The SyFy Press Tour began with a panel discussion in the Gate Room of the Destiny with creator/writer/producer/director/aficionado, Brad Wright, and the major cast members of Stargate: Universe (Robert Carlyle, David Blue, Lou Diamond Philips, Alaina Huffman, Ming Na, Louis Ferreira, Brian J. Smith, Elyse Levesque, Jamil Walker Smith) moderated by Mark Stern, EVP, Original Programming, Syfy and Co-Head, Original Content, Universal Cable Productions

Before the cast members joined us, Brad demonstrated the Stargate in action and briefly explained the uniqueness of Destiny's Stargate. It is the prototype Gate of the Ancients who seeded the universe with the other Stargates seen previously in Stargate: SG1 and Stargate: Atlantis. ("Seeder ships, not cedar ships")

The cast members joined us at this point and once introductions were made,

Q: (directed to Robert Carlyle) Did you watch the entire franchise and what did you get coming out of the experience?

RC: I didn't watch all of it to be honest with you so I don't know how long that takes.  But I watched maybe a dozen or so.  What I was surprised about was, when I put some of the DVDs in, was how much of the show, of SG1, I'd already seen.  Of course no big surprise - it's such a successful franchise, shown all over the world every night.

Q: How did it feel coming into the franchise?

RC:  When the idea was first given to me, I wasn't that enthusiastic about it to be honest, I thought this is very strange, a strange world.  But once I spoke with Brad and Rob Cooper and they kind of explained to me what kind of show they were trying to put together then I began to understand why they were looking, if not necessarily at me, then someone like me.  It all kind of fitted together.

Q: Where are you in the production schedule?

BW: We're filming episode 19 of 20 right now so we're near the end actually and I can tell you right now that this is the best season of television I've ever been associated with.  I'm very very proud of this season and we're gonna end with a big bang.  It's BIG.  It's a very ambitious two-part episode that we're ending the season with.

Q: You guys are so connected on Twitter which is something unique.  How did that start?  How many responses do you get a day from the fans?  Is that getting overwhelming now that the season has started?

DB: I have a weird feeling they want me to answer this. It was really funny how different it was during and after the premiere.  We had this fun idea.  We were all getting together to watch the premiere at my house, obviously to distract ourselves from the fact that it was premiering, and I decided to set up the laptop on my kitchen counter and people could just pass by.  I think Jamil hijacked it for an hour and a half.  And I think that's what really changed it all.  Before that, you'd get the occasional Twitter reply, like twenty a day, twenty-five a day.  And I think the day after we premiered, I get like two hundred forty-something.  It's different now and hard for me to quantify it.  I was on Twitter beforehand.  I thought it was a great way to connect with the fans.  Honestly, I just used it for fun to follow friends of mine and people who I like and catch up on breaking news.  Kind of a lazy man's way of watching the news.  And I slowly started convincing everyone.  And everyone's response at first was pretty much, "Pssh, no-o-o, that's so stupid.  I'm not ..." and now half of them are on Twitter. So let's just leave it at that.

LDP: I got onto it during the summer when I was out of the country through my wife, who's a techno-geek and has had to turn the computer on for me on occasion.  She got me on because I was out of the country and she was going to let people know what I was up to and as far as the responses go... usually when I cook, I end up getting a lot more responses.

DB: From me usually.  I want to eat it.

AH: Because he posts the menu of what he's cooking and it always sounds good.

DB: Anything you glaze is better than I can cook

Q: Universe is getting a lot of comparisons to Battlestar Galactica.  How do you feel about getting those types of comparisons?

MN: I think it's so normal.  Having been on television for so many years, [I know, for instance that] any new medical dramas that would come out would be compared to ER.  It's inevitable.  We're a sci-fi show.  It's set in a space ship out in another galaxy and I think those are the basis premises where we will get the comparisons.  But I think once the fans and new audience members start watching the show, we will find our own identity because we feel like this is a very unique and special entity and we're really proud.  It'll just take time, that's all.  I don't mind those comparisons.

