SciFiAndTvTalk

V's David Richmond-Peck Nominated For Leo Awards

Versatile and talented Canadian-born actor David Richmond-Peck. Photo copyright of The Promotion People.

CONSUMMATE performer and internationally recognized actor David Richmond-Peck is nominated for two 2010 Leo Awards for his standout performances. The actor is nominated in the Best Guest Performance by a Male in a Dramatic Series category for his role as Georgie Sutton in the hit ABC series V as well as the Best Performance by a Male in a Short Drama category for his role in the short film Instant. In 2006, David was honored with a Leo for Best Supporting Performance in a Feature Length Drama for Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork and Mindy. He was subsequently nominated in 2009 for Best Supporting Actor in a Series for his role as Geoff McAlister in the Canadian-made TV comedy Robson Arms. This year's Leo Awards ceremony takes place at the Westin Bayshore in Vancouver on Saturday, June 5th, 2010. For more information please check out www.leoawards.com

Known as one of Canada's most versatile and chameleon-like actors, David Richmond-Peck is flawlessly adept at tackling a variety of big and small screen roles that span all genres. He has used his talents to bridge both feature film and television across North America. As noted above, the actor most recently played resistence leader Georgie Sutton on V, which also stars Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost) and Morena Baccarin (Firefly). The series follows an extraterrestrial race that arrives on Earth with seemingly good intentions and gifts of scientific and medical marvels, only to slowly reveal their true intentions as they work tirelessly as well as in a duplicitous manner to ingratiate themselves to humanity.

Among David's impressive and distinctive film roles are Agent Dom Dumare in Joe Carnahan's Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins' Ball, which was directed by P.J. Pesce, and the polygraph operator in The Day The Earth Stood Still, starring Keanu Reeves. His memorable scene with Keanu, known as "The Interrogation," became a YouTube sensation before the movie's release. The actor also played Academy Award winner Chris Cooper's son-in-law in Married Life, directed by Ira Sachs. His many other film credits include 2012, Fantastic Four, Beyond Sherwood Forest, 24/7, She's The Man and The Zero Sum. David's much talked about performance in Instant has earned him a second Leo nomination this year. The film, almost a one man show, follows a man who, after losing his wife, mends his broken heart by accidentally gluing himself to a kitchen counter while alone in his cabin.

On TV, the actor is recognized for his role of CSI Detective Kassel on this season of Fringe, starring Joshua Jackson, Anna Torv and John Noble, along with guest-spots on such series as Sanctuary, Smallville, The L Word, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate Atlantis and Traveler.

Born and raised in Oakville, Ontario, David now calls Vancouver home. When he isn't busy working on a project, the actor enjoys spending his free time being active outdoors, and counts sailing and snowboarding among his favorite activities. He also spends time with his fiancée, writer/director Kelly-Ruth Mercier and their two dogs, Henry and Josephine.

As noted above, photo courtesy and copyright of The Promotion People, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

David Winning Directs Todd & The Book Of Pure Evil For Space

PRODUCTION is wrapping soon on Canada's SPACE Channel's newest original series Todd & The Book Of Pure Evil, which was shot over 10 weeks on-location, in Winnipeg. The result will be a 13-episode, half-hour supernatural comedy that brings the age-old phrase "high school is Hell" to life. First developed for television through the National Screen Institute's Totally Television Program, Todd & The Book Of Pure Evil was developed by SPACE with the assistance of the Canadian Television Fund. David Winning directed two episodes of the series.

Directing film and television for over 20 years, this production marks Winning's 21st series. He is a veteran of 13 feature films and over 100 episodes for TV including Stargate Atlantis and the vampire-themed series Blood Ties for the Lifetime Network as well as multiple seasons on Andromeda with Kevin Sorbo. Winning also recently directed a trilogy of monster movies for the Syfy Channel, starring such actors as Robert Englund, Bruce Dern and Kevin Sorbo.

Above photo courtesy of and copyright of David Winning, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

Stargate Atlantis' Jewel Staite Battles Syfy's Mothman

Jewel Staite and Connor Fox team up to fight a legendary monster with an axe to grind in Mothman. Photo copyright of th Syfy Channel.

JEWEL Staite (Firefly, Stargate Atlantis) and Connor Fox star in Mothman, premiering April 24th @ 9:00 p.m. EST/PST on the Syfy Channel. In the movie, the legendary West Virginia monster returns to exact revenge on five childhood friends who covered up an accidental killing. Produced by Brad Krevoy and Reuben Liber. Directed by Sheldon Wilson. Written by Sonny Lee and Patrick Walsh.

Events take a terrifying turn for our two heroes. Photo copyright of the Syfy Channel.

Click on the following link to view a trailer of this film -http://rcpt.yousendit.com/853581139/03eb654b13dce35e23548be2c007a3a1 

As noted above, photos copyright of the Syfy Channel, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

Sanctuary Begins Production On Season 3

Amanda Tapping and the rest of the Sanctuary cast return for season three! Photo by Jeff Weddell and copyright of Sanctuary 2 Productions.

THE Syfy Channel's groundbreaking hit original series Sanctuary, commenced production on its third season in Vancouver on March 15th. The one-hour drama's 20-episode season is slated to return to Syfy this fall.

Sanctuary is one of television's most groundbreaking series, shooting almost entirely on green screen. The series was the first in North America to use the RED camera exclusively, and its stunning visual effects were nominated for a 2008 Emmy Award. Season three picks up from the adrenaline-fueled action of season two, which raised the stakes for the brilliant scientist Dr. Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping) and her team, who use their unique combination of instinct, medicine and cutting-edge science and technology to find and aid a clandestine population of beings that the world refuses to believe exist. Sanctuary also stars Robin Dunne as forensic psychiatrist Dr. Will Zimmerman, Agam Darshi as the quick-witted Kate Freelander, Ryan Robbins and tech wiz Henry Foss and Christopher Heyerdahl as the sinister John Druitt.

Created by Damian Kinder (Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis), Sanctuary is produced in association with Syfy and is distributed by Tricon Films and Television. Season three of the series will be executive produced by Damian Kindler, Amanda Tapping, Martin Wood, Keith Beedie and Tricon Films.

As noted above, photo by Jeff Weddell and copyright of Sanctuary 2 Productions, so please no unauthorized copying or duplciating of any kind. Thanks!

Buffy The Vampire Slayer's Felicia Day Sees Red on Syfy

FELICIA Day, star of web videos The Guild and Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog, who also played Vi in the final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, will portray a werewolf-hunting descendant of Little Red Riding Hood in the new Syfy Saturday Original Movie, Red.

