Rainbow Sun Francks Part 2, "Aiden Ford" in Stargate Atlantis

David Read: Hello everyone and welcome to Dial the Gate. My name is David Read. Thanks so much for tuning in. Rainbow Sun Francks, Aiden Ford from Stargate Atlantis is going to be joining us for this episode. But before we really get rolling here, if you enjoy Stargate and you want to see more content like this on YouTube, it makes a difference if you click that Like button, it will help the show continue to grow its audience. And 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. And clips from this live stream will be released over the course of the next few weeks on the Dial the Gate and GateWorld.net YouTube channels. As this is a live episode, we have Rainbow calling in from his phone, he is out and about right now, so we’re going to have him here. And while I am asking him questions and showing a couple of other things as well, go ahead and submit your questions in the YouTube feed at youtube.com/dialthegate and I’ll turn around and ask some of those questions to him. So thank you so much for being here to be a part of that. Without further ado, Mr. Rainbow Sun Francks, Aiden Ford of Stargate Atlantis. Hello, my friend.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Am I here? Am I on?

David Read: You are!

Rainbow Sun Francks: Hi. Hi. Hi, everybody. How are you?

David Read: Very good. Are you at Pride?

Rainbow Sun Francks: I am. It’s Pride in Toronto. It’s Pride month, but it’s Pride weekend. We have one of the biggest, I think maybe second or third biggest in the world, here in Toronto. And so they’ve shut down the street. We’re at the tail end of it, but as you can see behind me, it’s just miles of queer happiness. And it’s one of the most beautiful celebrations that we have in this city. And it’s just so much love all around us. We’re having so much fun. It’s a great time.

David Read: The one in Nashville is going on this weekend as well, but it’s definitely not anywhere as big as that.

Rainbow Sun Francks: The whole city just feels wonderful for the last few days. It’s incredible. We’re gonna gear up and do the parade tomorrow with my lady.

David Read: Hi!

Rainbow Sun Francks: And, yeah, it’s great. So it’s nice. You should be able to hear me now, we’re at the top of the street now. You have perfect timing.

David Read: Yes. So how are things going for you? I’ve missed you.

Rainbow Sun Francks: I’ve missed you too, brother. How are things going? Things are going unbelievably well. I’m the happiest I’ve been in years. I’m excited to wake up every morning and everything’s great. Work is starting to go really well. I got a bunch of cool stuff on the go. And I got some stuff I can talk about, some I can’t, but I’m very happy. And that’s all that really matters to me right now.

David Read: And that’s the most important thing, you know. That you have purpose and it looks like you have someone to wake up next to.

Rainbow Sun Francks: I do!

David Read: This is solid stuff.

Rainbow Sun Francks: It is, it is. For me, it’s been a while.

David Read: What’s on the horizon that you can share?

Rainbow Sun Francks: Well, I got a cartoon, a animated series coming out on Netflix. And I’m starting a new Netflix show that I can only talk about as much as I just said, but I start next week. And other than that, I’m starting a new record, I’m gonna start working on some new music. Yeah, and I’m enjoying the summertime. We wait so long in the fucking barren cold in Toronto for some sunshine, and when it comes it’s like, “Hallelujah!” So, I bought a bicycle, I’m riding my bike everywhere. I just lost 12 pounds, so I’m getting back in shape. Everything’s wonderful man, life is good.

David Read: Good for you.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Yeah, man. Life is good.

David Read: I have recently had a chance to look at some recent work through a show that you did on Hulu called High Fidelity.

Rainbow Sun Francks: High Fidelity. Yeah, with Zoe Kravitz and Jake Lacy, a bunch of incredible actors on that. We had such a beautiful cast, and the guests that were on it were just crazy.

David Read: I’ve watched one specific episode, you had submitted it, and I want to go back and watch the whole thing. The cast is a talented group of people. And Zoe’s a great lead.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Yeah, she killed it. And she Executive Produced. And she, to be honest, what people don’t know is she wrote most of… she took the final pass on most of those scripts and made them as good as they were. Yeah, some of those scripts were not as close to as good as they were in the end when she polished them. She’s an incredible writer. She’s an incredible talent, and she’s just started directing her first feature with Channing Tatum called Pussy Island. She just started this week.

David Read: Wow. So her feet and never going to touch the ground again.

