'Stargate: Atlantis’ new women on the series, Tapping and Staite

By April MacIntyre Oct 3, 2007, 5:55 GMT

Amanda Tapping is “Colonel Samantha Carter,” reassigned from SG-1 to the city of Atlantis to oversee its operations in the Pegasus Galaxy.  

For ten seasons, Tapping has been the female lead in the now wrapped sci fi series, "Stargate SG-1."  She also made her directorial debut with an episode of "Stargate SG-1", entitled “Resurrection” in 2003. 

Tapping

In addition to starring in "Stargate: Atlantis," Tapping recently re-teamed with her SG-1 co-stars (filming portions north of the Arctic Circle) for two upcoming DVD movies: "Stargate: The Ark of Truth" and "Stargate: Continuum," which are slated for release in 2008. 

Aside from acting in the Stargate franchises, Tapping is currently executive producing and starring in the new media series, "Sanctuary", which premiered on the Web in May of 2007 to overwhelming response.

Tapping plays Dr. Helen Magnus on this fantasy based sci-fi series, in a role requiring her to perfect a very distinct English dialect blended with international undertones.

Born in Rochford, England, then raised in Toronto, Canada with her three brothers, Tapping shared with Monsters how her interest in acting began.

“When I was very young my parents took me an English pantomime and I just remember watching the guy on stage, Lionel Blare, who was a famous in England for doing pantomime, and I just remember very quintessentially looking at him and thinking I want to do that.  And they had little kids - they picked little kids out of the audience to go up on stage and I so desperately wanted to be picked and I wasn’t and I was devastated.

I thought I would explore this more, this need to get up there, what is that.  So that
was for me.  I just remember sitting in a dark theater and going wow, that’s what I want to do.”

Jewel Staite plays “Dr. Jennifer Keller,” the newest member of the Atlantis expedition, taking over Dr. Carson Beckett’s position of Chief of Medicine.   Keller has big Scottish shoes to fill as she navigates the strange and exciting world of Atlantis.

Staite

 
Staite began her career at the age of nine.  “I started off doing a couple of commercials and I really loved it and then graduated to TV movies and series work and I don’t know it just kind of happened and I really love it and I can’t imagine myself doing anything else.  And I don’t really have any other special skills, so, I think I’ll just keep at it,” Staite quipped.

Monsters had a chat with the two newest "Stargate: Atlantis" stars.

Amanda joked about her long run of ten years with Stargate, and that she was vying for the title, the “Kelsey Grammer of sci-fi.”

Tapping was also proud of her accomplishments with Stargate getting more mainstream attention.

“I don’t know if it’s because it was sci-fi or because you know it’s that little show that could.  It was that little show that just kept coming back and coming back and now we’re just - I think our legacy is in DVDs right now.”

Tapping added, “I think at this point I’m just hoping that we get picked up for Season 5.  I mean we’re two episodes away from finishing the season, and I’m actually really happy with the way that the character’s been introduced.  It could have been a very difficult transition bringing Carter over from SG-1 to you know to Atlantis.  And I think it was handled really seamlessly so in that sense I’m really happy with the way the transition went with the way the characters developed this season.”

Jewel Staite is keenly aware of the tenuous nature of being cast as a “doctor” on Atlantis. 

“I definitely flipped through to the last page every time I read a script just in
case.  But I’ve been lucky.  I usually don’t have to go on any field missions or ops or anything so I’m well out of danger so far."

Monsters asked both actors if they could channel writers Joe Mallozzi and Paul Mullie and write a romantic interest for each of their characters, which one of the male leads would it be.

Tapping:  "Wow.  On Atlantis or can they be from…"

Monsters:  "On Atlantis. You’ve got Ronon, the hunk. McKay the nerdy, brilliant  jokester who is also prickly. And rakish Sheppard, and a few others too.  Who would your character pick and why, if you were just speculating."

Jewel: "Amanda, I’m really curious on what you have to say."

Amanda: "Thank you Jewel.  Wow."

Jewel:  "That’s hard".

Amanda: "I think for just a night of pure unadulterated fun, Ronon, for sure." 

Jewel: "I love that.  Carter and Ronon.  I love it."

Amanda: "I think Carter could absolutely go for McKay in a sick, twisted sort of let’s see how this works out intellectually, sexy way."

