Katharyn Powers, Writer, Stargate SG-1

David Read: Hello everyone, my name is David Read. Welcome to Dial the Gate. Episode 133 Katharyn Powers, Writer and season one Executive Story Consultant for Stargate SG-1. I have been looking forward to this episode for a long time, Katharyn is someone I have gotten to know over a number of years, and we’ve been wanting to sit down and do an interview. So it came into this. This is going to be, even though this has a video feed, it’s an audio interview. I just wanted to respect Katharyn’s privacy, and she is in her later years, so this is how we wanted to present the material. But interspersed in this video are some images that she supplied to me. So you may want to continue to watch or you can just listen to it if you prefer. So I’m really excited about this because it’s not, this interview is a Stargate interview, but it’s more, just to prepare you, an interview about her and her life experience as a woman writer in the industry, so she has a lot to say going back several decades of experience. There were some interesting revelations in this interview, I can certainly tell you that. And some of the things that she says may not entirely be of your perspective. But I encourage you, as I have done with her, to keep an open mind and enjoy the interview. But before we get into any of that, if you like Stargate and you want to see more content like this on YouTube, it would mean a great deal to me if you click that Like button, it makes a difference and will 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. And 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. And clips from this episode will be released over the course of the next few weeks on GateWorld, as well as our summer hiatus season which will be approaching fairly soon here, if all goes according to plan. This is a prerecorded episode so the moderators will not be taking questions for Katharyn. If we do manage to have her back, that’s something that I will consider doing a live show with her. But as of right now, this is what we have. A lot of the questions about her specific episodes will be, drumroll please, answered in commentary form. So we’re going to be bringing in episode commentaries, featuring writer Katharyn Powers, for her episodes later on this summer, we recorded three or four. And so a lot of specific questions about the Tollan, some about the Asgard will be answered in those episodes. So this is a much more general overview. I hope you enjoy the interview, and I’ll see if once it’s over.

David Read: My name is David Read for Dial the Gate. And I am privileged to be here with someone whom I have gotten to know over the past I would say seven, eight years now, at this point, Katharyn Powers, she is the Executive Story Consultant of Stargate SG-1 and a writer of some of the most memorable episodes in the series. It is a privilege to be here with you. You are a pioneer in this. She’s hand gesturing a heart to me right now. You are a pioneer in this industry for women writers. And I think that it’s, I think that you have a heck of a story to tell. You are also someone who has forced me to evaluate how I perceive the world and has not necessarily changed any specific core beliefs of mine but you have taught me to keep an open mind because you are a medium. And one of the things that we’re going to get into is that story of how you became who you are and how you find your way in your work through these layers of reality that you experience. You’re one of the more unique people that I’ve ever encountered, so thank you, for agreeing to sit down with me.

Katharyn Powers: Oh, and thank you for noticing and not objecting.

David Read: No, absolutely. I think that, but this is all about, this is all a part of what makes you you. And your gifts to the world are reflected in who you are as a person. So let’s go right in there from the top. Who is Toth?

Katharyn Powers: Who is Toth?

David Read: Toth.

Katharyn Powers: Oh, Toth. His real name is Otto.

David Read: Okay. Most people who are listening now will recognize Toth as an Egyptian god, who was actually Anubis’ scientist in season seven of this series. But as according to you, that is not the case at all. So I’m starting here because this is a foundation of someone whom you have communicated with, since you were a child.

Katharyn Powers: Yes. Around three or four. He showed up, he’d show up and then…

David Read: Like in person, or in like you would you would just be aware of a presence?

Katharyn Powers: No, no, I saw him perfectly. My grandmother was an RN nurse. My grandfather was a doctor, okay? He was even a police surgeon for a while here in LA. And I remember very well Toth would show up from the time I was about three or four. I remember the first time I saw him, I was out back because I lived with my mother, my grandmother, and my great grandmother, all of them incredible women, strong women. But I loved my great grandmother and called her Best. So everybody else started calling her Best. I was out back picking berries, in springtime, when I was three or four years old. Because we used to have bottled milk delivered with cream at the top. So I’d always go out when the berries came out. And because I could go and get the cream off the top, on the berries and some sugar and “Oh, was it so good.” While I was out back picking berries. And I got a physical looking, sort of like that ghosts movie and series that they did on TV. Or you can see through the people. They’re dead, but they’re alive. You know, they’re ghosts. So you kind of see through them, but you see them in full body, you know? Anyway, so I see this presence, it clicks in and clicks out. So anyway, so my grandmother had done her laundry for her uniforms. And she was ironing her uniforms. And this is still when I was three or four years old, and I was keeping her company, and all of a sudden pop. And I said, “Oh, there’s my new friend, grandma.” She turned around and looked and laughed and said, “Oh, you have such a great sense of, a great imagination.” Great imagination, that was luck. Because they didn’t go to church every Sunday and tell me I was worshipping the devil. Yeah. And so that was interesting. After she said that, I looked back at him. He was standing behind her. And he went…

David Read: She’s putting her finger over her mouth as to be quiet.

