Jeff Gulka, "Reetou Charlie" in Stargate SG-1

David Read: Hello everyone and welcome to episode 124 of Dial the Gate. My name is David Read, thank you so much for joining us. This is a live program so if you are in the YouTube audience I appreciate you being here and joining us. We have Tracy and Sommer I believe in there and Anthony in there as well, to take your questions for Jeff Gulka, sorry Jeff, Reetou Charlie from Stargate SG-1. He is joining us in this hour. But before we dig into this, if you like Stargate and you want to see more content like this on YouTube, it would mean a great deal if you click that like button. It will make a difference with YouTube’s algorithm and will continue to help the show grow its audience. Please also consider sharing this video with a Stargate friend and if you want to get notified about future episodes click the Subscribe icon. Giving the bell icon a click will notify you the moment a new video drops and you’ll get my notifications of any last minute guest changes. Clips from this live stream will be released over the course of the next few weeks on the GateWorld.net YouTube channel and on Dial the Gate later this year when we are in hiatus. As this is a live show, again, if you are in youtube.com/dialthegate the moderators are standing by to take your questions for Jeff which we will have at the latter half of the episode. But before, I’m going to catch up with him. So without further ado, Mr. Jeff Gulka, Reetou Charlie, young Charlie from Stargate SG-1. How are you sir?

Jeff Gulka: Fantastic thank you. How are you?

David Read: I am well thank you. So much for being here Jeff. I’ve been watching this episode over and over again for years through my involvement in the franchise and everything else. Part of me feels like I already know you from when you were a wee one, you’re 35 now is that right?

Jeff Gulka: Correct.

David Read: All right. I’m 38. I sent you the link to the episode, did you rewatch it?

Jeff Gulka: I did, I watched it last night.

David Read: How does that make you feel? What feelings percolate to the surface in a rewatch?

Jeff Gulka: I was actually really into the episode. I was watching it and I was gonna take notes to see if I remembered anything as I was watching it. After the first 15 minutes I stopped taking notes and I was just “whoa, this is good episode.”

David Read: It’s a good episode of TV.

Jeff Gulka: Yeah, it’s really good. It almost made me want to start watching…because I’ve never really watched the show. When it was on back in the day there was no internet or anything so you’d have to watch it live on TV. I’ve watched the odd episode but it kind of was like “oh, maybe I should watch this from the beginning because this looks like a pretty darn good show.”

David Read: It is. Are you a sci-fi fan?

Jeff Gulka: Oh yeah, definitely. Lost is my favorite show.

David Read: Last is your favorite show?

Jeff Gulka: Yes. Along with various Star Trek’s.

David Read: I have a confession to make to my audience for the first time ever. Lost is my favorite show of all time.

Jeff Gulka: That’s fantastic.

David Read: I never admitted that on the show. The Stargates I’m obviously close to, Star Trek I’m with you, but if I was cornered I would say Lost is my favorite TV series of all time. So we’re going to have to talk about that my friend. How old were you when you knew you wanted to perform? Take me back.

Jeff Gulka: Well, apparently, the story goes, I think I must have been five or six years old. My aunt was on a Safeway commercial or something and I told my mom, “I want to do that, I want to be on TV” or something like that. She thought it was just a phase and I kept asking for a couple years to get an agent. Eventually, I think I must have been seven when she finally got me an extra agent for background work. I did extra work from the ages of seven till about eleven and then that’s when I started moving up there from the extra work. I think I must have been seven years old and then that’s when I started doing extra work and I loved it ever since I started.

David Read: A family member you saw first? An aunt?

Jeff Gulka: Yes, my auntie Sherry yes. She’s an actress.

David Read: All right. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard that approach before. I saw my family member in it and I was like, “you know what, I think I can do that too.” It’s excellent. Tell us about getting this roll.

Jeff Gulka: Yeah, for sure. It really worked out well, I had just finished doing another show so I had my head shaved.

David Read: Oh okay, they didn’t do that for production?

Jeff Gulka: No, I just showed up and I was already bold and Peter loved that. I just went to the audition, Peter made me promise if I got the part not to have any sugar on set. In exchange he gave me a Gameshark for the Sega Genesis console. I don’t know if anybody remembers Sega Genesis but he gave me a Gameshark in exchange for no candy, no sugar on set.

