[TG] He's a recurring character that's obviously gone from this little tiny role and just seems to be expanding all the time. Fans have really taken him to heart, were you surprised by such a warm reception?

[DN] I was, and thank you very much for saying that, it's always very heartening, particularly since the presence is mostly on the web, you notice the fans and the chat rooms. I just had a group send me some pictures of themselves, it's amazing, it's quite fantastic. Yes, it is always a surprise, because you know I've been doing this for a long, long time and never having had such an impact as I've been having with this particular franchise, and it's very heartening and very touching.

[TG] When you got the role, how much were you told about his background? Was it all written for you or did you have to develop it yourself?

[DN] Well, it's always a kind of dance between the writers and the actor. In some ways, it's written, I guess, for me, because I did mention I was Czech. I was born in Prague and I speak Czech. And they were gonna go with a Russian guy, and they did change it to a Czech guy, gave him the name 'Zelenka' and then later the name 'Radek' and it sort of evolved. They responded to what I did with the character, and of course I do what I can with what they write, as I would for any other role. And so most of the relationship actually happens on screen. I don't see the writers, I just sort of say hello to them, but we don't really sit down and have meetings and discuss what's going to happen with Zelenka, it just sort of evolves this way.

[TG] What do you like and dislike most about him?

[DN] I like that he can put up with a lot of stress I think, and a lot of pressure, particularly from McKay and the situations that he can get into. I think he's the sort of scientist that's got reasonably well honed social skills too. I think what I don't like about Zelenka is that one sided focus, that just pure determination to get one thing done. I tend to be more of a multi-tasker, and like doing more things at once.

[TG] Obviously, we know you make up the Czech phrases for the various scenes, and the Czech fans absolutely seem to love this, they delight in translating it for us and sticking it on the net. Is this all ad-lib or do they ask you to translate lines?

[DN] Well, the way it's done, is usually they will have a particular line and in brackets above will be 'In Czech', and at which point I just translate it directly. And sometimes there's just lots of room for improvisation, so I just think up what I would say under those circumstances, and often the script supervisor would come up to me afterwards and ask 'what did you say just just so that we know?' So I tell them what I say. But most of them are written, and I'm asked to translate them on the spot. The one from 'Letters from Pegasus', I think that was in season 2, it was about a year ago. That was a whole paragraph and that was where I was describing the city I think. That was written all in English and I just took that home that night and just translated it and did it in Czech the next day. And they only did the one take, they only did the take in Czech, they were gonna do a version in English but just did the one take.

[TG] Talking of Letters from Pegasus, he ends his video letter with 'drz sze milacku' that's been translated online as 'take care of yourself darling'. Did the writers tell you who you were addressing?

[DN] No, I just added that myself, that I'd be addressing someone back home again... *chuckles mischievously*

[TG] Who exactly did you imagine??

[DN] Well, we don't know yet, do we? We're not sure who that could be...

(Both giggle)

[DN] That's a very good way to duck me into a corner here.

(More giggling)

[DN] The sort of back story relationship with Zelenka, I'll tell you straight away is an evolving thing, and I just don't know, but of course I have speculations, and I have my theories as to the background. But really, what I like to do is leave the writers to develop their own kind of backstory for the character before I go saying what it was for. But yeah, it certainly does indicate he has a relationship he left behind on Earth. I think that's quite clear, and some of that will become a little clearer in season 3 as well.

[TG] Glad to hear it! It has been a subject of awful lot of speculation online, because aside from Weir, he's the only to have really left someone behind. How do you think that's affecting what he's doing?

[DN] The fact that he's left someone behind? Well you know, we've all gone into this project knowing full well that we might not come back, as they say. And we've certainly all made hard sacrifices back at home in terms of who we've left behind. Not only that, but the jobs and the postings and opportunities that we left behind, even though this is quite an amazing job opportunity as it is! *chuckles* So yeah, its made it quite difficult. Now we have some new technology that will enable us to visit Earth more often, I think that takes the edge of it a little bit. But it is a bit of an outpost and it really is the frontier of the Stargate program.

[TG] What's your favorite Zelenka moment so far?

[DN] I guess that would have to include season 3? I really enjoy the lighter comic versions of the scripts. We had a fun episode with Richard Kinds, I think it's called "Irresistible".

[TG] Yes, it's on this Friday.

[DN] Is it really? Oh cool, it hasn't aired yet. So those scripts are always very fun to work on and there's always a lot of comic chemistry you can develop with the other actors... like David Hewlett. And I like the action ones too. Those are fun. I just saw some bits from the season opener 'No Man's Land' last night for the first time. I remember doing the scene on board the Orion with all the explosions and all those things going on. Action scenes are fun but it is also challenging because you have all those explosions going off or rocks falling on you. A fun environment to work in.        *Chuckles * but you know it is different types of acting, It's a very technical endeavour at times like that. I think the things I enjoy most are the actors I get to work with and the relationships we establish.