Scheduled to premiere in 2011, Red is Syfy's latest re-imagining of classic fairy tales, legends and pop culture characters. The new line of films launched with Beauty and the Beasts: A Dark Tale, which starred Estella Warren, on February 27th.

Syfy, one of television's most prolific producers of original movies, is also developing films around the stories of Aladdin, Sinbad the Sailor and Hansel & Gretel, among other projects.

In the action-packed Red, Red (Day) brings her fiance home, where he meets the family and learns about their business - hunting werewolves. He's skeptical, until bitten by a werewolf. When her family insists he must be killed, Red tries saving him. Red also stars Kavan Smith (Stargate Atlantis) and Stephen McHattie (Watchmen). Red is produced by Angela Mancuso and Vesuvius Productions in association with Chesler Perlmutter Productions.

In addition to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Felicia is most widely known for her work in web video. She co-starred in Joss Whedon's Internet musical Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog, which was voted the Best Web TV of 2008 by Time magazine, Entertainment Weekly and People magazine. Currently, she stars in the web series The Guild, which Day also created and writes for. The Guild was the winner of YouTube, Yahoo and SXSW Best Web Series Awards for 2008. The series has generated more than 50 million views web-wide. The actress also has a hugely popular Twitter following, reaching more than 1.7 million fans.

Jewel Staite To Guest-Star On Warehouse 13

Stargate Atlantis' Jewel Staite stops by Warehouse 13. Photo copyright of the Syfy Channel.

FANS of Firefly and the feature film Serenity as well as Stargate Atlantis can look forward to seeing Jewel Staite in an upcoming season two episode of the Syfy Channel's hit series Warehouse 13. In a Twitter post earlier this week, the actress, who played Kaylee Frye on Firefly/Serenity and Dr. Jennifer Keller on Atlantis, revealed, "Got offered a lovely role on Warehouse 13. Wish I could tell you more.  All I can say is, you Browncoats are gonna freak."

In a related "tweet," Staite also announced that her husband, Matthew Kevin Anderson, has booked a role in an upcoming Syfy Channel movie currently shooting in Bulgaria and being directed by the actress's former Atlantis co-star David Hewlett (Dr. Rodney McKay). The actress said, "Matty's going to Bulgaria to work on a movie directed by some guy named David Hewlett. Hope there's good craft service, or God help them all."

As noted above, photo copyright of the Syfy Channel, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

Sanctuary's Alan McCullough - The Write Touch

Writer/co-executive producer Alan McCullough in his Sanctuary digs. Photo by Jeff Weddell and copyright of Sanctuary 2 Productions.

When Stargate Atlantis' TV run was brought to an end after five years, series writer/producer Alan McCullough, who had previously served as a writer/story editor on Stargate SG-1, relocated from the Pegasus Galaxy to take on a new creative challenge. He joined Sanctuary as a writer as well as co-executive producer and penned four scripts for the show's second season. In his first one, Hero, Chris Gauthier, best known as Walter in Eureka, plays an ordinary man who is transformed into an unlikely costumed crusader against crime in the show's fictional New City.

"Hero was a really fun script to write," says McCullough. "It's a fast-paced and humorous episode, which I never really had the opportunity to do on Stargate. There was always humor embedded in the dialogue in Stargate, but it was rare that I got to write a comedic script. There were people who were sort of the go-to guys for that; Martin Gero and Brad Wright, in particular, and Rob Cooper also wrote a couple of great comedy scripts and Carl Binder wrote one, too. So when I came on Sanctuary there was a chance for me to do the same.

"In Hero, our people are on a mission to track down an Abnormal when all of a sudden they're thwarted by a guy in a neoprene suit. He drops out of the sky, grabs the person we're chasing and flies off, so we're left wondering where the hell this guy came from and how he can fly. He's apparently human and appears to be wearing a homemade outfit, but nevertheless seems to possess miraculous powers. Chris Gauthier played the part to a tee. He was hilarious in it and brought so much to the role.

"The actual shooting of this episode was difficult because there were a lot of stunts. We actually brought in a flying rig which, I believe, is one of the most advanced ones you can get. I'm not well-versed in the technology of it, but you sit in front of a giant computer screen and program in all the moves you want to do and draw all the vectors on the screen. The operator then turns the rig on and it flies you around in the exact way that it was programmed to. So they did a full day of shooting just with that rig and came away with some fantastic stuff, including a scene where, at one point, our superhero has to fight a monster.

"Again, it was a fun episode and Chris has a blast and we had a blast working with him. It was a nice break, too, in the season. We had just come off shooting the two-part End of Nights, which is an energetic and tension-filled story where we're fighting for the survival of the Sanctuary, and if you saw the episodes you know that something big happens to one of our characters at the end of part two. Then in the following story, Eulogy, we're dealing with the death of a character. It's a very poignant episode, so it was good to then come in with episode four, which was lighter in tone and a total breath of fresh air. Personally, I think Hero is one of the best scripts I've ever written and one that I'm really proud of."

There was a very specific idea in mind for McCullough's next Sanctuary script, Veritas, but, as is often the case in the world of TV, it eventually evolved into something quite different. "We started out with marching orders to come up with a background story for Bigfoot [Christopher Heyerdahl]," explains the writer. "We pitched story after story to the Syfy Channel but there was always one thing they didn't like, so we would go back and try to retool the script. However, by pulling out that one thing, the whole story collapsed.

"So we'd start fresh, and ultimately we came up with a story that the network loved but that had nothing to do with Bigfoot's back story whatsoever," chuckles McCullough. "It does, however, involve Bigfoot in a very major and pivotal way. At the very beginning of the episode, Will [Robin Dunne] arrives back from a trip and he's frantic; he's been told that Bigfoot has been killed. Will goes to the morgue where he finds Bigfoot lying there with two bullet holes in his chest, and we further learn that Magnus [Amanda Tapping] is the prime suspect.

"From there, it becomes a bit of a murder mystery that takes place within the context of the Sanctuary. They have specific charter rules for how they deal with situations such as this, including summoning what's called The Triad, which is a group of telepaths that arrive on the scene and start questioning people. Within the Sanctuary network we have individuals with these incredible abilities, so why not use them to solve crimes. Will, of course, sets out to prove that Magnus had nothing to do with this, but the deeper he digs, the more evidence seems to mount that she actually did shoot Bigfoot.