BW: Exactly, I really like being compared to really good shows... than being compared to bad shows... because I've been on the other side.  And "the next Gilligan's Island" is not something that I... The other funny thing that people are saying is "It's just like Lost" and they're fighting over which it's more like.  The fact is that we've done a good job at being derivative of many many many shows.  We're our own entity just as Ming Na pointed out.  The fact is Stargate has been around for a long time, it's still Stargate.  This is season 16 of something called Stargate.  We had to change it up if we're going to stay on the air and if we're going to stay fresh.

Q: What's the different takeaway is for viewers who are fans of the franchise vs. total neophytes?  This has been said to be the Stargate that you don't need to have watched the other Stargates to watch.

MN: Well, going back to Twitter.  I think what's so wonderful is that for me it's like Internet Theatre.  You get immediate response from fans and it's so satisfying when you get die-hard, what they call the "true blue", Stargate fans and they were resistant to wanting to like this show and when I get the response that they are loving it, they're enjoying the new Stargate, that's all I need to be satisfied.

DB: I think my family is a good example.  The first thing they asked me when I got cast was,"Do we need to go rent all of SG1 and all of Atlantis?" and I was like,"Please do..." To me it's kind of like an Easter Egg thing. If you're a fan before, there's so much in the show for you to really enjoy and really pick up on and experience as a fan but if you're watching it for the first time, we won't lose you. You know, I kind of like being that character who's new to the show, to kind of be the fan who's never seen it. So, to quote "Air: Part 1 and 2", if we're talking about the Lucian Alliance then someone has to tell me who they are so I can help with the problem. I mean, it goes both ways for us. You can be a fan and follow the ride just as much as a new person.

MS: That's really important for us and I know that it's really important for Brad and Robert to NOT just have this be Chapter Three and I think David Blue's character, Eli, is a really great addition to this and, in fact, what's really great about this show is that these aren't the people that are supposed to be here so everything is new for them, as it is for the audience, so they're all trying to figure it out. It isn't like there's a lot of jargon and when you have jargon, someone's always gotta say, "What the hell are you talking about?" and I think that was a very deliberate choice and yet for the fan, Robert and Brad's voice and their writing team's voice comes through so there's a lot to love as a Stargate fan in terms of the team, in terms of the camaraderie, the humour, and yet it has a whole new reinvention that you don't need to know anything else to enjoy.

Q: Brad, an you talk about how "inside baseball" you can be within the Stargate franchise and how much you want to make sure you can use David's character to let in people who don't know otherwise?

BW: Obviously, I feel that the show is very accessible to the new viewer and I love the Easter Egg comparison because for those people who have been fans of the show, we are very true to the canon. Because it's the same bunch of guys and people who have been making this show - directors, writers - for many, many years, we take very great care NOT to contradict ourselves in terms of what the Stargate World is all about. Stargate World is a game... Stargate Universe, can't use that either... Stargate is all about. My feeling is that when people like, love, something, they want it to last forever. I got letters from people asking,"Why did you have to stop Stargate: SG1 after ten seasons? It had so much farther to go and..." Ten seasons is a long time and I truly believe that being static, not evolving, can lead to the death of a franchise and I think we've seen examples of that in other shows that tried to do the same model and so... Are we trying to have our cake and eat it too? To a certain extent, absolutely. But part of that just comes from the fact: we are who we are. We write the show, it's our sensibilities. As Mark pointed out, we have a sense of humour we can't help ourselves embuing in the characters in the show. And at the very same time we are very mindful of trying to make the visual changes, the more character-driven storylines, as opposed to what we've done before. We're trying to move forward and at the same time, be mindful and respectful of the fans that have brought us to this point. And I know it's a tall order. All I can tell you is that, if you watch the show, I think we've succeeded.

Q: For Lou Diamond Phillips, any scars from the rat-biting incident on "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here"? and any opportunity to integrate your status as king of the jungle and, if so, how?

