02 MAY 03: SG-1'S TAPPING GETS ACTIVE: SCI FI WIRE

Amanda Tapping, who co-stars as Maj. Samantha Carter on the SCI FI Channel original series Stargate SG-1, told SCI FI Wire that she will get to showcase Carter's rarely seen action chops in a seventh-season episode entitled "Space Race." "It's a cool episode that we're actually shooting as we speak," Tapping said in an interview this week. "It's kind of a video-game episode, and Sam engages in this space race in this ship with an alien that we'd encountered last season."

Tapping added that Sam is an adrenaline junkie who rides a motorcycle to work, and the change of pace is right up her alley. "So it's interesting to play her [in] this episode, because she's a lot more fun, a little cheekier," she said. "She's like a little kid, because everything is all about this race, and she really gets off on it."

Tapping said that she has long believed her character possessed an inner fire. But she was careful not to overplay it in "Space Race," she added. "I was talking to the director yesterday, after we'd finished a scene, and he said, 'Wow, I love what Sam is doing. I love what you're doing here with her," she said. "I said, 'It's not too much, because you can't just suddenly bring in this whole new side of the character.' It's something that's always been there, and now it gets to be right at the forefront, the kind of style that she has of 'Woo-hoo! I get to be in a race.'" Stargate SG-1 is currently in production for its seventh season, which will debut on SCI FI June 13.