What do Flash Gordon, an ex-policeman from near Bristol and the team from Showtime’s mega-hit series Stargate SG-1 have in common? Answer – they all met up in a wood above Vancouver to film an episode for the show’s third season called Dead Man’s Switch and invited Cult Times along to oversee the proceedings.

We drive up in the crew transport to find the location bathed in glorious sunshine and the cast and crew sweltering in the heat. Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson) and Christopher Judge (Teal’c) had their overalls slipped down to their waists and were sharing a joke with some of the make-up team whilst Richard Dean Anderson (Colonel Jack O’Neill) and Amanda Tapping (Captain Sam Carter) waved a welcome from their vantage point perched on a slope above us.

All around the clearing other members of the Stargate team were sitting next to or under some shade patiently enduring the interminable breaks inherent with any kind of film production. Not that anyone was complaining you understand. Certainly not American visitor Sam Jones, he of said Flash Gordon fame.

Whilst the LA native spent most of that film bare-chested and clad in very little, today he is encased in metallicized leather and gilded with bronzed make-up. Somehow he manages to look cool, calm and collected whilst most around him, including yours truly, shed layers of clothing to take advantage of the unexpected warmth. “I love doing this show,” he announced as he lined up for coffee. “These people are a lot of fun to work with and so accommodating.”

“I’m playing the bad guy in this,” he smiles gleefully, “I’m kind of an interstellar bounty hunter who gets entangled with the Stargate guys. Catch a look at all my heavy weaponry.” Brandishing a serious amount of hardware, he marches off to join our intrepid heroes who have begun to climb a not inconsiderable slope for the umpteenth time that day.
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