"It's a real mindbender of an episode where, quite honestly, all is not revealed until the very end. We designed it so that at every single turn you think, 'Oh, they're going to tell us who really did it,' but you get no satisfaction until the story is nearly over. This was another fun episode for me to write and, coming off Hero, much more of a subdued, emotional type of potboiler. We had a great guest-cast, too, including Erica Cerra [Deputy Jo Lupo in Eureka], who did a fantastic job playing one of the telepaths. And Amanda Tapping did an incredible job directing the episode."

The writer's third Sanctuary script, Penance, reunites Helen Magnus with an old friend, Jimmy, played by Tapping's former SG-1 costar Michael Shanks (Dr. Daniel Jackson). Although it would have been tempting to pair them up on the screen, Shanks actually shared the majority of his scenes with the show's newest castmember, Agam Darshi, who plays Kate Freelander. Writing-wise, this one was a bit of a whirlwind for McCullough.

"We received notes on the outline last Friday night from Syfy," he recalls, "so I started writing the script on Saturday and Sunday and, hopefully, I'll finish it up today [Monday, June 1st, 2009]. It's certainly the fastest that I've ever had to turn around a script. This one starts out with a really action-packed teaser where our characters are in Old City to meet an Abnormal who's a 'mule.' By that I mean he has a pocket in his body that can transport hazardous or very sensitive material, and in this case he's carrying a container for us in his belly.

"So we get there, but, of course, the bad guys are on our tail and all hell breaks loose. Our people get separated and Kate and Jimmy end up trapped in a derelict hotel room. Kate has been shot and the two of them spend a considerable amount of time together getting to know one another. In the process, Kate opens up to Jimmy and we discover a great deal about her past, including how her father was killed. With Kate being a new character this season, we felt this was a good opportunity for audiences to learn more about her. Meanwhile, Magnus and everyone else are out there looking for Kate and Jimmy, and it's a bit of a chess match to see who's going to arrive first and save the day.

"The neat thing about this episode is that we're going to be doing some location shooting. We do almost all our filming downstairs in the studio, much of which is using a green screen, and we also shoot outside on the studio lot or in the nearby streets. We usually don't have trucks to go out on-location with, but for episode eight [Next Tuesday], we're packing up all our equipment to go film at a pool. Thanks to some scheduling magic, we have the truck for the rest of the week, so we're taking advantage of that and going to shoot for two, possibly three days on the old Watchmen set. At least that's the plan. We went out to look at the set, which is on Marine Way, and we're going to use that as Old City. It's perfect because the story has a lot of skulking around as well as gunplay and a bit of a car chase, so I'm really excited about that."

Despite being a freshman with Sanctuary, it has not taken McCullough long to find the voices of the new characters he is writing for. "Obviously I'd worked with Amanda before, and although this is Helen Magnus and not Sam Carter, I still hear Amanda's voice in my head, so it's just a matter of finding the right words," says the writer. "Ryan Robbins, who plays Henry, has a very distinctive voice, so I seem to be able to hear his voice quite easily, too.

"The character I struggled with the most was Will. I've since found his voice a lot more, but with my first script, Hero, I really struggled. Ultimately, I don't think anyone picked up on that. The episode moves so quickly and there's so much going on that I don't think you would have the time to sit there and think, 'Hmm, that didn't quite sound like something Will would say.' I noticed it, though, and when I'd write a line I'd think, 'That doesn't sound right,' so I'd delete it and write another one. So it took me a while to get Will's dialogue to sound right, but episode seven is wall-to-wall Will and I think I found his voice a little better for that one.

"It helps, too, that Damian Kindler [series creator/executive producer] is always around, and we go through the scripts with a fine-tooth comb. We'll look at each line and if there's one that bothers any of us, we'll find another way to say what it is we're trying to say."

The writer's fourth and final contribution to Sanctuary's second season is part one of the show's two-part season ender, Kali. The germ of the idea for this episode came from a prior one, while the setting was the result of a previously discussed story that never came to be. Catching up again recently with McCullough, he was happy to talk about Kali's development.

"Earlier in the season we were breaking a story called Justice," recalls the writer. "It was set in a small town, which is tough to do on our show as we don't have suitable sets and didn't want to go out on-location. So Martin Wood [executive producer/director] proposed setting Justice in a Mumbai slum, as that would be relatively easy to re-create. We loved that idea so much that we decided to save it for the [season] finale. Unfortunately, Justice never got produced, which is too bad because it was a great story.

"The idea for Kali came partly from Veritas, where we introduce an Abnormal called Big Bertha, who is capable of creating earthquakes. I'm pretty sure it was me who suggested that we use Big Bertha in the season finale as well. I proposed that Magnus had lied to the heads of the Sanctuary network about destroying the creature and secretly kept her alive in an enclosure at the bottom of the Indian Ocean. And then later on in the writers' room, we came up with the idea for the Makri, the small spider that telepathically links to Big Bertha.

"We went back and forth for weeks with this story," continues the writer. "It's probably the toughest one I've ever had to break. We knew we were on to something and felt like it could be big, but we just could not find the story for the life of us. Eventually, and after numerous rewrites, we shaped the story into Kali, parts one and two. Later in the process I was reviewing part two, which Damian wrote, and went to him with a logic problem. Basically, something Will was doing made no sense. And I distinctly remember what followed next; Damian sat back in his chair, thought about it for a long time, and then said, 'I think I know what to do - Will has to dance a Bollywood number.'

"I nearly fell off my chair. He was exactly right, of course, but I thought we'd be marched right out of the TV business for good if we tried to do a full-scale Bollywood number in a Sci-Fi show. Luckily, Mark Stern [Syfy's Executive Vice President for Original Content ] bought into the idea and off we went.

"Also late in the game, Damian, Martin, Amanda and Robin were invited to Tokyo by Syfy Asia and decided to take advantage of the exotic locale to shoot a scene for the show. We brainstormed and felt it belonged in my episode, and it turned out to be a great way to start things off. Shooting the Mumbai sequences took place on our [studio] backlot, which is where we built a massive labyrinthine Mumbai slum, and it looked photo real. To top it off, it was over 40 degrees Celsius, or 104 Farenheit, pretty much the whole week we were filming. Everyone was dying from the heat, but it helped with the authenticity. I'm not sure how we're going to replicate that in part three, which will likely be shot this coming February or March."

Having thoroughly enjoyed his first year with Sanctuary, McCullough is eagerly awaiting the start of work on season three. "I'm definitely looking forward to the challenge of us doing 20 episodes and really pushing the boundary with our season [story] arcs," he says. "And also somehow getting ourselves out of the conundrum we created at the end of Kali, Part 2."