David Read: Did he not want you wired? Is that what it was?

Jeff Gulka: I’m assuming he’s worked with kids before and they get all hyper and stuff. Also, I remember I had to scream as loud as I could in the audition. I guess he just wanted to make sure I was comfortable screaming, I’m assuming for the scene where my mother gets shot and I’m like, “nooooo.”

David Read: That’s great, man.

Jeff Gulka: It worked out, I had the head shaved and I think when I was flying back from the previous show I was working on I think Richard Dean Anderson might have actually been on the plane. My dad was telling me that when I was asking for stories and stuff, so it was kind of just serendipitous.

David Read: Wow, so was the first time you met Rick, was that during the shoot or did you manage to meet him before?

Jeff Gulka: No, no, no, it was on the shoot. Yeah.

David Read: Okay. Interesting. Peter DeLuise is one of my all time just favorite humans. Him and his brother David, they are the best people; some of the best people that I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. I’ve heard that Peter is a wonder to work with, especially when the work is really clicking. This guy is gonna make you laugh on one hand and then okay, straight stone face and “action.” Is that the case?

Jeff Gulka: I’m assuming, yeah. It was like 20 years ago for me so it’s a little hard to remember specifics on set. Watching the episode, he definitely got my best performance out of me. I think that might be the best episode of television for me that I’ve done.

David Read: Really? You consider it your favorite?

Jeff Gulka: Yeah, I think so. Don’t tell X-Files fans.

David Read: I won’t. I promise. Especially with that kind of a fan base, that’s a brave admission. It’s interesting because in rewatching the show again it’s very clear, at least to me, that if they didn’t cast the child part this episode wouldn’t have worked. The whole thing revolves around this child interpreter for this being that’s not even there. What was your approach to that in the auditioning process? What did you think of Charlie as a person, as this new being? He shows up and he says, “I’m here to warn you.” But the fact of the matter is he should really be saying “I was made to warn you. I was built to warn you.”

Jeff Gulka: Yeah. I remember it was a lot of words, watching the episode, there’s much like being the mediator between the mom and saying all these long sentences. I’m sure I didn’t know what they meant at the time, like “they’re coming for a war of attrition” and all that stuff. It was very wordy but I was impressed that I was able to get it all out.

David Read: Was the dialogue tough?

Jeff Gulka: I’m usually pretty good with lines, even if I don’t know what they mean. I was always good at just memory stuff so that sort of came easy even though I probably didn’t know what I was saying.

David Read: Well, I mean, other than words like attrition, you knew what was going on. You knew the framing of the story, I’m assuming.

Jeff Gulka: Oh, yeah, yeah.

David Read: Okay. What was it like having a guardian, the character that was the most associated with you and the most caring about you not existing?

Jeff Gulka: Well, I’m sure that’s good for the production, they saved money for not hiring another actor. It’s hard to say because again, it was like 20 years ago. It was a really nice relationship I thought that was shown on screen and I am just really proud of how it all turned out.

David Read: Would you like to see mother?

Jeff Gulka: Pardon me?

David Read: Would you like to see your mother?

Jeff Gulka: Yes. [David holds up Reetou artwork] Oh wow, is that the original drawing?

David Read: I don’t have the original, I photocopied them before transferring them over to MGM. I have one in my archive as well and I will send mother to you.

Jeff Gulka: That’s really cool.

David Read: I believe this is Ken Rabehl’s work if I’m not mistaken. She’s a hexapod, but you know, it’s a face only a son could love. It was one of those things where I regret that we didn’t see them again because they were so extremely cool. We just have to assume that between the pages of a novel or some other extra content outside of the episodic cannon that the rebel faction were taken care of.

Jeff Gulka: Yeah, I was gonna ask you did they ever bring them back? It really seemed like when watching the episode that they kind of left it open.

David Read: Right! The main beat that it does change in terms of show cannon was these palm scanners that are in the control room are now used when opening and closing the iris.

Jeff Gulka: Oh, for the rest of the show?

David Read: Yeah because the Reetou obviously don’t have palms, they’ve got claws. That was the main beat that was changed. This episode was just one of, I think, the sweeter stories that was told in those earlier years but it also gave us a glimpse into a larger universe for the franchise in terms of what was possible. Do you recall working with the cast at all in this, especially Richard Dean Anderson who was almost like a surrogate dad?

