In April 2007 we were privileged to have “Stargate: Atlantis” star Rachel Luttrell as our special guest for the online and XM-Satellite Radio Slice of SciFi Show. We had such a good time that we asked Rachel if she would come back to Slice of SciFi sometime in the future.

Since that time Rachel has given birth to a beautiful son; while on the show, her character Teyla also gave birth.

With Season Five getting ready to return this Friday (July 11) we asked our roving reporter, Linda Craddock, to visit with Rachel while she was on the set of ‘Atlantis’ in Vancouver. What resulted was this great fun interview.

Rachel Luttrell (RL): Hello there!

Linda Craddock (SoSF): Hi how are you?

RL: Oh gosh, (laughter) in one word, very busy.

SoSF: I can imagine.

RL: Actually two words so there you go, busy, busy.

SoSF: I heard you’re shooting a very busy episode for “Teyla” right now.

RL: Oh, yes. Actually we just finished the busiest episode for “Teyla” about 2 episodes ago and yes I worked some crazy hours. The longest one was 19 hours.

SoSF: Oh, my goodness!

RL: Yup!

SoSF: I’m tired for you.

RL: (laughter) I know, I’m tired for me and of course I’m here with my little guy now every day so…

SoSF: How’s he doing?

RL: He’s doing great, you know what, they’re remarkably resilient and my trailer has become a nursery and he’s doing wonderfully well. ((Laughter)

SoSF: Teething, standing.

RL: Yes and yes, and not just standing but walking.

SoSF: Oh no!

RL: Oh yes, he’s walking and standing on his tip toes reaching for things, yeah it’s amazing (laughter).

SoSF: Busy, busy.

RL: Yeah busy.

SoSF: And you mentioned a minor injury to your hand?

RL: Oh, you know what it was, oh, you went to my sight (laughter).

SoSF: Yes I did (laughter).

RL: It was so minor just because it was the very first fight that I had done in months and months and my hands are used to changing baby diapers so I sliced opened a few bunch of blisters and subsequently burst them all so I had a very bloody hand (laughter).

SoSF: Yuk!

RL: Yeah, it wasn’t very charming but there it was.

SoSF: My next question was going to be how’s filming going but I guess I get the gist of some of it (laughter).

RL: Yeah, filming is going well, yes, I’m in a routine now and it’s a completely new routine and life is completely different but filming is going well. I’m still having a lot of fun with everybody here, and yeah it’s good.

SoSF: So, are we going to see more hand to hand fight sequences with “Teyla” but more so with the bad guy and not so much the sparing with team members?

RL: I know and you know what, I hope so. There already has been one fight that was a sparing fight which is the very first one I did with Jason and another fight that has been the largest for me thus far with bad guys so there you go, (laughter) so we have kind of balanced it out and as far as the rest of the season goes, I’m not sure yet but I imagine that there will be more of that.

SoSF: It’s going to be interesting to see how the writers address “Teyla” making the transition of being a Mom, rejoining the team

RL: Yeah!

SoSF: The difficulties, the distraction of worrying about the baby back on Atlantis

RL: Yeah.

SoSF: Is that going to be addressed?

RL: Oh, yes, yes, yes. They’ve definitely already addressed it in gosh I guess the 7th episode and yes it has been addressed a number of times and in the beginning of the season it was certainly what was weighing heaviest on my mind, on “Teyla’s” mind, whether she wanted to rejoin the team as the active member she always has been or if she wanted to take a back seat and be a Mom and that has been resolved and she’s part of the team but it’s always in the back of her mind, absolutely.

SoSF: Wow!

RL: Yeah, wow, so busy.

SoSF: Well, I read your site, of course I do.

RL: Ah, bless you.

SoSF: The layout is gorgeous.

RL: Oh, thank you. I feel I have such good intentions in terms of going there.

SoSF: And no time…

RL: And no time. There are times when I’m driving home from work and I need to be in bed and I have to have my little guy in bed while I’m driving (laughter) and there’s still so much more to do, but thank you for that.

SoSF: I’ve read all the comments, and I want to ask you if you approve all the posting.

RL: You know I don’t.

SoSF: Really!

RL: No, I don’t (laughter).

SoSF: I’m surprised!

RL: I do have somebody that manages my site and he just sort of checks in a couple of times a month to make sure everything is as it should be.

SoSF: I sent a note thanking you for the by-line with my name on the previous interview with you.

RL: Ahh.

SoSF: Saying please don’t post this part of the message.

RL: Oh and he posted it?