Steve Eramo

As noted above, photo is by Jeff Weddell and copyright of Sanctuary 2 Productions, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

Stargate Atlantis' David Hewlett - The Deconstructed Man

Stargate Atlantis' Dr. Rodney McKay (David Hewlett). Photo copyright of the Syfy Channel.

Stargate Atlantis' swan song fifth season proved to be one heck of a ride for the show's resident genius, Dr. Rodney McKay. Having been buried alive together with some of his colleagues at the end of season four, he and his teammates were eventually found alive in Search and Rescue. Soon after in The Shrine, McKay contracted a deadly virus that temporarily robbed him of his intellect as well as memories and almost killed him, while in Tracker, the scientist wound up off-world with Ronon and trying to track down a Runner who was hellbent on eluding them. By mid-season, McKay was playing host to Stargate SG-1's Dr. Daniel Jackson, who visited Atlantis in the two-part First Contact and The Lost Tribe. McKay was not exactly thrilled with Jackson's arrival, as his alter ego, actor David Hewlett, explains.

"The dynamic between Daniel [Michael Shanks] and McKay is not a particularly friendly one," says Hewlett. "He shows up on Atlantis to do some more research, and my character is not happy because McKay then gets stuck taking him around the city while dismissing Daniel's theories about various things and then ending being horribly wrong on many occasions. The two of them eventually get pulled off to another planet where they meet an armor-clad race, and then get to become a bit of an armor-clad race themselves.

"It was terrific to have Shanks on the show," continues the actor, 'and fun, too, as I got to sort of pick his brain because he did this [Stargate] for so long. As for our scenes together, well, we both talk incredibly fast, and I'm not used to lines being picked up so quickly and thrown back at me in such a way, because Michael adds in these cool little character-related things. The guy is amazing. I don't know how he does it, and not only that, but he gets younger every time I see him. Actually, the whole SG-1 cast is on some kind of reverse aging process, whereas I'm on an advanced aging process. By the time we finish this conversation I'll have aged 10 years," he jokes.

Not doing too good in "Search and Rescue." Photo copyright of The Syfy Channel.

"As I mentioned, Michael and I ended up in those armor-clad suits for a period of time. All I can say is, I now have a new respect for those people at Comic-Con who dress up as Storm Troopers [from Star Wars]; I don't know how they stand it because you sweat buckets in an outfit like that. That's what happened to me in that spacesuit. Of course, Michael glowed and was in a really good mood," teases Hewlett. "Again, we had a ball. There's some fantastic back and forth banter when Daniel and McKay get together, if I do say so myself. You've got that great sense of McKay being up against someone who's as smart as he is and knows as much as he does, so there's a lot of attitude being exchanged."

At the start of Atlantis' fourth year, Rodney McKay thought for sure he was next in line to take over command of Atlantis after the loss of Dr. Elizabeth Weir (Torri Higginson) to the Replicators. His ego took quite a beating when, in fact, Colonel Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) got the job. In the fifth season, he and the rest of the base personnel had to get used to yet another change in leadership when International Oversight Authority (IOA) member Richard Woolsey (Robert Picardo) replaced Carter. In Hewlett's eyes, his character saw a number of similarities between himself and Woolsey.

"Woolsey is a bureaucrat in the same way that McKay took a professional type of approach to the entire Stargate program," says the actor. "Woolsey's background is government, diplomacy, the IOA, etc., whereas McKay's is very much academic. So in a way, Woolsey has had similar growing pains to those that my character initially had. First of all, he's learning to like these people on Atlantis, which he never expected. Woolsey is also getting his nose out of books and regulations and into the real world. So it's neat to watch him go through that, and, again, because McKay has been through it as well, he's more disdainful of it than, perhaps, others are. I think you tend to jump on people for making the same mistakes as you and having the same weaknesses as you. McKay is like, 'My God, doesn't Woolsey realize that you can't live your life with your nose in books.' Of course, it's taken my character five years to figure that out, which is rather amusing.

Rodney McKay, helping to save the universe - again! Photo copyright of the Syfy Channel.

"One of the things I really like about Atlantis and Stargate as a whole is that sense of humor. Sci-Fi can be incredibly dry and dark, and what we have here, which really helps, is that underlying sense of humor. There's almost, not a winking at the camera, but a realistic humorous response to certain situations. I think there was a lot of that on our show, and Robert Picardo was the ideal person to bring that out. For example, our conference room scenes became hilarious because there was so much going on. I mean, Joe Flanigan [Colonel John Sheppard] had his sense of humor, I had my uptight McKay stuff, and Robert added a whole other level to it. As a result, the directors had to occasionally rein us in a bit so that it didn't turn into an all-out comedy, like Scrubs in Space," laughs Hewlett. "So it was definitely a pleasure to have Robert around, and he enjoyed himself, too. As new people came onto the show you got a new lease on your performance because you got caught up in their own excitement about the work."

After the disastrous end to his budding relationship with Katie Brown (Brenda James) in season four's Quarantine, Dr. McKay was decidedly cautious when it came to further romantic entanglements. Lucky for him, he chose to take another chance at love and, in the fifth season, became involved with Dr. Jennifer Keller (Jewel Staite). They go on their first official date in the season five episode Brain Storm, but, naturally, things do not go quite as planned.

"Prior to this, McKay and Jennifer had had a beer together, but this is the first time they go somewhere as a couple," says Hewlett. "My character has to attend a presentation with all these famous astrophysicists who are basically his peers and did their doctorates at the same time as he did. Not surprisingly, McKay gets as prickly as he gets. Meanwhile, poor Keller has shown up for some champagne and a couple of little sandwiches, and all hell breaks loose. The experiment that is being shown goes horribly wrong and my character has to save the day. I think it's a great payoff to a number of things that had already been established on the series, and to top it off, Jewel and I got to do some actual romantic stuff, which was fun.

Trying to put on a brave face. Photo copyright of the Syfy Channel.

"We had a great guest-cast in Brain Storm, which included Neil deGrasse Tyson, who was an advisor to God knows how many presidents. Not only is he a genius, but he's hilarious, too. He and Bill Nye, the Science Guy, who's in this episode as well, are friends and Bill is just as funny. Their banter was amazing. Nye is an improv master, except you actually learn something when he speaks. so it was like a dream come true for a nerd like me. We also had Dave Foley [Malcolm Tunney], who's a super-nerd himself. He's a Sci-Fi fan and knows a lot about this sort of stuff. So it was this amazing combination of some of the world's smartest people all in the same room. As a result, I didn't say much. I tended to keep pretty quiet and retiring in-between scenes."

