Developer: Star Command LLC.

Compatible with: iPhone 3GS and up (optimized for iPhone 5), iPod touch 3rd gen and up, iPad

Requires: iOS 4.3 or later

Price: $2.99

Available here

Captain’s Log Stardate 90946.8

After years in development following a successful Kickstarter campaign, “Star Command” is now available for the app store, and provides a universe spanning strategy title, that offers the chance to chart the unknown and boldly go where no game has gone before.

Well…ok that’s an exaggeration.

In fact, “Star Command” has a lot in common with the PC indie hit “FTL,” right down to the Kickstarter origins, as both games task you with the same objective of traversing different galaxies and defeating some of the toughest scum in the galaxy through ship to ship battles, and onboard scuffles, all as captain of your very own space ship.

While the games may share a similar product description, where “Star Command” differs, and ultimately shines, is in the number of little things.

For instance, the graphics are exceptional. Whereas “FTL” was all about minimalism, “Star Command” looks similar to old PC games like “XCOM” or “Syndicate” and gets the most out of its perspective thanks to a bright and detailed style. The cutscenes are also straight out of a Lucasarts adventure game, and really drive home the humor, danger, and even frights of the game based on the current situation.

As for the gameplay, there is a lot of it. After you’ve customized your captain, you are now responsible for hiring a crew, and assigning them to three different job classes, as well as building and customizing your ships weapons and systems, which are all acquired by using tokens that are earned along the way. Once everything is eventually in place, the game mostly revolves around combat, for which you are responsible for the command of every single aspect of the ship. When it’s time to fire the plasma beams, that’s up to you. When a team needs to be organized to fend off a boarding party, that’s up to you. And when all hell is breaking loose and no hope seems to be available, it’s again down to you.

That last one is important, as things can get out of control very easily. This is not an easy game by any means, as “Star Command” requires your complete concentration, and the ability to multitask like a machine, if you are ever going to have a chance of surviving. Your survival is the key too, as once the captain goes down, the game is over.

Don’t let the doom and gloom keep you away though, as even at its most frustrating “Star Command” is an ambitious and extremely entertaining title that does a great job at promoting an atmosphere where anything can happen at any turn. Exploring the universe truly feels like you’re doing just that, since the variety of enemies and scenarios present at each location rarely, if ever, repeats, making each new adventure feel like some lost episode of “Star Trek.”

In fact it’s probably no coincidence that this game is coming out so close to the new “Star Trek” movie, as if you are a fan of that series, or of anything sci-fi, this app is a beam down from the heavens. It’s a complex, yet accessible and rewarding, adventure that requires several levels of active and passive strategies. Every effort proves worth it though, as it all contributes to a title that lets you experience what it’s like to be at the helm of your own sci-fi ship.

“Star Command” is the perfect type of strategy game for your phone, and with any luck will be the start of a franchise that will live long and prosper. For now though, this game proudly serves as my app of the week.

Bullz-Eye: From what I understand, it sounds like we’re both on the same page as far as being unable to refresh our memories on “China Beach”: they tell me my copy of the complete-series set is due to arrive tomorrow.

Robert Picardo: Oh, good for you! But I did already get mine. [Laughs.] They got it to me yesterday, and I devoted some time to it. I watched a couple of the bonus features. There are 10 hours of bonus features, and I guess I watched about two hours of them, or thereabouts. And then, even though I had to get up very early this morning to do these interviews, I thought, “Well, I’ll pop in the pilot and just watch the first five minutes to see the quality of the transfer.” And, of course, I watched the entire pilot. I couldn’t turn it off! So that was a good thing. The fact that I was so captivated was a good sign.

I’m really happy to see that the show, which was a period piece to begin with…I mean, we made it in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, but it was set from ’68 to ’71, principally, and then the last season we kind of skipped into the future as late as 1987. But basically it was a period piece to begin with, so in that respect it hasn’t aged. It’s still a great time capsule and doesn’t feel dated, and I’m so proud of the work in it. Dana is extraordinary, Marg Helgenberger is extraordinary, but the whole ensemble is just great. You know, it was a very special time in my career, and I know and I’ve heard Dana and Marg and pretty much all of the actors say the same, so to have it reach a new audience is really very gratifying and exciting.

BE: What do you remember about your first read of the pilot script?

RP: I remember reading it and thinking it was great. And important. It felt like an honor to be part of something like that, which was really about something, I mean, obviously, you’d…I guess you’d say the success of the movie “Platoon” led to the possibility of major television networks doing Vietnam dramas. And, of course, “Tour of Duty,” our sister show… [Laughs.] Well, that was really more about “Platoon” and about the soldiers fighting. What was unique and special about “China Beach” was that the point-of-view character was a woman, an Army nurse who served there. So it gave the show a special perspective. It wasn’t about combat, it was about saving lives. It was about supporting and helping soldiers. The war was like an offstage character.

We were the support group there—the nurses, the doctors, the USO people—to sort of support and patch the guys up and either send them back or, if they were too injured, send them home. And more often than not, if they were dead, you’d offer the last gesture of respect to them. That’s what Michael Boatman’s character did, the guy who ran the grave registration. What a terrific role, and an extraordinary performance for a 24-year-old guy. I mean, to have so much…what’s the word? He created such a character who had seen everything, and he was totally believable as a guy who…that was his life, just all of that death and loss. And what that had turned him into was sort of a 24-year-old old man. Anyway, it’s just great writing. William Broyles, who served in Vietnam and who co-created the series, said that he feels it’s the best war drama that’s ever been on television. And, well, yeah, you could say that he’s a little partial, since he co-created it. [Laughs.] But you know what? I agree with him.

BE: Regarding other war-themed series, to read the one-liner about your character on Wikipedia (“head surgeon and womanizer dealing with being drafted into Army and away from his family”), he sounds like the perfect amalgam of Hawkeye Pierce and B.J. Hunnicutt from “M*A*S*H.”

RP: Yeah, he… Well, first of all, “M*A*S*H” was set in the Korean War, of course, and those characters were obviously creations of…the sensibilities of those men were created in the ‘50s. The same goes with my character on “China Beach,” Dr. Richard. I think of him now, with “Mad Men” being such a popular show on TV, as having very much that same attitude as guys from the early seasons of that show. He thinks very highly of himself. [Laughs.] He’s a little full of himself. In the pilot, I think I pinch at least five women on the butt. So, uh, it was a good job. It’s not very politically correct nowadays, but it was fun to be able to recreate those old, politically incorrect moments.

BE: It took ages for the series to finally make it to DVD, due to the expense of licensing the music being seen as cost-prohibitive.

RP: Yeah, y’know, because I did a “Star Trek” series, I make a lot of personal appearances and go to a lot of conventions and stuff like that, and I would often get asked, “Why hasn’t ‘China Beach’ come out?” And I always have to explain that answer: back then, they never anticipated selling a television show like that, so they never secured the music rights for sale or even for broadcast for a certain number of years. So it’s been completely out of the marketplace. At least “The Wonder Years,” which has had a similar fate and can’t be released because they haven’t secured the rights, but that at least still seemed to be in rerun everywhere. But “China Beach” hasn’t even been seen for over a dozen years. And that’s why it’s such a pleasure that Time-Life did it right. They invested the million dollars or whatever, they hired the lawyers, they secured…oh, gosh, 262 songs, I think they told me. Songs by people like the Supremes, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Van Morrison, Ben E. King, Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin…I mean, that’s one of the things that made the show great: that music. So to have it out finally with that music intact makes it worth waiting for.

BE: Do you have a particular favorite episode of “China Beach,” perhaps a spotlight episode for Dr. Richard?

RP: Well, for my character, there’s an episode called “Crossing the Great Water,” which was in the second season. It’s one where my character finally deconstructs himself and the identity that he left the States with. I’m a married, suburban golf-playing doctor with two young kids and a beautiful wife, and the world is my oyster. That’s the life he leaves when he’s drafted. And, basically, that all falls apart for him while he’s gone. His wife starts having an affair, she divorces him, and…actually, one suggestion that I made was that he discovered the affair inadvertently through a drawing that his child has made. His young child keeps drawing pictures of “Mom and Uncle Doug.” [Laughs.] And I’m, like, “I don’t know who Uncle Doug is!” That was the suggestion that I made to the writers, which they ended up doing.

Anyway, in the episode “Crossing the Great Water,” his wife serves him with divorce papers, and he basically just loses it. What was fun about that was that it was nice to take a character who had this patina of arrogance and self-confidence who walks around going, “Get out of my way! I am the hands of God, and I will save that person if you just get out of my way!” That kind of shell, that professional shell he had, is completely cracked and destroyed, and then he had to completely rebuild himself after that, and he ultimately became a better man for it. But that made it a fun show to shoot for me, because there were so many different emotional levels to it.

BE: Would you say are there any elements of your “China Beach” character that people can spot in the EMH on “Star Trek: Voyager” if they’re looking for them?

RP: It’s a good question. I tried to hide that. [Laughs.] I would say that, if I had a stock and trade as an actor, it was to play characters that you initially didn’t like, or that you thought that you were not going to like and then grew to like in spite of that negative first impression. So the Doctor on “Star Trek,” they shared a certain arrogance, I think, the two of them. Obviously, because my character on “Star Trek” was an artificial creation, he was sort of a first-generation program for a holographic emergency medical physician, there was a certain artifice to the way he acted for the first season or two. But eventually, as the show went on, he became more and more successfully human-like. So they didn’t have that in common. But as far as the initial impression of being full of themselves and a little arrogant…I mean, you would never see the holographic doctor pinch a woman on the butt. [Laughs.] But he still had that “I’m the smartest guy in the room” feeling that I think Dr. Richard also tried to project.

