 
GW: Halling appeared in several episodes early in Atlantis's first season until the Athosians were relocated out of Atlantis to the mainland. Did you expect this abrupt end to the character?
CH: Well, the abrupt end in all honesty came out of the fact that I was unavailable to shoot, and I was doing a number of other things away from [British Columbia] and I wasn't able to come back and step into that character. So they created another Athosian that basically filled those shoes, and then just shied away from them altogether.
However, who knows. We may see the Athosians again. We may see them again.
You never know. It has so much to do with availability. Art imitates life. So you never know. But did I have any idea? No, I had no idea. It just happened, and I actually found out that I wasn't available long after, apparently, I wasn't available. So it wasn't even one of those things that I could try and sneak off in the middle of the night to Vancouver and breathe in a few hours on set. It just never happened.
GW: Well one of the big arcs this year has been dealing with the Athosians. Teyla's been saying that they're still alive. We just don't know where they are. So hopefully you'll pop back in there at some point.
CH: Yes, I just raised my eyebrows. [Laughter] That's the great thing -- it's been so long since I've done any radio gigs, but it's always kind of fun to do things that nobody can see. Vocalize what I'm doing with my face here as we go along. Raise my eyebrows ...
GW: Now Sheppard's Wraith --
CH: Sheppard's Wraith? What is he, a dog?
GW: Is his name Todd? Is that what they're calling him?
" ... there are certain things that the Wraith cannot change. It's simply that's what they are."
| |
CH: These human beings, they need names. They have no idea what our names truly are. We'll never tell them. What we call him, actually, in the makeup trailer is Ace. It's something that I mentioned once before in another interview. The character is an homage to a space rock'n'roller. The space rock'n'roller -- there was a band, not terribly well known band, it doesn't have a lot of fans -- called Kiss.
GW: Yes!
CH: The lead guitarist, his name is Ace Frehley, and he's the space guy. He's the rock'n'roll space guy. That's his whole entity in the band. He loves Stargate Atlantis and is apparently a big fan of the Wraith. So this character was an homage to Ace. The Wraith have crazy tattoos, and this guy has got Ace Frehley tattoos. So he's known in the inner sanctum as Ace Wraith.
They can call him whatever they want, but we know what his real name is.
GW: His real name. What is it that you think make the Wraith tick as a species, and what about Ace as an individual?
CH: [Laughter] Well, I think Ace, his drum is going to a much more complicated beat. He's a lot of fun because when we originally made him, he's been sitting in a cell for an awfully long time, in a hell of a lot of pain, and has given up hope. The most distasteful thing, I think for him, was the fact that he was given hope by a little creature that he doesn't necessarily have a whole lot of respect for.
I think in his meditation that he has been dealing with, and living with, for the last number of years, he has created an ability to give up on life. The law of the Samurai, that once you are able to accept death freely then it creates a certain freedom.
He's given hope by this guy and there's a bond that is formed between this Wraith and Sheppard that's not necessarily the same bond between Sheppard and the Wraith.
GW: Really?
CH: Well think about it. Sheppard is a guy who never gives up. He always thinks his friends are going to come and get him. He always thinks he's going to be saved. He always thinks he's going to get out. If not by somebody else he's going to get out on his own. He never gives up. Here's a guy who has given up. He's completely given up. And yet he's given the gift of life, hope, brotherhood, through the strangest venue, and that's Sheppard.
So his connection to Sheppard is much more -- at least from my point of view, right? -- much more profound than the other way around, because Sheppard has given him a key out of years of his life, whereas for Sheppard it's one more adventure. One more life-saving detrimental that turns into being a rather positive ending, as is his way.
It's a much more complex relationship. And at the same time, the reality is that the relationship can only go so far. Left alone in a closed room long enough he'll take him, and it's just the way it is. It is his nature. So it creates a fascinating relationship.
That being said, the amount of trust that's needed to deal on both sides is enormous. The amount of trust that a human being would have to have in him is so much more than the other way around, simply because you never know. You can be friends with a shark but ultimately you'd never know.
GW: Well it's not their fault that we are their food supply. They have no choice but to eat us to survive. And I've talked long and hard with Andee Frizzell about this. She believes the Wraith are not evil. What is your take on this?
CH: [Laughter] You know, evil is a point of view. I think that evil comes out of choice. If you have a choice to do one thing that is cruel, hurtful, sadistic, and you choose not to do it, well there's the option that we all have in varying degrees in our lives.
| 
The bond between Sheppard and "Todd" will not be easily broken. |
Take what we deal with every day, our own human species, and we look at what we do in the world. We make all sorts of choices. We do so called "good" things and so called "bad" things. But as far as if the Wraith, or that race, being evil simply because they feed on human beings, it's like saying a wolf is evil because it eats a sheep. It's in its nature.
There's a wonderful story of the scorpion and the frog. They become friends. There's a scorpion on one side of the river, and the frog is there. It convinces the frog to take it across the river. In the middle of the river it starts to sting the frog. The frog looks up just before it goes under the water, and he goes "Why did you do that?" He looks down and says "It's my nature."
GW: "I can't help what I am."
CH: Exactly. So there are certain things that the Wraith cannot change. It's simply that's what they are. They feed on human beings. Given that, then with what each individual, if there can be an individual within the Wraith -- we're not always sure -- but it certainly seems that the "Common Ground" Wraith, or "Ace" Wraith, has somehow been either altered by his experience, certainly being influenced by his experience in captivity.
What we know of him is he was a very powerful and influential Wraith before he was captured. Now he has lost his place in that society and now looks at the whole community so differently. It is all about survival, going from a mindset where he had given up on survival -- certainly survival outside of that cage -- into so much bigger -- his picture and his universe vision, is so much bigger. And he'll do anything to reach that end.
|
|
|