Besides The Shrine and Brain Storm, another season five Atlantis story that the actor especially enjoyed shooting is Remnants, in which McKay and Dr. Zelenka (David Nykl) discover an alien device that uses  an unusual method to communicate with select members of the Atlantis team.

"This is kind of a creepy episode and one that really throws people off," says Hewlett. "David Nykl and I had a number of scenes together, and it was neat because we were playing a very different type of dynamic between Zelenka and McKay. My big joke was that Robert Picardo's character got to see this beautiful Australian woman as his vision, while McKay got Zelenka. I was like, 'Can he [David Nykl] at least wear some nice lip gloss or something else to sexy his character up a bit?'" says the actor with a laugh.

McKay senses something is not quite right here. Photo copyright of the Syfy Channel.

"We had fun messing with the usual dynamic of McKay's and Zelenka's relationship, and, of course, there was lots of bantering back and forth with the two of them. When in doubt, McKay just talks, as does Hewlett in a lot of cases. It's that horrible mix between the two, otherwise known as McKaylett."

While filming season five of Atlantis, the cast and crew were told that the show would, unfortunately, not be returning for a sixth year. In the show's finale, Enemy at the Gate, our heroes fly the entire city of Atlantis to Earth to help defend the planet against an attack by a rogue Wraith hive ship. While this was the last episode to air, it was not, in fact, the last one to be shot. That distinction goes to Vegas, an alternate universe story involving a series of Wraith killings in the city that never sleeps.

"I'm generally not a fan of alternate reality stories because they can easily feel like a cop-out, but I really wanted Vegas to be our final episode," notes Hewlett. "We knew that Atlantis was cancelled and I thought it would be a daring and original way to end the series. Of course, they [the producers/writers] would have had to figure out how to get Teyla [Rachel Luttrell] and Ronon [Jason Momoa] into the story. They could have had the role that I wanted - exotic dancer at a casino. That was my first suggestion for McKay, partly just so I could actually go to Las Vegas, but also to showcase my pole dancing talents," chuckles the actor.

Things were not looking too good for poor Rodney in "The Shrine." Photo copyright of the Syfy Channel.

It was way back in season five of Stargate SG-1 that Dr. Rodney McKay first arrived on the scene in the episode 48 Hours. Little did anyone, let alone Hewlett, know that he along with the fans would become better acquainted with the character over the next eight years.

"That was a lot of hair ago on SG-1. I don't know if I actually lost the hair or if I've just expanded so that it looks like I've got less hair," jokes the actor. "It's weird because McKay seems like a different guy now. I think what happened in Atlantis is that we began to see the cracks in the character's armor. He came into SG-1, I feel, fully protected. McKay had sort of inch-thick armor around him, which made him incredibly prickly from the very beginning. And it's not so much that he warmed on Atlantis, but rather he cracked a bit.

"I've always said that the neat thing about McKay is that he's unlike the other characters. You're learning about them as you go along, whereas with my character it's as if you're deconstructing him. We already knew what McKay was like, and later on we got figure out why he's like that. After five seasons, we'd deconstructed him enough to roughly know what his deep dark secrets are, but I have a sneaking suspicion that there are a few more," laughs Hewlett. "So as a character he did evolve. McKay's own personality finally began to shine though, which was a real joy for me to play."

Steve Eramo

As noted above, all photos copyright of The Syfy Channel, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