Katharyn Powers: Over my smiling mouth.

David Read: And smiling now.

Katharyn Powers: It’s what he was doing. He smiled and it’s like “Don’t talk about me.”

David Read: What did he look like? Did he look like a man? Did he look like…

Katharyn Powers: He looked like a human man. It was years until I saw them in their true form. Well forms because the most interesting one was a sheet of golden light that moved like waves very slowly back and forth.

David Read: Wow.

Katharyn Powers: And when that happened, I said, “Well, you know, why did you always appear before as a human?” And he said, “Oh, well, you just weren’t ready for the truth.” And I said, “Well, I’m ready now.” And he said, “Well, why don’t you get some pictures of dolphins?” So I did and kept them around.

David Read: A species that used to walk on land.

Katharyn Powers: Yes, but that was a picture they thought would be easier for me to understand and not get upset in any way. I don’t know why they thought I’d get upset because I’ve always loved the unusual.

David Read: Just shows they don’t know everything.

Katharyn Powers: Yes.

David Read: You also shared an early story with me. We’ve had conversations about the Asgard in the show. You had an encounter that was not too friendly. Where you were a little bit older, I believe. And this was, I think, at your grandparents place in the summer. And you perceived a threat from these beings that you would relate to as I believe a Roswell gray if I’m not mistaken.

Katharyn Powers: No.

David Read: Okay.

Katharyn Powers: Actually, I found a picture in one of my history books on the Mayan. I found a picture that looked exactly like these guys looked. And what happened was I was visiting a great aunt and uncle’s farm in Minnesota for the summer. I turned five that summer. And I love going out and talking to the cows when they were bringing them into the barn. And first they’d if there was any daylight left, they would be feeding the animals. And so I talked to the cows while they went into the barn. And then my great aunt had her an apron on with seeds in it, and she was throwing the seeds in the air. And they were feeding the chickens on the ground. And all of a sudden, she threw seed up in the air and it went, stopped.

David Read: Every seed in midair.

Katharyn Powers: In midair. It just all stopped. And I felt something moving behind me. I turned around and it was a round ship, spaceship, that was probably not quite as, maybe as wide but maybe we take up half this room.

David Read: So maybe seven or eight feet in diameter.

Katharyn Powers: Yeah. Yeah. And it landed and a door opened, slid open. And two figures came out and grabbed one arm and then the other arm and they’re pulling me toward the spaceship. This was the year I turned five in the summer.

David Read: Did your family see this?

Katharyn Powers: No.

David Read: You were alone?

Katharyn Powers: I was, uh, I was. No, I was around people that were doing things and everything stopped.

David Read: Okay,

Katharyn Powers: Everything….

David Read: So they’re frozen.

Katharyn Powers: Yes, they are frozen.

David Read: I understand.

Katharyn Powers: Yeah. And all of a sudden, I see this spaceship and these people come out. And it was only I think a year ago, I was looking through the Mayan book that I have. And I found a picture that because they weren’t the little guys who were white with, you know,

David Read: Like Thor is depicted.

Katharyn Powers: Exactly. And I told them that that was not exactly happy people to come in. But they were…

David Read: You mean Jonathan Glasner.

Katharyn Powers: Yeah.

David Read: Okay.

Katharyn Powers: And they didn’t like me telling them that it was not a friendly being.

David Read: Because that’s the direction they wanted to go in with the Roswell greys.

Katharyn Powers: Yes.

David Read: I see.

Katharyn Powers: But it worked out okay. You know, it’s their show.

David Read: Of course, they do get into that later on in this series that yes, they have come to earth and experimented on us. It turns out to be Loki that was responsible for that, believe it or not. But so they do, they do answer that. But not all of them are of the same ilk. But your experience certainly was not a pleasant. How did you get away?