Jeff Gulka: Yeah. I remember working with Richard or Rick, I don’t know. I remember working with him. He was very, very, very kind and talked to me a lot off camera and stuff and was just very interested in me asking if I take acting classes. Back then I was like, “I don’t take acting classes anymore. I don’t need that.” He’s like, “Oh yeah, either you got it or you don’t and you got it my friend.” “Thank you.” I remember Amanda Tapping was probably my second onset crush.

David Read: Really? Who would have been the first pray tell?

Jeff Gulka: Ah, coincidentally enough, it was an actress around my age who did a couple episodes of Stargate. I was just looking her up on IMDb, her name’s Colleen Rennison and she was on an episode of Millennium I did as an extra. I was a boy on the bus and there’s a lot of work with a bunch of kids there.

David Read: Colleen yeah, we talked with her a few years ago, she played Cassandra. I talked with her on another website called GateWorld. She played Cassandra in an episode and she played an episode in I think season three as well alongside Christopher Judge named Ally. Vancouver was a relatively small citie, relatively small acting pool back in the day and it’s just exploded.

Jeff Gulka: Yeah, it’s crazy watching all these shows and I’m like, “I remember working with that guy 20 years ago, I remember working with that guy 20 years ago.”

David Read: Absolutely. What has it been like being a part of mythology like the X-Files? I was communicating with you and getting ready to do this about a month ago and my buddy Darren who runs GateWorld reached out to me. He said, “oh, you’re getting Jeff Gulka.” I said, “yeah, I’m really excited.” He says, “you know, he’s basically the key to the X-Files right?” “What do you mean, that show lasted for like 10 years?” He’s like, “no, just go and read the wiki page.” I was like, “okay. He had alien…he’s a big deal. That’s pretty cool.” That’s pretty cool to be so entrenched and tied into that mythology. What was being a part of that show like?

Jeff Gulka: It was awesome, it came sort of out of nowhere. I had done extra work on the X-Files I think two times. Both times my scenes got cut but Chris Carter, the creator, remembered me and specifically asked me to audition for that role. I’d never even had like a regular agent, I still had my extra agent. They specifically asked me to audition, I think I did probably three or four auditions and then I got the part. After the first season that I did, which was the last episode that they filmed in Vancouver, I thought, “okay, well that was fun.” Then they’re like, “are you going to be coming back for next season?” I was like, “I don’t know.” Then I got a call in the summer and gotta go down to L.A. and film the first one down there and they brought me back a couple of times. It’s just sort of the gift that keeps on giving. absolutely. I was a big fan of X-Files too when I was allowed to watch it. It was really cool to be a part of that. As with most shows, when I’m on them, as soon as I’m in an episode I kind of stop watching it as much because a bit of the magic seems a little gone. Like “I know that guy, he doesn’t talk like that.”

David Read: That’s very much the case. My understanding was that your first episode, the end was essentially supposed to be the end of that series. It would go to movies, Chris Carter wanted to make the scope bigger, but Fox said no.

Jeff Gulka: More. We need more money. Yeah.

David Read: Just keep on printing. And all the better for you.

Jeff Gulka: Yeah, no, it was fantastic.

David Read: There’s a hole in the mythology in terms of where Mulder exits? I think it was taken over by the the T-1000 if I’m not mistaken.

Jeff Gulka: Correct. Yes. Robert Patrick. Yeah.

David Read: Robert Patrick. In the end it’s revealed that he was hiding out with you the whole time.

Jeff Gulka: That’s right. Hanging out in the dessert, me and Mulder.

David Read: Mulder and Gibson, probably playing video games the whole time. What a mythology. I tried to get into the show in college. I watched the first two seasons and I just couldn’t get the hang of it, it felt too 90s for me at the time.

Jeff Gulka: It’s 90s.

David Read: Very much so. Would you recommend watching the series from start to finish? Is it worth it today?

Jeff Gulka: Absolutely. I even watched the pilot a while ago cuz it just happened to be on TV and I was like, “I think I might start watching the show again from the beginning too” because it’s pretty good and it’s very topical for things now.

David Read: Right. Everyone with the shadow governments and

Jeff Gulka: Conspiracies and pandemics, yeah.