BE: Lastly, do you have a favorite project that you’ve worked on over the years that didn’t get the love you thought it deserved?

RP: Oh, let’s see… [Long pause.] Um…yeah. Although I don’t know if “love” is the right word. I did a small movie called “Sensored,” which is available on DVD and download or whatever. It’s a little horror movie, or a psychological thriller, and I play a really creepy guy, but I worked really hard on this and I really liked it. And it’s totally different from anything else I’ve ever done. Talk about a character that has nothing in common with…I mean, if you can find one moment in that performance that reminds you of me in “Star Trek,” then I will shoot myself in the head. [Laughs.] Because it really is totally unlike anything I’ve ever done.

But then this little company that bought it for DVD release and all that, they screwed up the DVD release! They just blew it. They literally had orders from Wal-Mart and all that, but – get this – they didn’t have the movie rated in time, and Wal-Mart will not sell an unrated movie. So this whole little roll-out we had, where it was going to be seen and it was going to be sold and people were going to be able to get it, was cancelled because the company forgot to get their own movie rated. It was idiotic. It’s, like, you can’t believe it. It’s like saying, “Ah, yes, we went to the hospital, and my wife and I, we had a child, but somehow we forgot to bring it home!” [Laughs.] I don’t get it.

So, yes, the movie “Sensored” would be my answer, but the reason I say that “love” is maybe not the right word is because I play a very creepy guy. I’m a weird-ass, creepy guy. And you don’t know how much of the terrible things I’m doing are real and how much I’m imagining them. But I worked very hard on the role, and I wish it’d gotten seen by a larger audience. So that’s why I think it qualifies.

True enough: in 1987, NBC aired a TV movie called “Bates Motel,” which starred Bud Cort as Alex West, a fellow with a few mental troubles who shared some quality time with Norman Bates in the state insane asylum and, as a result, finds himself the beneficiary of the Bates Motel in Norman’s will. The intent was to use the movie as a backdoor pilot for a weekly anthology series of sorts, following the lives of individuals passing through as guests of the motel, but when ratings for the movie proved disappointing, the plan for the series was abandoned.

But A&E’s “Bates Motel” isn’t a retread of that premise. Instead, it’s a prequel, revealing how Norman Bates became the kind of guy who’d grow obsessed with his mother that he’d take on her identity on occasion and kill anyone who looked at him sideways.

Oh, wait, you say that’s already been done, too?

Yep, it sure has: in 1990, Showtime produced “Psycho IV: The Beginning,” which pointedly ignored the aforementioned TV movie and showed a very-much-still-alive Norman (Anthony Perkins) calling into a radio talk show about – what are the odds? – matricide, using the conversation as a framing device to flash back to his youth and reveal the bond between Norma Bates (Olivia Hussey) and her son (played by Henry Thomas). It doesn’t exactly hew 100% to the continuity established by the preceding three films, but as a standalone film for casual fins, it holds up relatively well, thanks in no small part to Perkins’ performance.

Actually, A&E’s “Bates Motel” isn’t a retread of that premise, either. Not really, anyway. I mean, yes, it starts at approximately the same point in Norman’s life, and the general idea is the same, in that it’s looking into all the Oedipal-ness of the Norma/Norman relationship. This time, though, it isn’t a period piece. For better or worse, it takes place in present day, which means that it’s arguably not a prequel at all but, instead, more of a complete reboot of the franchise.

Don’t worry, though: the Bates Motel itself still looks just as decrepit and foreboding as ever.

But, of course, “Bates Motel” is far from the first occasion of an existing property has been turned into a prequel for TV. Heck, it’s not even the first time it’s happened in 2013!

Muppet Babies (CBS, 1984-1990): Although baby versions of the Muppets first appeared in a scene in “The Muppets Take Manhattan,” the film only appeared in theaters a few months before “Muppet Babies” joined the CBS Saturday morning line-up, so it’s clear that the powers knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that kids wouldn’t be able to resist the li’l darlings. As it turned out, though, the writing on “Muppet Babies” and the incorporation of its characters’ imaginations and their resulting fantasies made it one of the most enjoyable Saturday morning series in many moons. It’s just a shame that we’re likely never to see a complete-series set of the show, as the funds it would require to secure the rights to include the episodes featuring clips from other TV series and films would be decidedly cost-prohibitive. Sigh…

Star Wars: Droids (ABC, 1985-1986)
Star Wars: Ewoks (ABC, 1985-1986)

Unlike “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” which was always designed to serve as a bridge between the goings on in the second and third chapters in the “Star Wars” saga, no one knew in 1985 if George Lucas would ever deign to fill in the blanks he’d established for a possible prequel trilogy. As such, younger “Star Wars” fans lost their minds when they learned of “Droids,” which was intended to loosely establish what R2D2 and C3P0 had been doing in the years immediately prior to “Star Wars IV: A New Hope.” Decidedly fewer viewers cared what the Ewoks had been doing prior to “Return of the Jedi,” but we got the answer to that, too.

The Flintstone Kids (ABC, 1986-1988)
A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (ABC, 1988-1991)

Not that animated series are required by law to follow their established chronologies, but there’s something really obnoxious about the way Hanna-Barbera decided to cheapen the legacy of two of its most iconic series by saying, “Hey, let’s make ‘em little kids and wring a few more bucks out of the franchise!” In fairness, we never really knew how Scooby and the gang got together, so “A Pup Named Scooby-Doo” might well be considered part of the canon, but in the Season 4 “Flintstones” episode, “Bachelor Days,” we got the back story on the first meeting of Fred and Barney and Wilma and Betty, and it definitely didn’t take place when they were wee.

The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (ABC, 1992-1996)

For my part, I don’t think I’ll ever forgive the way this series, when it was released on DVD, opted to trash all of the book-ending sequences featuring George Hall as an elderly Indiana Jones, presumably because Harrison Ford was getting a little too close to that age by that point. Still, this was a fun series which helped fill in some gaps in Dr. Jones’ history while also helping younger viewers learn history.

The Little Mermaid (CBS, 1992-1994)
Jungle Cubs (ABC, 1996-1996)
Hercules (Syndication, 1998-1999)

Disney may have done to the characters from “The Jungle Book” basically the same thing that Hanna-Barbera did with “The Flintstones” and “Scooby-Doo,” but darned if they didn’t do it in such a beautifully animated fashion that you tend to be more forgiving of their efforts. “The Little Mermaid” and “Hercules,” however, were slightly less egregious in their flashbacks, with the latter actually turning out to be an extremely funny series filled with tons of great guest voices.

Ponderosa (PAX-TV, 2001-2002)

You don’t have to be all that well-versed in TV history to know that the turn of the millennium was not exactly what you’d call the glory days of the western genre, but given that PAX-TV was trying to cater to an older, gentler demographic, it’s understandable why they’d decide that it might be a reasonable plan of action to try and revisit the lives of the Cartwright family and reveal what was going on in the years prior to those portrayed in “Bonanza.” Unfortunately, series with gentler tones don’t tend to draw a lot of attention to themselves, especially when they’re on a relatively small cable network.

Star Trek: Enterprise (UPN, 2001-2005)

The idea of doing a series about the earliest days of the United Federation of Planets was a reasonable one, given the amount of history which had been established in various other “Star Trek” series over the course of the preceding decades. Unfortunately, “Enterprise” spent so much more time trying to create its own new history that by the time the creators realized that they’d made a tactical error, the writing was already on the wall for the series’ fate. It’s a shame, really, as the last series was easily the best season of the bunch.

Clifford’s Puppy Days (PBS Kids, 2003-2004)

We all know that Emily Elizabeth’s love made Clifford grow so big that her family had to leave their home and relocate to Birdwell Island. What we never knew, however, was what life was like for this little girl in the early days of her relationship with her then-little red dog. This was possibly not need-to-know information, as “Clifford’s Puppy Days” only lasted for a single season.

Caprica (SyFy, 2010)

For those “Battlestar Galactica” fans who wanted all the deets on how the Cylons first came to be created, Ronald D. Moore came up with “Caprica,” starring Eric Stoltz as Daniel Graystone, the man who used his daughter Zoe as the model for the very first Cylon. Although critics embraced the series for the most part, viewer became increasingly less enthused, resulting in only a single-season run for the show.

The Carrie Diaries (The CW, 2013)

Since the odds of seeing another “Sex and the City” movie seem to be shrinking with each passing day, it’s not entirely unreasonable for The CW to decide to move forward on a series based on Candace Bushnell’s story of Carrie Bradshaw’s life circa 1984. Surprisingly, the series is a great deal of fun, offering an inevitably awesome soundtrack while providing a sweet, nostalgic look back at day-glo days gone by while offering a bit of new insight into the character of Carrie that was established on the HBO series.

During the Winter 2013 TCA Press Tour, Campbell took some time – more than his publicist was expectingly, frankly, not that we were complaining – to chat with Bullz-Eye about his surprise over being pitched the role of Lincoln, his strong views over Disney’s mishandling of “The Rocketeer,” his even stronger statements to the bloggers who bitched about the Season 1 finale of “The Killing,” and how he was only one audition away from getting the role of Commander William T. Riker on “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

Bullz-Eye: To begin at the beginning, how did you find your way into “Killing Lincoln” in the first place? Did you audition for the gig, or did they actually come looking for you?