Rainbow Sun Francks: And she finished being Cat Woman. Yeah, she’s off to the races at this point.

David Read: Wow.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Yeah. Yeah, I’m very proud of my little sister.

David Read: I want to share a clip from High Fidelity.

Rainbow Sun Francks: I’d love that.

David Read: Did you see the scene that I picked?

Rainbow Sun Francks: Yeah, yeah. You picked the one when I come out of the washroom doing cocaine?

David Read: Yes. So it’s in the middle. It’s not my favorite scene, my favorite scene is at the end of the episode, but I wanted to share this one…

Rainbow Sun Francks: With my wife? Yeah.

David Read: Right. And you getting into the cab saying “I was wrong.” But I wanted to share this one because…

Rainbow Sun Francks: This is a good… this is good [acting]… this is my drunken, high acting. It’s pretty good.

David Read: Well, it’s a brother and sister…

Rainbow Sun Francks: …being a brother and sister.

David Read: But also they’re at their lowest. He’s having to deal with a family that he’s not necessarily prepared for. And she’s having to deal with her ex, whom she still loves, with another person.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Neither of us want to grow up yet.

David Read: Right.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Neither of us are willing to grow up at this moment. And it’s also both of us name-calling the other.

David Read: Exactly.

Rainbow Sun Francks: We’re not taking account for our mishaps.

David Read: Exactly. I’m gonna play this clip, and I’ll be right back with you.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Please.

David Read: OK. [High Fidelty clip plays].

David Read: High Fidelity, which is available now on Hulu. That was one season, yes?

Rainbow Sun Francks: It’s on Disney+, too.

David Read: Oh is it now? OK.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Yeah, yeah.

David Read: OK. And what did you take away from this cast and this experience of doing this one season before it got canceled?

Rainbow Sun Francks: Well, I mean, you know, Zoe and I are family in real life. My sister’s her Godmother, I’ve known her since she was born and we’ve grown up together. And so to get to work with my little sis is magic, and someone of her caliber and all of the actors that were in it are Emmy award nominated, Emmy award winning, some of them are just… they’re monsters, and they’re all from some of my favorite pieces of work. And so to get to work with them, I learned a lot. It brought up my confidence to know that I could work at that level in something that was out of genre for me. That little bit of comedy was like “OK, cool.” I had done Schitt’s Creek and I’d done a few things, but this was just really fun to dig into, and have a character that was close to me, that I was allowed to make close to me, because it was a brother sister thing. And it was just beautiful. And working in New York, I got to live in Brooklyn for a year. You know, it’s fucking great, man. It was so great. I just love working, so anytime I get to experience something new, it’s beautiful for me. I just soak it all in and this was no different.

David Read: As a huge fan of Lost, I loved the Lost reference early in this episode, “Vintage Hurley.” Like, “What? What is that? That’s… that’s Jorge!”

Rainbow Sun Francks: You caught that?

David Read: Absolutely I did!

Rainbow Sun Francks: So that was… So he improv’d that.

David Read: Oh, that’s terrific. “It’s the numbers on the back. The numbers.”

Rainbow Sun Francks: When we pulled the album up, it just happened to be the Hurley record, and so he recognized it and that’s what he said. And so it stayed in the edit, which is hilarious.

David Read: Absolutely terrific.

Rainbow Sun Francks: We did a bunch of improv that stayed in that was really good. They were good about that, about letting us riff.

David Read: Any chance of the group coming back together for a send off? Has there been any any chatter, do you think?

Rainbow Sun Francks: We were all very heartbroken about getting canceled for no reason. At the end of the first season, we had great ratings. The critics were saying that it was one of the top three best new shows, we had everything going for us. Plus we had, you know, there’s queer stories. She was bi, the gay storyline, there’s my storyline, there’s a black female lead. There’s everything that the industry is pushing for in the show and for some reason we got canceled. And I have no idea why, and we didn’t really find out why. But we were all very heartbroken and so at the end when we got canceled, Zoe was kind of like, “You guys can go fuck yourselves.” And so I don’t know, she said, “You know what, I’ll write something for us later.” So I think maybe we’ll come back in a completely different show at some point, because I know we all loved each other and we all got along really well. I’m sure there’ll be something, it’ll be something else. But…

David Read: Well she’s gonna go off and do her thing. And she’ll circle back around.

