‘Broca Divide’, complete with unintelligible yells, but it looked more like Igor to me!) Yes, off-world, but to a nice beach planet somewhere.”

Michael was asked, How do you like filming things like Living Out Loud, where you don’t get shot at and you don’t get chased by anything? Is it boring? Would you do it again? Michael laughed and said, “You know what’s funny about that? It sounds like an odd question but it’s true! I read it and said, ‘You know what, this would be nice. The show is based in the simplicity of the acting and the complexity of the family situation, as close to real as possible. These thriller movies I do like Desperate Escape or whatever these Lifetime movies end up sort of being heightened a bit to a ‘Yeah right’ kind of things by the end of it. This is a story, kind of like Door to Door, it’s kind of a slice-of-life movie. I went into it and I said, ‘Wow this is really great. We’re keeping this really simple. This is a nice acting challenge,’ and it’s about that. After doing it for three and a half weeks, I went, ‘That was really fantastic, I really enjoyed doing—boy was that ever boring! I really want to go and shoot something right now. Honestly, I went, That was great that I got to do that. Could I do that every day? I don’t know. I’d probably go jump off a bridge. I think I’ve gotten so spoiled by all the action elements and stuff like that. When something doesn’t blow up or someone is not shooting at me, I think that something is wrong. (Shrugs)”

I was surprised by this story. It looks like Michael gave us the cheater’s answer back in 2004 when he was asked, “Who cut Daniel’s mop off for ‘Out of Mind’?” Michael put the blame on Hathor. Now we finally learned the truth! Michael was asked point blank, Was that your idea? “Yes, absolutely.  I justified it by saying I was doing Hamlet that winter, and so I wanted a traditional look for Hamlet so I needed to get my hair cut so they’d better include it in the show if they don’t want me to come back looking completely different at the end of the second season. I was lying. I didn’t need to have my hair cut that way for Hamlet. I just decided that now was as good a time as any to cut the damn thing because it was a pain in the butt. It was all my idea.” Thanks for clearing that up, Michael. Hathor thanks you.

This question just will not go away! Who’s a better kisser, Claudia Black or Ben Browder? We saw the pictures! Michael looked blank and then nervious and said “When you say ‘pictures’ . . . . ?” On the Internet. “On the internet. That doesn’t clarify anything. Did I sign them? Oh, these are public pictures? Oh, you mean from like Comic-Con! (Looks relieved) Yeah. Ben is a good kisser. (Rubs is forehead) Whoo! Ben kinda surprised me with that kiss at Comic-Con. That wasn’t planned at all. I’m going to go with Claudia on this one. She shaves (rubs his cheek).”

Do you know anything about the Stargate Worlds game, and do you have any role in it’s production, like voiceovers? “I think that’s in the later stages, and I don’t know. Something’s happened to it and I don’t know what. I think it’s a financial issue. They had called and wanted to book in some voiceover stuff for last Fall for me and they kept postponing it until they finally postponed it indefinitely. So I think there might be some financial difficulties. I know nothing more than probably you guys know about that particular thing. It’d be really disappointing to have another Stargate game go south on us, because we’d already done the voices for  . . . whatever that was going to be called. [“Alliance!”] Alliance. We’d already done the voicing for it, so I was really looking forward to playing first person shooter and being able to shoot Chris. They had Thor walking around in the multiplayer online version. I actually had to voiceover him talking some smack. ‘(In Thor’s non-computer enhanced voice, really obnoxious) Take that! Take that! There you go! How do you like that?’ (Winks at us) And other stuff that they didn’t keep that I can’t say in front of the children right now. So it would be a bit unfortunate if that went away, but who knows.” Does anybody smell a campaign project?

Is there anything that you fan-boy for? “Hockey. It was funny. Right before game five back in Vancouver between Chicago and the Canucks, I went to rehearsals for the British Columbian Television and Film Awards at the Mayshore Hotel in Vancouver. I’m walking to the ballroom that they are doing this rehearsal in, and I see the Sedin brothers and Alexandre walking out of their team breakfast in another one of the halls. I kind of had the same facial hair as the Sedin brothers, inadvertently, and I had a Team Canada hat on, so they kinda did a double take at me thinking I was a hockey player. I did a double take at them because they were so damn tall and Swedish (shows us how he looked up at the 6’1” and 6’2” hockey players). I went, ‘(curling up in his chair a bit, going gaga, his voice making me think of Homer Simpson) Yeah! Those are the Canucks!’ And those guys are younger than me too. It’s really pathetic, right? ‘(Looking up and going gaga again, pointing, voice even more like Homer than before) Canucks! Hockey player!’ So I’m a bit of a fan-boy.