Katharyn Powers: Toth. Toth, boom was there and telling them they had better let me go because they were gonna get in a lot of trouble bringing me home to their people. The people they worked for were going to not like this. And it was going to cost them.

David Read: So whoever was abducting you answered to an authority?

Katharyn Powers: Yes. And they left. He saved me from being stolen. And I’ve got a book on the Mayan and there’s photographs in there. Well, for some reason, I had not noticed this, but one particular photograph, I guess I was reading or I don’t know what. But about a couple of years back, I noticed the photograph and I realized that the facial qualities were 100%. So were the Mayan people, did they come from outer space? I mean, it really asked, it was very interesting.

David Read: We’re talking about an advanced civilization for the time.

Katharyn Powers: Yes. Very advanced. And it may have been, at what I picked up with that it was a time of very strong sun output and people were having trouble getting pregnant.

David Read: You mean that during the Mayan era?

Katharyn Powers: Yeah. Yeah. And, I mean, as crazy as it sounds, what I was getting is that they actually had been space travelers. You know, and nobody had ever noticed that. So I thought, “Okay, well, that’s interesting.” I mean, I’ve had a lot of weird stuff happen.

David Read: You believe that we were seeded here on this planet by another civilization. Is that right?

Katharyn Powers: Yes, I do. And I think we were created, not as it says in the Bible in Genesis, that we were created by this loving God who put us in a beautiful garden, and gave it to us and then got pissed off and kicked us out. You know, most people don’t look at that part.

David Read: Who are the Kadhi?

Katharyn Powers: The Kadhi are Otto’s people.

David Read: Toth’s people?

Katharyn Powers: Yes.

David Read: That is his race?

Katharyn Powers: Yes. Yeah.

David Read: Did they bring us here? Are we their descendants in one fashion or another?

David Read: So we had just recorded a podcast for Enigma. And we were discussing malevolent forces on Earth, in relation to the likes of Colonel Maybourne and those who are working in some form of shadow government to maintain certain status quos of chaos. And so…

Katharyn Powers: They were in fact created by the people who have that planet that goes around like a meteor in a long, elongated that only comes into our solar system once every 3,400 years.

Katharyn Powers: Oh, that is so perfectly stated.

David Read: Oh, thank you.

Katharyn Powers: Perfect!

David Read: So they brought us here and fiddled with us at their pleasure

Katharyn Powers: They created for slave help. They didn’t create us out of love. They wanted free workers. And I mean, when they built in Sumer when they built these beautiful temples in the middle of the cities that they were building. I mean, humans start building cities that can hold 300,000 people, overnight. I don’t think so. Doesn’t make any sense.

David Read: And agriculture, independently created how many times on Earth?

Katharyn Powers: Yes.

David Read: So six, seven, that is was a lot. Yeah. That’s a pretty sophisticated equation.

Katharyn Powers: And the very complicated watering systems that they put in. That they created. Humans don’t learn how to do that overnight. But it happened overnight in Sumer, you know.

David Read: Mesopotamia? Sumeria? Yeah. Cuneiform was the written language, at that point, so according to Daniel,

Katharyn Powers: Hang on a second.

David Read: Sure. So I’ll display this. This is a this is a reproduction of a cuneiform tablet, I think. Do you know what this says?

Katharyn Powers: No. They didn’t send what it said.

David Read: I see.

Katharyn Powers: It was a gift from one of my daughters.

David Read: Oh, I understand now. Okay. It’s beautiful.

Katharyn Powers: Because they pretty much know I have books on everything.

David Read: Yes, you do. Katharyn, you broke through a very impenetrable glass ceiling in this industry as a female writer. I’m looking at Fantasy Island, Charlie’s Angels, Wonder Woman, Logan’s Run, The Waltons. I mean, we’re talking decades of…

Katharyn Powers: And don’t forget Kung Fu

David Read: Kung Fu.

Katharyn Powers: Westerns.

David Read: Yeah. Star Trek.

Katharyn Powers: Star Trek and Star Trek Next Generation.

David Read: And DS-9. Yeah.

Katharyn Powers: DS-9.

David Read: And this little show called Stargate SG-1, I think. How did you do it?

Katharyn Powers: I had a good agent.

David Read: You had a good agent?