Rainbow Sun Francks: She’s going to keep directing and writing. Yeah, exactly, so something will happen, yeah.

David Read: Absolutely. All right.

Rainbow Sun Francks: I’m excited.

David Read: So I’m excited for this next Netflix project, is it expanding your range in a new direction? Is this something that… is it offering you anything new to sink your teeth into?

Rainbow Sun Francks: The animated thing is called Daniel Spellbound. And it’s very cool. It’s about a kid who lives in a world of magic, like real magic. And he is… his… I don’t know how to say without giving away too much.

David Read: Yeah.

Rainbow Sun Francks: I play sort of the uncle who’s a bad guy, but he’s a good guy, but he’s a bad guy. He doesn’t know he’s the bad guy. I’m the villain.

David Read: OK.

Rainbow Sun Francks: And I’m kind of a hunter of magic items, like almost a bounty hunter for magic items. So I’m searching for all these things so that I can get rewards. It’s a very weird story. It’s very cool. The animation looks great.

David Read: The animation is beautiful.

David Read: Yeah I am. I’m looking at it. Chantel Riley’s in it, Deven Christian Mack is in it.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Yeah. Are you looking at it?

Rainbow Sun Francks: It’s gonna be very cool. So I play a character named Burden who’s the bad guy. He’s a rough mother…

David Read: The stuff that they are able to push out now on pretty much a TV budget. The fidelity, pardon the pun, of some of this content, it’s just beautiful.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Oh yeah. We love technology.

David Read: Oh yeah, very much so. And the things that we can do with it, the fraction of the time that it takes to put some of this stuff out, at the level at which it comes out, I would love to see a Stargate project in CG.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Oh yeah. There’s no reason for them not to do that.

David Read: Absolutely. Got some fan questions for you.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Oh, I’d love that.

David Read: Tracy, more of a comment — Tracy’s one of our mods — just want to say how inspiring and uplifting your Instagram posts are, and your work is so much appreciated.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Oh, thank you. That’s wonderful. Yeah, I take a lot of pride in my Instagram stories, to do just that. To brighten people’s day and to also be on the right side of politics, and try to have a strong opinion on what’s morally right in the world and not what’s right or left.

David Read: People are so in the weeds on a lot of this stuff, and it’s so important to pull your head up every once in a while, as often as you can and say, “Hey, we’re all people.”

Rainbow Sun Francks: Be humane. Think about how we can balance this world and never be putting someone down, or out, or fucking with someone’s bodies. You know, it’s a messy, messy world right now and it’s gross, so I try to say what I say with whatever minutia of influence I have in this world, and try to say the right thing that I know will age well. I know that everything I say is going to age well. I’m never on something that I don’t think the world is going to evolve into. So I think it’s important to think about everyone’s rights and everyone’s hearts and brains and everything else that we got going. It’s messed up. But yeah, my Instagram is fucking great. I don’t want to take this down. It’s also full of funny animals and kids getting hurt and things that are funny for all of us. So follow me, @rainbowsun on Instagram.

David Read: Absolutely. Jeremy Heiner…

Rainbow Sun Francks: Everybody gets made fun of.

David Read: Sooner or later, absolutely. You can’t have a [thin] skin if you’re gonna be online.

Rainbow Sun Francks: No, God no.

David Read: Jeremy Heiner, Rainbow if you could tell yourself something that you know now, on day one when you were shooting SGA, what would you tell the younger you? What have you learned?

Rainbow Sun Francks: Save your money.

David Read: Good words for anybody.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Save your money. These people aren’t your friends. A lot of these bald white guys are liars. Yeah, don’t believe the hype, man. All this could end.

David Read: Nothing is guaranteed. Yeah.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Yeah. Just because you’re having a good time, doesn’t mean it’s gonna be for a long time. No, I wouldn’t… yeah, I would just say… what? Yeah, just keep your head down and do the work. I think I was really excited and I believed that it was forever. I was young, I was 23 years old. I didn’t know what the fuck was going on. Even though I had been in the [business] a long time, that was my first big, big series.

David Read: Still things to learn.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Yeah, I had so much to learn. It was a… but also, I don’t know if I’d tell myself anything. I needed to learn all these lessons. I don’t… no regrets, man. No regrets.