“I also had a geeky moment around Bruce Campbell when I was working on Burn Notice. He’s Bruce Campbell! If you haven’t seen Arm of Darkness you don’t understand the magic. So when I was working around him I had to kinda of like, ‘(breathily, like he’s having a hard time speaking at all) Heeeeey Bruce.’ I eventually calmed down and was able to work with him but it was a little geekish.”

Speaking of hockey, did the Stargate team keep playing through to the end of the series? “Season 7 was the last year we had an organized team. Maybe they did another one the following year, I’m not sure, but that was the last one before my daughter was born the following year. That was all she wrote in terms of me being able to do  . . . anything. Then my son was born, so that was pretty much it for me.”

In ‘1968’—“1969!” we corrected! Michael laughed and said, “Oh give her a break! (mutters something about us fans)” You said you speak twenty-three different languages. Do you actually speak any besides English? Michael smirked and shook his head. “I speak a little bit of French. For the show you had to speak a little bit of Russian. Did you have to learn that? Yeah, oh yeah. I speak Spanish in another one too [‘Evolution Part 1’]. I had to learn that. I spoke German in another one [‘1969’], I think I talked about this recently. [Yep! Read the whole story from Vancouver here!] The dialect coach was Hungarian. She was teaching me how to speak in a German accent. That was quite funny. But yeah, I speak English and a little bit of French, but you have to speak very slowly to me (knocks on his head with the mic).”

In ‘Legacy’, how hard was it to play someone who was schizophrenic? “Oh it was easy. For some reason I just find crazy very easy. I don’t know why.”

I’m not entirely sure what the question was, but Michael had this to say about episodes that involved substitution and I believe he is specifically referring to role swapping as seen in ‘Holiday’.  “You access that kind of stuff once in a while, but to keep going back to those kind of places in terms of substitution is a little bit exhausting for an actor. Those scripts are always fun, but you’re glad they only come around once in a while.”

A fan asked if ‘Unending’ gave Michael a chance to do anything that he’d always wanted to do but never had the chance before. The question was a bit confusing. “Oh, no, that was all scripted. There was nothing like in . . . ‘Window . . . (Looks at us and we finish “Window of Opportunity!” Michael smiled and shook his head) Do I even need to be up here? So something like ‘Window of Opportunity’-like stuff where Rick was riding the bike around the halls and doing the clay stuff, the pottery business. That was all stuff they had to add in after the fact to flesh out what he might do in between. The golfing and stuff like that was all stuff that was added. They just sort of sat there and brainstormed ideas. Rick’s girlfriend at the time had him in a pottery class, so he said, ‘Hey, let’s to that!’ Chris was big into golfing so they decided they were going to golf a little bit. DeLuise had them doing the juggling bit and they expended it so they were both doing the juggling, so there was a lot more improve. In ‘Unending’ I think that was all pretty tightly scripted, the way it all sort of panned out.”

We needed some more original questions by this point. Who did you like kissing the best? “(Looking up innocently) Hmmmm. My wife. (Looks around shrewdly) Because although you never saw it on camera, Dr. Lam and Daniel had a thing. She was the best kisser.” Purely to push Michael’s buttons because that was not the answer that the fan was hoping for, she asked, How long did it last? Michael thought for a bit, and said, “Eight years and counting. [We cheered] Whooo! Dodged a bullet there, huh?”

Can you tell us anything about the story arc for Stargate Universe and what role Daniel might have in it? “I don’t know. (Pouts/frowns) I really I don’t.  I think . . . well who knows what to talk about with that show, right? I did an interview where they asked me if I was going to appear in Stargate Universe. I said, ‘Yeah, I’m doing a cameo’. Immediately after this interview got online somewhere I got a call from publicity saying. ‘Michael, you can’t tell anybody that! It’s supposed to be a secret!’ (Glares around with the ‘What the heck’ look on his face again, looks confused and says) I was thinking, if you’re going to have me and Rick and Amanda on the show, you’re going to promote that fact to get the viewers who watched SG-1 to watch this show. Isn’t that why we’re there? I didn’t tell them that, ‘(in mock excitement) Oh man! This happened, and that happened, and Destiny this and this character that, and oh wow!’ I said, ‘I’m on it.’ ‘Don’t tell anybody that!’

“So I don’t know what I can tell you. I can mention that I did a guest spot. It was odd. That’s the best way to put it. I’m not going to go into the story detail because I still don’t get it. I played a figment of Robert Carlyle’s imagination. Then they asked me to do one when I get back from Australia sometime in late September, and I said to Rob [Cooper], ‘Is this more of me being a figment of his imagination?’ He went, ‘No! No, you’re actually Daniel.’ (Looks at us, thoroughly confused) How does that work? So I don’t know what the plan is. They’re keeping everything kind of tight-lipped, so I don’t know. I know that I enjoyed very much working with Robert Carlyle, and Rob Cooper directed the episode, so I look forward to working with Robert Carlyle again and again if given the opportunity. But in terms of what the arc would be, I don’t know.”