[TG] Do you feel there are any similarities between you and Radek? Apart from both being Czech.

[DN] Well, other than the fact we both have the same nose? ( Laughs) Well... yes. There are some similarities. I think if I hadn't gone into acting I would have gone into science. I do consider myself a science fiction buff. I enjoy the genre immensely, as well as all things scientific. I think I have more of an artist's disposition, not necessarily the scientific mind, perhaps that is the biggest difference. He is more scientific and I am less so.

[TG] It is pretty well known that the cast of SG-1 likes to play immense pranks on each other and will go to great lengths to do so. Is there a similar atmosphere on the Atlantis set?

[DN] Do we have that? Oh boy.. It seems you don't go a day without something like that happening on set. Between Paul McGillion, David Hewlett and Jason Momoa it can get pretty crazy sometimes. (Laughs) These are long days with sometimes difficult schedules. We are working from six in the morning 'til eight... nine... at night. So levity is not just creeping in, it's more like the acting creeps in around the levity. (Laughs) It should be the other way around. But yeah, we have a lot of fun on set. The crew and cast are just like a well honed machine, they've been doing this for three years and of course SG-1 has been doing it for coming onto on ten years. We get a lot of shots done, and a lot of work done in a day. It happens in a very fun environment.

[TG] Who is the biggest joker?

[DN] Hewlett (Laughs) Of course.

[TG] I think he would like that! (Laughs) As fans, we always start worrying when we begin enjoying a recurring character. It usually means at some point they are going to disappear or be killed off... like with Grodin or Bates. Although, unlike Bates, your character has been lucky enough to have been given a first name. Usually when you haven't got a first name, that's it, you're gone. In science fiction, anyway.

[DN] And you have the red jersey on. (Chuckles)

[TG] If Zelenka had to die in some massive blaze of glory, how would he go?

[DN] Oh, I hate these questions. Would you want him to die? I don't want him to! He can't! He can't! * Laughs* No, Zelenka is going to live to a ripe old age of 'however long the series runs'. And if he's got to die... oh gosh, no no no... tell me it's not true. It would have to be an act of utter heroism and scientific glory. You know IF it was to happen.

[TG] Which we certainly hope it doesn't. He is a great character. I don't think I have read anywhere of people disliking him, which is unusual.

[DN] That is unusual isn't it. I've got to work on that. (Chuckles)

[TG] Are you currently working on any other project or films besides Atlantis?

[DN] Yes, I was involved in a television series called "Psych" just a few weeks ago. It just premiered in the United States to some very encouraging numbers. And, well I don't want to jinx it, but there is another little project that I am very close to securing here in Vancouver. I hope to hear back from them this week. It's very promising. I also just found out that the next episode we will be shooting called 'The Tao of McKay' will also include Zelenka as well. So that's encouraging.

[TG] Which is your favourite Atlantis episode so far?

[DN] So far.. Well, I liked a lot of them in season one. I liked "The Storm”. I enjoyed "38 Minutes", that was a fun one. I like "Hot Zone", the one with the nanovirus. This season I enjoyed "Irresistible" quite a lot. This last one that we shot too was an awful a lot of fun. "Sunday".

[TG] Right, that's the one where everyone has a day off from what I have read.

[DN] That's right, it's a day off in Atlantis.

[TG] On another tack, a lot of your fans actually love the movie 'Pterodactyl'.

[DN] Oh my god, please.. no no...*laughs* now you are embarrassing me.

[TG] I've not actually seen it, someone else has and has begged me to ask you this! What was your experience working on this, that is obviously until your character's untimely demise.

[DN] Untimely demise! Actually that was probably the only reasons I took the job, because of the fact that I would be pulled apart in two by a pterodactyl. I thought 'Well, I can't pass that one up. *laughs* I was in Prague the summer before last, just vacationing there. Had some friends up at the film studio that I went to visit. As luck would have it, I literally walked in to see them and they said 'Oh there is a casting going on. We are doing a pterodactyl movie.' and I said 'A movie about pterodactyls?'. I met the director straight away, and I had no idea what this was all about. On the spot, I read a little scene for them and the next morning I had a phone call saying, 'Hey, would you like to be in this?'. So I said 'Oh.. well ok. Can I get a script, please?' So I actually agreed before I even got the script. I just thought it would be a summertime lark, and.. oh boy was it funny. They brought Coolio in on it, and we were out in the woods in southern Bohemia, firing machine guns into the air at some imaginary pterodactyls that would later be CGIed in by some Bulgarian special effects team. It was really quite an absurd, wonderful and funny situation. That's something I only saw just recently, I found it on the web somewhere. The scene where I get pulled apart. It was very funny to watch, I thought 'geez, this is crazy.'

[TG] Another thing you shot in Prague was a small role in "The Scarlet Pimpernel" with Richard E. Grant... I actually remember watching that!