Katharyn Powers: Yeah. But I had to go in and pitch and get sold. You know, he opened the doors for me. But I did the work. So…

David Read: What is the resistance to female writers? Is it just a different perception? Is it needs are different? I mean, you and I just had a conversation where you were talking about dressing like a man, partly because you fit the clothing well, like you have long arms so you fit the jackets well. Not taking in purses but taking in briefcases. A lot of this is functional for you as a person, and some of it is more to fit in.

Katharyn Powers: Absolutely. More to fit in.

David Read: What was that? What was that like dealing with that?

Katharyn Powers: Well, I go in to meet a new staff. Okay.

David Read: For an example. You mean?

Katharyn Powers: Yeah, for example, I go in, meet a new staff, a new show. Go in to pitch. I never wore a dress. I wore men’s jackets. The only thing I wore that was vaguely feminine was a very simple gold necklace. That was it. I never wore high heels. I didn’t even have a dress in my closet for probably 30 years. Because I just didn’t wear them. I’d go in, I’d sit down and I would wait for the right moment to say, “Well, fuck that.” And every and all the guys would go, “We don’t have to be careful around this one.”

David Read: She’s like us.

Katharyn Powers: Exactly. Every new meeting, and it always worked. And when I was working on, “Oh, what was it?” A Warner Brothers show, I can’t remember. But we were all going to lunch. And one of the writer producers was walking kind of behind me. We’re going to go out to lunch together this staff and talk about a show that was being worked on. And he pinched me in the ass when we were going through my office door. So I laughed and I reached around and pinched him in the ass and said, “Oh no wonder you guys like to do that. It’s really fun.” He never touched me again. I was working on what was that show? Fantasy Island?

David Read: The plane the plane!

Katharyn Powers: Yeah. And who was the star?

David Read: Ricardo Montalban.

Katharyn Powers: Ricardo Montalban.

David Read: A gentleman’s gentleman.

Katharyn Powers: Yes. Well, wait till you hear my Montalban story. And I was working on staff on that show. And he wanted me to come over to his trailer just to talk about some notes on the script we were just starting to do, starting to film. And he grabbed me and stuck his tongue in my mouth.

David Read: Ricardo?

Katharyn Powers: Yes. And I laughed and I said, “Oh, Ricardo, that is a kiss I will always remember. But you’re married. I’m married. We love our mates. So, and I was not asked to come back.

David Read: I’m so surprised to hear this. Wow.

Katharyn Powers: It isn’t like women put up with. I mean, I walked into a new show that my agent set up a meeting with this new show. And I walked in and there was a guy sitting like in a front office and obviously a lower producer writer. Okay, because the bigger office was behind his with somebody more important looking. And I sit down, and I always came up with three stories to tell. And it worked pretty well. Usually they’d pick one.

David Read: Of the three pitches?

Katharyn Powers: Yeah, of the three pitches. That’s a lot of work to do for nothing. You know. And also, the more you wrote, and the more credits you had, if you were a man writer, you started getting money beyond the base. If you’re a woman writer, you never got to go beyond that base, ever. And I’ve talked with other woman writers here and there, very few. I remember a Western, I don’t remember which one. But I mean, I have a lot of credits.

David Read: Say that again.

Katharyn Powers: And there are all different kinds of shows. And they’re action shows, westerns, things like Kung Fu. I didn’t want to write love stories. I was bored to death by love stories. And I was hired once to do an MOW.

David Read: Movie of the week.

David Read: She’s a woman. She’ll be good at this.

Katharyn Powers: Movie of the week for television, about women in prison. “Oh, my God.” And then I had another one that I got hired to do about, give me a minute here, wives of, baseball wives, baseball stars. “Oh, my God.” I’ve always…

Katharyn Powers: Yes, exactly. I hated it. I couldn’t have been more bored by it. And I had to call in my ex-husband, one of my three ex-husbands. I had three husbands and three daughters, one by each one. And they’re all really interesting, wonderful. But oh, anyway, I walk into this new show. And I start talking to the guy and he says, “Well, you know,” he started talking like I was a person with no credits. So I opened my briefcase, not my purse. And I pull out my…

David Read: CV.

Katharyn Powers: Yeah. I said, “Well, maybe you should take a look at this.” And he takes a look at it and goes, “You wrote all this?” I said, “Didn’t my agent tell you?” He said, “Yeah, but I didn’t believe him.” And I got up and walked out. I mean, it was so insulting. I was just, I walked out. And I called my agent and I said, “I’m really sorry, but I can’t, I just, that’s too much.” Did you really write this? No, I made it up. So was not an easy path to tread.