David Read: You walked away with some good friends, too.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Oh, man! So like when I said, “These guys aren’t your friends,” I didn’t mean the cast. I meant the back office people. But yeah, man, I have some of my lifelong friends. Our little weird family is beautiful. You know, I talk to Paulie Walnuts [Paul McGillion] all the time, I love that guy. I talk to Joe [Flanigan] all the time. Joe was there when my dad died and really helped me.

David Read: Oh, that’s right.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Like, the minute that it happened. And I’m forever indebted to him for that. Rachel [Luttrell]’s my big sis forever, you know. And even…

David Read: She says “hello”, we had her on last week.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Oh, beautiful.

David Read: I know, it’s been a minute.

David Read: And even who?

Rainbow Sun Francks: Oh I said, “even David Hewlett” who’s an absolute mess. I love that guy. We’re all just… yeah, it’s great. I love those guys, I had such a great time with them. And the fact that we’ve been able to travel the world together, Stargate has given me what no other show that I’ve ever done has, and that’s like a really big family, like you, you’re a part of that, you know, think how long we’ve been friends.

Rainbow Sun Francks: It’s been a long time, man, yeah. You’ve watched me grow from a boy to a man.

David Read: Sure have. Melissa Smith, Rainbow if you could have chosen a love interest for Ford, who do you think that that would have been? What kind of direction would that have gone?

Rainbow Sun Francks: Oh man, I would have loved for him to fall in love with a Wraith queen and it would have been really weird and awesome. I’d watch that porn.

David Read: Oh, God! Oh man.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Fuck it, I’d make that porn. If you guys would GoFund me.

David Read: OnlyFans with Ford and Wraith.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Yeah, OnlyFord. OnlyFord. Let’s do it. I’m down. I’ll do it.

David Read: Oh, jeez. Lockwatcher, did you keep any props or mementos from the show? And what would you have liked to have had?

Rainbow Sun Francks: Man, I didn’t get anything. I’ve said this a million times, I didn’t even get my chairback. If I could have anything I’d have my chairback. I want my chairback. I want my name, and I want Atlantis, and I want my chairback. Other than that, yeah, I kept a few things. I actually just got a big box of stuff from Vancouver, and now my apartment looks like a hoarders apartment from all the stuff that… I forgot that I had a whole apartment in Vancouver that I kept, and then they shipped it and I was like, “Oh!”

David Read: Gotta go through this stuff now.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Yeah, now I gotta go through it. So I was going through some of the boxes and I found… first of all, I found all my scripts which was awesome to have all my scripts with my notes and my name, like my personal scripts. So I have those, a big pile of them. So I’ll probably give those away, or charity, or get them signed and charity them or do something.

David Read: Are you coming to Gatecon?

Rainbow Sun Francks: I might, I might fly myself there. I don’t think they… listen, all these cons now, they get the same three people and then they tell me that there’s no room for me. And then the fans and people are like, “Oh, I want you to come!” and I’m like, “Cool, but I can only… yeah, I could come,” but I’d like for someone to at least fly me there, would be nice, so I’m not paying out of pocket.

David Read: You need to break even at the very least, you know. I mean, you’re a working actor.

Rainbow Sun Francks: But I may come, just because it’s in [Vancouver] and I’m due for a trip to Van, so I may figure out a way to rip over and make it a twofer.

David Read: Well, if it happens, I’ll buy you dinner.

Rainbow Sun Francks: You don’t have to do that, I’ll buy you dinner.

David Read: No, nah, nah! I owe you.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Nah, nah, nah.

David Read: James Robbins art.

David Read: These fans…

Rainbow Sun Francks: But on that, hold on, I found a bunch of… I also kept a bunch of art. I found a bunch of the stuff from the art department that I had, some of the original mockups and stuff.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Yeah, so I have that. So that’s other stuff that I’m going to get rid of. And other than that, I also have a bunch of the Polaroids — continuity Polaroids — from SG-1 that someone left with me and then I just took them home. And so I have a bag, and now they’re over… I have a bag of Polaroids from SG-1, and I really don’t need those and I’m sure there’s people out there that want those. So at some point I’ll probably…

David Read: I may pay you a pretty penny to get my hands on some of those, my friend. So we’ll have to talk about that.