David Read: That’s a fair point. Exactly. Out of the roles that you have done can you tell me one that made you re-examine yourself or the world or grow as a person in a way that you weren’t expecting? Was there a situation that you came across with material where it was like, “wow, I didn’t see this coming?” This gave you pause or made you reassess who you are as a person or anything of that kind of ilk?

Jeff Gulka: Not that I can particularly remember. Most of my roles lately have just sort of been like one liners and stuff so there’s not much room. I sort of fell back in love with acting recently because I took a break for, I guess, from 15 to 30. So I guess 15 years and then I just was like, “I’m just gonna get back into it.” I got a couple one liners and as soon as I did I was like, “yeah, this is what I want to do.”

David Read: What made you take the break if you don’t mind me asking? Was it just the constant grind of it or was it like, “you know what, I really just want to pursue something else for this portion of my life?”

Jeff Gulka: It was a combination because as a kid I was actually kind of working fairly frequently for a two year period there with all the sci-fi shows in the late 90s. Then my agent who was my extra agent but she was getting me other work at that time, she retired when I was in high school so I didn’t have an agent. My parents thought that it would be better for me to just focus on high school and graduate. So I kind of didn’t have an agent, X-Files called me anyways.

David Read: Of course, your part of their mythology man. They’re keeping their eye on you.

Jeff Gulka: After I graduated I moved out to Victoria on Vancouver Island and started playing music. I made a band with my cousins, I just did that for about 10 years, moved back and forth from Victoria to Montreal did a few tours. I just sort of pursued music for a while and then living in Montreal for too many winters. It’s nice but six months of winter is a little much. We moved back to the west coast and they went to the island. I moved back home with my parents, classic millennial, living in the basement suite. I guess I was just kind of like “well, I need to work” so I got an agent and just started doing auditions again.

David Read: What do you play?

Jeff Gulka: Keyboard, keys.

David Read: Really?

Jeff Gulka: Yeah, piano, organ.

David Read: All right. I really envy you. I didn’t have the fingers. I can sing but that’s about it. What was the group called?

Jeff Gulka: We were originally called Cheers in the Belfry and then we changed a few members and now we’re called The Wicks.

David Read: W I C K S?

Jeff Gulka: Yeah. We did a few tours, all self-recorded albums for the most part, haven’t done much for the last three years but we’re hoping to record something this year.

David Read: There is nothing like getting in front of a crowd of people and just getting on this mental wavelength with them through performance and through the experience of music. It’s a religious experience for all intents and purposes. It’s that part of the brain that’s like, “wow, this is awesome.” I think that’s why people love concerts so much. They want to elevate themselves, not just to have a good time and drink and everything else, but they want to just be transported somewhere else.

Jeff Gulka: Yeah, and feel a connection to everybody in the world and the universe.

David Read: Absolutely. I have a couple of questions here submitted from people in the audience. Theresa Mc wanted to know “Jeff, what advice would you want to give a kid who was wanting to start acting?”

Jeff Gulka: Well get into extra work. That really helped me because you really understand the long hours and days. Hurry up and then wait and then hurry up, get ready, then you got to wait for everything to get set up. If you can last an eight to ten hour workday doing extra work then that might be something that you should pursue. It’s long days.

David Read: Yeah, especially nowadays with I think shortened attention spans and people, especially younger people, the TikTok generation being so impatient. I bet it would not be an easy thing to pull off for the average person.

Jeff Gulka: Yeah, it’s not for everybody. I was working on a show a few months ago and there’s extras in the background. One person just looked like they didn’t want to be there and there’s supposed to be a party thing. The person’s like, “you don’t look like you want to be here. Come on, you got to smile” and they’re just like, “meh.”

David Read: They’re on camera. You’re being paid man, you better perform.

Jeff Gulka: They’re put off by having to wait for eight hours and getting paid the whole time.

David Read: You have one-offs like Ronney Howard who went from a very successful child actor transitioning to be a very successful adult director, with everything in between from American Graffiti to Star Wars Han Solo. Then someone like Jonathan Brandis who could not make things, I’m assuming you know who he is?

Jeff Gulka: Yeah.

