EXPLORING ATLANTIS WITH JOE FLANIGAN
By: Troy Rogers, contributing editor
Source: UGO.comA new gate will open and a shiny new city will rise. Following in the very successful footsteps of Stargate SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis burst onto the scene in 2004 and hasn't looked back since. The man in charge of this new crack team of explorers, Joe Flanigan, who plays Major/Lt. Colonel John Sheppard, agreed to sit down and discuss what it's like to work on the most recent chapter in the Stargate universe.
UGO: We've heard you're into skateboarding, surfing and skiing. Since you film in Vancouver, the city must be an easy fit for you?
JOE FLANIGAN: Yes, when I have the time, but it's a little wet to skateboard. I love all those sports.
UGO: Now that you've played Sheppard for a couple of years, how do you deal with the character's popularity away from the show?
JOE: When I'm in Canada it's not a big deal. I've noticed that things changed quite a bit in the last three or four weeks, but people are very easy going and relaxed. It's all good.
UGO: What's it like to have a huge fan base of people you've never met? Do you attend a lot of sci-fi conventions?
JOE: It doesn't affect me at all. The conventions have all been really nice. I like to interact with the fans, and I'm grateful that they like the show. It's been a mutual thing between the fans and myself, nothing strange has happened.
UGO: SG-1 has been a huge hit for many years now, and Atlantis is following the same path. Why do you think these shows have attracted such a huge audience?
JOE: I think that this is a very well done science fiction show with some great characters, and so is SG-1. I have somewhat of an abstract theory on this. I don't know how true it is, but there are a few universal symbols. The circle and storylines of the hero going outside of his known world into a foreign world and being transformed then coming back is just the most basic storytelling there is. I think people relate to it. The symbolism and story structure is really powerful and people react to that. I've told [creators] Brad [Wright] and Robert [Cooper], but they may have a totally different theory on it.
UGO: In your eyes, how has Sheppard evolved between seasons? Is he still as much of an optimist?
JOE: Definitely. There are a certain amount of responsibilities that weigh him down a little more than they used to, but he's definitely an optimist.
UGO: How is that different from your own growth on the series?
JOE: I guess it's about the same.
UGO: With so many popular sci-fi shows shooting in Vancouver, how does the competition help or hinder the show?
JOE: To be honest, the competition is now starting from the major network science fiction shows and they're starting to counter program. You get things like Surface and Invasion, and those science fictions shows are now on prime time network television. I think they've looked at the successes we've been having and want to emulate it. In some cases they may succeed and some they may not. That's really the competition. We air on the same network as Battlestar Galactica, so if we do well Battlestar does well, and vice versa.
UGO: You also wrote the upcoming Epiphany episode. How did that opportunity happen for you?
JOE: I pitched Brad Wright a number of different ideas, some of which had already been done, because they've done five million episodes of SG-1. The ones that I came to him with had been done in one form or another. I had another idea and he liked the basic concept and he had some other ideas with it, so we just collaborated. I came up with the storyline and he wrote the script.
UGO: In that particular episode, Sheppard finds himself on a planet where time speeds up. How did you come up with the idea?
JOE: That specific issue, Robert Cooper came up with. I had an idea that there was a void that I walked into and got stuck in. I didn't think of doing it as a different time dimension. Robert came up with that idea and it was a good one, so we ran with it.
UGO: Can you tell us how it's different from the time/aging issue in the upcoming Aurora episode?
JOE: It's a good question, but when you see the episodes it'll be fairly evident. It's a little different, we don't actually flash into different time. It all takes place in real time, if I remember it correctly.
UGO: Given all of the rewrites per week, how easy was it to wear both hats, as an actor and writer?
JOE: I wrote that before we went into the second season. I wrote it when I had time. Usually when production starts, I don't have the time.
UGO: Will you be writing more episodes?
JOE: I certainly hope so. Right now we just finished and I'm enjoying my time off, giving my mind a vacation. I haven't really thought about it.
UGO: How important is it with science fiction to reflect the social issues we face in the real world.
JOE: That's an interesting question, but it really comes down to what each fan's proclivities are. I have said before that I feel science fiction is as profound as you want it to be. If you choose to look into it, there are quite a few layers and it's interesting. There are very many eerie parallels and those are generally intentional. The type of analysis that's applied to the show is interesting and I certainly think about it when I read it, which is kind of nice because in science fiction you can get away with all sorts of stuff. People don't recognize you're making commentary about society, most people don't and then a few people do and some people are wildly off track. I believe that science fiction is as profound as you want it to be or it can be very simple entertainment, and I'm all for very simple entertainment. Every now and then we all need to come home, veg-out, watch something and not think too deeply about it. It's what you want it to be. We tend to steer clear of being pedantic; it's entertainment first, otherwise we'd be on a lecture circuit.
UGO: In Season Three, where would you like to see Sheppard go as a character?
JOE: I'd like to see him face a little more personal adversity. I think that would be interesting and probably bring up more backstory. Now that we're into a third season, we'll have the opportunity to explore the characters' backstories a little bit more, but I wouldn't want to get too much into that. I like to be forward looking and I like to keep things in the hard and real. I like to keep plotlines moving forward and the place that we're at, as opposed to going back too deeply into personal lives.