Jewel: "Yeah."

Amanda: "I guess that’s whatever.  I’ve used every adjective I know.  Yeah, I think for a pure just tension release fun, Ronon, but for a bit of a more interesting character, I think she’d go for McKay.  Oh, dear."

Jewel:   "I think I would have to say - I would have to say Ronon, too.  I like the fact that he makes Keller feel a little bit uncomfortable.  She is usually very much in her element in the med lab.  She’s very confident and whenever he’s around, she kind of doesn’t know what to do with herself, and I think that’s sort of cute.  I like that he brings that out in her.  So I would say Ronon."

Asked what characters they have had many scenes with in general, Amanda Tapping noted that she had a “fair amount of screen time actually" recently with McKay and with Jewel’s character, Keller, especially in the last episode just shot. 

"I’ve actually sort of been spread out in terms of trying - they’re trying to establish new relationships for each of us and so I don’t think I’ve spent any time with one person more than another.  Maybe mostly Sheppard, I guess, if I had to guess.”

Jewel Staite noted that Joe Flanigan (Sheppard) was one Atlantian she would like to have more scenes with. 

“That’s the person that I think I’ve spent the least amount of time with.  I hardly ever get any scenes with Joe, but everybody else, Keller seems to have bonded with in some way. 

I think she and Carter have bonded because they’re both new, maybe trying to prove themselves a little bit so they have that in common.  And she’s bonded with McKay because, well mostly because she likes to tease him and sort of flirt with him and make him feel uncomfortable which is always really fun to play.”

Staite continued: “And she’s bonded with Ronon a little bit.  In one episode we get locked in a room together.  And with Teyla, as well, we go to visit her home planet and see her people and run into some trouble, so I’ve been really lucky.  I’ve kind of got some bond with all the characters.  It’s been fun.”

Amanda Tapping discussed her SG-1 to Atlantis transition.  She praised the writers.

“Her discomfort comes from the fact that she’s completely out of her element.  She’s not in her comfort zone.  This is a woman who spent her entire career taking orders and being subordinate to a degree as per military protocol and is now suddenly in a position where she has - she influences people’s lives by the decisions that she makes.

And so on that aspect she’s really struggling, I think in some ways to find that strength.  And she’s also aware of the fact that she’s replacing a much loved leader when she comes on to the show, into the galaxy, and so she’s very aware of treading lightly. 

And so in a lot of ways for me as the actor it feels like playing a much different character.  She’s not - she’s almost not as confident because she’s out of her comfort zone."

Tapping talked about her character’s quiet strength.

“I think for her it’s - she’s finding her strength.  As the season goes on, she’s not letting any of the chinks in her armor show, obviously, but she’s finding a quiet inner strength as the season goes on.

But I think what also Carter is struggling with in some ways is a certain amount of loneliness, sort of the ‘heavy is the head that wears the crown.’  You know she can’t fraternize in a relationship way with any of the people that she’s working with and so because she’s the leader, it’s not like she can become buddy/buddy.  And she’s used to that.  She’s used to that sense of camaraderie that she had on SG-1.  So it’s a little bit lonelier for her.

I think what it will show is, as the season progresses and you’ll see it come out, is the quieter strength of her character, as opposed to the kind of Carter bravado, that, ‘I know what I’m doing and here let me explain this situation to you,’ like she was so used to doing.  Now it’s a little different."

Tapping delved back into the “history” with Rodney McKay.

“I did hear from one of the producers that they were going to actually address this in one of the upcoming episodes.  I wanted to kind of get your take on, you know, maybe a high level - is it going to be going in the humorous direction or is it just going to be total tragic?

There’s a couple of scenes right off the top that are very funny between the two of them, and I mean laugh out loud funny, for me when I read them.  And then she backs off.  She really does allow McKay his chance to shine and she doesn’t want to usurp his power. And she does the same with Sheppard. 

She really backs off a lot in terms of, you know, that sibling type of rivalry.  She knows that she can’t really go there especially publicly with McKay.  There’s the odd barb because she can’t help herself and because he’s McKay.

But there’s an episode coming up towards the end where the relationship comes back again.  That sort of sibling snarkiness comes back.  There’s a different amount of respect that she has for McKay now because he’s in a different position and she has to respect where he is.  So it’s a more respectful relationship in a lot of way."

