Picardo praises SG-1‘s ninth season

“I am always amazed when I travel abroad that Stargate has become huge,” says actor Robert Picardo. “[It’s] huge in Britain. It’s far eclipsed Star Trek. It’s now huge in Germany. I understand they’re making big inroads in other countries.”

Picardo, long-known to science fiction fans as the much-loved Emergency Medical Hologram on Star Trek: Voyager, spoke with GateWorld about his upcoming return to Stargate SG-1 as N.I.D. Agent Richard Woolsey, and his feelings about the show’s new cast. Woolsey made his debut in Season Seven’s “Heroes, Part 2” and “Inauguration.”

In Season Nine’s “Prototype,” which has already been filmed, Woolsey will return to remind the new S.G.C. commander that he, too, has a responsibility to consider civilian oversight in the operation of the base.

“What was exciting in general to me to be back on the show is that Ben Browder is such a terrific infusion in an already great cast,” Picardo told GateWorld. “He’s very cool. They let me watch a rough cut of their season opener. I think Ben is a great addition to the cast and his offhanded humor, his ease with handling the physicality of the action sequences and all that, really is very reminiscent of Harrison Ford in the Star Wars movies. He’s really, I think, going to be a boost to a show that is already a success.”

Not that Richard Dean Anderson won’t be missed by fans, but Picardo suspects a character like Cameron Mitchell will make the absence of O’Neill not as painful. “My feeling was that, as much as Richard Dean Anderson is a beloved actor and character in the show, Ben is coming in with an established fan base from another show playing a great character, and he’s just very enthusiastic to be there. Fun to work with. It looks very bright.”

Agent Woolsey questions Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks) about a mission gone bad in “Heroes, Part 2.”

Picardo admits to being a Stargate fan himself, not just playing a role on the popular television series. And he admits that even though he’s not there all the time he tries to tune in when he can. “I’m an outsider who hasn’t seen the show from the beginning but watches it sporadically — although not only when I’m on it. When I was up there [in Vancouver, B.C., where the show is filmed] I was so enthusiastic that I think I watched about seven or eight new shows. I watched two or three from the last season and the two part opener, uncut. I’m very optimistic for their new season and new cast members.”

But is this all for publicity purposes? No! He laughs, “Those who know my sometimes cynical asides during my own history on my science fiction series know that I’m not an easy sell!”

Picardo was excited to have scenes with Beau Bridges in “Prototype.” “[Beau is] an actor I’ve admired forever and it was great fun to work with him,” he said. “He has a real sense of fun and was teasing me off the bat. I think he called me ‘Sure Shot Bob.’ When I managed to wade through two and a half pages of virtual monologue on the first take without any crash and burn, he was teasing me.”

After seven years of playing the holographic Doctor, Picardo can execute any line at the drop of a hat. “After all of the things that I managed to temporarily thumb-tack into my brain all those years … What our current administration calls ‘frivolous lawsuits’ where you sue McDonald’s for making you fat? I really want to go after Paramount for brain cell loss. ‘Techno-babble-related Brain Cell Death.'”

With one episode down and possibly another before the season concludes, Picardo hopes to make one more trip to Vancouver where he’ll, hopefully, get to work outside of Woolsey’s box for a change. Until then he waits with the rest of us. “I’m jazzed about their new season, and being part of it, and look forward to seeing the finished product.”

Keep your browser at GateWorld for more from Robert Picardo in the days ahead!