SoSF: It was just a private message saying thank you Rachel for putting my name out there.

RL: Oh, no, no, no I didn’t know that. See that’s what happens it just kind of all goes on there but you know what, sadly he once did that to me. I put exactly what I wanted to post on the site and I had included some personal things this that and the other, my life has been crazy bla, bla, and he posted the whole thing (laughter). So now I put exactly what I want to be posted very clearly in quotations, and say the following is what needs to be posted so I’m sorry for that.

SoSF: So I said oh, now everybody thinks I’m trying to sponge (laughter).

RL: Oh, no I’m sure nobody interpreted it that way, oh dear no!

SoSF: I got a kick out of it though (laughter).

RL: You have to laugh at these things.

SoSF: Of course you do.

RL: Yeah, you have to laugh. You know what I found out the other day from my website because my Mom, God bless her, she reads it everyday since I don’t have a chance to and she calls me to tell me there’s somebody there that’s rather irate that I haven’t been answering about a MySpace emails or postings and I didn’t know I had a MySpace account (laughter).

SoSF: It was someone who asked you open a MySpace page?

RL: Oh, it was someone who was asking me to open an account but I don’t really have the time. I don’t even have a clue or a concept of how I would manage it or what is required.

SoSF: Yeah, well let me ask you this. We saw the old “Teyla” in “Kindred, Part 1″â…

RL: Yes —

SoSF: and I got a kick out of seeing you at the market when you spotted “Kanaan’s” pendant…

RL: oh yes…

SoSF: and you reached for your knife…

RL: yes…

SoSF: and I said “oh my goodness what’s she doing?”

RL: (laughter)

SoSF: She’s not playing.

RL: Oh, no, hell no!

SoSF: Find my people.

RL: Exactly!

SoSF: But I loved it.

RL: Oh, hell yes. You know what, listen, when you’re pregnant, you become even more protective. I mean I can now speak from experience, yeah, but do not mess with a pregnant woman and then certainly there was obviously so much and her people mean everything to her and the notion that they might be gone was obviously a heavy scene throughout season 4.

SoSF: Well Rachel, I know you’re pressed for time…

RL: I am

SoSf: The scene in “Quarantine” what were you doing out on the window sill?

RL: I know — what was I doing on the windowsill? I know it was probably just instinct. I was quite pregnant at the time and I remember just getting up on that windowsill while we were shooting and I remember saying “what am I doing?” But everything was fine I just had a very, very active pregnancy.

SoSF: I see that, cool.

RL: Yes, (laughter).

SoSF: The transition from “indred part 1 and II” where there was this kind of calm and “Michael”… had the fight in “Teyla” kind of dissipated?

RL: The fight in “Teyla” kind of dissipated? — that’s what you feel?

SoSF: Partly.

RL: Hmm… I don’t know that the fight necessarily dissipated. I think essentially at that point she was just relying heavily on the fact that her friends, that “Shepard” and “Ronon” were going to rescue her and there just wasn’t any other way around it and the fact that he was killing so many of her people and experimenting on them and he would do it as the drop of a hat and anybody who stepped out of line the only alternative at that point was to just sit and wait.

SoSF: Yes, I grasped that too. Back to your Website again, your fans are dying to hear more song from “Teyla”.

RL: Oh, I don’t know, I really donâ’t know.

SoSF: What about a lullaby?

RL: Oh, wouldn’t that be nice, you know what, yeah, yeah, you know what I’m actually going to go upstairs and tell them that right now.

SoSF: You see that!

RL: That’s an excellent idea Linda. I hadn’t even thought about it.

SoSF: I think it’s a terrific idea.

RL: I think it’s a terrific idea too (laughter) and I’m gonna tell them. I don’t know why I didn’t think about that but the truth is I hadn’t but that’s great. I love to sing and I hope I get a chance to pursue a little bit more of that but that is an excellent idea for the show.

SoSF: I remember you talking about when you sang the song and you mentioned how you had to re-record for the show as it was too polished and I’ve heard clips of you singing at conventions and one in particular was the sample on “ET Canada” where I said “oh this lady does have talent” and imagine a finished product from a studio.

RL: Oh, thank you God bless you, thank you.

SoSF: I am glad I got the opportunity to talk with you.

RL: Me too, it was a pleasure it really, really was.

SoSF: I look forward to more.

RL: Okay and listen, you can take credit when I’m singing a lullaby.

SoSF: Ok, thank you.

RL: You can take the credit for that, (laughter).

SoSF: (laughter) Ok, take care Rachel.

RL: My pleasure Linda, bye.