David Read: He was an actor who worked very closely with Peter DeLuise actually in a show called SeaQuest. In the early 2000s he fell into depression and took his own life, it just tears me up just thinking about him. To be a child performer is not an easy thing to do, especially if you achieve relative or stratospheric say success, like Macaulay Culkin. I would think that that would be a very double edged sword and the cautionary tales would be there. If you’re going to do this, you need to be on the straight and narrow and held to a certain expectation.

Jeff Gulka: Right and depending on where you start. It’s tough when you start at the top, you only got down to go. Acting is not a steady stream of work all the time for most actors.

David Read: Fame is often temporary. We just assume that they’re all millionaires riding high but that’s not the case. For some people it’s here and there and you get what you can.

Jeff Gulka: Yeah, as a kid most children they’re all cute and whatever but then they grow up and it’s a whole different ballgame.

David Read: Sommer wanted to know, “had you seen Stargate before being featured?”

Jeff Gulka: Yes, I did. Just the occasional episode again because there was no on demand or anything. You had to tune in live back then. I probably seen maybe half a dozen episodes before I was on it and I definitely watched it in preparation.

David Read: What did you think of the mythology in terms of the Stargate itself as an idea for storytelling?

Jeff Gulka: I think it’s amazing. I remember really liking the original Stargate movie when that came out. I don’t know what year that was…

David Read: 94 [1994]

Jeff Gulka: I like Sliders. It’s very similar, I just like that portal, you go to a new place and just connecting everything. I think is an incredible vehicle for storytelling.

David Read: Absolutely. Marcia wanted to know, “when you were talking with mother, what were you really talking to or who were you really talking to?” What was your sightline for that on set? Did you get to see at that time what the Reetou looked like or an idea of them? Did you have an idea of what you were dealing with?

Jeff Gulka: I may have been shown a similar picture back in the day but for the most part on set they would just either put a piece of tape or somebody would hold their hand off camera and say “look here.” There’s always something to look at but it’s usually just a mark from a piece of tape or just a physical person’s hand or something.

David Read: Teresa Mc also wanted to know, “would you like to be able to read minds like Gibson?”

Jeff Gulka: Ah, I don’t know.

David Read: You are the perfect example of be careful what you wish for.

Jeff Gulka: Yeah. It could definitely come in handy but you probably don’t want to know what everybody’s thinking all the time.

David Read: Absolutely.

Jeff Gulka: If you can control it, sure.

David Read: Right. That’s another thing entirely. If I wanted to do this, I would get potentially shot at, constantly getting kidnapped, someone wants to tear off a piece of me. You know the dark side of it as having having to perform it. I have to hide out in the backseat of people’s cars just get away from some of these people.

Jeff Gulka: It’s funny, too. I was watching the episode, I don’t know if it was intentional, but there was a discussion about Charlie and Daniel said, “is this kid psychic?”

David Read: Exactly. Was that before or after your first episode?

Jeff Gulka: That was after.

David Read: Okay, so it could have been a nod. I saw the end, the first episode that you were in and then I rewatched Show and Tell. There was one similarity, besides their perceptual experience, there was one similarity in each of the episodes. Do you know what that is?

Jeff Gulka: No. What is it?

David Read: They both get brain scans done? Isn’t that interesting?

Jeff Gulka: That’s funny. Lone Gunman and then…

David Read: Phyllis wanted to know, “was it hard to be so stoic?”

Jeff Gulka: No, I think that was sort of my vibe back then. I was a very confident child actor, I was enamored with the whole process. I sort of changed as I got older, but as a kid, you don’t have any fears of anything or self doubts. I just really enjoyed it and that was sort of who I was.

David Read: Are you a South Park fan at all?

Jeff Gulka: Oh, yeah.

David Read: So the first shot that you come through, that’s a profile shot of you, and it pans up and I remember thinking to myself, “oh my gosh it’s Kenny.”

Jeff Gulka: It’s Kenny! I can see that, it’s funny.

David Read: Marcia said, “you mentioned Peter gave you a Sega game. Do you still play video games?”

Jeff Gulka: Oh, yes. Yes I do.

David Read: What are you playing?

Jeff Gulka: Right now? I’m playing NHL 22 and Elder Scrolls Online.

David Read: Oh, okay. Are you excited about the new one coming out?