David Read: I think we can all agree that we still have a long way to go. But when you look at creatives like Amanda Tapping who is directing now and doing what she always wanted to do, and I think, Heather Ash who also worked on on Stargate, I think you set, you helped break that glass ceiling for a lot of other women who have come since.

Katharyn Powers: I hope so. I hope so. I remember one of my daughters who was out having dinner with a friend who, let me see, there was a guy there who had his own private come to my place and learn how to write for television.

David Read: A workshop.

Katharyn Powers: A workshop. Yeah. And my daughter, and I do have a daughter who was a very well paid and successful young actress in movies and television. Her name is Alexandra Powers, she took my last name. All my girls have taken my last name except my middle daughter. She took Montgomery for last name I have no, I don’t know where she got it, but she likes it so that’s fine. You know, you have to, what is it that Toth always would tell me? “You have to honor a person’s self drive. Don’t try and make them do something they don’t want to do.” Encourage them to do what they do want to do. Even if you see it’s going to be bad for them to do it. Because living is learning…

David Read: Life is an opportunity to learn. Yeah,

Katharyn Powers: Life is a great teacher and knowledge is power. Two things I’ve always said, you know, study history, study, keep growing your knowledge, because that’s a powerful thing. I wish these women today would get over themselves. They’re going around becoming powerful women by being victims. I just don’t get it. I don’t get it. Even I have one of my daughters who gets mad at me if I talk like that. Cuz she likes to complain about a lot of stuff. Oh, well. That’s what she wants to do.

David Read: You never played the victim card in your years of doing this business, though?

Katharyn Powers: No, never. I dress in a way that men would feel comfortable with because women who came in with high heels and dresses on where their secretaries, not their writers. Didn’t have any equality.

David Read: I think that that’s the thing. I think, you know, in terms of what I’m hearing in terms of the stories that you have told me, You’re not trying to circumvent. You’re trying to be an equal. You’re not trying to topple anyone else. You’re trying to come alongside and say, “Let’s do this great thing together.”

Katharyn Powers: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

David Read: Yeah. If men are to give a little, maybe women should give a little too.

Katharyn Powers: Absolutely. I mean, I always try and do that seed planting.

David Read: Right, planting a seed, hoping for something to grow, an idea.

Katharyn Powers: And don’t expect it to grow. Just plant it. [And hope the sun comes out.]

David Read: Right. And your job is to plant. Katharyn and I were talking earlier, I forget who it was who said it, but plant seeds for the future whose, what was it, whose shade they know they will never sit beneath.

Katharyn Powers: I like that.

David Read: 1996, Jonathan Glasner and Brad Wright have each gone to MGM to propose a series based on the Stargate movie from 1994. At this point, they’re in production of, I believe, two or three seasons of The Outer Limits up at Bridge Studios in Vancouver in Burnaby. British Columbia. Have you seen the film? At this point?

Katharyn Powers: Which one?

David Read: Stargate?

Katharyn Powers: Yes.

David Read: Do you see it in the theater?

Katharyn Powers: Yes.

David Read: What are your thoughts?

Katharyn Powers: I thought it was really intriguing. I thought it was, I loved it. There was something about it though, that was a little off putting for me. I don’t know what it was. But I liked the series, much more than I liked the movie. It was because it was developed I guess. You know, the stories were…

David Read: Rounded out.

Katharyn Powers: Yeah.

David Read: You were brought in before any of the cast were cast. Is that correct? Or did you come a little bit later?

Katharyn Powers: I wrote a piece called Emancipation and that got me the job. Because what I did was I saw that there was Amanda Tapping, was her name, on the team. And I thought I’m going to write and show that she’s a soldier as well as a woman. And that’s what I wrote. And Emancipation, I mean, I have it. I don’t know if you saw it but that’s what got me the job.

David Read: Mongol culture is explored in that episode.

Katharyn Powers: Yes, I did a lot of research. I did a lot of research. And I still have something I shouldn’t have.

David Read: Illustrations.

Katharyn Powers: Yes. From the Art Department. And a picture of the cast in front of the Stargate. I don’t know if you’ve gone down.

David Read: I have. We’re recording. You know that right?

Katharyn Powers: Yeah. Okay, that’s fine. Okay. It’s been a long time. I’m probably living longer than most. I’m 78. I’ll be 79 in July.

David Read: So Emancipation got you the staff position?

Katharyn Powers: Yes.

David Read: For season one.