LDP: Yes (holds up right hand) there's the one that took five stitches and, if you look closely, there are the other teeth marks that are there. Very proud to say that Brad and Robert and the rest of the writers are doing their best to scar me on SGU. Seems like every time I show up on the ship, I get my ass kicked. Which is odd since I'm the tallest person on the cast but I think, coming up, Ming Na's going to kick my ass which'll be great...

MN: I'll do it right now! (laughter)

LDP: And yeah, I was King of the Jungle, I was King of Siam, I've been the King of England and, you know, I think I'm going to start working on queens next.

Q: How typical of how [SGU] develops is the first episode?

BW: I can safely say we maintain and build upon the visual style that we started with in the pilot. It was something of a gear change for us and, in fact, I think we've just gotten better at it. We found new shots. When you're exploring a set, discovering a new set, you go "Oh, man!" when you find a great new angle or a great new way of shooting a sequence in a set that you've been eighteen episodes in, that's an exciting thing. I tell folks, "Guys, get used to it." You know, we've been shooting episode 160 and still found new things. That can happen. I think I can safely say that the look, the feel, the sense of scope and, in fact, frankly, the look of expense that we started in the pilot continues on. We spent a lot of money on this show. Rob did an episode, Episode 7, that was enormous. I mean, just huge in terms of what we tried to pull off. We did an episode called "Light". I don't want to tell too many things about it but it looks like a feature in terms of the scope of the visual effects and we did an episode called "Water" which is, I think, the sixth episode, that has whole CG environments on an alien planet. Frozen waterfalls and frozen lakes. I mean, it looks unbelievable. So, in many ways, we build even beyond where we started in terms of the scope.

MS: We keep calling it a pilot but really it wasn't a pilot. It was a two-hour premiere as opposed to a pilot where you may dump a whole lot of money into the pilot and then you get to the episodes and it's not quite the same economics. They've had the continuity of the two-hour, or I guess really three-hour episode premiere that kicked it off but really then were able to flow right into the episodes. It wasn't like all these sets had to be torn down and then rebuilt and we had to wait and I think that helped [the cast] to find that continuing quality.

BW: You're absolutely right. It really really helps to know that you're going into twenty and you can allocate resources along the way instead of having to play the pilot waiting game.

Q: How is the show going to approach female characters differently than it has in the past?

MN: After meeting Amanda Tapping... I think she was an incredibly integral part of the beginning of Stargate. For me, I didn't know the Stargate franchise as well until I started watching and doing my research and she's an amazing and amazingly strong and wonderful female character and I think it continues with Stargate: Universe.

BW: We have strong storylines for all of the women this season.

Q: Robert and Lou, can you talk about the transition coming from film to television?

RC: For me, I've always enjoyed, much preferred in fact, a television schedule to a film schedule especially the bigger budget world where you're spending most of your week in a trailer. At least, when you're on TV, you're on most of the day. You got like six or seven scenes then you very rarely get back to the trailer. You get back for a cigarette and that's it. So, I enjoy them. I much prefer that in fact. It's not that big a transition for me, not really that much of a change. It might seem so but a lot of my work back home in Europe has been in and around television. Five or six years ago, I played Hitler for CBS and I did another piece, actually shot in Montreal, called "Human Trafficking". Both these pieces were quite successful. I enjoyed that, dipping my toe in US television water so it's much the same for me.

LDP: For me, the big difference is that in a film, you've got your beginning, middle and end. You know what the story's going to be and you know what the entire arc of your character is going to be. Like Shrek, I'm like an onion. The layers keep getting peeled back and... (switch to Eddie Murphy Donkey voice) "How 'bout a parfait? Everybody likes parfait!" (laughter)... but it's exciting, you know? Every single one of these characters ... When David gets a script... or especially when Ming got the script where she found out she was gay! "Really?! OK!" You know it's a little Christmas present every week. But the experience itself... I mean, yes, it's a little more quick in television. You're shooting six pages a day or whatever as opposed to two but I must say that the experience of making Stargate: Universe is very much like a film for me. It's this ongoing saga. It's not episodic. We don't tie everything up at the end of every episode so you're always wondering where your character is going. Walking onto these sets... please, I've walked onto a lot of film sets that didn't look this good so I really feel that the level of quality, the money that's put into it, certainly the level of this cast and of the writing, is comparable to anything I've ever done on a feature film. So it's quite a comfortable place to be.