Jeff Gulka: I am, I’m almost caught up to all the chapters. I only started playing it last year but it’s really helped me through the pandemic.

David Read: I can imagine so. I’m trying to get into Skyrim.

Jeff Gulka: Oh, that’s fantastic.

David Read: Yeah. I’ve heard that you want to get either a modded version because the textures are better or there’s a HD version available now.

Jeff Gulka: Right? Yeah. Legendary version or something?

David Read: Yeah, exactly.

Jeff Gulka: I played that when it first came out and I played the hell a bit out of it. That’s a really good video game series. My first experience was Morrowind, that’s my all time favorite video game I think

David Read: The nature of these sandbox games is just insane. You can disappear into that world. You have to wonder about the psyche of some of these people, they have no reason to come out except to eat and sleep.

Jeff Gulka: I definitely was like that with Morrowind.

David Read: Absolutely. The experiences that our children are going to be having living in these worlds with their VR headsets.

Jeff Gulka: Oh yeah, nowadays it’s stupid.

David Read: It’s amazing and creepy at the same time. Tracy wanted to know “have you done any voice work?”

Jeff Gulka: I did when I was younger. A couple of episodes, I was on some shows, Sherlock Holmes and the 24th Century. Nothing really recently.

David Read: Okay, Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd century. Yes, absolutely. The Adventures of…well depending on the episode, there’s a lot of content.

Jeff Gulka: I don’t know why, I think it says I was on a bunch but I only did one episode.

David Read: Really? Okay. I see. IMDB, you can never trust it.

Jeff Gulka: Oh, yeah, I know. It says my birthday is December something or January 1st.

David Read: January 1st 87.

Jeff Gulka: Yeah, that’s not right.

David Read: Okay. I’ll tell them. That’s great.

Jeff Gulka: My birthday is October 23 1986.

David Read: We will make that update everybody. If I were in your place I would be going for video game voice parts.

Jeff Gulka: I’ve been thinking about that. When I’m playing Elder Scrolls I’m just like, “Oh, wow…” I kind of tell myself that I’m doing a little bit of research if I do want to get into voice.

David Read: Absolutely. Yeah. Play the games whose voice work is particularly good. We just had Suanne Braun on last week who played Hathor in Stargate and she was in Dying Light 2. It’s one of those that I’ve been meaning to get into more heavily. There’s just so much stuff out there; you can’t play it all, you can’t watch it all, you can’t do it all. There’s a world out there too that you may want to look into from time to time.

Jeff Gulka: Totally.

David Read: Absolutely. Let me see here real quick. Okay. Amy Chlebus – since the cast were just big kids themselves, would they try to make you laugh? I think on Stargate we’re talking about.

Jeff Gulka: Well, definitely Richard Dean Anderson was very, very playful. I remember playing rock, paper, scissors with him and all sorts of games in between scenes and stuff like that. Everybody was super nice from what I remember. It was one of the craziest sets too because it was almost like a real base. There’s the Stargate room then you walk down the halls and that’s where everything’s shooting and it goes up to the little thing where there’s a technician who opens the gate. It was probably the most incredible set I had been on up to that time. I remember standing in the Stargate the first time and I was just “oh, holy smokes. This is my first green screen experience. This is pretty neat, it’s huge.” Then another funny thing I just remembered. The technician who opens the gate at the beginning of the episode…I happened to be on TV a year ago and I just watched the intro and I was taking acting classes. I was like, “why does that voice sound familiar?” I’m like, “Oh my god, that’s my acting teacher.” His name’s Daniel Bacon.

David Read: Yeah, yes. He was a co-star in that episode. Your acting coach.

Jeff Gulka: I started doing some auditioning classes a few years ago and I was like, “Hey, you’re in that episode.”

David Read: Oh, this was after? I got it. Okay.

Jeff Gulka: It was like two years ago. I was like, “Hey, Dan.” I took a video on my phone, I was like, “this you? Oh my god.” That was one of his first parts too. So it’s pretty funny.

David Read: This franchise, 17 seasons.

Jeff Gulka: Really? SG-1 was how many?

David Read: 10 and Atlantis was 5 and Universe was 2. It always made me sad that we never got to see what happened to Charlie after he went off with the Tok’ra. Did he live? Did he die?

