SCI FI PI

Sheppard, Colonel Sheppard. The coolest Colonel in two galaxies. Or is he just a big dork?

We found out in our chat with him on the set of Stargate:Atlantis.

(Turns out not that much of a dork, to be perfectly honest.)

Obviously with the recent news of SGA having its final full season with Season 5, the glory and the glamour of Atlantis will only return in movie-length form, so our trip to Vancouver now has something of a cherished, bittersweet feeling about it. What was interesting about meeting Flanigan was the way his onscreen persona and his off screen persona seemed to coincide. He's likeable, relaxed, easy going, yet underneath it all there's something a little bit more going on.





There may be just a hint of the guy who know's he's smart, but is also smart enough not to lord it over ever one else (a la David Hewlitt's character, Rodney McKay) but there's also the strong streak of 'well, this is who I am, I'm reasonably happy with it, you can take it or leave it', which among actors is not a common trait. At all.So an interview has more in common with a bus stop chat than some kind of weird hypefest.

Hopefully you'll soon get a feel for the real Colonel Sheppard, Joe Flanigan, and decide for yourself...



What have you gone and gotten yourself into this time, Sheppard?


Would you consider Sheppard as an old fashioned character?
Old school, maybe!

Well, what about say, what he does with Teyla (played by Rachel Luttrell) and his response to her getting pregnant, being rather protective of her during Season 4.
Well, first of all you have to remember that I don’t write this stuff, I act it! I think that, you know... actually, I’ve never thought about that. I guess if she is pregnant, you want to keep her out of physical harm, but if that’s old-fashioned... wouldn’t it be considered insanely irresponsible, not to?!

I think it actually plays as an ‘impatient’ thing, more than anything. I said I should be really tough to Rachel, more than anything. He might be a little old school, but when it comes to men and women... he’s cool.

Ever since you were imprisoned with Todd (the Stargate team delights in naming the nightmarish Wraith individuals with rather mundane monikers) you guys have had an interesting relationship!
We pick up with Todd and try to do things together, but... surprisingly when plans go badly... we have, let’s say, trust issues! We just generally have fun with the character. The only thing we have to be really careful of is that we don’t get too familiar. There always has to be a freaky element. There’s always something adversarial going on and at any given moment we can clearly kill each other. So no love lost.

Season 4 has some pretty interesting episodes, starting off with the tremendous special effects display in episode one, but you had a personal journey in the episode, Outcast.
Outcast came from an original idea that I had that Ronon and Sheppard had to go back to Earth because Replicators (self-building super intelligent, super strong robots who take human form and want to kill all humans) had gotten on world and were being insidious, but it was basically us running around on Earth in familiar areas and blowing things up. They liked that idea and wove some backstory in it about my father passing away. It really took it to the next level, and we got to see a lot more about Sheppard and who he is.

Stargate Atlantis’ 100th episode has now been filmed. Quite the milestone. Can you tell us anything about it?
We’re excited. We’re going to kill aliens in Vegas!



This soooo reminds me of sunsets on Tatooine.


Who do you like fighting more, Wraith or Replicators?
Surprisingly we’ve dealt with Replicator variations, but we’ve been dealing with a lot of Wraith this season. I prefer the Wraith because they look creepier. With the Replicators, they look just like normal until they add the elements in post. With the Wraith – I enjoy acting against the bad guys – it’s the classic – there’s a monster! – let’s go get it! The episodes I have the most difficulty with are the conceptual pieces, the alternate universes and such. Atlantis is primarily a show that requires a lot of exposition and it’s challenging as an actor, as you’re dealing in high concepts and you have to create urgency out of a ‘concept’, as opposed to ‘there’s somebody’s claw coming for your chest!’. Conversely, though, it’s why Sci Fi as a format is so successful, because it’s so flexible – you can do anything.