Q: This is such a large ensemble cast. As actors, is there anything you do to stand out?

RC: It's not a competition.

BJS: You have to trust the writing. For me it was great to use the first three hours of the show, since the Colonel's been pretty seriously wounded, to see Scott step up and take command and he's definitely a rookie and he's got that kind of nervous energy about him. I think what you'll find though is that as we go through the season, you're going start to see characters pop out that Brad and Rob have given opportunities to. People that aren't even sitting here right now. I can think of some of my favourite moments in "Darkness", which you'll see in a couple of weeks that features some amazing moments for some actors that aren't with us here today and that's a testament to Brad and Rob. They really do spread the love around and we're given such great moments, you just hop on the ride and let the story speak for itself. You trust, you hope, that people are going to like it.

LF: Just adding to what Brian said, our job is to play the character and not our egos and I think that there's a lot of, sometimes, that's the very thing that will turn me off a show. What's great about this particular group is that we do trust the writing. If people were to play that, it would actually stand out, it wouldn't work within the format of the show. Our job is to do duty to what's written on the page and like Bobby said, it's not a competition. No one's here trying to find their career within this thing. We're trying to be honest to these characters in this situation which is really a story about survival and starting from the beginning and I think that's what's really brilliant about the show.

AH: I think too that the collaboration is actually what will strengthen the show and what will make this show that much more successful. We all get the opportunity to play off each other. And there are certain moments that maybe aren't traditional for, say, my character is the First Lieutenant but I have little girlfriend moments with Elyse's character and some of the other supporting female characters and those really round out and add the human element which I think will really strengthen the storylines.

BJS: I want to say too... You mentioned the word "collaborative". I think on a show like this there's a lot of expectation that we feel because it's written in such a realistic way, the situations are so complex and layered. It's great to be working with writers and directors who, we can show up on the day, show up to rehearsal and say "Hey, I have this idea. Can I ... maybe instead of this line, what about this? I have a piece of business I'd like to try. Do you think that'll work?" We did a scene the other day. We were halfway through shooting it and we figured out the scene and reblocked it. You don't get to do that on a lot of shows where it's just conventional coverage. The format and the way we do this show is very very collaborative. As an actor, my gosh, it's exciting to work on.

LDP: I'd like to say too, from Day One, and having been in a lot of situations, this is truly an ensemble. There is no hierarchy here. This show rests on everyone's shoulders, not one or two people. This is a star vehicle but it's not a "star vehicle". (laughter) Hey, hey, somebody's gotta do it! (laughter subsides) And everyone shines and one of the things that I gotta say, that I'm so incredibly proud of, and I tweeted about it (laughter), every one of these actors that you may not know as well, you will know quite well by the end of this season. They turn in star-making turns. It's like an Olympic volleyball team. Wherever the ball goes - set up, spike, whatever - everybody nails it and I'm ridiculously proud of this cast and I'm very very proud to be a part of it.

MN: And what I love is that we always compliment each other or, you know, give each other high-fives. It's such a wonderful feeling of... not relating to sports, but it is that. We're a team and we're here to do the best that we can and it's such a good feeling when that happens.

