Stargate SG-1: “Window of Opportunity”
Actor Bill Nikolai is a familiar face to fans of Stargate SG-1. He plays Vern Alberts, one of the S.G.C.’s technicians and frequent background players throughout the show’s 10-year run. But Bill also played someone else on the show, and on a regular basis: Jack O’Neill.
The actor worked as a photo double for star Richard Dean Anderson, not only for things like close-up shots of Jack’s hands but also for memorable scenes when Jack meets himself — like his robot duplicate in the fourth-season episode “Double Jeopardy.”
“In that episode I ended up wearing a lot of dots on my face,” Nikolai recalled in a conversation with “Dial the Gate.” “They were doing some CGI stuff — they had Richard playing against himself. So when it was actually shot it was me. But through the magic of CGI … they were able in the finished product to put Richard where I am, so you would see him wrestling with himself.
Check out this clip from the conversation:
“Double Jeopardy” saw SG-1 come face-to-face with their own doubles — androids created by Harlan back in the first season episode “Tin Man.” This led to two Colonel O’Neills forced to work together in order to stop the Goa’uld Cronus (Ron Halder), who had occupied the peaceful planet of Juna.
“It was a really great experience for me, because there was dialogue there that was going on between the two Richards,” Nikolai said. “And so I had to actually deliver that dialogue in the scene to Richard.”
“That was one of the things that I loved about working on Stargate,” Nikolai said. “As a stand-in, and even as a photo double, I would frequently get the opportunity to do off-camera lines for other actors. And [that’s] something that doesn’t happen that much any more. … It was a great training experience for me, to be put on the spot a little bit.
Richard Dean Anderson and Bill Nikolai on the set of “Double Jeopardy”
“And of course occasionally I got paid for those efforts! Because if they were dressing me up and catching a big piece of me as my back was to the camera, but I was delivering lines to one of the guest actors, they would pay me as an actor.”
In the clip Nikolai also reveals which famous guest star he loved working with, and how the memorable shot of robot Jack O’Neill cutting into his own arm was accomplished for “Tin Man.”
Look for the full interview with Bill Nikolai now at “Dial the Gate” on YouTube. And while you’re there, subscribe to GateWorld’s YouTube channel for more Stargate each week!