What’s it like having a new boss in Season 5?
Our hot new female lead, Robert Picardo! I guess we were expecting an adversarial relationship, but it didn’t work that way. It was generally constructive, however. The writers like to make sure that people don’t get along. We found a moderate form of that, where he likes to be the peacock, where he likes to be in charge, stick to protocol, but when you close the doors, there’s a sense of humility, and he doesn’t know quite what he’s doing, and he looks for advice.

We’ve had a few scenes together - it’s not all that different from the relationship that me and Amanda (Amanda Tapping, who played Samantha Carter, head of Stargate:Atlantis in Season 4) had – Amanda’s perfect, on screen and off screen.

To be honest with you, it’s quite smart. If he came in too bombastic, it wouldn’t work. It would be fun to have that bureaucratic antagonist, messing with us, we need a loathsome bureaucratic personality.



Nothing to be alarmed about people. This is SCI FI, as per usual.


What do you think separates Stargate: Atlantis later seasons from other Sci Fi shows?
I think we’re going to emphasize a lot of action. I’ve been proposing a huge action episode with no dialogue, where Sheppard will just be fighting for his life, which will be a nice counterbalance with the high concept. I know that our show does air on a few ‘Action’ networks, and I was astounded by how little action and action shows are on TV.
And I like action/adventure, and I’ve also learned to really like Sci Fi.

I’m all about action, and I think it’s also a great way to reach out to a broader audience. I’m a bit simple when it comes to watching TV, if someone’s there trying to talk about something, I’m more than likely going to change the channel, but if you’re watching someone getting the crap beat out of them, fighting for their life... oh well! Look at that! Turn that up!

Will we see more sparring sequences from you?
Well, when it comes to fight scenes, my solutions tend to be more Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark, pistol finishes it off sword fight sort of thing. I’m kind of sloppy. When I started, Bam Bam, (James Bamford) our stunt co-ordinator, talked to me about what kind of fighting I’d be doing.

At the beginning of the show, he thought I was going to be this martial arts expert, where I saw the character as more of this regular guy, flying by the seat of his pants, hoping to somehow get through it, lucky to pull this thing off. It’s fun to have those martial artists on the show, but chances are Sheppard’s more likely to have a beer in his time off than sparring.

You talked about the kind of TV shows that you like. Can you be specific?
I don’t watch a lot of TV – I do like to buy DVDs of TV and watch that. It’s the best way to watch TV. You can see it all the way through, no commercials. I like Entourage, I really like Deadwood – I would love to do a western. I don’t watch Reality TV – it frightens me to the depths of my soul.



Global warming - it's everywhere.


How do you explain the success of Stargate :Atlantis?
I think the show works because of the chemistry of the characters, and because it doesn’t take itself too seriously. You can maybe get away with a $150 million movie, you can be serious. If you’re doing a 44 minute Sci Fi show for $3 million you can’t come off being pretentious and too serious.
Even all the dark characters, the edgy shows that some very well-known show runner shave put up -the characters are just not likeable, and that’s why they haven’t worked as well.

I think that we’re lucky - our characters are likeable, and we enjoy ourselves, and it shows . And to know when the adventure is urgent and when it is funny is key. Comedy and humour are probably the saving grace for us.

Where does the inner strength of Sheppard come from?
A lot of it is survival. He wants to live! A lot of those situations he’s in, he’s about to die! That never give up thing, that whole loyalty thing is something that always plays well with audiences, it’s a quality I admire.

You got to do quite a lot of cool makeup effects in Season 4 - have you had any episodes with prosthetics this year?
Not this year. But that kind of thing, I had no problems with it. I mean Rachel’s doing it tough this year as she’s becoming a Wraith Queen, and I was talking to her about it and she was saying that she was a bit upset about it – “I’m going to look like a monster!” I just thought it was hilarious. Of course the real problem when she’s breast feeding in makeup - that’s going to leave a whole lot of psychological detritus!



Explosions. In Space. Rock!


Stargate: Atlantis Season 4 is out on DVD and Blu-ray September 3.


To catch the latest Stargate Atlantis epsiode on SCI FI click here!