Rainbow Sun Francks: You want some of those? I have some of them, and I got [Michael] Shanks to to sign some of them and…

David Read: Well, anything like that I would probably submit to charity if it’s…

Rainbow Sun Francks: Uh-oh.

David Read: I’m here.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Hold on, my headphones are… How do I do this when I…

David Read: Can you hear me?

Rainbow Sun Francks: Ah, there. OK, now I can. Oh, sorry.

David Read: Yeah, you’re good. Yeah, anything that has their signatures on it, I think that that should be like a charity item. But any of the general Polaroids, I’m very interested in and would pay you for.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Oh, cool yeah. Oh, no, no, I’ll give them to you, I’ll give you some. I got a bag, I probably have like, you know, I think they’re season three or four? They’re early I think, they’re pretty early. Because Shanks has the long, funny sweeping hair.

David Read: Oh OK, then that was the first two years.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Yeah, he looks ridiculous.

David Read: Jeremy Heiner also says Happy Pride from a gay fan. What was the coolest thing about Toronto Pride this year? What’s going on?

Rainbow Sun Francks: The coolest thing about Toronto pride this year? It’s the same every year.

David Read: OK.

Rainbow Sun Francks: It’s, it’s… it’s love. I think it’s more… what’s funny is it’s just becoming more and more corporate, like I’ve never seen so much… Oh, but also post Covid it’s beautiful to come out and just… yeah, you’re very right, yeah. My lady’s telling me what to…

David Read: Hi.

Rainbow Sun Francks: My PR over here is telling me, “Yeah but tell them post-Covid.” You’re absolutely right, baby. Yeah, post-Covid we just haven’t been able to gather in so long. So to gather in this way and just, it’s just so uplifting, I gotta say, in Toronto. It’s just this beautiful energy. Normally, you know me, I’m such an introvert, I don’t really leave the house. Even my lady was saying, she was like, “Wow, you’re actually pretty calm to be surrounded by this many people.” And I was like, “You know, I don’t, for some reason right now, I don’t have anxiety.” And normally I’m like, “I need to go back inside.” But I feel great, and so I think it’s really to do with that energy of love, I don’t feel like there’s any variables I gotta worry about, there’s no one… you know, it’s just beautiful.

David Read: I think also, a lot of us have had plenty of time to ourselves lately and it’s time for a little bit the other way. Eventually, it’s gonna be like, “You know what, I’ve had enough. I’m good. I’m gonna go back into myself now.” But for now it’s like, “Hey, everyone. It’s nice to be back.”

Rainbow Sun Francks: Nice to be out. Yeah, it’s also the summer, it’s so beautiful. So what’s the best thing, to answer his question? People, energy, love, acceptance. Oh, yeah, just yeah, there’s concerts. Everyone’s just really happy. And tomorrow the parade is going to be awesome because it is massive. They shut down Young Street. If you know Young Street, is the longest street in the world. And they shut that big ass street. Yeah it’s the longest street in the world, I know they don’t shut it all the way down across Canada. It’s not that long a parade! But they do shut down the entire downtown and they run all the way down. It’s massive and it’s amazing. It’s amazing and then the parties and the music and everyone’s naked. It’s wonderful. It’s just weird and awesome.

David Read: Elenive wanted to know, Rainbow what was your favorite episode of Atlantis to shoot?

Rainbow Sun Francks: Runner would have been my favorite to shoot.

David Read: Oh, with the fight!

Rainbow Sun Francks: Runner would have been my favorite. Yeah, I was… you know, I did my little Jackie Chan up two trees for the start of that. They swung the jib and I sort of created that shot that opened the show. And I was really proud of that, being a young man to be like, they were blocking and I was like, “You know what, I can do this. Can we do this and bring the jib in and do it?” and he was like, “Yeah, cool. Let’s do that.” And so I just sat up there. Like 20 feet up in the tree. I shimmied up there and that was great. Practicing fights with Jason Momoa in the style of Jason Bourne, and me and Jason… it ended up raining that night and we beat the crap out of each other, we both knocked each other senseless a few times, and it was great. We didn’t really use the doubles, we really did most of it ourselves.

David Read: What was it like working with Bam-Bam [James Bamford] to bring that to life?