Michael was asked a question about working with director Peter DeLuise. Why this answer suites the question beats me because I can’t figure out exactly what the question was! It seems to have had something to do with missing items of clothing. “I’ve run into a couple of directors like that, actually. Peter likes to ‘(in a very good imitation of Peter’s voice) strip the actors down and get them naked because that’s what the girlies want to see!’ I don’t know if he’s doing it for the viewer or his own personal enjoyment. (Shrugs)”

There have been rumors that we may see a Stargate movie in theaters. Is there any truth in that? “No. I believe the reason that there cannot be a Stargate movie to the cinemas is pragmatic. Canal+ helped fund the original Stargate feature with MGM, and so they own a legitimate share in any money that’s made off of another theatrical released Stargate movie. But they also aren’t obligated to invest a dime. So if MGM made a 30 million dollar SG-1 movie, Canal+ would take, I don’t know, some percentage, 30, 40, 50% of the gross without having to contribute anything. That’s why we’re kind of confined to having to do straight to DVD stuff because they don’t actually have a stake in that.

“As far as I know, who knows when we’re going to get to doing another DVD movie. I don’t know. There’s all sorts of excuses being made as to why we’re not doing it. Some of them sound legitimate. I should actually address this point because no one has asked about it. I guess, what I was told by talking to the guys is that MGM is reluctant to make the movies right now because the economy is not doing well, as we know, and DVD sales have dropped significantly, apparently, the last 6, 8 months to a year. What we don’t want to do – and when I say ‘we’ I mean myself, you guys, and the company – is if we plan on doing these movies every couple years or whatever it’s going to be, MGM has a huge amount of debt they have to finance all this stuff, so they have to find investors to work with them to make these movies possible. The minute one of ours goes south, if we make a move right away and it and we put it out in the DVD market and it doesn’t make the money back that it promised it’s investors, when you turn around and try and make another one two years from now, those investors and other investors look at the ballot sheet and go, ‘Why? This is not a profit making venture.’ As much as we all love and want to see more stories told, the minute we kind of mess one up, we can’t do them anymore. So we kinda want to do it right. We want to wait to do it right as opposed to risk doing it wrong and have the whole thing go to pot. That’s the reason I was given in terms of the delay. They keep pushing it forward. I mean heck, we were supposed to be doing it in the summer time, then it was the fall, and now I’m hearing December or January.” So bottom line is we need a billionaire Stargate fan to help MGM out and not care about getting their investment back. Any volunteers?

No idea what prompted this, but I wrote it down and it’s funny and completely random. I think it might have to do with Michael’s tendency to let swear words slip here and there, so he said, “You’re potty training  me. That isn’t to say there weren’t accidents along the way cuz, even coming here. (Grimaces) I don’t know what I had on the plane last night. Anyway . . . “

How and when did you decide to pursue acting as a career? “I did plays and stuff all through school. I grew up in a small town. I ended up going to university to get a business degree, but I really loved acting and kind of did it on the side. Oddly enough we were filming up at my university the other day, and I ended up filming in the classroom that I failed calculus in. Which I thought was kind of ironic because that was the only course I ever failed in my life and me failing that course is actually what prompted me to turn around and become an actor because I was going to have to wait another whole year to take some electives before I could transfer into the commerce program I wanted. Instead I said, ‘Ah screw it, I’m just going to be an actor!’ and I put all my eggs in the theater basket. So it was ironic that 13 years – 13, oh my God, what are we talking, 15? – 15 years later I was filming in the very room in which I failed. It was kind of ironic.”

Well folks, we’ve reached the end. My hand gave out after this one. You’ve been asked what your favorite episode is. What about you’re least favorite. “’Hathor’! Sweet Jesus! Then here was ‘Space Race’. Christopher had to walk around in what looked like a bellhop’s outfit.  And then you had the big gay alien, Patrick Currie. ‘(In a pretty good imitation of how Patrick sounded as Eamon) Oh I don’t know why he would do that!’ (Looks incredulous and then shakes his head, slack jawed) ‘Space Race’ was a jump-the-shark episode for me in terms of where we shouldn’t go with it. A.)We’re doing the Star Wars pod race with a bunch of prosthetic aliens, and to add fuel to the fire there was that awful sports commentating c%@& in between.”

Just when I thought I’d heard all of Michael’s stories, he tells a dozen new ones. THAT is why he comes to Chicago every year, and Michael, Chicago loves you! See you next year!

Next up, Amanda Tapping takes the stage in Chicago for the first time since 2004, and it was great to finally see her again! This report will be contributed by RadioStar while I go on to Paul McGillion and Rachel Luttrell – together! This is going to be fun!