Billy Campbell: I didn’t audition. They… [Hesitates.] What did they do? [Laughs.] They approached me months before this happened, and I…well, they didn’t approach me. My manager called me and said, “I got this weird sort of feeler: would you be interested in playing Lincoln?” And I burst into laughter, and I thought, “Ridiculous! I’m not Lincoln!” Nevertheless, we sent them a photo which I thought was Lincoln-esque—or a photo that I thought was the least non-Lincoln-esque—that I could find, and I forgot all about it. And then months later I got a call from my agent saying, “You’ve been offered Lincoln.” And I was…amused. But I accepted. And that was it.

BE: Are you a particular aficionado of Civil War history? It seems like a decent possibility that you might be by this point, given that you were also in “Gettysburg” and “Gods and Generals.”

BC: Yeah, I am, actually. I grew up in Charlottesville, Virginia…although I lost most of my accent some time ago, as you can tell by the way I pronounce “Charlottesville, Virginia” now. [Laughs.] Not much of that natural drawl there anymore! But, yeah, I grew up there, and I was obsessed with the Civil War in my youth. When I was 17, I went to my first Civil War reenactment, and I became a reenactor and did that for a few years. In fact, I think that was the beginning of my interest in acting. So, yeah, I was thrilled to be able to go to Richmond, 60 minutes from home, and play Lincoln.

BE: So what were the challenges for you in playing Lincoln, given that you didn’t see yourself playing Lincoln in the first place?

BC: Well, I think the main challenge was the lack of time. When they finally came back, it was about a week before I was supposed to show up in Richmond…and I was at sea! I was on a sailing ship, so it took me another three days to get back to shore, which meant it was three days before I could even download the script and so forth. So I had no time for preparation, I had no time to read the book…I had no time for nothin’! All I had time to do was read the script as many times as I could before we started shooting, which was about a week and a half after I first got back to shore. So the particular challenge was to understand that what I needed to do was just let go and really trust Erik Jendresen, who was the show runner, the head writer, the main guy. He wrote the script, and he was the main guy on the show. And he’s a Lincoln fanatic. So the thing I did was really just to dive into Erik’s script, into his arms, and to trust that these people—not just Erik, but all of these people involved—were passionately intent on delivering an entirely authentic experience and believe in their input. So that’s basically all the preparation I did. I just put my trust in these people.

BE: Not a bad plan.

BC: Well, you be the judge, but I think it worked out alright. [Laughs.] It’s funny, because, as an actor, you think, “Oh, shit, I’d love six months to prepare,” or whatever. But on the other hand, you can over-think things. And on this, I definitely didn’t have a chance to over-think anything. I just dived into what it was, into all of the insane amounts of research that these people had done, and just trusted in that.

BE: Was there anything that you hadn’t known about the Lincoln saga that you learned as a result of working on the film?

BC: Yeah, a lot of stuff. I mean, as I said, I was very much interested in the period and all of it from my youth, but I wasn’t a Lincoln scholar. Erik is and has been in his life a Lincoln scholar. I mean, he truly has been obsessed with Lincoln. So there was a lot to learn. I think the thing that I came away with more than anything else is…y’know, Lincoln was a little radical for his time. Even in his youth he was a radical. I mean, here’s a kid who, at the age of eight or nine, started chopping wood. About as soon as he could accurately hit a piece of wood with an axe, he was set to chopping wood by his father. He grew up on the frontier, chopping trees down, and making a farm life. But this wasn’t gentleman farming, like it is today. It was farming in the face of Indians and animals and disease and all kinds of things that we don’t experience today. So on the rough frontier, when everybody smoked and drank and cursed and chewed tobacco and didn’t think anything was so very wrong with slavery, he didn’t smoke, he didn’t drink, he didn’t cuss, he didn’t chew tobacco, he didn’t believe in slavery and made it known that he didn’t. And he was a book reader! Even as a child, in his home, he insisted on reading books. His father scorned the reading of books, and yet in the face of his father’s scorn, he insisted on reading books. That’s radical. So he was radical for his place and his time, and I didn’t really realize that. I also didn’t realize the depth of his warmth and his magnanimity. You know what I mean? He was magnanimous. He really was. He was a very empathetic human being.

BE: I wanted to dip into your back catalog for a bit, if I may, and I think the best way to start is to dispel a credit on your IMDb listing. Based on what you just said about being a Civil War reenactor in Charlottesville when you were in your teens, it seems mathematically unlikely that you were in an episode of “The Rookies.”

BC: “The Rookies”? [Laughs.] I don’t even know what “The Rookies” is!

BE: It was a ‘70s cop show.

BC: No. [Laughs.] But you know why that’s there? Because when I first came to Hollywood, I went by William Campbell…and there was another William Campbell. And I see you nodding, so you know him, I’m guessing.

BE: Yep. I know him from “Star Trek.”

BC: Exactly! So, anyway, I have some of his credits on my IMDb page, and…my agents have just arranged for me to get a professional-status IMDb thing, so I’m gonna get in there sometime sooner or later and take away the things that aren’t mine, and put in some other things that are mine that aren’t on there. At some point they had me listed in Delta Force or what the hell ever it’s called. I was never in that. And they had me listed as a wardrobe person on several movies! Apparently there’s a Billy Campbell who’s a wardrobe person. So I’ve gotta clear some of that up. But to confirm that here and now, no, I wasn’t in “The Rookies.” [Laughs.]

BE: You were, however, in “The Rocketeer.”

BC: I was!

BE: Which was and remains an awesome film. Still, it had to be heartbreaking when there were no further “Rocketeer” films forthcoming.

BC: You know, I would have loved for there to have been further “Rocketeer” movies. But it wasn’t heartbreaking, no.

BE: How was the experience of making the film?

BC: Oh, it was phenomenal. Oh, my God. I have to tell you, it’s an actor’s dream to…I mean, I can’t imagine that everyone’s first film that they ever do is the lead role in a movie that’s as cool as “The Rockeeter.” So it was phenomenal for me, in every way. I love period movies, I love adventure movies…I love movies. And I love sexy women…and there was Jennifer Connelly! [Laughs.] In every way, it was a thrilling experience for me. And it turned out to be such a fucking loveable movie! It’s just a loveable movie.

Y’know, I know that Disney are very interested in somehow turning over the property and doing another “Rocketeer” film. And I hope I get a cameo in it, if not something larger. But either way I hope that they pay homage to the original movie, because it’s a movie worth paying homage to. Y’know what I mean? Like, if the movie had been a disaster and they just wanted to turn over something that had been a piece of shit, then… But they’re turning over something that a lot of people feel very passionate about, and I think they ought to pay homage to it.

BE: I think it was that film and “Edward Scissorhands” that first made me really start paying attention to Alan Arkin.

BC: I love Alan Arkin. Shit, you should see some of the rest of his stuff. You’ve seen “Little Miss Sunshine,” but have you seen…

BE: “The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming” is a good one.

BC: Oh, that’s good. And the movie he did with Peter Falk, “The In-Laws”? I mean, he’s genius. He’s the only thing that was any good about that Robert Redford movie, “Havana. “The only good thing. I love Sydney Pollack and I love Redford, but, seriously, Arkin was the only decent thing about that whole movie.

BE: To touch on some of your TV work, you’ve turned up in several sci-fi projects over the years, including a series-regular role on “The 4400.”

BC: Yeah, I loved doing that. I love science fiction. I’m a history buff, but I’m a science fiction and fantasy fan, too, and…I loved it. I had mixed emotions about it, though. We were the victim of a regime change at the network (USA). The new regime came in, and…we were not their baby. And they just threw us into the alley. With the bathwater. We had great ratings. In the beginning, I think we were as highly rated as anything on cable TV. Or something like that, anyway. It was a big, big thing. And it stayed that way! But then you could see between the second and third season… For the premiere of the second season, I was in New York, I was in Mumbai…actually, I don’t know where I was. [Laughs.] But I saw ads on the sides of buses, tons of promotion everywhere. But the third season? Nothing. Dead silence. Dead. Silence. And, of course, between the second and third seasons was when the regime change at the network happened, and they just… [Makes a whooshing sound.] Threw us out.

BE: Being a sci-fi aficionado, is there any story or novel that you haven’t seen turned into a film that you’d like to see adapted?

BC: [Instantly.] Yes! The Integral Trees, by Larry Niven. Yeah, I think with our technology now, with CGI and all that…? The Integral Trees is fricking great, and it would be fantastic. And so would Ringworld, for that matter. What else? Um…y’know, I’d still like to see a really good Dune movie made. I mean, I’m very fond of the David Lynch movie, because it’s so kind of cheesy and twisted and terrific in its way, but I still want a really good Dune movie.

BE: There are quite a few sci-fi films that are…well, y’know, they are what they are for the era in which they were made, but it’d still be interesting to see what could be done with them in the right creative hands and with today’s special effects.

BC: Absolutely! I mean, think of the things we can do now! Same thing with “Flash Gordon.” I loved that movie, but…well, you get the idea.

BE: One last sci-fi question: I’ve got to ask you about playing Okona on “Star Trek: The Generation. “

BC: I believe you mean the outrageous Okona. [Laughs.]

BE: True enough. A one-off character, but one popular enough that they brought him back for a storyline in the ST:TNG comic book.

BC: Did they? [Laughs.] I didn’t know that! I had no idea. That’s funny!

BE: As a sci-fi fan, that must’ve been entering dream-come-true territory to find yourself part of the “Star Trek” universe.

BC: Oh, it was awesome. But, y’know, what happened was, Junie Lowry—an L.A. casting agent who, in fact, cast me in “The Killing”—has, over the years I’ve been out here, been the biggest proponent of my career. When I was first starting out, I did something for her, I can’t remember what it was, but…well, point being, she called me up about “Star Trek.” She said, “I’ve got this thing going on, and you’re perfect—perfect!—for this second-in-command. It’s you. You’re gonna be it.” And I’m, like, “‘Star Trek’! I could be the second-in-command on ‘Star Trek’! On the Enterprise! Fuck, fuck, fuck!” [Laughs.]

So I went in, and I auditioned, and she’s, like, “Great! Perfect!” And we went through the whole process. And we got to the last meeting. And it was me and Jonathan Frakes in a green room, waiting to walk into a room full of executives. And I start thinking…well, I’d actually started thinking long before that, but I really started thinking, “My God, if I do this…I’m not sure if I’m gonna do anything else.” Because that’s kind of the way it goes with something as iconic as “Star Trek.” And I actually pulled the same maneuver on…“Dynasty” was one of the first things I did when I came to Hollywood, and I did 13 episodes, I think, or something like that. And they asked me to re-up, they asked me to sign on for good. And I refused. Because I knew that if you got too hooked into something that was iconic as “Dynasty,” which was the highest-rated show on TV at the time, there’s a danger to that. And I thought about that while I was waiting for “Star Trek.” And I got petrified. And I absolutely clutched the meeting. Junie had been telling me, had been buzzing in my ear, “You’re the guy! You’re the guy, you don’t even have to worry about Jonathan Frakes. You’re the guy. This is happening.” And I clutched. And Jonathan Frakes…as it ended up, he was the guy. [Laughs.]

And Jonathan Frakes should’ve been the guy. He’s brilliant and wonderful in the role, and it should never have been mine, and I agree with all of that. But later on… I think when I went in the room and I really screwed up the audition so badly, Junie was quite angry with me. I mean, really quite angry with me. ‘Cause I kind of embarrassed her. ‘Cause she had put a lot of stock in me and so forth. And ages later, I sent her an email or wrote her a letter, I don’t remember what I did. Maybe I called her, I’m not sure. But I said, “Junie, I’m so sorry I messed up,” or whatever, and she said, “No, honey, it’s fine. It’s fine! Jonathan is wonderful, and it all worked out wonderfully.” And I said, “Does that mean I can do an episode?” [Laughs.] She said, “You want to do an episode?” “Yeah…?” “I’m on it!” And literally in two days’ time, she called and said, “Here’s the job: ‘The Outrageous Okona.’” And I had to come in and read for somebody, of course, but the job was mine. And that’s how it all came about.

BE: An obligatory question I try to ask everyone: do you have a favorite project that you’ve worked on over the years that didn’t get the love you thought it deserved? I’m figuring “The Rocketeer” is in there, but if there’s anything else…

BC: “The Rocketeer” would be number one, yeah. Just because we all know how much that movie deserves to be loved…and wasn’t. And, in fact, “The Rocketeer” wasn’t the failure that Disney claimed it to be. You know, there’s that whole thing of how, if the movie doesn’t do the box office you want it to, they call it a loss and they get to write it off. There’s all kinds of funny paperwork that goes on in the studios. And I think they had a very acrimonious relationship with the director, Joe Johnston. And I think what they did was make it a loss. I don’t think the movie was a loss for them. I think they made it a loss.

If you’ll recall…well, you may not recall, but their relationship with Joe Johnston was so acrimonious…oh, he hated them so very much. He’d done “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” with them, “The Rocketeer” was the second of a three-picture deal with Disney for him, and they were so meddlesome at the time—I don’t know if they still are, they may be or they may not be—that they had hired some of the best people in the business to work for them, including Joe and Jim Bissel, the production designer. They hired these top-notch Hollywood people to make their movie, to write the script, to design the look of the characters, of the sets, of this, that, and the other thing. And then they assigned three, or maybe it was four, creative executives to oversee the movie. [Witheringly.] “Creative executives.” These are not people who’ve been through film school. These are people who’ve been through business school, at Cornell or wherever, some of whom could’ve conceivably never taken an art class before in their life. And yet these people were giving costume design notes, set design notes, script notes to people who had been designing sets, designing costumes, writing scripts their entire creative lives. And these notes were supposed to be implemented and taken care of.

So Joe was furious. Absolutely furious. He hated the studio. And I don’t know if you remember Premiere Magazine, but there was a 10-page spread on “The Rocketeer” before it came out. 10 fricking pages! That’s an enormous spread. And the very last line of the article quoted Joe Johnston. Because it was so apparent throughout the whole interview how much he scorned Disney, they asked him, “Well, Joe, if you dislike Disney so much…you have another movie to do for them. What’s gonna happen with that?” And he said, and this is the last line of the article, “I will fake my own death before I work for Disney again.” Seriously! That’s the ultimate line of the biggest piece of publicity for their movie, for Disney, of the whole campaign! So you can imagine what Jeffrey Katzenberg is sitting in his office thinking.

As a sidebar to that, years after doing “The Rockeeter,” I was in a restaurant somewhere in Hollywood—Cha Cha Cha, a Jamaican place—and I was on my way to the restroom when a guy stopped me, an Asian guy. He said, “Billy Campbell!” “Yes?” My name is blah blah blah, and I was in the publicity department at Disney, and I directly worked on ‘The Rocketeer.’” I said, “Hey, nice to meet you!” He said, “I gotta tell you—I have to tell you—how we dropped the ball.” And I said, “How did you drop the ball?” And he said, “Number one: Katzenberg had this notion of the movie as being an adult film. A film for adults.” The primary poster for the movie was an art-deco thing that nobody under the age of 35 would’ve ever given a shit about. And originally we were going to have a Roger Rabbit cartoon before the movie, “Roger Goes to World War I” or something like that, but that was nixed, too. So he said, “We absolutely dropped the ball. All of us in the department, we knew what we should be doing, but the studio dropped the ball. All of the directives that we had to publicize the movie, none of them were to get the people in to see the movie that should’ve seen the movie, which were kids. None of them.” We opened within two weeks of “Terminator 2” and “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,” we had no box office stars, we were a period movie, and the movie was not sold to the right people. So…there you go.

BE: It’s still very fondly remembered, though, despite all of it.

BC: Yeah, it is. And like I said, I still love the movie.

BE: Lastly, let’s talk about “The Killing.” What was it like for you, a cast member of the show, to deal with the whole of the internet screaming their disappointment about the direction of the show and the lack of closure at the end of the first season?

BC: It didn’t bother me at all.

BE: Really?

BC: Well, here’s the thing, and it kind of speaks to maybe a somewhat larger issue. There’s journalism, in which people do research, and then there’s blogging, in which people spout off what they’re feeling at the moment. And anyone who’d done their research knew that we were derived from a Danish television series. And anyone who had bothered to research the Danish television series would’ve known that we would not resolve the murder of Rosie Larson before the end of the second season. Anyone would’ve known that. So the people who were most sort of vociferously disappointed in the cliffhanger for the so-called first season should’ve known that there would’ve been a cliffhanger. And that’s really the gist of the whole thing: the people that flew off the map about the cliffhanger were really just expressing their ignorance. Anyone else knew that it wouldn’t be resolved at the end of the first season.

See, the Danish series did their first season and…they didn’t have two seasons like we had two seasons. They didn’t have two seasons of 13 each. They had one season of 20. So there’s some confusion, because they had 20 episodes and a resolution, whereas we had 26 episodes, which we had to split. We certainly couldn’t do it in 13—that’s seven few episodes than they did their resolution in—so we had to go the extra distance and make it 26, ‘cause 13 episodes is the standard cable season. The only conceivable thing than anyone did wrong was for the network to use the tagline, “Who killed Rosie Larson?” That’s the only conceivable thing that anyone did wrong. But, honestly, most of what was done wrong was done by the fricking bloggers, who acted like children who didn’t get their candy when they wanted it. Because…okay, I’m sorry, did you not enjoy the show up until this point? Were you not enjoying it? Because if you weren’t, then why the fuck do you care about the cliffhanger? And if you were enjoying it, then why the fuck do you care about the cliffhanger? What is your point?

So as far as I’m concerned, there was no controversy, and all they were doing was showing what a big bunch of fucking babies they were. And that’s it. I thought the show was brilliant, and I thought our people did such a fantastic job. They had to come up with extra material to make it 26 episodes instead of the 20 that the Danish did, and they came up with some phenomenal extra material. And it was genius. I thought the show was fucking genius. Patty Jenkins, who directed the pilot and who directed the Season 2 finale…between the pilot and the Season 2 finale, you find me two better episodes of TV, in the history of TV, and I’ll be surprised. I really will be surprised. When that car goes into the water, did it not raise the hair on the back of your neck? I mean, oh, my God.

BE: When people started getting up in arms about the series not resolving the mystery of who killed Rosie Larson by the end of the first season, all I could think was, “It’s not like they resolved who killed Laura Palmer by the end of the first season of ‘Twin Peaks.’”

BC: Yeah! I mean, all they did was…I mean, they didn’t do anything crazy like they did on “Dallas,” where Bobby’s in the shower and the whole previous season was a dream. It was a legitimate twist. Why was there outrage? To me…well, like I said, it seemed like a bunch of fucking babies crying because they didn’t get their candy exactly when they wanted it. It honestly did! And, y’know, I have no problem saying this now. I’ve been more diplomatic in past interviews, because the show was still going on and I was still on the show, but…fuck them! [Laughs.] You know what I mean? Seriously! And you can print that! You can write it if you want. Honestly, I was kind of angry about it. Much angrier than they were.

But I loved the show. It was one of the very best experiences I’ve ever had in this business. It was an incredibly well-written show, it was impeccably directed, I had the privilege of working with an amazing cast. Tell me who’s better on television than Mireille (Enos) and Joel (Kinnaman). Tell me who’s better than those two guys. Or Brent Sexton as the dad. Or Michelle Forbes as the mom. Or anybody on the show. Tell me there’s a better cast on television during those two seasons. I don’t think there was. So to my way of thinking, I was on a show that was incredibly well-written, amazingly well-directed, with a brilliant cast…and I was on an ensemble cast, so I went to work sometimes only two days a week. [Laughs.] How can you beat that? And I’m living and working in Vancouver, BC, which is one of my favorite cities on God’s green earth. So it was heaven for me. It was a perfect storm of enjoyment for me. It really was.

BE: And yet it made entertainment-news headlines a few months back when it was announced that, even if there was going to be a third season of “The Killing,” you wouldn’t be coming back for it.

BC: Yeah, which made for great headlines, except it wasn’t that I didn’t want to do Season 3. Here’s the thing: anyone who’s been following the Danish series knows that the Danish series, after they solve the initial murder, they go on to an entirely different scenario. It was always going to be that way for me, for my character. I always knew it. Two seasons and out. I knew it from the beginning.

“Community” Holiday Exclusive Gift Set

Features a “Troy & Abed in the Morning” coffee cup (“With a generous capacity of 15 ounces, refills are not needed!”), a Warhol-inspired Troy & Abed poster, a t-shirt featuring the Greendale Seven in video game form. and a plush Human Being…which, if you’re not already a fan of the show, probably warrants a bit of explanation. Per the NBC online store, “The Greendale Community Human Being plush mascot reflects the diversity of Greendale and our species by being nothing at all. Now you can have your own creepy version!” If that doesn’t sound like the icing on a delicious “Community” cake, then…well, uh, you’re probably not the target demo. But maybe you know someone who is, so keep it in mind just in case. ($50.00)

“Dexter” LOOK/SEE Limited Edition Sunglasses

Described as “perhaps the greatest Dexter usable collectable out there,” what you get is a set of sunglasses with white frames spattered in blood, stored in a wooden case which, not coincidentally, looks quite a bit like Dexter’s “trophy case.” The case also includes blood slides and a syringe. Move fast, though: it’s a limited edition set – there are only 500 units being produced, and each wooden case is individually numbered. ($149.95)

“Buffy” Slayer’s Stake Prop Replica

I once bought my wife a replica of the cross necklace Buffy wears, but while she thought it looked incredibly cool, she’s never actually worn it because it just seems like more of a display piece than actual jewelry. Similarly, here’s hoping that, should you decide to pick up this item, you decide to leave it in the box rather than plunge it into someone’s heart. I mean, unless they’re undead. In that case, go nuts. ($479.99)

Sonic Screwdriver Programmable TV Remote

What can we possibly say that the people at ThinkGeek haven’t already said better? “The Sonic Screwdriver Programmable TV Remote lets you feel like a time lord while lounging on your couch eating fish fingers and custard. This Mark VII Sonic Screwdriver is specially created for Earth use. It’s been simplified so as not to cause danger to human operators, while still being an extremely powerful tool in the wrangling of entertainment electronics. And because The Doctor doesn’t let just anyone use his stuff, there’s a Lock Code that allows you to ensure that it’s yours… ALL YOURS.” ($89.99)

Rosie the Robot Cookie Jar

Gotta get at least one Hanna-Barbera item in the mix, y’know? One of my most prized possessions is a Brak cookie jar that our own David Medsker hooked me up with many moons ago, during my earliest days with Bullz-Eye. (Or, man, was it before? It was forever ago.) Of course, “The Jetsons” can’t compete with “Space Ghost,” but I’ve still got a lot of love in my heart for Rosie. As robot servants go, she’s one of the best. ($49.95)

The Office Dunder Mifflin Paper (Box) with “Poetic” Message Magnets

I just want to shake the hand of the NBC employee who pitched this idea. “Hey, how about if we put a bunch of cardboard boxes, put Dunder-Mifflin labels on the outside, fill ‘em with plain ol’ copy paper, and then sell ‘em for $70 a pop? Yeah, you’re right, that’s kind of a rip-off. We better throw one of those magnetic-poetry packs in there, too.” Brilliant. ($74.98)

Opie’s Skull and Crossbones Ring / Clay’s Born Wild Ring

Not that anyone’s been wondering why I don’t handle the “Sons of Anarchy” reviews for Bullz-Eye, but if you were, it’s because I’m an idiot and don’t watch the show. Still, I know enough about it to know that fans will probably think these rings are pretty awesome. ($99.99 each)

Golden Limited Edition Star Trek Pizza Cutter

Admittedly, probably even the most obsessive Trekkies probably haven’t been clamoring for a pizza cutter that looks like the USS Enterprise, let alone one that’s done up in gold rather than one of your lesser metals, but leave it to ThinkGeek to prey on their customers’ weaknesses and make this a limited edition item of which there are only 1,701 in existence…and if you don’t appreciate why they picked that number, Google it later. For now, though, just trust us: it’s hilarious.($99.99)

“Breaking Bad” ‘Blue Sky’ Candy in a Los Pollos Hermanos tub

First and foremost, don’t get your hopes up for finding this under the tree: the company that produces this stuff is already back-ordered through January. Secondly, let’s not kid ourselves: this price is absolutely ridiculous, given the ease with which just about anyone could make rock candy in their own freaking kitchen and the fact that you could print off a “Los Pollos Hermanos” label yourself and slap it on any old plastic bucket. With that said, however, you can’t deny that it’s one of the coolest things ever. ($1,658.08)

Game of Thrones Life Size Replica Iron Throne

I’m not sure I’d want to meet the person who has the kind of disposable income to spend on something like this, as I’m not sure I’d be able to resist the desire to punch them in the face. But I applaud the HBO store for apparently having it in stock, just in case someone happens to get a wild hair and has the bankbook to back up their pop culture whims. ($30,000…and, no, that’s not a joke)

Bullz-Eye: “The Lieutenant” wasn’t the last time you worked with Gene Roddenberry, but was it the first time you crossed paths with him?

Gary Lockwood: Yes, it was. They talked to me about doing this show, and Roddenberry was sitting there with the head of television at MGM, and that’s how I met him.

BE: That was your first time headlining a series, although, you’d at least had a little experience as a recurring character on “Follow the Sun.”

GL: Yeah, well, I was the third banana on “Follow the Sun,” but I ended up doing the most shows. It’s hard to talk about yourself, but…it’s not that difficult. [Laughs.] What I mean to say is that the audience ended up liking my character, so I did most of the episodes of the show.

BE: There’s a quote attributed to you about how being the star of a series is like being a jet pilot: you’ve got a lot of experts working behind the scenes to get the jet running, and then the pilot sits in the cockpit and makes it work.

GL: Yeah, at which point you either live or die. [Laughs.] You get the spoils, but you also get the losses. The reason I kind of make a joke about jet pilots is that you go to work and you don’t do anything, you just sit there in a chair and drink coffee and look at girls. And then they call you, and go over and fly in front of a camera for awhile, and then you sit down for awhile while everyone else does all the work. So I kind of thought it was a little bit like being a jet pilot.

BE: When you think back to the character of Lt. Bill Rice, what’s the first thing that leaps to mind?

GL: Well, I just played him. I mean, I was just an actor. Bill Rice is not somebody I would ever be or… [Trails off.] They did ask me once if I wanted to go to Annapolis, but I was a bit too much of a rogue for that kind of life. One of my best friends did go to Annapolis, but he resigned after about a year. He didn’t like the regiment. So it takes a certain kind of guy. It was very difficult for me to consider. I wouldn’t say I wanted to be like Bill Rice, but acting is all making believe, so you create a character and you just go there and play him. I think I’ve done that with every job I’ve ever had.

BE: You obviously had some good writers to work with, led by Mr. Roddenberry, but what would you say that you yourself brought to the part that wasn’t there when you arrived?

GL: Well, here’s basically what I think, and I think this is not some epiphany on my part. [Laughs.] But I’ve worked with some very talented directors, as in (Elia) Kazan and (Stanley) Kubrick and people like that, and what one tries to do is…I think one should try to get as close to type as you can. And the reason I feel this way is that if you cast a certain look, a certain face, a certain body type, a certain person, and you put them in that part, most of the time when you’re making a film or a television show, you’re not really talking or something. You’re just doing reactions. And the reason that typecasting works, in my opinion, is that I did look like a Marine, I was athletic like a Marine…in fact, I beat a Marine through the obstacle course for a case of beer from our technical director once. [Laughs.] But the point that I’m trying to make is that when you put the camera on a person for a reaction, your story moves forward, not backward. And…I’m not a skinny guy. I look like I could’ve been a Marine. So if there’s anything I brought to it, it’s my physical stature. Also, I’ve got an aggressive attitude. I was a quarterback as a football player, so I had that kind of attitude, the guy who comes into the huddle and tells everybody to shut up and listen to what he has to tell them. [Laughs.]

BE: Roddenberry indicated at one point that “The Lieutenant” was, in a sense, another casualty of the Vietnam War, that viewers were already getting enough non-fiction war drama on their television sets. Did you get that impression as well?

GL: Well, no, actually. Here’s the thing that I’ve often thought: we did rather well considering that we were opposite Jackie Gleason, who was the lynchpin of television. Saturday night at 7:30 PM opposite Jackie Gleason, that’s a rough spot. [Laughs.] I kind of felt, based on how we were received, that had we been in another timeslot, we probably might’ve been in the top 10 or 15. So I can’t really say that the Vietnam War was credited to our going off the air, but maybe to some extent. There’s politics involved in life, and as an actor, I’m not a politician.

BE: You continued to work with Roddenberry after “The Lieutenant” went off the air. What are your recollections of playing Gary Mitchell on “Star Trek”?

GL: Well… [Starts to laugh.] It’s turned out to be very beneficial to me in the afterlife of that particular time, but I can say this: it was the most difficult, horrible job I ever had.

BE: Really?

GL: Well, because I had to put on these full contact lenses when I became the god-like figure, and I had these silver eyes. It was very, very difficult. I had to choreograph everything blind. I couldn’t see. Everybody thought I could see them, but I couldn’t. So I would have them put me on a mark, and then I did everything based on what I knew of where things were in the rehearsal, like a blind person. And then my eyes began to hurt, so…it was not a fun time, no. But, I mean, it turned out to be a real bonanza for me, in that I do autograph shows sometimes, and Frank Poole (from “2001: A Space Odyssey”) and Gary Mitchell are the ones I do the most autographs for.

BE: Speaking of Frank Poole, how was the experience of working with Kubrick? He was a formidable figure, to say the least.  

GL: Oh, yeah, he was the greatest. I’m one of these guys that got along well with him, but, I mean, everybody has their own story with him. But, yeah, he was the greatest to me.

BE: Did you have any interaction with Arthur C. Clarke at all?

GL: Yes, I did. Many times. He was a very nice man. As a matter of fact, Arthur Clarke and myself…I think we did the first live interview and conversation on the internet. I was on a stage at the University of Illinois, and Arthur was at his home in Sri Lanka, and it was on the birthday of the HAL 9000 computer. [Laughs.] It was fun. I remember Arthur’s image came on a screen, and it was, like, at 500 frames per second, which was like slow motion. But the sound, the audio, was real-time.

BE: You also got to work with Elvis on a couple of occasions: “Wild in the Country” and “It Happened at the World’s Fair.”

GL: Yeah, Elvis, I liked him. He was a real gentleman. I ended up being the quarterback on his flag football team. [Laughs.]

BE: What were your thoughts of him as an actor?

GL: Well, here’s the thing about famous musicians: their persona as a musician is so important, and they basically rely on that. “Wild in the Country” was supposed to be his breakout film, the first without any music, but after they screened it, everybody wanted music, so they went back and put in some numbers which weren’t there in the original version. So, y’know, what I’m trying to say is that Elvis Presley was a musician, a singer, and…I’m not saying he was a good actor, great, or bad actor, I’m just saying that he basically played himself all of the time.

BE: You mentioned Elia Kazan in passing a moment ago, with whom you worked on “Splendor in the Grass.”

GL: Oh, yeah, Kazan. Oh, God, he was a character. I got along with him reasonably well. He was a bit competitive toward the women all the time…and I chased a lot of girls in my heyday. [Laughs.]

BE: Did you learn anything from him as a director?

GL: [Long pause.] No, not particularly. I think Kazan’s greatest strength was that he had been an actor, and quite a good one, apparently. So he was very good at getting people into positions where he could get a performance out of them because he understood acting. Visually, he was certainly not a Kubrick guy. I mean, he had a very good crew, he had fine cameramen, but I do not believe that he… I mean, I don’t think he took hours to look for the great shot. I think he just understood the mechanics and the language of cinema and moved accordingly.

BE: How did you enjoy the experience of doing the heist film “They Came to Rob Las Vegas”?

GL: Oh, that was a lot of fun. A great job. I really enjoyed myself. I traveled all over. I was on that movie for months and months and months. Las Vegas, Paris, Italy, Spain…it was a great job.

BE: It was also an impressive cast.

GL: Yeah, it was a lot of fun to do. I remember running in the desert with Elke Sommer, and, my God, she was in great shape. Like a man. [Laughs.] But, yeah, it was a very nice job. And Antonio Isasi, the man who directed it, is still a friend of mine, and I saw him in Spain about two years ago. I went to Ibiza, where he lives, and visited him for about a week. He’s a wonderful man.

BE: Do you have a favorite project that you’ve worked on over the years that didn’t get the love you thought it deserved?

GL: Well, as far as a character and as far as just an adventure of doing a job and having a lot of fun, I would say that probably “Firecreek,” the movie I made with Henry Fonda and Jimmy Stewart and Jack Elam, was the most delightful job I ever had. I mean, it was great, great fun. I did enjoy living in England during the making of “2001.” I really enjoyed London. But “Firecreek” was an adventure every day, because we had a poker game that lasted for 14 weeks, and I won a hell of a lot of money. [Laughs.] And Jack Elam was, without a doubt, the most fun actor I ever worked with.

BE: Lastly, do you have any particular recollections about the experience of working on “The Magic Sword”?

GL: I do, although they’re not particularly great ones. [Laughs.] But, I mean, at that time, I got paid a small amount of money, but it paid my rent for a couple of months, so I wasn’t ungrateful about getting the part! But it was a very difficult movie to make. I mean, we shot very fast and…I think we shot it in three or four weeks.

BE: I can believe that, given that Bert Gordon was at the helm. I’ve heard that he was, uh, expedient with his productions.

GL: Yeah, well, he wasn’t Kubrick. [Laughs.] I remember in “2001” it took two or three days to get one shot once. In Bert Gordon’s movie, we would’ve been halfway through the film!

These comments, as you may have guessed, are the way Jordan Hembrough, host and star of the new Travel Channel series “Toy Hunter,” bookended our phone conversation a few days ago. Like myself, he’s both a father and an unabashed sci-fi geek, so it should be no surprise that I enjoyed watching the initial installment of his show, which finds him traveling the country in search of various toys and action figures, including just about everything that was part of my pop culture diet growing up, including “Star Wars,” “Star Trek,” “The Six Million Dollar Man,” and even relative obscurities like “Space 1999” and Disney’s “The Black Hole.”

“Toy Hunter” premieres tonight at 10 PM (9 PM CST) on Travel Channel. If it isn’t already programmed into your TiVo – and if you’ve ever been called a geek or a nerd in your time, it really should be – then perhaps this chat will inspire you to fix that situation post-haste.

Bullz-Eye: First of all, I’ve got to tell you that not only did I enjoy watching the screener, but I’ve got a seven-year-old daughter, and she was digging it right along with me.

Jordan Hembrough: You know, Will, I’ve got to tell you: you just hit something that’s…it’s a real special chord with me. I’m really hoping that families will watch this show together, because when I watched it with my kids, they were enjoying it and asking me about old toys as well.

BE: One of the funniest things – and you may have experienced this, too – was that one of the most frequent comments I heard from my daughter was, “You really played with that?”

JH: [Laughs.] You know, that’s exactly what my son said to me. He goes, “So did you get this with an iPhone application?” “No.” “So does it hook up to a computer?” “No, it doesn’t hook up to a computer!”

BE: In prepping for this conversation, I discovered that you had an affiliation with Starlog when you first got started in the toy business.

JH: Yeah! You know Starlog?

BE: Absolutely. I’m 41, so I used to read it back in the day.

JH: Well, there you go: I’m 42. Yeah, I was the buyer for their chain of retail stores. It was awesome. I had a great time. In fact, that’s how I actually got my start doing what I do. When the company shut down, I bought a lot of the inventory. It was fantastic. I was excited about that.

BE: So what first got you into the geekier pursuits, as it were, of sci-fi and whatnot?

JH: [Laughs.] Well, I’ve got to be honest with you: I’ve always been a diehard collector. It’s something I’ve done all my life. I was a huge “Star Wars” collector when I was a kid. And when I was in college, right before I graduated, I used to shop at Starlog, and they were just starting up the giant franchise corporation and asked me to come on as a merchandise coordinator, which turned into a buyer for the company. So when you talk about sci-fi and geek stuff, it’s because when I was a kid, I was a huge “Star Wars” collector.

BE: So what made you decide to turn it into a career? Certainly, when Starlog closed its doors, you could’ve just as easily said, “Well, that was fun, but I’ve done my time.”

JH: You know, Will, the truth of the matter is that I didn’t know what else to do with my life. [Laughs.] I basically said, “I don’t want to become an accountant. I don’t want to be a lawyer. What can I do?” And I said, “Y’know what? I really love toys. Let’s see if I can really do this. Let’s see if I can make a career out of it.” And I have. And I’m very fortunate to do what I do.

BE: Earlier this year, prior to “Toy Hunter” going to series, you did a one-hour “Toy Hunters” special. How did you cross paths with Travel Channel in the first place?

JH: I was actually contacted by Sharp Entertainment a little over a year, and Sharp Entertainment…they’re very known for “Man vs. Food” and “Adam Richman’s Best Sandwich in America,” and they have a really great working relationship with Travel Channel as well. So Sharp pitched the show to Travel, and Travel picked it up as a one-hour special. And we did exceptionally well in the ratings, but I think what really turned it around was the fan support on social media, because a lot of fans came out on various social media sites and on the website and said how much they loved the show and wanted to see more of it.

BE: A lot of people may think it’s more or less the same as Kevin Smith’s show on AMC (“Comic Book Men”), but it’s actually the flip side, one could argue, because you’re actually going out into the field.

JH: I would agree. We’re out in the field, we’re hunting through basements and attics everywhere in America, and…what I always say, what I tell everyone, is that I’m on the Great American Toy Hunt. America is essentially my co-pilot on this journey with me, and…well, as I said, I’m very, very lucky to do what I do. And it is Travel Channel, so we are out there in the field as often as not.

BE: “Star Wars” is obviously a big deal for you, but is there a specific toy genre that you’d say that you specialize in? I’ve read that you’re pretty deep into “Thundercats.”

JH: Yeah, you could say that. [Laughs.] So are there any fields that I specialize in? Basically all of the ‘80s toys, both boys and girls. They’re my sweet spot that I really truly love. 1970s as well. So of course I’m partial to lines like “Star Wars” and “Battlestar Galactica,” because it’s what I collected as a child, but a lot of the other toy lines are really, really fun, too, like “Thundercats,” like “Masters of the Universe.” Even the girls’ lines like “Strawberry Shortcake” and “Jem,” they’re interesting to me because I’m always surprised at how much money some of them can get.

BE: Say, out of curiosity, how do the “Black Hole” figures hold up in value nowadays?

JH: [Laughs.] Boy, I gotta tell ya, it’s so funny you mention that, because aside from a couple of them, they’re only like $30 or $40. But I just came across a designer who actually worked on the original line and had some of the prototypes and some of the original wax sculpting for Maximilian and Vincent. Those sold for thousands of dollars each. They did very well.

BE: When I grew up, my mother was a teacher and my father worked for the railroad, so, y’know, we were lower/middle class, which meant that our toys tended to not always be “Star Wars” but, rather, “Star Trek” or “Space 1999.”

JH: I love it! That’s great, too. “Star Trek” and “Space 1999” are great toys. In fact, the Eagle One play set from Mattel for “Space 1999” is one of the hardest toys to get on the market complete. And if you have one sealed, it’s probably close to $900.

BE: Well, I didn’t have one sealed for very long, but I did get it for Christmas one year.

JH: Awesome! Well, you opened it up and played with it. That’s the next best thing. [Laughs.]

BE: I know you go to New Jersey and North Carolina in the first “Toy Hunter” installments, but where else does the rest of the first season take you?

JH: Yeah, we went to North Carolina and to Jersey, we went to Los Angeles and to San Francisco. We kicked around parts of Texas for awhile, and now we’re just gearing up to…well, I’m gearing up personally to go to Florida, because I’m doing the “Star Wars” Celebration. I’m on a panel down there, giving a talk on what it’s like to follow me on the road and film toys for TV.

BE: What’s it like being in front of the camera?

JH: You know what? It’s not as hard as you would think for me. I’m talking about what I know, I’m talking about what I love. When I was younger, I was actually an actor and did a bunch of bit parts on TV and a lot of theater, so I’m really marrying two of my loves, and that really means a lot to me. So for me, it’s not that difficult. It’s the things that you don’t think about that become troublesome, like, “Did I pack enough clean underwear for the road?” [Laughs.]

BE: So what’s your favorite purchase that you’ve found thus far that you can talk about without giving too much away?

JH: Well, I can tell you that I was able to find… [Starts to laugh.] I was able to find some “Jurassic Park” toys that were very, very special to me. It was special, basically, because they went for a lot more than I thought they would, and it was a father-and-son collecting team together… I don’t want to give away too much, but I think it’s a great episode, and I think you’ll enjoy watching it along with everyone else.

BE: Do you find it hard to get some of the people you’re dealing with to part with these items?

JH: You know, I do, and I think I kind of shoot myself in the foot sometimes because I get so excited about the stuff. They start going, “Oh, you know what? I think I’m gonna keep this. I don’t know if I want to sell it!” [Laughs.] So every now and then, it does become difficult.

BE: When did you open your store, Hollywood Heroes?

JH: I opened Hollywood Heroes…we were incorporated in 1995.

BE: What was it like to step out on your own like that?

JH: Um…scary. [Laughs.] But it was also exhilarating. I think I feel everything that every other entrepreneur and business owner feels. You know, there’s trepidation when the market is down. I think the really differentiating factor between what I do and what someone else does is that nobody truly needs the toys that I’m selling. I mean, when you have a mortgage or the kids need braces, you don’t need a Batman figure. But on that same note, it always surprises me and amazes me how those people always find the money to get the toys that they love. And that really invigorates me to keep doing what I’m doing. Because to these people, this is very important, and if it’s important to them, it’s important to me.

BE: So how much time are you required to spend traveling for “Toy Hunter”? Does it take you away from the business?

JH: That’s a very good question. It’s taking a lot of time away from my business. Right now we’re in the early stages of trying to figure this out. It’s a juggling act for me. So what I’m doing is, I’m getting help from other people who work at the company with me part-time for shouldering the load, answering emails and shipping toys and picking up shipments and everything like that. So right now it’s a juggling act, but it’s like every other new business model. That’s the way I’m looking at this. I’m filming a show and running a business. It’ll work itself out. I’m happy to be here.

BE: In one interview I read online, you mentioned that you were very proud of a “Lost in Space” toy you’d found. Are there any other classics from your back catalog that you’re still particularly proud of? Not necessarily something you’ve found during the show, so you don’t have to spoil anything.

JH: [Laughs.] You know, awhile ago I did purchase a prototype of Boba Fett from the original “Star Wars” line from Kenner. It was the original wax sculpt, and it truly was one of a kind. I don’t think I’ll see another one like it again. I regret that one leaving my inventory. But I’m happy, because it was known around the world, and I was the one that got it, and I was the one who brought it to market. That sold for $65,000. It’s in a very good home right now. It’s overseas in a private collector’s hands, and I know that it will not go anywhere. And usually when I know the toy will be locked up in a private collection and not for resale, it at least makes the parting less sorrowful. It makes me feel a little better about saying goodbye.

BE: I’d think it’d make you a little antsy when you’re selling to somebody who, in your heart of hearts, you suspect might be a little shifty.

JH: Yeah, you’re right, and that’s why you talk to people a lot about stuff. It’s a double-edged sword. I mean, you can say on one hand, “I got the money I wanted, so I’m good with it.” But on the other hand, it hurts when you see those items come up to market again. Especially if I’m not offered the chance to buy it back. [Laughs.]

As such, Bullz-Eye is going to try to tackle more stories from the medium…and when I was sent a copy of “Ides of Blood,” a new series from DC / WildStorm which is – at least according to the press release – not entirely unlike a blend of “True Blood” and “Rome,” it certainly seemed like something that our readership might be interested in learning more about.

God bless DC’s publicity department: they quickly put me in touch with series creator Stuart Paul, who gladly answered a few questions for us about his own introduction to comic books, the origins of “Ides of Blood,” his semi-controversial decision to have characters in ancient Rome use modern colloquialisms, which of DC’s stable of superheroes he’d like to take a shot at writing, and much much more.

Since I’ve seen the phrase “new to comic books” used in conjunction with your history of writing for the medium, what’s your personal background with comics? And don’t be shy: if your memory stretches back that far, feel free to offer up the very first comic you remember buying.

My childhood experience with comics was pretty limited. Other than reading the occasional issue of Moon Knight or X-Men at my friend’s house, the only comics I personally bought were “Star Trek” comics—mostly “Next Generation” and some of the original crew that took place in the post-”Wrath of Khan” time period. It wasn’t until college that my girlfriend reintroduced me to comics through Sandman. Once I realized there were comics for adults out there, I started reading them more and more. Initially, I stuck with the superstars—Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Brian K. Vaughan, Garth Ennis. I was kind of a Vertigo whore at first. I guess I still kind of am, but not as much. I have to hear a lot of good buzz about something before I’ll invest in a whole series like Walking Dead, but I’ve definitely branched out. Once I discovered Urasawa’s Pluto, I started getting into manga more. Right now, I’ve got 20th Century Boys, Basilisk and Lone Wolf and Cub to read. I also went through a period of reading a lot of DC superheroes. Jeph Loeb’s Batman stuff is my favorite. Sometimes I’ll still read X-Men, but it’s pretty rare for me to read superheroes these days. My favorite series right now is probably Okko. I think Archaia is doing some of the most creative and well-made comics today. Also, Chew is the only series I read on a monthly basis. Everything else is TPB’s, although the iPad is kind of changing that.

There’s been much talk about how fans of both “True Blood” and “Rome” will find much to enjoy in Ides of Blood. Is that combination what led to the concept for this series? If not, what were its origins, and how do you feel about those points of comparison?

No, neither show existed when I originally came up with the idea and wrote the first draft. I mean, I don’t have a problem with people using those as points of reference. It’s an effective shorthand, but it’s the type of thing you’d bring up in a Hollywood pitch meeting. The problem is that you don’t necessarily know what connotations those shows have for the reader and also, they’re such current references that it makes the comic sound like it’s just trying to exploit the zeitgeist. I mean, if you said it’s “Gladiator” meets… well, actually, “Dracula” might have too much baggage attached to the name, so I guess “True Blood” probably is a good descriptor. The point is, I don’t mind the comparison, but I do think it has as much potential to put-off readers as it does to draw them in. Anyway, the concept for the series came out of boredom. I don’t really like vampires, so it started as a challenge to myself to figure out what I’d have to do to make vampires interesting to me. Julius Caesar just popped into my head.

Are you at all concerned about a possible vampire backlash, given how many of these bloodsuckers are popping up in pop culture nowadays, or do you think the creative setting of ancient Rome will be enough for vampire enthusiasts to grant you some leeway? (i.e., “Okay, I thought he was just a bandwagon jumper, but I have to admit, this is something we haven’t seen before.”)

The backlash has definitely been a factor, and I think it probably has somewhat hurt the comic’s reception. I’m just as sick of vampire stuff as the rest of you. And it’s easy for people to assume, especially when you’re dealing with a genre-mash-up like this, that the idea came out of some douchebag who was, like, “What’s hot these days? Vampires! What else is hot these days? Ancient Rome! What if we put them together?” But like I said, I started working on this idea five years ago, long before anyone had even heard of “Twilight.” That being said, I think that a lot of people have kept an open mind and thought the concept was cool enough that they’d give it a try. By the end of the first issue, I feel like we proved that we weren’t just in it for the quick buck, but that this is a fully-realized world that is truly trying to do something original. A couple of reviewers have even said that they picked up the book not expecting to like it but the comic changed their mind. It won’t work for everybody, and there’s some people who won’t let their mind be changed no matter what, but I am very grateful to those who came to Ides with an open mind and let themselves buy into the world.

Speaking of vampires, I’d be curious about some of your favorites, especially if your list contains any obscurities that you’re particularly proud of and would like to trumpet.

There aren’t many. There really are only two I can actually list as favorites. The first is “Let the Right One In.” It’s just brilliant filmmaking. The mood is so powerful, and the relationship between the kids is unique. I’d never seen a story like it before. The other is “Martin.” This is a George Romero movie about a kid who thinks he’s a vampire but doesn’t actually have supernatural powers. He goes around drugging women with hypodermic needles and drinking their blood. It’s very 70’s and sexual and psychological and it has a fantastic ending. The same girlfriend who introduced me to Sandman showed me this movie. I ended up marrying her, which I think was a wise choice.

I like Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire and Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot, but neither of them to a fantastic degree. “True Blood” has some boring characters, but it just got awesome with the King of Mississippi. I like Murnau’s “Nosferatu” better than Tod Browning’s “Dracula.” It’s a shame “Shadow of the Vampire” didn’t live up to its potential.

One of the things about the miniseries that threw me at first was the characters’ usage of modern colloquialisms. Was there any point when you considered using some semblance of era-accuracy with their dialogue? And what would you say to those who might find themselves disconnected from the concept because of the decision to go this route?

It’s been a very divisive choice, and I totally get why it might not work for everyone, but there’s a couple reasons I went this way with it. At first the book was going to be a “For Mature Readers” title, so I was going to have people use profanity, much like “Rome.” But when Wildstorm told me I couldn’t do that, I changed all the curses to Latin. This actually worked fantastically, and I was happy I took out the modern profanity. But apparently this didn’t fly either ‘cause they didn’t want kids Googling Latin curse words. Personally, I think anything that educates kids about foreign languages is a good thing, but so be it. So when I needed another way to express things, I decided to go colloquial with it. It’s how the characters would have sounded to each other.

Plus, I thought it fit the genre. As the story became more of a noir, I though it would be cool to give it a bit of a pulp, Mickey Spillane flavor. More importantly, we’ve seen attempts at realistic dialogue before. It usually ends up with everyone sounding like the Royal Shakespeare Company. I also feel that the idea of realism or accuracy in dialogue in period pieces is a fallacy. First off, these people didn’t speak English—they spoke Latin. So already by translating it, you’ve altered everything. A lot of nuance of specific concepts is immediately gone. If you accurately translated what these characters actually said, it wouldn’t sound right to our ears. A lot of people also seem to think that simply using more formalized dialogue and adding “fuck,” that somehow you’ve reinvented the wheel. I disagree. That’s one of the reasons I think “Deadwood” was brilliant. It was not historically accurate. It was David Milch’s version of the Old West—and not just regarding curse words. Those were the most eloquent *********** I’ve ever met. I mean, you’ve got these uneducated miners and tinhorns who speak better than most college professors with their ditchwater Victorian monologues. The thing is, he was expressing an aspect of the Old West and interpreting it in his own way. The words weren’t authentic, but the interactions and spirit were.

Look, man, everything should be tried at least once. Would I want all period pieces written with modernized dialogue? Of course not. That would be terrible. But if it’s not appropriate for an alternate-history pulp-noir swords-and-sandals yarn where Julius Caesar has conquered Transylvania and made vampires into slaves, when is it appropriate?

How did you and Christian Duce first cross paths? Did DC / Wildstorm put the two of you together, or had you already known him? And how did your vision of what the characters would look like evolve after he came onto the project?

Shannon Eric Denton at Wildstorm put us together. We didn’t really have any direct interaction until after Christian had penciled the first couple issues, so there weren’t any discussions about the character designs. Fortunately, Christian is a brilliant artist who has an uncanny, almost telepathic ability to visualize what I’m trying to express in my scripts, so he pretty much nailed the characters.

Actually, my favorite character design he came up with is for one of the minor characters, Cassius. I wanted Cassius to be a sort of blowhard puppet who follows whatever Brutus says, since Cassius has traditionally been more of a Lucifer figure, and there’s just something about Christian’s character design (it may be the mutton chops) that fills me with glee.

Ides of Blood is a creator-owned series, of course, but given the chance, which of DC’s established heroes would you be interested at taking a crack at one of these days?

That’s a tough question. I have a great idea for a Flash limited series that also plays around with ancient history that I would love to do. That being said, I really like Batman. It would be a really enjoyable challenge to find new ground to cover for his character. Green Lantern would be fun just because I could do lots of stuff in outer space. But really, other than the Flash idea, if I had my pick of the litter, I’d probably have to go with Superman just because he’s Superman. You can create such amazing images with his powers, I’d love to see what unique situations I could put him in. Also, I feel that unlike Batman, there’s a lot more to his character that hasn’t been mined yet.

I’ve seen the trailer for “Orion Slave Girls Must Die,” so it’s clear you’ve got more than a little bit of a “Star Trek” background as well. What’s your favorite memory (or memories, if you can’t narrow it down) of attending either a “Trek” or comic convention? And feel free to divide it into “fan” and “creator” memories, if you need to do so.

Ha! Yeah, man. I loves me some Star Trek. DS9 is my favorite TV show of all time. I guess my favorite Trek convention memory is when my parents and I went to my first convention in Pasadena and John DeLancie, who played Q, was speaking. Instead of telling old Trek anecdotes or a Q and A, he read a short story he wrote. I don’t remember the title, but it was about a guy who is playing dice with the devil for his soul. At the end, a fly lands on the die and takes a shit, changing the number so that the guy loses. Being a story about demons and fly-shitting, my parents were mildly scandalized, but I was totally enraptured by the story when he was telling it. In fact, he’s the only speaker whose presentation at all stuck with me.

Looking back, how much growth do you see in your work as a screenwriter between “Confessions of a Late Bloomer” and “Orion Slave Girls”?

Man, someone’s been using IMBD! Well, they were both student projects I wrote while in film school, and the first things I’d written that I didn’t direct myself (and had actual budgets). “Confessions of a Late Bloomer” was really a reflection on my high school experience. I think it’s well-made and director Jen McGowan did a great job with it, but it’s not really told in my voice. It’s pretty conventional. I feel it was less about expressing my POV as a writer and more about proving to myself that I could apply the things I was learning in school and make a basic 3-act movie (albeit a short one). “Orion Slave Girls” definitely had more of myself in it. Whenever I’m strapped for ideas, I usually end up coming back to “Star Trek” in one way or another. It was more inspired by that thing in college where you realize you and your high school friend are going down different paths in life. I think the gags are more clever in “Orion,” and obviously the style and subject matter are more up my alley, but I’m not sure how much actual growth you can see between the two projects, particularly since the final product was the director’s creation as well as mine, but I definitely think I felt more comfortable with playing around with the narrative structure in “Orion.”

And, lastly, are you keeping your fingers crossed that “Ides of Blood” might serve as the kickstart for a gig as a screenwriter? Also, given how quickly Hollywood is snapping up comic projects for development, I’m curious if you’d even finished punctuating your pitch for DC / Wildstorm before you’d been approached by a studio. Mind you, I’m not necessarily asking for specific details. I’m just wondering if indeed there’s been movement on that front for “Ides of Blood” already.

(Sighing) It’s a pretty common Hollywood story. I write film and TV as well, so the way this all started was that I wrote Ides of Blood as a screenplay. I got it to DC’s film people, and they thought it would make a great movie, so I wrote up a pitch for the comic series that we sent to Wildstorm. So we were doing the whole reverse-engineering thing. Afterwards, we started prepping the film pitch. Then DC went through this reshaping, which put a halt to the project, so right now the prospects of a film are in limbo until the new guard decides what to do. These things happen all the time, though. I’ve learned not to believe anything is a sure thing in Hollywood because it can all fall through up until the last possible moment. Hopefully DC will pick the project up again and indeed hire me to write the screenplay, but really there’s no guarantee. I wish every comic creator had right of first refusal to write the screenplay. I find it somewhat heinous that the WGA offers no protection to screenwriters who became comic writers and now face the prospect of getting bumped off their own creation. But, when you’re a young writer, you just have to go in, pitch the hell out of yourself and hope for the best.

Closing note: Paul dropped a line a few minutes after answering the last question, clarifying, “I hold no grudges against any of the staff at DC. They were nothing but supportive of me and Ides.” I hadn’t got the impression that he might’ve felt otherwise, so maybe you didn’t, either, but I figured he’d still prefer it if I included his clarification, so there you have it!