Katharyn Powers: Yes.

David Read: You were in LA at the time?

Katharyn Powers: I went up to Canada. And he went up with me.

David Read: So we’re talking Snorky number one? So you relocated to another country for this show?

Katharyn Powers: Yes.

David Read: Was this the first time you had done this for a show?

David Read: Why? Did you believe that passionately in the project? Or was this, I mean, that’s a big move.

Katharyn Powers: Yes.

Katharyn Powers: Yes it is.

David Read: And considering the number of credits that you’ve had before. You know, what is it about Stargate that just consumed and enthralled you?

Katharyn Powers: Well, I was on staff of a really interesting show. I think that kind of every show was planting seeds for people. And it was well cast, was beautifully done. I mean, Enigma, for example, I mean, the opening scene when they come through the Stargate.

David Read: Pompeii.

Katharyn Powers: You know, and it’s Pompeii and I have a book that talks about Pompeii and what happened, and that everybody suffocated, when they did the dig, to uncover it. They found that everybody had suffocated before the…

David Read: Lava started flowing.

Katharyn Powers: Lava started flowing. You know.

David Read: Tell me about working with Brad and Jonathan and Rob Cooper. And these writers that have been producing, several of them have producing science fiction for years. Tell us about that year that you were on staff up there.

Katharyn Powers: Well, I thought that they were the most wonderful people to work for, problems developed. I already had chronic fatigue syndrome. As a matter of fact, I won a California and I still have it, a special thing for people who are ill, or crippled, who managed to keep working in the business. It’s a special thing, not given by the business, but I had chronic fatigue syndrome and I had to spend every weekend in bed to get through the week. And I couldn’t let them know that. So you know, I talked about witchcraft and this and that and doing magic. And I was exhausted. I didn’t want them to see that I was sick. So you know, it was okay. And I still have two crocheted blankets that I made over the weekends. Friday night I would go out I would get enough tapes because they were all tapes then. We didn’t have DVDs yet. And I’d get enough tapes to last a weekend in bed crocheting and that got me to the next…

David Read: What were you watching?

Katharyn Powers: Anything! Movies. Yeah.

David Read: Stuff to watch.

Katharyn Powers: Stuff to watch and crochet. I loved them because they seem to be the nicest guys, upper producer guys that I had ever worked with.

David Read: And that’s saying a lot considering your list of credits.

Katharyn Powers: Yeah, I thought they were just the best in the whole world. The nicest, the easiest to work with.

David Read: You are responsible for helping to give birth to a number of important races. We’ve got, just for an example here, the Asgard, you have the Tollan and there are, when when you really break down the nuts and bolts of SG-1, those two races are extremely important to the franchise. I must thank you for contributing to their creations regardless of how they turned out in the end, they’re very important to the fabric of the franchise and very key to everything in my work. So thank you for helping to to create those voices.

Katharyn Powers: Well, thank you for noticing.

David Read: Oh, come on. So you returned to LA after the end of season one.

Katharyn Powers: Yeah.

David Read: And did you consider writing remotely from down here for season two?

Katharyn Powers: Right.

David Read: Okay. Yeah, at that point I’m sure you have the system in place and you’re back in an environment that’s more suited to your chronic fatigue syndrome that you can deal with and can contribute from there.

Katharyn Powers: Well, it’s funny because I’ve had two years apart, I’ve had, and I don’t even know they’ve got to be somewhere in my files, but I’ve had to birth charts done by really good, what did they call them? People that take your birthdate and work the stars out.

David Read: Astrologists.

Katharyn Powers: Astrologist, yeah, I have two different birth charts from two different, really good astrologists. And the first thing they both say is, “You are going to live your life and do your work in your home. You are completely home centered by the stars.” And it was true. And I loved it.

David Read: That’s what phones are for. Tell me about automatic writing. You’d mentioned it earlier in our discussion.

Katharyn Powers: It’s something…

David Read: How long have you been doing this and what is it?

Katharyn Powers: I’ve been doing it since I was in my early 20s. I was reading about what had happened in the 1930s in our country. They got into trying to communicate with the dead. And they were going to a lot of people who are just you know, sending people to spy on them.

David Read: From the military?

Katharyn Powers: No, not the military. This is people that claimed to be able to speak with the dead. And they were just stealing from folks, hundreds of dollars. Yeah, you go in they’re all dressed up nice. And they go into a thing.

David Read: Oh, they’re charlatans.