Jewel talked about replacing the beloved Scottish Doctor Beckett. 

“I’m not really sure.  All I can really say is I hope I’m bringing something new
and interesting to the dynamic of the relationships between the characters.
But I honestly don’t view myself as replacing anyone.  In sci-fi you know you never really die. 

And he could be coming back, so it just never really crossed my mind. 
And it kind of - it just seems presumptuous of me to say that I would be replacing him.  I know how beloved his character was and he has a lot of fans, so I can only hope that people give Keller a chance and enjoy her.  She’s got a lot of complexities and she’s a lot of fun.  And there’s definitely a lot of surprises coming to her personality later on in the season.”

The often neglected aspect of romance in Sci Fi was broached again, and Staite had promising information. 

Regarding relationships, Staite says, “She actually has a couple. she’s a bit of a flirt.  I don’t know where that came from.  I always play these shameless flirts.  I don’t know why that is.  It has nothing to do with me.  I can hear you giggling Amanda."

Amanda: "What?"

“There’s some unexpected romances happening that even surprised me and
they’ll definitely come to the fans as quite a surprise, too,” finished Jewel.

Tapping and Staite discussed the upcoming episode where their characters finally mesh in with the rest of the crew as one unit.

Amanda: “Quarantine” probably."

Jewel:  "Yeah."

Amanda: "Brings everyone together even though we spend the entire episode separated."

Jewel: "I think “Quarantine” put the characters in a position where they absolutely have no choice but to bond."

Amanda: "And at the end there’s a realization that we almost lost Atlantis and…"

Jewel: "Right."

Amanda: "There’s a renewed sort of vigor in terms of protecting it."

Jewel: "Right.  But I think for me, “Trio,” the one that we just shot was a turning point for Keller, especially since she was with Carter who she really respects and she was with McKay who she really respects, as well, and kind of got to prove herself to the both of them."

Amanda: "We just finished shooting that and it was so much fun.
Jewel: It was really hard work, but it was really, really fun.  I didn’t expect it to be that fun. We did a lot of laughing."

Jewel was asked if she preferred playing a doctor or playing a Wraith.

"Oh, God.  Doctor, definitely.  It’s like a third of the time in hair and makeup, for one. And it’s way less distracting.  I found playing the Wraith was just it was limiting my performance and I was so worried that what I was trying to do wouldn’t be conveyed through the mask. 

You’ve got these contact lenses on and the fake teeth and you know, you just feel so constricted, but I guess at the same time it really helps you let go of your inhibitions and kind of really go for it."

Jason Griffin of TVaholic.com wondered what it was about Jewel’s character that most interested her in taking this part.

"Well I didn’t really know a lot about her to begin with.  They just said, hey, we need a new doctor on the show, are you willing to come in and I said, yeah, no problem.  I had such a good time coming on the first time that I was really, really happy that they thought of me.

So I don’t think it was anything having to do with the character, really.  I think it was just the fact that I knew it was a great production.  I loved the crew.  I loved the cast and it’s shot here in Vancouver in my hometown."

Monsters asked both actors if they could give a short list to writers Mallozzi and Mullie of guest stars that they would love to see on their series, who would it be.

Jewel: "Oh wow."

Amanda: "Realistically or you know in fantasy land?"

Jewel: "Fantasy land."

Monsters: "Creatively, I mean, who you think would really knock it out of the park on 'Stargate: Atlantis'."

Amanda: "Judi Dench."

Jewel: "Wow.  You’re just shooting really high."

Amanda: "I am shooting really high.  Currie Graham was an actor that was in the 'Stargate Ark of Truth', one of our Stargate movies and I would love to see him come to Atlantis. 

He’s an amazing actor.  Very fun guy.  That’s my more realistic wish."

Jewel: "For me, well, Nathan Fillion from 'Firefly' was just in town for the weekend and I had four episodes of Atlantis and we sat and we watched them and he was telling me what he thought of the show, and my character and that kind of thing and he was really enthusiastic about it.  It just made me realize that I really miss working with him, so I would absolutely love to see him come on.  I think that would be really fun."

Amanda talked about SG-1 cast members possibly showing up this year.