Jeff Gulka: Yeah, I’d love to find out. Watching that episode, I was like, “well, they really left that open ended.” If they ever bring back Stargate, I’m game.

David Read: Absolutely. There’s still some Tok’ra out there so I wouldn’t be surprised. It’s an enormous mythology and one that I’m hoping now that Amazon has secured MGM in the past couple of days here that…

Jeff Gulka: Oh, really?

David Read: Yeah. I’m hoping in the next few months here we’ll get an announcement of a new series that’s hopefully set in the Brad Wright universe. We can only hope.

Jeff Gulka: Man that’d be awesome. If there’s an audience for it and they own it, they’ll make it. I even heard that there was even some very preliminary discussions of a new X-Files reboot as well or something now that Disney owns it.

David Read: That’s true, Disney has absorbed it. I know that they came back for either a 10th or 11th season in the past few years.

Jeff Gulka: Yeah, they did a revival for a couple years. That’s actually what got me back into acting. I was in Montreal and I was like, “oh, they might call me back. I should probably start taking classes.”

David Read: Be ready to go.

Jeff Gulka: Yeah. But then I never got the call.

David Read: Let’s see here, dlalach – Is there any actor or actress that you think you would enjoy working with? Who was one of your favorites? In the past.

Jeff Gulka: So who I’d like to work with again?

David Read: Yes.

Jeff Gulka: Definitely Chris Owens, he was in the X-Files. I went to a convention in Chicago a couple of years back. It was really bizarre to see all the actors again. It was my first convention but it was like almost no time had passed. They’re like, “oh my god, you look so different.” I’m like, “yeah, I had a big beard. I got a little less hair up here, a lot more down here.” He was actually a really nice fun guy. Obviously Richard Dean Anderson would be incredible.

David Read: Who are your heroes in the work that you look at you say, “man, what they do is just…they’ve got it.” Like Rick said, “you’ve got it kid.”

Jeff Gulka: One of my all time favorite characters going back to Lost is Jack, Matthew Fox. I really liked that role. I think my favorite my was in season three or something when he was getting off his rocker and he had his big beard driving around to Nirvana.

David Read: Oh, in L.A.

Jeff Gulka: He went into some pharmacy or something and knocked over a bunch of stuff. As for actual integrity and stuff, I’m a big fan of Peter Dinklage.

David Read: Yes. Absolutely.

Jeff Gulka: He’s definitely someone I look up to being another a little person as well. I definitely look up to him.

David Read: Peter is one of those who have really broken through that barrier, especially with Cyrano, I’m looking forward to seeing that. He is a reminder that it’s not about size, it’s about performance. In some of his more recent movies his size isn’t even brought up. Or if it is, it’s a one-off to say “yes, we acknowledge this and we move on,”, we move on with the storytelling. I think he’s brilliant.

Jeff Gulka: Yeah, fantastic. I am four foot six, half of my roles and recent passes are tiny man, diminutive man; my size is part of the character. I really appreciate how Peter is just…it can be an aspect but it shouldn’t be the determining quality of the character.

David Read: Yeah, absolutely. Jeff this has been terrific having you on. It’s been a goal of mine to bring you in to discuss the classic episode that you were in. It just means a lot to me that you took the time.

Jeff Gulka: Oh, my pleasure, happy to do it.

David Read: And I love the fact that you’re a lost superfan, this is terrific. I’m gonna be getting in touch to say, “Hey, what did you think about this?” This is great, man. I appreciate having you on and it means a lot that you were able to join us.

Jeff Gulka: Thank you. My pleasure.

David Read: Thank you so much. I will be in touch with you.

Jeff Gulka: Sounds good.

David Read: Thanks, Jeff. Jeff Gulka, Reetou Charlie in Stargate SG-1 Show and Tell. MGM has purchased, or excuse me, the other way around. Amazon has purchased MGM. It’s definitive as of this past week. I think GateWorld posted the story, let’s have a quick look at it here. Yeah, done deal. Amazon owns Stargate as of today. Darren did a great article on GateWorld and I seriously suggest you go ahead and check it out. In the meantime however, our resident TV and film marketing guru Jenny Stiven, I wanted to get in touch with her because she does the State of the Gate updates with us on a quarterly or biannual basis based on what’s going on in the franchise. She said that she wants to wait a little bit before doing another one so that she can get more information with the merger and everything else that’s happening. The dust is still in the air, it’s just beginning to settle. I said “is there something that you can contribute today?” so she said, “I’ll get you a video.” So here is a note from Jenny Stiven about the merger.

