Dark Matter's Three (Anthony Lemke). Photo copyright of SYFY.
Although he was born in the future, Dark Matter’s Marcus Boone a.k.a. Three could have easily been part of what is referred to as the “Me Generation.” When he and the others awoke from stasis onboard the spaceship Raza at the start of the show’s first season, Three along with his shipmates had no idea who they were, but he, for example, had no problem tapping into his instincts for self-preservation. With a gun in hand, and the bigger the gun the better, Three was not willing to kowtow to anyone. When he and some of his fellow crewmates learned they had criminal pasts, Three had a hard decision to make. Should he continue to pursue a life of crime, or try to turn over a new leaf? Initially against his better judgement, Three decides to join the rest of the Raza crew on the mostly straight and narrow path. After all, you need some profits to live on, right?
That path has been an uneven one for Three as well as the others, and not without its hardships. Their journey so far has also been an eye-opening one for our motley band of heroes, with Three discovering that he does indeed have a heart, and is capable of doing the right thing as well as feeling loyalty towards his shipmates. Happily for Dark Matter fans, Three is no less of a smart-ass, and still a crack shot when firing the big guns. In the real world, actor Anthony Lemke, who plays Three, is certainly no stranger to doing a good deed. One of his most rewarding roles to date is that of Canadian ambassador for Handicap International, and during the hiatus between Dark Matter’s second and third seasons, he went on an eye-opening journey of his own.
“Handicap International gave me the opportunity to visit any of the 60 countries in which they work, and I chose Laos,” says Lemke. “This is an organization that assists folks living with disabilities in conflict zones as well as zones of natural disasters. So if, for example, you think about the Syrian conflict and all the displaced people, refugees and those in migrant camps, it’s tough enough for someone in that position. Imagine, though, if you’re a displaced person who also has a pre-existing disability or living with a new war-acquired disability. It makes things much more difficult. On top of that, there are plenty of countries in the world where the infrastructure has either been ruined, as in Syria, and without the proper facilities to deal with the challenges that disabled folks face, or countries with developmental difficulties, like Haiti, that gets hit with an earthquake and suddenly there are all these inured and disabled individuals to care for.
“A major part of Handicap International’s work in Laos has to do with all the bombs dropped there during the Vietnam War, and largely around the Ho Chi Minh trail. After the conflict ended, a huge number of unexploded bombs remained there, and to this day, they continue to kill or maim people who accidentally come upon them. So Handicap International is there not only helping remove those bombs, but also working on rehabilitation for those who have been injured along with their reintegration back into society. The organization is also working on the fabrication of artificial limbs as well as collaborating with the children’s hospital to work on early identification of disabilities in young children. It’s a country that is rapidly modernizing, but is still way up there on the poverty scale when compared to all the countries around the world.
“So it was a real privilege for me to go there, and probably the most worthwhile thing I did during the off-season, especially being able to bring their story back to Canada as well as America and talk about the long-lasting effects of dropping bombs on countries. Handicap International takes a neutral position with regard to warfare, but we should be cognizant of the fact that a number of any bombs dropped on a country are going to remain unexploded and will be around for a while, so we should help clean up when a conflict is over. I was just incredibly touched by their story and Handicap International is a worthwhile organization to get the message out there and worthwhile folks to help out whenever possible.”
Steve Eramo
Dark Matter airs Fridays @ 9:00 p.m. EST on SYFY (US) and Canada's SPACE Channel. For more information about Handicap International, check out their website - www.handicap-international.ca/en
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