BW: Bobby and I were talking about mid-way through the season actually and actually even beyond that, because it's the first time in my career that we had gone so long making the show without going on the air. It kind of just worked out that way and it was actually terrific for us for a couple of reasons, not the least of which were production. We were able to juggle a few things and put more of the screen that way. But Bobby and I were saying, it's been about the process. We came to work every day. We got together as a group of people and made the show that we cared about and interacted as a team of people, almost like a... it felt like rehearsal... I know a lot of these people have been in a theatre company. When you're in a theatre company, you're working together for a long time. Before opening night, you get a real sense of bonding and our opening night was after we had been doing this show for quite a long time and that, I really think, bonded us in such a way and cemented this cast because it was about the process, it was about being together and doing the work and maybe that is a magic formula and I'll certainly look at that again. It certainly paid huge dividends for us this time around. We've really enjoyed working together.

Q: This question's for David. Did you find a similarity (between your character, Eli, and yourself) in being "beamed" into a cast with Robert Carlyle and Lou Diamond Phillips?

DB: Well, I think my third day of shooting was with Robert and Richard Dean Anderson. So, when your third day of shooting is essentially being inducted into the Stargate franchise, it tends to play pretty well as an actor, not a lot of pretending going on. There's a lot of similarities between myself and Eli. I mean, I have a lot more knowledge about the Stargate world and all that than Eli really does, but it's hard to say. This place is so immersive, this environment that we're in right now. I mean, look around at this set. It feels like you're in the Stargate Room of a spaceship. I kind of feel like I'm cheating as an actor most of the time. Acting opposite Robert Carlyle or RDA or LDP or anyone sitting up here right now, I don't really feel like I'm pretending very often. And I am different than Eli! I'm just throwing that out there. (laughter) Eli doesn't Twitter. Anymore. Doesn't have good service.

EL: He blogs

DB: There's a lot of differences but it definitely was great to just kind of jump into things. One of the first scenes that we actually shot... I think THE first scene that we shot was Eli getting beamed up and being inducted into it by Rush and it was a great way to kick of the show, for myself anyway cause it was trial by fire. I was thrown into the fire before I really knew Robert and before I really knew the crew and it was a big green-screen special effects shot with Rush and Eli and it's just really just thrown into there and we haven't stopped since. We've just picked up speed. It's great.

Q: Jamil and Elyse, can you just talk about your characters and what you like best about the characters?

EL: Absolutely. I think what I love best about Chloe is that she's really a fish out of water in this situation. She has no military training. She has no medical training. And she's not a scientist. So we really see her struggle with this need to feel useful and not a waste of space, to prove herself to these people. I think it's interesting. It's kind of a departure from a lot of the other characters that we typically see, particularly female characters that we see, in sci-fi shows. She's a very real girl in a way that I think is kind of like, and Eli as well, an example of you and me in that situation and how we would cope with it. And it's really interesting to see what human beings do in extreme situations.

JWS: Hello. *grins* I spoke! Ronald Greer. He's got a lot of heart and he's passionate about what he does and that's something that, as an artist, I can relate to and that gets him going. And also, him being a Marine and me being from the States and there being a war going on... Guys wearing what I'm wearing everyday as I speak... I know I also feel a tremendous amount of responsibility to represent those individuals and do it in a way that kind of puts my opinions about whatever I think on the backburner and bring to the forefront the humanity and what kind of makes someone like this tick. So, to a civilian, they may look at someone like him or a Marine and say that they're angry or they have a chip on their shoulder but once you go to that world and that thought process of a soldier, you come to find out that that anger, that chip, is really a focussed sort of belief and an understanding of what you have... what you're doing, what you have to do in order to, every day, play the game of life and death. And something that's interesting on this show is, as the show goes on, exploring that relationship between military, civilians and scientists. There's great metaphors that Brad and Robert touched on in those relationships that come out on the ship.

Q: Now that you've done 19 out of 20 episodes and you've all spoken about the ensemble atmosphere and the fact that everyone collaborates and works together, I'm getting a sense of family. There's roles within families. Can any one of you speak to how you feel your role is when you're off-camera, working together, the interactions between you all?

DB: That's hard because we're all such equal goofballs.

MN: I was just going to say that! I was going to say goofballs.

DB: If it's like a family, then we're all brothers and sisters because we all make each other laugh. I think we all care about each other, giving each other hugs, "How are you doin' today? You wanna grab a bite to eat?". It's pretty equal... I dunno. What do you guys think?