Rainbow Sun Francks: Well Bam and I worked all through first season and we did… I was one of the guys that was agile enough to… because I came from breakdancing, as soon as he saw me breakdance he was like, “Oh, we’re gonna use you to do all the shit.” So yeah, he had me doing flying arm bars and me and Bam had a language already, and then Jason came in and he was nimble and young and strong, and so we were like, “Let’s go off!” So the producers had… Bourne Supremacy had just come out, and the big fight in that where he goes to one of the other assassins’ house and they get into a weird fist fight that turns into a knife fight, and it’s really messy and it’s all handheld. And they had seen that and they were like, “We need a fight like this.” And that’s where that… but that’s what they told Bam-Bam, and so he created that fight based on the emotional and the gross, sort of, visceral feeling of that fight, from the Bourne movie. And so yeah, it turned into a gun fight into a knife fight… or into a fist fight into a knife fight where I come out and then eventually get shot a few times in that episode also. [Really] showing Ford’s strength, even though he was low on enzyme.

David Read: He still is gonna go the extra mile.

Rainbow Sun Francks: The guy’s a machine. Yeah, sometimes I think, “Maybe you couldn’t have Ford back.” Because if he was totally hopped up on enzyme, there’s no one who could do anything. He could take on anybody. He’s a monster.

David Read: It’s always how I think of Thor in The Avengers. You have a God on the team here. I’ve always had a hard time believing that as a viewer.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Yeah, yeah. He’s a God. It’s true.

David Read: Speaking of… What now?

Rainbow Sun Francks: Runner. Is my long-winded answer.

David Read: Runner, absolutely. Speaking of superheroes, misadventures Of a Little Wolf wants to know, Rainbow if you could play a superhero, who would you play?

Rainbow Sun Francks: Oh, man.

David Read: As a fan of the genre.

Rainbow Sun Francks: What a great question, as the mega fan, as a comic book mega fan. So, here’s a weird thing, OK. Back when we were shooting Stargate, I was up to play Green Lantern in the original Justice League movie that they were casting for. We were going to shoot in South Africa, and then they were gonna go with Ludacris and I was about to lose the job to Ludacris, which was the weirdest thing, because can you imagine Ludacris playing Green Lantern?

David Read: I can’t.

Rainbow Sun Francks: No. I was like, “Oh, God, Hollywood.” But I’m not a DC guy, I’m a Marvel guy. I grew up being a Deadpool fan before Deadpool was cool. So I would have said Deadpool before Ryan Reynolds, because he was my favorite character, and Ryan Reynolds is the perfect Deadpool.

David Read: He is that person, in so many respects.

Rainbow Sun Francks: He’s perfect. So I’m totally fine with relinquishing that dream to him. Let’s see. Man, superhero or just comic?Because, I would love to be a part of ElfQuest.

David Read: OK, that’s fair.

Rainbow Sun Francks: To play Cutter would be really cool. But if I was going to be a superhero, I don’t know, man. See, I said I’m a Marvel guy, but then I’ve thinking about Lobo a lot lately, and I know there’s no way I’m big enough to play Lobo, but I would love to.

David Read: There are weights, there are gyms. And there’s some CG.

Rainbow Sun Francks: The Rock could play Lobo, not me.

David Read: That’s fair.

Rainbow Sun Francks: So I’d have to play someone that I could actually play. I don’t know, maybe I… you know what, I’d love to be someone in Alpha Flight. I would love for them to do an Alpha Flight, like maybe to play Vindicator would be cool. I don’t know, yeah.

David Read: Do you think you could do T’Challa justice? Do you think you could pull off Black Panther?

Rainbow Sun Francks: Of course, I could.

David Read: Yeah. Christopher Judge is doing the voice work for the video games.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Oh, wow. I love that he’s… I mean, he’s perfect.

David Read: He is so cool.

Rainbow Sun Francks: When I turned on God… when I turned on God of War, I was just like, “Oh yeah, there he is!”

David Read: Exactly! Christopher Judge has entered the room.

