Vancouver Convention Report: Friday

Creation Entertainment’s official Stargate convention in Vancouver, British Columbia continued into its second day on Friday, with fans of the Stargate franchise treated to appearances by cast members from both series!

First on the stage for the day was actor David Nykl (“Radek Zelenka“). Nykl discussed different aspects of the character and talked about his favorite aspects of working on Atlantis.

“It’s the people,” Nykl said. “It’s work, and you’re doing work. But there’s levity. It was fun. We didn’t always take ourselves seriously.”

Nykl also noted how much fun it was to verbally spar during scenes with actor David Hewlett (“Dr. Rodney McKay“), and wished that the dynamic between the two would have been shown more toward the end of the series’ run. During that portion of the Q&A session, Nykl was interrupted and learned that Hewlett — obviously keeping tabs on the convention from off-site — had sent a message to Nykl through his Twitter account saying “Radek who?” Nykl tweeted back “Rodney who?” in response, much to the delight of the crowd.

Next onstage was actor and SG-1 stunt coordinator Dan Shea. Shea, currently working as stunt coordinator on the USA series Psych, mentioned that the stunt team for the Stargate franchise is much larger than what he has for Psych, due to the different natures of the two shows. Shea also said that the ability to be both on-screen being beat up (he plays Sergeant Siler) and behind the scenes setting up specific stunts was something he found exremely satsfying.

Later in the afternoon, Connor Trinneer (“Michael”) took the stage and filled in fans on what he’s been up to. In addition to starring alongside James Kyson Lee (“Ando” on Heroes) in a SCI FI Channel movie slated to air in the next few months called Termination Shock, Trinneer has also begun to do readings for audio books, and just recently finished one that was authored by athlete Lance Armstrong.

Trinneer also told the crowd that, after finishing his run on Enterprise, he had planned to stay away from the science fiction genre for awhile. But after seeing the character breakdown for the role of Michael, he was so intrigued by the character that he called his agent and asked to be auditioned. It never got that far, as his agent called back soon thereafter and told him the producers of Atlantis said, “It’s yours if you’d like it.”

When asked what Michael had planned to do with Teyla’s baby had he gotten ahold of it, Trinneer joked, “Hold it. Love it. Raise it to be a good person. Teach it how to throw a curveball … and kill everybody!”

The final stage appearance of the day was by actress Teryl Rothery (“Dr. Janet Frasier”). Rothery delighted fans with stories of pranks pulled on her by the cast, with the most notable ones involving actor Christopher Judge (“Teal’c”). She also discussed her time on both SG-1 and the recently finished ABC Family series Kyle XY.

Rothery also related that her favorite role now is being a mother, as she just gave birth to her daughter this past October. She also is involved in the teaching and choreography aspects of tap dancing.

The fun continued into the evening with the traditional Friday night cabaret event! Dan Shea served as emcee for the event, which included Nykl, Trinneer and an appearance by Robert Picardo (“Richard Woolsey”). Nykl read from a Harlequin-type novel and had convention guests acting out scenes onstage. Trinneer and Picardo shared time together reciting lines scripted in the form of an old-style radio program, and the cabaret ended with Picardo doing bits of comedy and song selections (most of which cannot be described here).

The convention is in full gear Saturday with appearances by Picardo, Paul McGillion (“Carson Beckett”) and Joe Flanigan (“John Sheppard”), plus visits to the sets of both Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis for many of the convention’s guests! Continue to keep your browser locked to GateWorld throughout the weekend for more updates — and be particularly sure to watch on Sunday and Monday as we bring you the latest news as it breaks about Stargate Universe during a special panel with Stargate co-creators Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper!