Hide the rodents!  The original threat to pet shops everywhere has returned.  Back from outer space to take up her place with a new crew, Diana, the backcombed and spandex-clad bad girl from the 1980’s sci-fi epic series V, joins her modern day cohorts including daughter, Anna, to continue her pursuit of that pesky blue planet. Spokespeople Jane Badler and Morena Baccarin landed at New York Comic Con to lay out terms of surrender.

Dig it!

V - New York Comic Con

Jane Badler and Morena Baccarin

Jane Badler

The Lady Miz Diva:  First of all, Jane, you look amazing.  How do you keep it together?

Jane Badler:  You know what, never giving in to my impulses. That is so hard.  The chocolate!  That is so hard, do you know that?  Especially since this happened.

LMD:  I thought maybe it was a return to a guinea pig diet.

JB:  You know, I haven’t had too many of those since I’ve been on V, thank God I’m not the guinea-pig eater, but maybe behind the scenes I’m going to?

LMD:  What’s it like to revisit the mighty Diana from the original series?

JB:  Look, it is so weird, okay?  The first day I was on the set, it was almost like – I shouldn’t say this – but it was like this religious experience. {Laughs} I mean, I walked onto the set, which was completely different with the green {screen} stage which I’d never worked on and people would come over to me going, “Oh my god, I can’t believe you’re back.” And then just to be there again was so emotional for me and then to stand there and to do the role it was like no time {had passed}.  I just thought ‘I know her. Nobody else could do this, how could you have me audition for this?’ How insulting!

LMD:  This version of V is very low-key compared to the original.

JB:  Yeah, there was a lot of pomp and ceremony.  I know what you mean, it was kind of more slow-moving and they tend of concentrate a bit more, but the second season is not like that.  The second season is like -- boom-boom-boom-boom -- lots of action, lots of special effects.  They way it ended is how it begins now.  It is just unbelievable, there’s so much going on now. 

LMD:  But even the production values compared to your V, are very different with your spandex uniforms and big hair. 

JB:  Yes, these are more subdued.  Although mine’s not so subdued.  Red, long, long dress, very bosomy, metal, tons of hair.  You know, let me tell you, it’s like the old Diana, but not quite as eighties, but they’ve kind of done the same role.

LMD:  One of the things I think people loved about your Diana from the old show was because she was a true female badass, totally in charge.  Are we going to see that again?

JB:  Yeah well the thing is, her daughter is so badass.  I mean Morena, Morena is so badass, okay?  So when I come on, there have to be points of difference.  There are characteristics in me that she doesn’t have, which is that I am wiser, I am a little older, I have more patience, equally as driven and ambitious, but you know what, in the end there’s no difference in us except she’s just a little dumber because she’s younger.  I’m saying this because I am her mother {Laughs} and I am going to win this battle, okay?

LMD:  More than the previous series, this V is very female-dominated.

JB: I love that about science-fiction.  Where else in this world?  It’s so unfair.  You know women, we’re so subjugated and you can see it in so many ways, even when you say, ‘Yes, women’s lib’ and all that.  But you can feel it, just by the way women are.  But in science-fiction, women don’t need men; they’re kind of okay on their own.  They’re not hanging out on Dot Com Date, okay?  It’s like, excuse me, I’m not going to be one of a thousand after that one man.  You know what I mean?  I am powerful in my own right, I am super powerful and you are my servant, man!  And that is so cool.  We’ll eat you, baby! {Laughs} I just love it.  I could do this role forever, it’s so empowering.  I don’t wanna play victims.  Diana is anything but.

Morena Baccarin

The Lady Miz Diva:  What’s it like to have that lady {Jane Badler} as your mom?

Morena Baccarin:  It’s pretty scary actually.

LMD:  And that’s coming from someone who plays a pretty scary lady herself.

MB:  Well, everybody’s gotta have a vulnerable side. {Laughs}  It’s always your mother who knows how to push your buttons, man.  It’s really fun; we’re having a great time playing with those dynamics.  It’s fun to have Anna not be in her comfort zone.

LMD:  Is it any relief having been the big leader in the first season to share the load a little bit with Jane? 

MB:  Yes, it’s nice.  It’s fun to have a different dynamic and a different theme to play.  My relationship with her obviously runs deep, so it’s a very different dynamic than I have with anybody else on the show.  And then you’ve got the daughter, we’ve got three generations to play with.

LMD:  I wondered if the strong female dynamics of the show were part of what brought you to the role of Anna?

MB:  I really enjoy strong women.  Television especially is a male-dominated world and so it’s fun to be on a show where there’s two female protagonists, so that’s really, really great.

LMD:  But you came from a show {Firefly} that also celebrated strong women.

MB:  Oh that’s true.  I’m a little spoiled. {Laughs} You know, I don’t even bother auditioning for things that I feel like are not something I want to play.  I mean, what’s the point?  I don’t want to be on a show miserable for five years, complaining.  I think life is too short, so I’m really happy to have been able to get this job.  You know you can’t choose what you’re going to do -- at least not yet.  {Laughs} So you have to be smart about what you allow yourself to go in for and this is the kind of project that attracted me.

LMD:  Toward the end of the season we saw a little more movement from Anna, like her deadly mating dance.  Is she ever going to get off the ship?

MB:  {Laughs} Yes!  We have a really big trip planned.  I’m not going to tell you where. It’s pretty fun. 

LMD:  Do you think that now heading into the second season, you’ve shed any comparisons to the original series?

MB:  It’s a new version, I guess, a reinvention.  We know it and I think at this point it is a whole other show.  I think we took that story and we told that story.  We still love to pay homage to it and there are still some moments … {Looks at Jane Badler over her shoulder}… clearly, from the original that you’ll be seeing throughout, but we’re telling a new story and it’s gotta be updated or it’s gonna be boring.  No one wants to see the same thing over and over.

~ The Lady Miz Diva

Oct 9^th, 2010

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