Jenny Stiven: Hey everybody, it’s Jenny Stiven. David and I are going to be doing State of the Gate sometime in the next couple of weeks once we get more information from friends over at MGM and Amazon. In the meantime I just really wanted to be able to reach out to everybody and say that I am extremely excited that the deal went through. We’re moving past whatever obstacles might have happened there and we are moving into what I’m considering to be the cautiously optimistic state. I think that there are only open window, open door opportunities, not just us as Stargate fans, but for all of our friends at MGM and Amazon and the great, amazing content that MGM brings with it. There are so many opportunities creatively with the content that MGM has across all of its departments and divisions so I’m excited to hear what happens next. Most of all, this is that perfect moment when something like this happens, where all of our hopes and our positivity and our optimism have a place to go. There’s something for us to direct it at and that’s where I really want all of us to be right now. Be supportive, be out there supporting any Stargate content that we can see, that we’ve got, keep up the great work on all the fan art and all the amazing work. The Lego, oh my gosh, the Lego ships and the Lego gates that I’ve voted a million times for, all of this shows and continues to show Amazon that there’s a strong audience for new content. I just can’t see us going wrong with continuing in that area. Shout out to 365 days of Stargate who have been amazing for obviously, almost 365 days. To Joe Mallozzi who absolutely beat that drum, to Brad, to our friends over at The Companion. I think everybody who is doing their very best to keep this alive has kept this front and center for the people who are the decision makers. So again, I’m cautiously optimistic. I’m a bit of a Pollyanna but I think that we are moving in the right direction. As soon as we know more then David and I will come back and talk to you about Statet of the Gate for sure. Have a great weekend and have fun with David and his interviews. Bye guys.

David Read: Jenny Stiven everyone. She will be joining us for a future Stargate State of the Gate in the next few weeks here as things pan out with Amazon’s acquisition of MGM. Before we go, if you like what you’ve seen in this episode, please consider clicking that like button and sharing this content to friends who are Stargate fans as well. Dial the Gate is brought to you every week for free and we do appreciate you watching but if you want to support the show further buy yourself some of our themed swag. We are now offering t-shirts, tank tops, sweatshirts, and hoodies for all age as well as the cups and other accessories in a variety of sizes and colors at dialthegate.com. From the merchandise tab you can click on a specific design to see what items are being offered. Checkout is fast and easy, you can use a credit card or PayPal, just visit dialthegate.com/merch and thank you so much for your support. Big thanks to my producer Linda “GateGabber” Furey as well as my moderating team Sommer, Tracy, Keith, Jeremy, Rhys and Antony. These people are the ones who are helping me to bring you the show every week. Big thanks to Frederick Marcoux at ConceptsWeb, he’s our web developer on Dial the Gate and to Jeremy, our webmaster, who keeps dialthegate.com up to speed based on the schedule. We have coming up and you know what, I really should just have this ready to go but god forbid I ever do that. We have Britt Irvin who played Merrin next week on Dial the Gate, the 26th of March at 12 noon Pacific Time. Classic episode, Learning Curve, I think it really exemplifies what the franchise is all about in terms of a message that’s not beating you over the head but it’s just telling a good story and entertaining. At 2pm on the 26th as well, two hours later, we have a trivia head to head which is going to be trivia five or six. Just me and Darren Sumner from GateWorld classic, Stargate SG-1 episodes, so we’re going to have a whole lot of fun next week. On April the 2nd at 12 noon, Joseph Mallozzi will be back to discuss Stargate Universe season one and more guests are being scheduled as we speak. So just trucking along with one or two shows per week. We’re gonna be picking up a little bit more, we’re going to be having two episodes together a little bit more commonly for the next little bit here. Some of them are going to be pre recorded, my schedule is a little bit wonky so we’re gonna see what happens. I appreciate everyone for tuning in and helping to make the show possible. My team here, thank you guys so much and to the audience for taking time out of your schedule every week to reminisce about Stargate. My name is David Read for Dial the Gate. We’ll see you on the other side.