Sanctuary ' s Ryan Robbins - Wolf In The Fold

[caption id="attachment_4562" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="Ryan Robbins as Henry Foss in Sanctuary. Photo by Jeff Weddell and copyright of Sanctuary 2 Productions"][/caption] When it comes to tackling problems of a technical nature, Henry Foss is your man. Whether it's cracking a multi-digit encrypted code or breaking down a seemingly impenetrable firewall, there is no one better qualified or more likely to get results. However, as a member of Dr. Helen Magnus' Sanctuary team, Henry is more than just a gifted cyber-hacker. A descendant of her father Gregory's first weaponsmith, he has designed many of Sanctuary's weapons and is in charge of its defenses. Our beloved techie also has some hidden "talents" that he calls upon only in the more extreme of situations. Introduced in the Sanctuary webisodes, Henry made the leap last fall to the Syfy Channel's TV incarnation of the show as a recurring character, and this (second) season is now a regular on the series. On this particular Monday afternoon in June, actor Ryan Robbins, who plays Henry, has been tapping into his character's techie side while filming the season two episode Veritas. Although the dialogue seems to roll effortlessly off his tongue, it took a bit of practice for him to get to this point. "To be honest, it was a little nerve-wracking at first because of the nature of Henry," says Robbins. "As the tech and weapons guy, my character has a lot of tech-talk and scientific babble, which was initially intimidating for me. Also, he was supposed to be the comic relief, and while I'd done comedy before, having to get a handle on being the funny guy in an otherwise dramatic series was, for some reason, difficult and I put some pressure on myself. [caption id="attachment_4563" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="On the job with Henry. Photo by Jeff Weddell and copyright of Sanctuary 2 Productions"][/caption] "Prior to this I'd been playing a lot of bad guys and killers, so this was a wonderful opportunity and a terrific acting challenge for me. So I just went with it and committed to the material and let myself have a good time, and so far things seem to have worked out. "Henry changed quite a bit from the webisodes to the first season of the TV show. In season one of Sanctuary there was definitely more depth to my character as well as an air of mystery. Then later on, there was also a darker side to Henry that was revealed, with him being an Abnormal and having the werewolf beast inside him. That was a part of him that he couldn't control and it gave me even more levels to play in terms of relationships with the other characters. "So there were a lot of different directions to go in any given scene, which is a gift as an actor. Henry is such a neat character because he's so complex and his humor comes out of , not necessarily positive things, but rather from his efforts to overcome certain obstacles. What's the saying, 'Tragedy plus time equals comedy,' and I think Henry is the epitome of that in a lot of ways. It's almost like this running joke that he always has to be overcoming something, otherwise he's not Henry. Things can't always go right for him, you know? So many things just go wrong, but he's constantly trying, and that's what you've got to love about the guy - he just won't quit. At the end of the day, he's going to take care of business, but it can't be easy for Henry." [caption id="attachment_4564" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="There is more than the eye can see with Henry Foss. Photo by Jeff Weddell and copyright of Sanctuary 2 Productions"][/caption] Having first directed Robbins in the two-part Stargate Atlantis episode The Storm and The Eye, Sanctuary executive producer Martin Wood later called the actor about playing Henry in Sanctuary's two-hour Internet pilot. "My Atlantis character [Ladon Radim] was only supposed to have a two-story arc and then get killed off," recalls Robbins. "However, Martin told me, 'I like you, and I don't want them to kill your character off.' So instead they killed a background character, and I stayed on. Ladon ended up becoming the leader of the Genii people, which was great and a lot of fun for me. "Martin directed most of my Atlantis episodes, and when Sanctuary came up, the story is that he told [series creator/executive producer] Damian Kindler about this guy named Ryan Robbins who he should cast as Henry. And Damian was like, 'Ladon from Atlantis? But he's not funny,' but Martin said something along the lines of, 'But the guy who played him, Ryan Robbins, is kind of an oddball. He would be perfect for the role.' So they phoned me and I thought it sounded really cool, and being part of a show that was groundbreaking seems like a good idea, too. Then, of course, we wound up getting a first season on Syfy and now we're doing season two, so hopefully we'll be around for a while," says the actor with a smile. During season one of Sanctuary, Henry worked with Dr. Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping), her daughter Ashley (Emilie Ullerup), Magnus' former patient and longtime friend/confidant, Bigfoot (Christopher Heyerdahl), and her new protegé, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Will Zimmerman (Robin Dunne), in the preservation and protection of centuries-old creatures called Abnormals. In the episode The Five, the Sanctuary itself falls victim to a series of mysterious attacks. The culprit turns out to be a snake-like creature, and in order to stop it, Henry reveals that he, too, is an Abnormal, more specifically, a werewolf. Before shooting this episode, did Robbins have any idea that his character harbored a hirsute alter ego? [caption id="attachment_4565" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Henry and Dr. Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping) try to work through yet another crisis facing the Sanctuary. Photo by Jeff Weddell and copyright of Sanctuary 2 Productions"][/caption] "We talked at the end of the webisodes and leading up to season one about this being a potential storyline for Henry in the future," says the actor. "Although it remained kind of vague for a time, I started off in season one playing Henry as having some sort of mystery, because I think characters with secrets are always more interesting to watch. So when it eventually came out that he's a werewolf, it seemed very natural and not entirely surprising. "If you go back and watch previous episodes, you can see that Henry is maybe hiding something about himself, and I love it. I think it works really well and creates lots of dynamics. For example, people living with an illness or other difficulty might go for days and days laughing an enjoying themselves just like everyone else around them. However, when they are reminded of that illness or situation they're in, they will fall into a funk and realize, oh, yeah, I've got to deal with this. For the most part, though, you try your best to get on with life. Originally, I feel Henry looked at his condition as being some sort of disease, but he's since been able to embrace it. I still don't believe he's entirely comfortable with it because he's still learning how to control it." The following episode, Edward, - for which Robbins won a Canadian Leo Award for Best Guest Performance by a Male in a Dramatic Series - finds Henry contemplating surgery as a way of exorcising his werewolf persona. He changes his mind, though, when his abilities help him and his colleagues save the life of a fellow Abnormal. "I really enjoyed Five and Edward because they were quite dramatic and, again, interesting background stuff. I'm a comic book fan and I love origin stories, and it was cool to see a hint of an origin story for my character," he says. [caption id="attachment_4567" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="Henry at work on yet another invention. Photo by Jeff Weddell and copyright of Sanctuary 2 Productions"][/caption] "I also had a lot of fun shooting Nubbins, which was directed by Peter DeLuise. I just felt like was taken to comedy school in all the best ways, and gratefully and happily so. Peter knows comedy so well when it comes to timing and rhythm and sticking to it. I can't begin to explain how much I learned from him about hitting comedic beats, including stuff that you never even saw on the screen." In Sanctuary's two-part season one finale, Revelations, Helen Magnus' archenemy, the Cabal, unleash a biological weapon designed to turn Abnormals against humans. Ashley and Henry are captured when infiltrating a Cabal weapons facility to try to stop the development of the bio weapon, and the Cabal attempts to permanently turn Henry into a werewolf. "Man, were those ever