Bill Dow offers insights into Dr. Lee

In a new interview with The Scifi World, actor Bill Dow (“Bill Lee”) spoke about the demands and the growth of his character over the years. He spoke to the site with great warmth about the counterpoint of humor his character brings to the program.”The team is always under a lot of pressure and so there was a relief … through my character because the other characters are more stern and have greater responsibility,” Dow told the site. “I’m a very human character. If I’m afraid, I let it out. And if things are troubling me, I let my worries show. And I think through that the humor comes.”One of the funniest moments for Dow came in Season Eight’s “Zero Hour.” The actor had many scenes with Richard Dean Anderson (“Jack O’Neill”), who he has known since working on MacGyver.”I had that crazy suit, the hazard suit,” he said. “You can’t hear a thing inside there. You put that helmet on and there’s a fan going and there’s lights in there. You have no idea what anybody else is saying. … Walking around in those suits is very funny. With the visors, too, with the goggles we had on, Richard and I had a hilarious time with those pretending we couldn’t see each other and losing each other in the room.”

Dr. Lee dons a stylish pair of goggles in Season Eight’s “Zero Hour.”

One of the most demanding episodes for Dow was Season Seven’s “Evolution,” because of the physical demands. “The whole physical demand, getting washed away with the water and going down the hole and jumping … one of the actors that was up from Los Angeles was kind of going, ‘I can’t believe you’re doing all that stuff without a stuntman. What are you doing? What’s wrong with your contract?’ And I went, ‘I love it. I’m having fun here!’ … It was fun but it was demanding.”Dow sees his character primarily as a scientist who wishes he could be a hero.”Dr. Lee has a hidden side where he actually considers himself to be like a super-spy or some kind of superhero,” he said. “… I think he has great admiration for the people who do that, and thinks, ‘I wanna be like that!’ He really thirsts to get into the action. I don’t think he’s equipped for that at all. … But I think there is a great passion in the center of him.”In the full interview, Dow also compares his time with Anderson on MacGyver and Stargate SG-1, and speaks to his hopes for the future of his character in Season Ten. Read more at The Scifi World! The actor’s official Web site is at BillDow.net.