Prevue's Chat With Christopher Judge

Christopher Judge, who plays Teal'c, was generous enough to give us time out of his busy shooting schedule and answer a few of those burning questions everybody wants to know the answer to, even if you didn't want to know the answer to these questions, I did.

What is your favorite aspect of working on Stargate SG-1 and also your least favorite?

I think my favorite thing is the great food. (laughs) It has to be the people that I work with. It's very rare that in this business that you get a job where you truly enjoy coming to work everyday and you enjoy the people that you work with, both cast and crew. We have an extremely tight cast and the crew is just excellent. The thing that I least enjoy...probably the people that I-- (laughs). I think it's the hours, while they aren't terrible. I have three kids so while we're filming that doesn't give me much time to spend with my kids or my wife. That's probably the hardest thing about it.

Since you've played a lot of comedic roles in the past, how hard is it to maintain your character's disdainful expression?

To me, because of the roles I've played and how I am as a person, it's hard in situations that I would find funny as a person to not let it seep through to my character. But, I think comedy is probably farther away from who I am as an actor, so actually the comedic roles come harder than any dramatic roles I've played. The whole comedic element of acting comes very difficult for me; I much prefer the dramatic roles.

With sets as elaborate as the ones on SG-1, what's the funniest thing that happened to you on the set?

I don't know that I can limit it to one thing. The pursuit of humor is almost as important as the pursuit of excellent TV. I think one goes hand in hand with the other. When you keep things light on the set it makes the work environment that much more pleasurable to be in.

Had you seen the Stargate movie before taking the role?

Yes, actually I had. I was quite impressed by the first half of it. The first half I think was wildly imaginative and had endless possibilities and was infinitely interesting. The second half of the movie kind of left me a little disappointed. I believe we picked up the ball from more so from the first half of the movie in exploring the different mythologies and the different worlds that this crazy thing known as a Stargate can do. It occurs to me that we get a lot more into the different characters and the interpersonal relationships than the movie did. I feel we have become our own animal. We've taken the concept, the original idea to another step, to where the people who saw the movie, thought the movie was headed and kind of veered. To get back to your question, yes I had seen the movie before I took the role.

Since you didn't have to take over a role that was created by someone else, do you think you had an advantage over Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Shanks?

I don't know actually if it's an advantage, just because when you play an alien you have to put in something tangible and something abstract, it was difficult. I like to think it would have been easier if I'd some of the infrastructure already laid down and then had the ability to make it my own. It was inhibiting to have to come with all of Teal'c's nuances and his internal dialogue because that had never been fleshed out in the pilot, like you said it was a new role. It was up to me to create my own back-story, to shade the character in. I guess that's what you like to do as an actor and as far as that being an advantage or a disadvantage, I really think that's really neither here nor there, because both Rick and Michael and completely made them their own. If you see O'Neill and you see Daniel as to where they've progressed to now and showed it back to back with how they are portrayed in the movie, they are completely different. I think they have brought a wonderful life to their characters and hope that I've done the same with mine.

Will there be any story arcs with your family on Chulak in the next season?

I have heard that we are going back to Chulak. I don't what that will entail and what of my family will still be there. That's a hint, (laughs). We do go back to Chulak to try and tie up some of the things that transpired there.

Without giving too much away, what does the new season hold for SG-1?

To tell the truth, I really don't know. I don't really read the scripts ahead of time. I kinda just like to wing it. I don't like to know too much of what's going to go on in the future, that will maybe influence the way I play things now knowing something is going to happen in the future. I like to do it more like everyday life. You don't know what going to come up in the future, so you can't let that color your acting on a day to day basis. You just fly by the seat of your pants and react to the situation at hand. You know, I really don't know what's down the line. I'm sure it'll be...wacky. (laughs)

Preuve's Chat With Christopher Judge Chat
By: Lisa Coleman