Katharyn Powers: Charlatans. Yeah. But there were these books and I think I had at least one or two, maybe three. They were called the Betty Books, BETTY, and they were about psychics learning how to use real ability to help people talk to dead relatives. But Betty Books were about automatic writing. Because they said it took time. And it does take time. It took me a good two years before I could do it without anticipating what the rest of the sentence was going to be.

David Read: Because that’s your mind taking over.

Katharyn Powers: Exactly. Yeah. And you have to really not let that happen. And it takes, it took me two years to get rid of it, to make it so that I could separate myself from my hand and allow my hand to be moved. And that’s basically what it is. And I think I have one over here somewhere where, from last year, year and a half ago, when he started automatic writing and talking to me that way, because it’s amazing. I’ll never forget that moment. I was talking to Otto and all of a sudden something yanked my hand down and it was Snorky. And he talked to me almost every night. And Otto didn’t get mad about it.

David Read: It’s like handing the phone over to a kid.

Katharyn Powers: Yeah, yeah. But not really because he’d already lived two lives, you know, and Otto knew how much I missed him. Oh, oh, look that Snorky three [inaudible].

David Read: What advice would you give to women writers today?

Katharyn Powers: I don’t, I haven’t been around the business. I don’t like the new movies that are being made. I just, I don’t like, Sterling, my youngest daughter, worked for a composer. And what she has told me is that, she still goes back and forth and talks to him because she worked for him for a number of years. And apparently what they’re doing now, for music for the score of a film, is they just look at a bunch of different films. “Oh, I want this scene. I want this scene. I want this scene.” And they sew it all together and call it a score. You turn on a movie, Gunga Din.

David Read: Gunga Din, yes, we watched this movie.

Katharyn Powers: One of the greatest scores ever. There was for the three guys who fought together there was music for that. There was music for each individual guy. And there was Gunga Din music.

David Read: You’re talking about themes, everyone had a theme.

Katharyn Powers: Everybody had a theme, I mean, in all of these movies, everybody had a theme and it took a great way of putting it.

David Read: Well, it makes sense because the music…

Katharyn Powers: The music is the emotion. Yeah.

David Read: Attaches to our emotional resonance of a group or an individual, or an idea. So you look at Star Wars, the force theme. [Hums theme] It’s Luke’s theme, but it’s like, it’s well, it’s not really the force theme, but it’s the hero’s journey. And it all ties back to it. So I mean, the stuff that they’re coming out with now is just…

Katharyn Powers: It’s shit.

David Read: It has very little soul.

Katharyn Powers: No doesn’t it’s just snip, snip, snip, tack it all together. Have one person in charge of creating a score who is not a composer and has no musical ability. And that’s what you get. And it doesn’t interest me at all.

David Read: So what to change then, what to do about it? How do we get back on course, with the right way of filmmaking, the right way of composing the right way of creating content that matters to people?

Katharyn Powers: I don’t think we ever will.

David Read: Well, that’s bleak.

Katharyn Powers: Well, maybe some youth will come along, because I’m hearing sort of stories about the very young starting to behave differently than the adults around, in a positive way. So maybe it will happen with a rebirth with younger people that can watch older movies and learn something from them. That’s what I’m hoping.

David Read: What do you want your Stargate work to say to people, what do you hope it’s said to people.

David Read: Who have watched it, who have watched it and loved it?

Katharyn Powers: Stargate SG-1?

Katharyn Powers: There’s a different seed in each story. You have to look at the people and the how they’re relating to each other. And cuz I try to, no I think I do put a seed. I do seed planting and at least one scene or one speech or always there’s something there.

David Read: And we’re talking seeds. We’re talking ideas like for deeper thought, right? Or action.

Katharyn Powers: It can be action, it can be dialogue. It’s to show or inspire, or open a gate. It’s to plant a seed and hope it grows. And if you plant enough seeds they’ll start growing.

David Read: Absolutely. Well, I am looking forward to continuing to go through these commentaries with you and discussing more of these ideas.

Katharyn Powers: Bless your heart because I need this inspiration right now. I need to get my great course out on writing a best selling book.

David Read: So what’s coming up next?

Katharyn Powers: To go beyond that.

David Read: So what what those who who have loved your work what can we expect next from Katherine Powers?