“Christopher Judge showed up this year, which was fantastic.  And it was actually – it made a lot of sense.  Most of the episode he does is with Ronon, and as the resident expert on being the new alien onboard, Teal’c has a lot of information he can pass on to Ronon; a lot of expertise, but there’s also…when I talked to Joe Mallozzi he said the fans have always wondered in a fight between Ronon and Teal’c, who would win.  So this episode sort of addresses that."

The specter of potential “yummy” guest stars to augment the delicious male leads came up.

Jewel: "Hmm…I don’t know."

Amanda : "Mitch Pileggi, as strange as that sounds, was the first love scene I ever did on camera was with Mitch in The X-files.  He’s yummy and so he was on our list this year and - I’ve mostly worked with the core cast.  I haven’t had the opportunity to play with a lot of the guest stars."

Jewel Staite: "Yeah, me, too.  I mean I’ve had a yummy moment with someone yummy, but not necessarily a guest star."

The dirt was nearly spilled on a possible Ronon-McKay-Sheppard canoodle alert.

Jewel: "Yes."

Amanda: "You’ve said too much Jewel."

Jewel : "I’ve said too much."

Jewel talked about her character’s personality foibles.

“Well, she’s a bit of a scaredy cat.  She’s not very good in dire or violent situations.
She scares easily, which is not such a good thing when you’re in the world of Atlantis. 

And as for her biggest strength, she’s really great under pressure.  I think that’s when she’s at her best, especially when she’s in her element; anything to do with medicine or a complicated medical situation she’s just there.  She’s just on.  She’s very, very, very smart and focused.

But she’s not so good with guns and she’s not so good with fighting."

Sci-fi is known for its really exuberant fans and Amanda and Jewel talked about their Comic-Con experiences.

Jewel: "Comic-Con is a different one.  I’ve done a few sci-fi conventions and Comic-Con is a gigantic that it feels a little impersonal.  There’s not too much interaction with the fans.  So I would say that we didn’t have too many runs with exuberant fans there, but I’ve definitely had some in the past.  But it’s usually because they’re nervous and they don’t really know what to say.  They kind of have really funny blunders that, you know, I shouldn’t be laughing at -  like fainting and things like that. But for the most part it’s really flattering.  Yeah, it feels really good to have somebody faint because they’re so nervous to meet you.  That sounds really bad.  It does."

Amanda: "I have to agree with Jewel on the Comic-Con front.  It’s so huge and you just really don’t have a chance to - Yeah.  And it’s really nice to have the Q&As that aren’t so enormous.  Like the smaller they are, the more intimate they are and yeah, you really kind of feel a connection with them, as opposed to being on stage at Comic-Con where it’s just - you can’t even see the crowd and there’s just so many people.  There’s a mild rock star moment when you first step on stage and all the flashbulbs -"

Jewel: "Yes."

Amanda: "…Go off and you sort of go, cool. And it’s so neat to watch them watching the trailers for the shows and hear their exuberance and hear their excitement about it, you know, the applause and its like, yeah, wow, we - this is good, what we make.  This is, you know, this is a good show that we make and look at the response."

Jewel: "It was a nice reward."

Amanda : "Yeah, because we don’t get - you know when you shoot television, you don’t get an immediate response to what you do ever, right? You know it’s not like the crew sits around after each scene and applauds.  It would be nice.  To see the reaction immediately from the fans when the trailers went up was amazing."

Jewel: "I feel loved.  I feel like somebody out there appreciates what we’re doing and that’s always really nice."

Amanda: "Yeah, I have to agree with that.  The fans are hugely inspirational.  And because they’re so stalwart in their support and they’re so - like encyclopedic in their knowledge.  You just really feel like you have to step up every time you step onto the set and feel a sense of responsibility for that kind of enthusiasm."

Amanda: "But on a really hokey answer from me, my two-and-a-half-year-old inspires me."

Amanda talked about having Rachel Luttrell (Teyla) and Jewel as cast mates.

"I can’t even tell you how great it is to have other women on the set.  It’s so much fun, and it’s so vital to the balance of any show to have all the genders represented, you know, like I just felt for a long time on Stargate - especially after Teryl left the show, it was lonely being the only girl. 