Rainbow Sun Francks: He’s perfect for it. Yeah. So yeah, I don’t know. I would have also said, before Moon Knight came out, I was excited for Moon Knight. I also would have loved for them to not do Cloak and Dagger as like a tween thing like they did, because I would love to play Cloak, I think. I know he’s silent, mostly, but that’s a great character. But there’s a very limited catalogue for melanated superheroes, because it was a white world at the time of their creation. So you know, we got Luke Cage and we got a few others, but there aren’t… the list is very short. So I would have to go with one of the other heroes. I don’t know, I’d love to play someone from Alpha Flight, just because they’re [inaudible], that would be cool. Omega Red would be cool because I could be someone from Weapon X. I wouldn’t… Yeah, Omega Red would be really cool. Yeah, I don’t know, there’s so many. Fuck, anyone. I would love to just be a part of the Marvel Universe, to be honest. I will play anything. But I would at one point in my life… I’m going to start, like I said, I’ve started getting into shape. I think I’m going to try to get in superhero shape and see if I can find a way in there, that’s my dream.

David Read: They’re not slowing down at any point. So I mean, with that being the case, I think it’s almost just a matter of time.

Rainbow Sun Francks: It’s literally my dream. If I can be a superhero, I’ll be good. Like, I’ll be done with acting, I’m fine.

David Read: I wouldn’t be surprised, man. Gap Stargate, Rainbow who are your inspirations and your heroes in real life?

Rainbow Sun Francks: My inspiration, my heroes in real life. Sam Rockwell, as an actor.

David Read: Wow. OK.

Rainbow Sun Francks: That’s my guy. Yeah, he’s my favorite. He just, he hits all the notes.

David Read: He does.

Rainbow Sun Francks: This lady here. She’s an inspiration. My dad, my mom, my sister. And yeah, and everyone that I… everyone I meet is an inspiration, I think. I talk to everyone online every day and someone says something really nice, or they tell me that I’ve helped them in some way, and I learn from them so much more than they think. Everyone’s an inspiration, man. It’s a beautiful world out here.

David Read: How is Cree [Summer]?

Rainbow Sun Francks: She’s fucking… Oh, she has Covid, right now.

David Read: Ah!

Rainbow Sun Francks: She’s getting over it though, so she’s in the weeds right now, so everyone wish her to get well. But she’s good, she’s in the tail end. She’s incredible. I wish I could tell you what she’s been doing. I’m not allowed, but all I can say is…

David Read: Keep an eye on her.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Holy shit! Holy shit, what she’s about to unleash on the world — right? [My girlfriend] knows — is crazy.

David Read: OK.

Rainbow Sun Francks: So that, and then she’s also, she’s the only… I think she’s the only black female voice director for animation right now in the world. There might be one more, but I think she’s the only one. So she’s started to, not only be one of the biggest voice actors in the world for cartoons and animation, but she’s…

David Read: Yeah, she’s on production side.

Rainbow Sun Francks: She’s directing now. She’s amazing. She’s got two shows coming out that she’s directed. But let me just tell you, her acting is… She’s decided to come back on camera in the past few years. She had one of the best episodes in all of the seasons of What We Do in the Shadows, so if you like that show please watch her episode on that. She plays a character named Jan, I think, who is a vampire who is a cult leader, and you find out that she’s behind — historically — every cult that we know. And she always finds a way to kill all of them and bail. So they all drink the Kool Aid and she goes out the back door.

David Read: And takes off, OK, wow. Melissa Smith, really enjoyed your character in The Listener. Did you enjoy your time on that project?

Rainbow Sun Francks: The Listener was an amazing four years, I made great friends on that show, as well. And it was, what I felt, was a really great learning experience and a playground being the exposition guy. I had to learn how to explain the story and be the output guy for pushing the story along which is what I found out to be, a completely different skill set in acting than normal dramatic acting in anything that I had done previous. So I watched a lot of David Hewlett tape to be honest, and I learned how to speak quickly because I was the tech guy and I was the smart guy. And so yeah, it was funny that I went back and actually watched Atlantis and I watched Hewlett, I studied a bit of Hewlett stuff for that character. Him, and I used the kid, Matthew Grubler, that plays Reid on Criminal Minds.

David Read: OK.

Rainbow Sun Francks: So I did… it’s sort of a mesh of Hewlett and Matthew Grubler, I think is his name. I think those are the two things, if you watch my character, and me obviously. I can’t not be my weird way of talking is not going to stop though.

David Read: Well, when they’re waiting for you to pivot the show — the episode — into another direction with the exposition, that’s tricky, and you don’t want to screw it up.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Literally a different skill set. It’s a way of… or if you’re explaining the way a certain type of missile works for three and a half pages, and it’s [inaudible], you have to still be entrancing the audience. You have to keep them interested. And it’s a different motivation, and it’s a different skill set and toolset that you use in your voice and cadence and your motivation in order to do that. It was interesting, but now I’ve got that in my little tool bag.