intense episodes, especially the torture scenes with my character," notes Robbins. "It was weird because although I don't have a fear of needles, I don't especially like them. There's this scene where over and over again this woman had to inject a needle into Henry's arm, and I just kept thinking, 'Jeez, I know they're prop needles, but if that thing seizes up even a little bit, then it's going into my arm.' So it wasn't hard to play the fear of the needle," chuckles the actor. "On top of that, I'm strapped into this chair and here's Alex Diakun, who is a sweetheart of a guy, doing such an incredible and convincing job of playing the creepy and menacing doctor." [caption id="attachment_4568" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Ashley (Emilie Ullerup) and Henry are cornered by the Cabal in "Revelations." Photo by Jeff Weddell and copyright of Sanctuary 2 Productions"][/caption] Thanks to Henry's Abnormal abilities, he and Ashley are able to escape from the Cabal, but not before the organization turns Ashley against her teammates. At the start of  Sanctuary's second season, she and five others are transformed into super-Abnormals whose sole purpose is to bring down the entire Sanctuary network. Despite the dire circumstances facing their characters, Robbins and the rest of the show's cast as well as crew could not wait to return to work. "When we came back for the second season, it felt like coming home," enthuses the actor. "There was this level of confidence and one of, 'OK, people dug what we did last year, so let's keep going.' So I think we all felt like we were maybe able to take a few more risks. Last year was one of discovery for all of us, and the episodes were written that way. In season one, Will Zimmerman was not only the new guy, but also the viewers' reference. He was seeing everyone and everything for the first time, and in doing so, we were introduced to other characters and discovered things about them for the first time through Will's eyes. "Well, this year, we hit the ground running. I mean, Will is here and he's one of us. Now we're a real team and we're moving forward with a fury and on-fire. In the season opener [End of Nights], the action, the tension, the storytelling, everything was ramped up. Season one was cool, but season two is exceptionally cool. [caption id="attachment_4569" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Henry and Will Zimmerman (Robin Dunne) working side-by-side. Photo by Jeff Weddell and copyright of Sanctuary 2 Productions"][/caption] "As for Henry, I feel like I have an even better understanding of him this year," continues Robbins. "I love playing this character and I feel now like I can trust in my acting as well as my instincts and not have to worry about whether or not this or that comes across or if my subtext shows. I actually like watching Henry on the screen, and that's a big deal for me because I don't like watching myself all that much. "We just finished shooting a wonderful Henry episode called Fragments, which was directed by Steve Adelson and guest-starring Anne Marie DeLuise. To tell you the truth, all the episodes have been really good so far. There have been some nice Henry/Bigfoot and Henry/Magnus moments this year. We've played it that Bigfoot has always known Henry's secret, so they've had a very close connection. And now that my character has embraced his Abnormal side and is trying to deal with it, there's this amazing bond that has developed between them. Henry has an amazing bond with Magnus as well, and now he and Will get to be buddies, too." In the aforementioned season two story Veritas, Henry helps Will and new team member Kate Freelander (Agam Darshi) find evidence that will prove Helen Magnus is innocent of murdering Bigfoot. The episode is Robbins' first time being directed by Sanctuary's leading lady, Amanda Tapping. [caption id="attachment_4570" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Ryan Robbins and Anne Marie DeLuise in "Fragments." Photo by Jeff Weddell and copyright of Sanctuary 2 Productions"][/caption] "She's a tyrant. There's the cracking of the whip and all the screaming and yelling, not to mention the potty mouth. Other than that, it's been fun," jokes the actor. "Seriously, Amanda is awesome. I'd work with her again as a director in a heartbeat and without question. Amanda is an exceptional and wonderful individual in everything she does, acting, producing, directing, it doesn't matter. She's one of a kind, and it's completely inspiring to be around her. And the crew really loves Amanda, too, especially today. It was only a 10-hour workday instead of a 12-hour one. Look how happy these guys are to be getting out of work now in this fantastic weather." Robbins was 12 years old when his desire to become an actor surfaced, but like most people that age, he did not know how to go about it. "I went to a very progressive arts-oriented high school with an intense theater program, and there was a teacher there named Drew Kemp who was sort of the catalyst that inspired me to pursue acting," he says. "My first big job was as a circus performer, and following that I moved back to Vancouver where a friend of mine who was a stuntman, suggested I try that as a way to break into acting, especially given my circus experience. I had a martial arts background as well, so I gave it a shot. Unfortunately, it's not a good way to break into acting, at least it wasn't for me. I had an accident and ended up compressing my spine. From there, I helped form an experimental band called Hellenkeller, which took off. We had a good run for about six years, and during that time there was a filmmaker who was also a fan of the band and she put me in one of her movies. [caption id="attachment_4571" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Bigfoot (Christopher Heyerdahl) and Henry. Photo by Jeff Weddell and copyright of Sanctuary 2 Productions"][/caption] "I guess I did OK in the film because from there I got an agent and began getting acting jobs. When the band eventually broke up, I was working as an actor, so I feel that perhaps it was meant to be. I just kept following my gut. I don't like to say no to any opportunity, so I had a series of opportunities that presented themselves and I just wanted to seize them. Fortunately, they led me to where I wanted to be, so here I am making a go of things." Walking Tall, Catwoman and Passengers are among the actors' feature film credits, while on TV he has appeared in several made-for-TV movies as well as guest-starred on such series as Dark Angel, The Outer Limits, Smallville, Supernatural, The Guard and Battlestar Galactica. "I actually worked as an audition reader for the Galactica miniseries," says Robbins. "That's where I got to know [producer/director] Michael Rymer, and he offered me a role, which turned out to be at the very beginning of the miniseries. I'm the old man at the armistice station, and Number Six [Tricia Helfer] comes in and asks, 'Are you alive?' My character tells her, 'Yes,' and she says, 'Prove it.' So they kiss and then the place blows up and it starts a whole new war. Forty years of peace ruined by blowing me up. [caption id="attachment_4572" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="A contemplative moment for Henry Foss. Photo by Jeff Weddell and copyright of Sanctuary 2 Productions"][/caption] "I kept in touch with Michael, and in the show's third season he brought me in to play a bartender called Charlie Connor, which I did on-and-off for two years. It was a blast and that show is one of the best experiences of my career. That cast was amazing and the crew was phenomenal. Mary McDonnell [President Laura Roslin] and Edward James Olmos [Admiral William Adama] are incredible forces. They love this craft along with the environment of being on a set, and I learned a ton from my time on that show. In years to come, I think people will look back and realize what a relevant piece of history that program was, even though it was set in the future." Besides Sanctuary, Robbins can also be seen in the web-based Sci-Fi/Fantasy series Riese and in episodes of the upcoming Syfy Channel series Caprica. He recently completed two films, Smile of April and The Masculine Mystique, and will soon start work on Wrecked. It has been a busy year for the actor, and that is music to his ears. "I never had a back-up plan and I don't have a retirement plan either," says the actor with a smile. "I don't want to retire. I want to drop dead on a film set when I'm 100 years old. I believe in my heart and soul that I'm supposed to be doing this and I don't ever want to stop." Steve Eramo As noted above, all photos by Jeff Weddell and copyright of Sanctuary 2 Productions, so no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