But Jewel and Rachel and I just have a blast together, so it was great.  I just remember the first episode with the three of us, we’re just standing on set giggling and talking and I just felt this huge sense of camaraderie that, you know, I had with the guys on a few on but it’s totally not the same having other women around.  There you go, and then the question for the both of you is I think you’re in an episode or two away from.”

Julia Houston questioned Tapping and Staite’s taste in potential romantic targets, especially in light of overlooking John Sheppard.

Amanda Tapping: "Ooh."

Houston then asked about the Sci Fi sex conundrum, hating the way that sex is usually rendered in Sci fi.  Example of “Star Trek”,  if you sleep with Kirk, you die, or if you’re seductive you’re usually a villainess.  Frequently, when women characters have children, they die as soon as the child stops being an infant so that the father can then raise the child alone, which is a very peculiar fantasy.

One of the things that’s really great about Stargate from the full frontal nudity of the pilot episode to John Sheppard casually asking Ronon if he was maybe seeing a guy instead of a girl, and the acknowledgement between Carter and O’Neill that they were interested in each other but they weren’t going to do anything about it, you know are very mature, it seems to me very realistic portrayals of sex and relationships.

Amanda Tapping: "I think partly that we are present day, and I keep going back to that, but I think it does make a difference that we’re real accessible, present day human beings and so they can write for our modern day vernacular in the way that we think and the way that society is at this moment. And I think also there’s a healthy respect that they have for the female actors on the show."

Jewel: "I think so, too."

Amanda: "And that - I mean kudos to them for that because it would have been very easy to go the other way, I think.  Even like when I got cast, I was pretty surprised because I thought they’d go for like a space babe, space hottie and they went with -"

Julia Houston: "You’re pretty hot."

Jewel: "You are hot."

Julia: "You’re a total space hottie."

Jewel: "You’re a spottie."

Amanda: "I’m a spottie.  But they have a healthy amount of respect for the women on the show and I think they all have really strong and intelligent wives and that helps us a great deal."

Jewel: "Yeah, I think so, too.  I just really, really hope that that stays the case for Season 5 if we go.  Because if I get with Ronon, I don’t want to die.  You’ve got me a little worried now."

Julia Houston: "Well, no, first you’ll have the baby and then you get to raise the baby for two years and then you die.  So you have a couple more seasons."

Jewel: "So you’re telling me I’ve got a couple of years if that happens?"

Julia Houston: "Yeah, I would pretty much, you know, not go there."

Jewel: "Okay, good.  All right.  Copy that."

Stargate’s cast chemistry was discussed.

Jewel: "There were a lot of moments.  I think at the beginning “Missing” was one of my first episodes and that was with Rachel and we decided to carpool to the set everyday because we were shooting way out in the woods in the middle of nowhere. So we would drive to work, work 12 hours, side-by-side and then drive home again together. 

And we really bonded, to say the least. And I think it really helped on screen.  I think you can definitely see some chemistry there and that was really fun for me.  I kind of got to let loose and she was just so great to work with.  I’ve had moments like that with David, as well. 

A lot of moments where Keller and McKay kind of go head-to-head and are sort of trying to prove themselves to each other and being all smarty-pants and, you know, spouting off all this techno-babble and yeah, he’s really easy to connect with, as well.   And Amanda, too.  We’ve had a lot of really good moments."

Amanda: "Yeah."

Jewel: "I think one of the first ones was in Doppelganger, which was the first that we shot.  Carter makes a speech and Keller kind of tells her how strong she is and in a sense says how much the team needs her in that moment and I really liked that.
Amanda: Yeah, it’s nice that they - the writers wrote into the scripts moments of - as opposed to us just finding it as actors, which we were doing, they’d actually written specific moments for us which is amazing."

Jewel: "Yeah, it was really nice."

Julia: "That’s always the fans’ favorite part of the show."

Jewel:   "It’s my favorite part, too."

Amanda talked about the subtleties between SG-1 command versus Atlantis.

“We also addressed the fact that military protocol is a little different on Atlantis.  There’s a bit more of a renegade feel to it.  Once you get out there into that galaxy so far from home and having to deal with things that maybe military protocol doesn’t necessarily fit, so that’s addressed, as well.

So I don’t think people should be too worried about somebody from the military coming and taking over Atlantis because it’s a little bit of a softer edge to it."