[DN] Yes, that's right! I was the barber, you remember that? Oh my gosh, that was a long long time ago.

[TG] What was it like to see Prague transformed into 18^th century Paris?

[DN] That was fun, a lot of fun. I really enjoy character work like that when it comes to film. It's what I did a lot of in theatre. What I particularly enjoy about acting is the different characters you can imbue. A lot of the films shot in Prague are period pieces because Bohemia just lends itself to those kinds of stories. That was just a quick day shoot. I think I was outside of Prague at the time, and they brought me in a taxi, put the wig on, gave me the barbers gear and then I got to shave Martin Shaw.

[TG] One slip and he's gone.

[DN] (Laughs) Yes.

[TG] You have extensive experience with theatre in Prague, as well as in Vancouver. How does theatre in Europe, particularly Eastern Europe, differ from North America? (In terms of audience preference.)

[DN] That's a very good question. There are very big differences. Essentially in Europe most of the theatres work as a repertory company, meaning that they rehearse during the day and have productions at night. In any given month, it doesn't work like it does here. Here you open a show it runs for two weeks and closes. There you open a show. It will have 3 or 4 days to get on it's feet, and then it is up and running. It's just not every night, it's blended into the schedule. There was one time I was in eight plays consecutively running. We would rehearse "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern", "Angels in America" and "Waiting for Godot". We would have all these plays up and ready to go. So you would come into the theatre and go 'It's Tuesday, so it is Rosencrantz', and that's the costume you would put on, and that's the play you would do. And then Wednesday is another play, maybe in Czech, and Thursday was another. That was actually an amazing experience, to go to the theatre and work on an entirely different play every night and during the day be in rehearsal for going on. It was eight years of full bore work and rehearsal, and doing this craft that I love so much. Sometimes it is very hard to get work, and I felt blessed to be able to work so much for so long. And that's the big difference between work here. Here you get cast, you work, and then it goes away after two weeks. Everybody sort of parts ways and moves on. It's disheartening, and a shame because so much good will is built up and the play gets good by the second week then it's time for it to go away. So yeah, I do enjoy very much the process of what theatre was like in Eastern Europe, much more than here in North America.

[TG] As an actor do you prefer the immediacy of performing live theatre or do you prefer TV/Movie work?

[DN] You know, It's apples and oranges. I enjoy both of them, they are very different things. They are different approaches to the work. One pays better than the other, theatre ... not. (Laughs) The style is entirely different. You know, you are working on an entire role. You're working in front of an entire audience. You have a direct relationship with them. Whereas in TV, it's much more deconstructive. You take little bits and pieces of the script, you can do them over and over again and hone them, work them from different angles. Then you go home and do the dishes and washing up. You don't have any direct relationship with the audience until you go to your email and go 'oh my goodness, people are watching!'

[TG] I've got a few fun fast questions for you. What's the most embarrassing CD you will admit to owning?

[DN] Pat Benatar, "Love is a Battlefield". (laughs) How about that one? I'm sure I have some Duran Duran rattling around in my closet too.

[TG] There's nothing wrong with a little Eighties music!

[DN] Well I was around for it... (both laugh)

[TG] What one thing do you have that you would never ever sell?

[DN] * thinks* My boat. It's just a little one, but I have a lot of fun with it.

[TG] Pink Floyd or Pavarotti?

[DN] Pink Floyd.

[TG] Snow or sand?

[DN] Oh that's a really good one... *thinks again* Both! Can I do that?

[TG] Morning or evening?

[DN] Evening, late night.

[TG] You're a night owl? How do you cope with early mornings?

[DN] I don't. (laughs) It starts at ten o'clock for me, in the morning. When I can, of course.

[TG] Wine or beer?

[DN] Hmm... beer.

[TG] Chocolate or cheese?

[DN] Chocolate!

[TG] (laughs) I think everyone answers chocolate to that one. Tiger or kitten?

[DN] Tiger! I mean... come on!

[TG] If you, yourself, actually had the chance to go to Atlantis, what would be your one personal luxury Item?

[DN] What would the one personal luxury item I would take to (sings) Atlantis... Probably My iPod.

[TG] Ah! And what's currently playing on your iPod?

[DN] The.. Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, Pink Martini. What else have I been listening to a lot recently? Oh! The new Red Hot Chili Peppers. That's a good little double album. Tom York! I'm really excited about that. Radiohead's all over the place. It just keeps coming up in the mixes, can't get right of that.

[TG] Quite wide taste then...

[DN] Well, thank you.

[TG] Almost as bad as my CD collection. I've got everything from seriously heavy classical to heavy metal.

[DN] Yeah! Every now and then a little AC/DC will creep in... depends on the time of day that you have to turn it up or turn it down! (laughs)

[TG] That's all we have. Thank you very much for you time this evening, David - it's been fun!