JWS: I would definitely say that Louis Ferreira and Carlyle... they definitely are the papas. (laughter as RC and LF lean together and comment on how they're so proud of their babies) They definitely bring us along. I know that anytime I have a question about anything or I'm feeling something and I'm trying to figure something out, their doors are always LITERALLY open and it's great. And Ming, she's like the aunt.

MN: Awww... I can be your mama. That's okay! He's being so sweet.

BW: Now, it's getting weird.

MN: Okay, I'll be auntie...

BW: I've been doing this a long time, made a lot of television, and when you have people who are international stars like Robert Carlyle as number one on your call sheet, you bring people who want to come and work with that level of talent. And the inclusiveness, the ensemble feeling you're getting, comes from the top, it comes from his desire to make that environment. Louis's the same way. He's also made a lot of television, he's also made a lot of films and these guys together, that's why they say that they're the papas, they have created an environment where [it's always] "Come on, let's do this together". There's no bad ideas. The lack of hierarchy is because they've decided there isn't one and that's not how they work. That is a testament to them and I'm very proud to be working with them.

DB: I hope I'm not speaking out of turn but I hold this story very dear. I hope you won't be offended, Robert, but when we were doing the scene when we all come through the Gate for the first time, that you saw on "Air: Part 1", there are stunt doubles available for when you're shooting through this thing and, of course, they had one for Robert Carlyle and when it came time for him to come through, he just threw himself, just threw himself down to the ground to come through and I think that set the tone for the entire season and the entire show which is him saying, "Look, I don't care if I'm number one. I'm here to work" and it just carried it through.

Q: Who has made the biggest transition over these nineteen episodes so far?

AH: I think we've all grown in our characters. It's an overwhelming experience. We're literally thrown through the Stargate onto this ship and we're all put in a circumstance that we're not familiar with and we're not prepared for so we all definitely, in the nineteen or twenty episodes, really grow into our characters and... that's all I'm going to say.

BW: Let me just say this: By the mid-point in the season, circumstances and the relationships reach a point where you might think it's impossible for these people to exist together further and then they do and it's very very engaging.

Q: David Blue, a question sent to me over Twitter. Do you have a favourite moment so far?

DB: You know, you guys aren't making it easy for me to stop getting teased about Twitter on this set. Half of them have joined and yet still, everyday, "You going to Twitter it, Dave?" My answer's a very selfish one just because I love working with these people. We had a scene in the room where we pretty much congregate. It was the first day in a couple of days that we had all really worked altogether in the same scene. You know, it was a pretty relaxed scene and we couldn't stop laughing and talking and I'm pretty sure the crew just got massively angry at us but we were just having a blast. As an actor, that really meant a lot to me 'cause it made me realize ... it was one of those days where you kind of step outside of yourself and have an epiphany and say, "Oh my god, this is what I've been fighting for my whole life and this is what I want."

MN: Your whole life. Like you're what?

DB: My whole life. I'm like ninety-five. I just look really young. Moisturizer. (laughter) On a more "show" standpoint, it's hard because if we were here all day, I could list for you one with each of these people. I really love scenes where the world melts away and you find you kind of blur the line between yourself and the character. It's not until they yell "Cut" that you remember that you're not Eli. And they all bring something to the table that ... Sometimes the first rehearsal is my favourite thing just because they shock me with what they do. I'm like, "Oh my god, I never would've... When I read that in the script, I never thought that's what you were going to do with it. That's amazing!" So, I hate to do it in a roundabout way but that's the way I have to answer that.

MS: Thank you all for your participation in being part of the show and, as [the press] can tell, they're at the end of their season and they still have this level of excitement and commitment to each other and to this show and that's saying a lot about where this show goes and how much more there is to do on this journey in terms of the episodes. We're very excited about it.

Stay tuned for more from my visit to Vancouver and the SyFy Press Tour including info on Caprica and Alice!

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