David Read: General Maximus, have you seen The Boys?

Rainbow Sun Francks: Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

David Read: What a show. How intense.

Rainbow Sun Francks: We shot Umbrella Academy across the street, like across the studio. So we’re on one side and then The Boys were starting on the other. And then I was shooting a show called Jett, at the same time, in a studio down the hall, so I was always with them. And then one of my good friends works on The Boys on the Amazon side of it, in LA. So I go out to dinners with the cast, and yeah I’m a huge fan of the show. I haven’t started this season yet, so don’t… I’ve been working.

David Read: I haven’t either, I’m behind too.

Rainbow Sun Francks: I saw the orgy episode aired and so I’m…

David Read: Oh jeez.

Rainbow Sun Francks: You know, that’s right up my alley.

David Read: Jensen Ackles. I mean.

Rainbow Sun Francks: It’s weird that Jensen’s on the show now. I’m sure he’s gonna fit great.

David Read: Yeah, absolutely.

Rainbow Sun Francks: His pretty boy thing.

David Read: Man, it is so good to see you. And so good to see [your girlfriend]. And I’m glad that things are rolling for you, man. No one deserves it more.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Thank you. I love you very much.

David Read: I love you, brother. But you have a great Saturday afternoon.

Rainbow Sun Francks: I will.

David Read: I’m going to wrap up the show here. And I hope that things pan out for us in September. I want to see you.

Rainbow Sun Francks: You know what, September’s… I’m working on two shows, but if I can — I know it’s on the weekends — so if I can take the Thursday off, and if I can find the… and have the Monday not have to work until at least the afternoon or something. Let me… you know, I’ll wait and I’ll see what the scheduling is and if it’s cool maybe we’ll, maybe I can talk this lady into joining me.

David Read: Hey, that’s terrific!

Rainbow Sun Francks: Yeah, we’ll come out to Van. I think that could be cool. I’m due for a Vancouver visit, all my friends out there are yelling at me.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Yeah, so I’m totally down. And everybody out there that’s watching this, I love you all, thank you for all your energy and I hope I see you soon.

David Read: “Come home!”

David Read: Absolutely, brother. Thanks for stopping by, man. Be well.

Rainbow Sun Francks: Have a good day. OK, you too. Bye.

David Read: Rainbow Sun Francks, everyone. Aiden Ford in Stargate Atlantis. Thank you so much for tuning in. It means the world for me to have you here. Before we get going, Dial the Gate is brought to you every week for free and we do appreciate you watching and if you want to support the show further, buy yourself some of our themed swag. T-shirts, tank tops, sweatshirts, hoodies for all ages, as well as cups and other accessories in a variety of sizes and colors at dialthegate.com/merch. And thank you so much for your support. And if you enjoy the show, click that Like button so that we can spread the love, and it actually encourages the algorithm to share this video with people who have not yet seen Dial the Gate yet, so I appreciate it. Tremendous thanks to my producer, Linda “GateGabber” Furey for continuing to help spread the word on these episodes as well as Antony, he’s been doing that a lot lately as well. My moderating team is wonderful, Sommer and Tracy, they are my leads, they are terrific. Keith, Jeremy, Rhys, and Antony, you guys make the show — continue to make the show — possible. And big thanks to Frederick Marcoux at ConceptsWeb. He is our web developer and to Jeremy, our webmaster who keeps the site up to date. Big news coming next week. So let me pull up the schedule here real quick. I don’t want to reveal too terribly much, I want to keep it a surprise until certain things fall into place. So Robert C. Cooper is going to be a pre-recorded episode at 10am Pacific Time on July the 2nd, July the 2nd, so one week left until our hiatus through about September or October we’ll be back. Then at noon, the last live show, Stargate Trivia will be at at noon Pacific Time on Saturday, July the 2nd. Do me a favor, keep your Sunday July 3rd open if you can. We have another live show coming, and I’m not going to say anything more about it now. I will be announcing that a week from today. I am very excited that the project is expanding with other people, and I will say no more. I appreciate you tuning in to Dial the Gate. My name is David Read. We’ll talk soon. See you on the other side.