Katharyn Powers: I got to learn how to write books and get them published. I think I finally found a company that can do it. And I have a friend up north, 800 miles, who’s going to come down and help me get my house back together. If I have to sell it, whatever I need to do, but he’s going to help me. He knows the company I want to publish with, for Moose Mountain,

David Read: Okay, so I have a sitting next to me here a manuscript called, The Magic of Moose Mountain. Can you give us a…

Katharyn Powers: Well, actually, it has a better title than that.

David Read: Okay.

Katharyn Powers: You gotta open the book up.

David Read: You are a handful dog.

Katharyn Powers: A New Hero Myth of Cave Art, Time Travel, Adventure and Magic.

David Read: You give us the one paragraph pitch

Katharyn Powers: Well, that’s kind of it.

David Read: Oh, okay. That is very succinct.

Katharyn Powers: Yeah, took me a while to come up with it too.

David Read: I understand that.

Katharyn Powers: Because it’s just the time the Magic of Moose Mountain. But it’s important a new hero myth because that is what I rewrote it to be. And I had… And there’s my dedication. You want to hear that? “Dedicated to Chief Dan George of the Coast Salish Tribes in North Vancouver, Canada, British Columbia, a man I knew only by his moving performances in Little Big Man and Centennial and the Ancient Warrior episode of Kung Fu season 1, 1973 and by his thoughtful book entitled, My Heart Soars, in which he says, “If you talk to animals, they will talk with you and you will know each other. If you do not talk to them, you will not know them and what you do not know you will fear. What one fears one destroys.” These words of ancient wisdom and the two beautiful drawings of moose by artist Helmut Hirnschall, which accompany them were the inspiration for this book.” Never met him but saw him from his work and I have this book. Have I planted seeds?

David Read: Well, I thank you for sitting down with me. This means a great deal.

Katharyn Powers: I thank you too.

David Read: To have this conversation. And here’s to many more in dissecting the minutia of your individual episodes and sharing time with you and looking forward to what you’re developing in the future.

Katharyn Powers: Well, yeah, can we actually watch some stuff?

David Read: Sure. Absolutely.

Katharyn Powers: Wonderful.

David Read: We got a snoring dog back here so apologize everybody. Thank you, Katharyn.

Katharyn Powers: He’s is my sweetheart.

David Read: Thanks so much for writer Katharyn Powers for taking time to record this interview. Having her as a friend has been an interesting journey and it has never been boring. She is a unique individual. If you look up “unique” in the dictionary, Katharyn Powers is going to have a picture next to her. Before we go if you’ve liked what you’ve seen, please consider clicking that Like button. We have merchandise, Stargate Dial the Gate is brought to you every week for free and we do appreciate you watching. If you want to support the show further buy yourself some of our themed swag, including T-shirts, tank tops, sweatshirts and hoodies for all ages, as well as cups and other accessories in a variety of sizes and colors at dialthegate.com. You can click on the merchandise tab in the form it just says Merch, click on a specific design to see what items are being offered and checkout is fast and easy. You can use your credit card or PayPal. Just go and visit dialthegate.com/merch and thank you so much for your support. I am out of town this week. This is why this is a recorded episode but next week the 14th of May at 12 noon Pacific Time episode 134 Stargate Science with Mika McKinnon and David Hewlett. Mika was the Science Consultant on Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe. And David was, of course, Dr. Rodney McKay. So be prepared for a show entirely focusing on the science background of Stargate. Come with your questions and prepare to have your ears open and and receive a download because Mika is full of science knowledge, especially as it relates to what went on behind the scenes of the show and building out certain episodes and everything else. She has a fascinating interview and that’s going to be coming up on the 14th of May. Then on the 21st of May at 12 noon Pacific Time episode 135, Robert Murray Duncan. He played Seth in season three of Stargate SG-1, the episode Seth and also Melburn Jackson, Daniel’s father in season two’s, what was that one? That one was, oh gosh, for heaven’s sakes, the Gamekeeper, that’s it. It took a minute but it was in there, with Dwight Schultz. Robert Murray Duncan will be joining us at 12 noon, on the 21st of May, 12 noon Pacific Time to discuss his time on Stargate SG-1 as senior Dr. Jackson and as Seth. My name is David Read. Thanks so much for tuning in. I appreciate everyone who makes the show possible my moderators Sommer, Tracy, Keith, Jeremy, Rhyse, and Antony. Linda “GateGabber” Furey, Frederick Marcoux, my Web Developer, and Jeremy Heiner our Webmaster keeping the site up to date. I appreciate you tuning in and we’ll see you on the other side.