Stargate Atlantis ' Jewel Staite - Doctor ' s Orders

[caption id="attachment_4512" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Jewel Staite as Dr. Jennifer Keller on Stargate Atlantis. Photo copyright of The Syfy Channel"][/caption] No matter what the job, it is never easy on someone when he or she comes in to fill the void left by a departed colleague. That was certainly true for Dr. Jennifer Keller when she, much to her surprise, was promoted to Atlantis' chief medical officer after Dr. Carson Beckett unexpectedly died while saving a patient's life. It was a position that she neither wanted nor felt especially qualified for, but Dr. Elizabeth Weir saw potential in Keller, and she was not mistaken. The physician has since proven to herself and her colleagues that she is more than up to the task at hand. Naturally, it took time for Keller to settle into her new role in the Pegasus Galaxy, and the same is true for the actress who plays her, Stargate Atlantis' Jewel Staite. "When I first started on the show [in season three's First Strike], I didn't have a clear understanding of who Keller was; I don't think anyone did," recalls Staite. "It was more or less a case of, 'OK, here's the part, we begin shooting tomorrow.' So I just started from the ground up insofar as building a character. A lot of it was about taking the material for what it was and going with that, but it was always important for me to play Keller as real as possible. She's a city girl in this bizarre world, and she had to get used to it in a hurry. My character also felt that she had to prove herself because she knew she was replacing someone who had the whole thing under his belt. She doesn't quite have that yet. Keller is still a little insecure, and what I liked is that they [the show's producers] weren't afraid to play that with her. Not everybody has to be a hero, and I liked that Keller wasn't. She was a normal girl stuck in a place she didn't understand. "As the seasons passed and time went on, Keller definitely became more confident and more capable of dealing with these crazy, dire and dear situations. She gained some new skills in season five and became more aware of as well as felt more comfortable in her surroundings. At the same time, she's still vulnerable and isn't a heroic type of girl. When necessary, Keller steps up to the plate, but that's not her first choice. She would much rather have someone there to protect her, and I don't see anything wrong with that. I think Keller is still a strong female, but she's not going to be the person who fights the Wraith if she doesnt absolutely have to, and that's OK." [caption id="attachment_4513" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Not the most comfortable of positions for poor Dr. Keller in "The Seed." Photo copyright of The Syfy Channel"][/caption] Jennifer Keller had no choice but to put on a brave face early on at the start of Atlantis' fifth season when, in The Seed, an alien pathogen is found in her blood and Wraith tendrils begin growing out of her torso. "My initial reaction to that script was, 'What did I do? Why are they [the producers] so angry with me?'" jokes Staite. "I was nervous, I won't lie. It's generally a thing here on-set about being in prosthetics - no one really likes it. It's usually pretty uncomfortable and requires lots of early calls and long days, but they assured me that they were going to do it in such a way that it would be comfortable for me. "Basically, it was me lying in bed and underneath a cage-like contraption," continues the actress. "They would open the cage, I'd slip inside, they would then close the cage and put a Wraith tentacle 'blanket' over the top. So it wasn't too bad to get into and out of, but then I had these face pieces that were actually part of the blanket that they would pull up and glue to my neck. Once those were on, I was there for the day, and my hands were underneath the cage, so it was this weird way of working because there was nowhere I could go. I would watch the crew running around setting up the cameras, lighting, etc., and then we could shoot a scene. As soon as we cut, they'd be busy setting up the next shot, and I just laid there watching them go off in a flurry. It was a way of observing the [filming] process that I'd never really experienced before on this show. "Needles to say I didn't drink a lot of fluids on the job that week because going to the bathroom was a challenge. I mean, I could do it, but it took about 15 minutes to get out of the cage, so I thought, 'You know what, I'm just going to lay off the water and hope for the best,' and it became very Zen-like. Of course, poor Dr. Keller was completely powerless, alone and frightened, you know? As for me, I was just so relaxed that I would doze off and catch myself starting to fall asleep in-between takes," she chuckles. "So it was an interesting week for sure." [caption id="attachment_4514" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Dr. Keller is ready for action! Photo copyright of The Syfy Channel"][/caption] Among the more challenging season five Atlantis episodes for Staite to have worked on is Tracker, in which Dr. Keller is kidnapped by a Runner named Kiryk (Mike Dopud) while off-world on an errand of mercy with Dr. McKay (David Hewlett) and Ronon (Jason Momoa). "This was another of those episodes written by [executive producer] Carl Binder, and I don't know what the deal is, but he enjoys having Keller tied up and dragged through the woods," jokes the actress. "No, seriously, I worked with an excellent guest-star, Mike Dopud. He's a stuntman, but he's an amazing actor as well and a terrific person to be around. It was just me and Mike in the woods for two weeks. Keller does a major switch in this episode and she does something that surprises the viewer. "One of the most memorable season five episodes for me is The Shrine. It's beautifully written, very touching and definitely different from the other stories I've done. It's a team episode that shows the humanity in all the characters as opposed to giant space battles and that kind of stuff. The story focuses on who these people are and is a huge tear-jerker. When I read the script, I cried. It was great for all of us and allowed us to really stretch ourselves that little bit more as actors." In year four's Quarantine, Atlantis goes into lockdown as a result of a computer glitch and traps our heroes in various parts of the city. Ronon and Dr. Keller end up in the infirmary and, for a moment, it looks as if there might be a bit of romance in the air. However, it is the geeky and egotistical Rodney McKay that ultimately gets the girl, which, in Staite's eyes, makes sense. [caption id="attachment_4515" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Dr. Keller attempts to save Dr. McKay's (David Hewlett) life in "The Shrine." Photo copyright of The Syfy Channel"][/caption] "I think it was the most logical outcome," she notes. "McKay and Keller started out as friends and she seems to mellow him out a lot and tolerates him much better than the other characters. I think, too, that my character finds his whining, crankiness and all that stuff funny, and Jennifer is charmed by Rodney and vice versa. They're both scaredy cats and want more than anything to be in a safe spot. The two of them are also slightly dorky, but incredibly smart as well and, again, feel like they constantly have to prove themselves. "So they have a number of things in common, and in season five their relationship developed into something stronger. David and I have the same sense of humor and way of working. So it's easy to be around him and I think the show's writers saw that and thought, 'OK,' and decided to go that [romantic] route with the two of them, which I was super happy about." Long before joining the Atlantis cast, Staite had acquired plenty of Sci-Fi/Fantasy experience playing such TV roles as Catalina in Space Cases and Kaylee Frye in Firefly. The actress' fans will also know that prior to being cast as Dr. Keller, she booked the part of a young female Wraith named Ellia in the second season Atlantis episode Instinct. She had no idea that this job would lead to a regular spot on the series. [caption id="attachment_4516" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Staite as Ellia in "Instinct." Photo copyright of The Syfy Channel"][/caption] "I thought the [Instinct] character was so special and really wanted to do it," says Staite. "[Director/producer] Andy Mikita and the guys tell me that when I walked into the audition room they were like, 'That's Kaylee from Firefly. What's she doing here?' It wasn't anything unusual for me, though. I'm more than willing to audition to prove what I can, hopefully, do in a role. "Luckily they gave me the job and I loved working on the series. I told them that I'd be happy to come back and they said, 'We won't forget you. One day we'll write something new for you.' Lo and behold, a year later they offered me a fulltime role on the show, no prosthetics required - at least for the first episode. I was like, 'That sounds great.' So it just kind of fell into my lap and I couldn't have been happier," smiles the actress. Last fall, the Atlantis cast and crew wrapped production on what became the show's fifth and final season. The script for a made-for-DVD movie has been written, but filming dates are still pending. In the meantime, Staite can be seen in the upcoming Syfy Channel movie Mothman, and is also slated to begin work on a horror film, P5ych. From out-of-this-world roles to more down-to-Earth ones, the actress enjoys nothing more than creating gaps between each character that she plays. [caption id="attachment_4517" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Dr. Keller and Dr. McKay share an especially tense moment. Photo copyright of The Syfy Channel"][/caption] "For me, it's really important to do projects that are as different as can be from the last one I did," she says. "And while sometimes they may be in the same genre, it's still important to have the character challenge me and to show other aspects of what I can do as an actress. When I succeed in doing that, that's what makes this job especially rewarding. "It's nice to have viewers watch me in a show and say, 'I love what you're doing.' It was hard for me when I first started Atlantis; I knew what was going to happen, and it did. So whenever I hear people say positive things about Keller it makes me feel good because she's a part of me and I love her a great deal and protect her very much." Steve Eramo As noted above, all photos copyright of The Syfy Channel, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!