SFX #137
December 2005
CLAUDIA BLACK

Claudia Black beams hugely. "It was seriously hard work but I loved every minute of it," says the ex-"Farscape" goddess of her tour of duty in "Stargate SG-1." "Executive Producer Robert Cooper did warn me that Michael Shanks who plays Daniel Jackson and I would be very heavy in the episodes and as a story teller it's always great to be at the center of it all."

Claudia plays Vala Mal Doran a mischievous minx famous for slapping Daniel Jackson on the head before clapping half of her handcuffs on his wrist. "It was great to embrace such a character," she says. "I knew it was only for a short period as essentially everybody was just treading water until Amanda Tapping who plays Samantha Carter was able to come back. So it was nice for the writers to take the stories in a slightly different direction." Claudia also suggests the writers were testing the water with the Vala character. "It was an experiment and it was fun for everybody."

In the ninth season opening two part episode 'Avalon', Vala declares herself Daniel's unlawfully wedded wife before delivering a double whammy by announcing their pregnancy. Asked what was going through her mind when she first saw those scripts Claudia displays her wry humor. "Well, I knew they'd need some sort of plot device to keep Vala there, because she's an irritant, so they endowed her with the responsibility of brining the story forward. She obviously brings the clue to the treasure and really the Avalon segue way is another plot device to get them to the real crux, which is the introduction of the Ori. I have to admit to being surprised the producers went the Avalon route, but I suppose every show that's been around for a number of years is going to do their spin on each mythology that we have in our culture and I think it is an interesting twist."

"It's funny that they appropriated Merlin and made him an Ancient. It made sense. At first I was surprised they went there and then I thought, 'Well, why not?' and it pulled together. As for the bracelets, they say there are only thirteen original stories retold and it was just a fun way of keeping Vala and Daniel connected. Plus it shows that Daniel in all his curiosity is very gullible."

"Stargate SG-1" sees Claudia's character veer from medieval peasant to galactic goddess. The actress laughs. "It's a great story about hubris," she says. "I love the fact that Vala's had to survive. I think that it's out of necessity that a lot of the external parts of her character have developed. I think it's very hard to tell who she really is a lot of the time and whenever she shows any shred of vulnerability it's gone in a second. You really do see that she is taking advantage and yet in her own way she qualifies it and says, 'Look I was a really good God. I never took advantage. I did what I had to do to keep up appearances.' I think if you had to delve any deeper, she probably suffered an incredible amount when they tortured her thinking she was the God."

Talking of torture, Claudia exclaims, "That outfit, girl. I tell you what. I'm in this business for the free food. I don't know if you know that but I am. I had to give up desserts for that one." And though she looks fantastic, she gives all credit to costume designer Christina Mooney. "She was amazing. I was astounded by her capacity and her passion for what she does and just her willingness to do whatever it took. She would come to set so enthused after a shopping spree or after she'd looked at some magazines and been inspired. That she chose to include me in the design process constantly was a privilege. Claudia also has high praise for the production team. "The medieval village that they built the production values were phenomenal. You know there were actual buildings with working rooms with hand-built doors. I think fans will respond to that freshness and enthusiasm for the show this season."

Claudia smiles when she's told the reaction from fans this season has been very positive. "Good," she says. "I know Vala is very controversial and it's wonderful to be playing someone who doesn't have to be popular. It's difficult because she runs the risk of being a one trick pony. She comes out with a battery of one liners and I said to the producers, 'You can't keep pressing the reset button.' And attracted as they are to the Spencer Tracy Audrey Hepburn stanza between Daniel and Vala it needs to develop. Their relationship needs to grow, otherwise he looks stupid and I refuse to let characters be dumbed down. If characters use stupidity themselves as a device and you can see that, then that's wonderful. We discussed the Daniel Vala progression and after 'Avalon Part 2' I said, 'Promise me before we go into 'Origin' that there is some form of development in their relationship.'"

"Thankfully we were all on the same page with that one," Claudia says. "Vala obviously has to operate on such a deep level of denial that she won't let Daniel in for very long so in each episode we tried to reveal one layer of her. It will be interesting to see by episode six how it all comes ut in the mix."


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