 
GW: Chris from Ireland wants to know which episode from Season Four has been your favorite.
AT: Season Four of Atlantis?
GW: Correct.
Tapping stands tall and faces her fear of hights in "Trio." | |
AT: Good, because I can't remember Season Four of Stargate SG-1. "Trio" for sure. "Trio" was so much fun to shoot. It's a nice little stand-alone episode. It's a little bottle show. It takes place in a very small set. For me personally it was a lot of fun working with David and Jewel, both of whom I adore and just had a blast working with. But also I conquered a big fear of mine, which is my fear of heights.
GW: Oh really?
AT: Yeah, it's a massive fear of mine. Huge, huge, huge. And I had to confront that and act at the same time, and actually be the only character who's comfortable with heights when I was actually the only actor who wasn't. Things like that. Just getting up and walking a beam in a harness sand not crying, which I did, at first. Then I stopped.
For a lot of different reasons "Trio" was really an important episode for me, but it was also, at the heart of it, the bottom line, it was really, really, really fun. David Hewlett and Jewel and I could not stop laughing. I have fond memories to that.
GW: A lot of the fans are wondering "Yes, she is base commander now, but when are we going to see that sexual tension pop up again?" Is this the episode?
AT: Not really. We do talk about our relationships. But there's not really a sexual tension. There's a couple of nice bantering moments between everyone. Even right off the top there's some nice "girls against the guy" moments. David's character is so easy to make fun of.
GW: Well he just asks for it.
AT: He does kind of ask for it. The socially inept qualities of McKay make it very easy to laugh in his general direction, so it starts right off the top. So it's not really sexual tension, more of a nice comfortable banter. Yeah. I think the fans will enjoy it. There's some really sweet moments in there.
GW: Were you responsible for the images in Carter's office?
AT: No. Actually I had asked that there be certain things. Our set dec[oration] department is so on top of it. When I came in they had pictures. The only thing I was responsible for putting in there was a mug which is from the Waterkeeper Alliance, which is a charity I'm helping. And it makes sense to me that Carter would have a Waterkeeper's mug, A, because it's a great charity, but also because Atlantis is surrounded by water, and the need to protect water is not lost on her.
That was the only thing that I was responsible for bringing in. The fact that they put a picture of my Dad and of Cassandra and of my boys, that all made sense to me.
GW: I was really surprised to see the picture of Colleen [Rennison, "Cassandra] there. I was like, "Where did they get that? That is keeping on top of it!"
AT: That's our set dec department! They're awesome!
GW: And even though we haven't seen her a lot, it's within our hopes that those two did keep in touch, that her and Cassandra were together a lot.
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" Carter's advice to Woolsey would be to get the stick out of his ass."
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AT: Yeah, more than just keep in touch, too, I would say. Very much a part of her life. Especially with what happened to Janet Fraiser. Sam completely takes over and is responsible for making sure that Cassandra gets her education. Although we don't bring it up in the show as much as I had hoped that we would, Sam is a huge part of Cassandra's life.
GW: Did you regret that we never really got to see her again?
AT: Yeah. Yeah, I do. I think even just to have the explanation. I know that there's odd lines in the later episodes of Stargate where Sam alludes to Cassandra, but it would have been nice to see her.
GW: It was uncomfortable for me -- she wasn't even at the memorial service, although we have to just imagine that she was there.
AT: Yeah, or imagine that she wasn't, and then you could come up with a million different reasons why. But yeah, I thought that would've been the perfect-case scenario to have her there. And I don't know whether it was actor availability or what made that final decision, but it would've made a lot more sense to me if she was there.
GW: Melora was wondering if you have any advice for Robert Picardo about joining the show full-time, and what advice you think Sam would give to Woolsey about being the leader of Atlantis.
AT: I would tell Woolsey to chill out a little bit, tell him to get the stick out of his ass. Robert Picardo is such a nice guy. I know that, again, sounds like lip service and it's not. He really is a nice, nice man. He's been on a series before. He knows the cast of this series really well. He plays a wonderful character. He's a talented actor. I think he's just going to sit in beautifully. And whenever he's around on the Atlantis sets he has a great time and the cast loves him so [much].
Carter's advice to Woolsey would be to get the stick out of his ass. Amanda's advice to Bob is to have a good time. He will. He will. He's the type of person that will. I have no doubt, he just makes fun wherever he goes. He's this really, really easy-going guy.
GW: I met him in LA and he's just one of my personal heroes.
AT: Isn't he lovely?
GW: He's so cool.
Richard Woolsey will replace Carter as leader of the Atlantis expedition in Season Five, likely due to pressure from the IOA. | |
AT: He's been in the industry long enough. There's nothing I could say to him that he doesn't already know. Like I said, he's just the kind of guy that makes it comfortable wherever he goes. People around him really comfortable.
GW: And I thought it was a bold choice to bring him in because he's part of an oversight advisory that's so stick-in-the-mud and "Do all this by the book."
AT: Absolutely.
GW: But I think the general direction that I imagine they're going for is at the end of his journey he's going to be such a strong advocate for this team that it's not even going to be funny.
AT: Yeah, I think at the end of the day that's exactly what's going to happen, but I think that the tension in getting there is going to be quite fun to watch.
GW: Yeah, and worthy of a season or two. Good deal. Susan from New York City: "We know about Carter's many strengths. What do you think her weaknesses are?"
AT: Hmm.
GW: Chocolate?
AT: Chocolate! [Laughter] I think Carter tends to go too serious at times. She's a little bit too work-centric, and sometimes doesn't always stop and smell the roses. I think that's such an important part of being a well-rounded person. Actually take stock of your life every now and again. Sit back. Take five minutes with yourself and say "Where am I at and what am I doing?" And Carter's just so busy with her career and with work. Saving the planet is a pretty heady job, but she needs to relax more.
GW: Her life's going to fly by if she doesn't realize it.
AT: I think there have been moments where she caught a hold of that, but then she lets it go. I think that she needs to do what I did part way through shooting Stargate, which was sit back and go "Wait a second. There's work and there's life," and I can't bring anything to my work if I don't have a good life. And vice versa. She needs to chill out a little bit.
GW: And I was always hoping for a little bit of levity. I remember you did a season seven interview with SCI FI. "When do I get to be funny? Sam's not funny. Damn her!"
AT: Yeah! She's slowly lightened up. As the seasons went on she got more of a sense of humor, found it easier to laugh. But yeah, it would've been really nice to see her have a really good goofy sense of humor.
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