Tricia Helfer interview

[Michael]

Tricia Helfer provided one of the voices for the Green Lantern animated movie being released on DvD this July 28th. Comics Continuum interviewed her and she talked about many topics. Here is an excerpt:

Question: You're a fairly recognizable part of the Battlestar universe, and Sci-Fi fans can be very passionate. Has the fanboy attention been a positive experience for you?

Helfer:: I think Sci-Fi fans are fantastic. They get a bad rap and I think that's unfair. It's a genre that draws intelligence and creativity because you have to have a mind that can go to these outer reaches and digest the information. Some fans can get a little crazy, but they can do that in any fan situation. The conventions are a lot fun I like getting out and meeting the fans. My favorite part is actually doing the stage Q&A, getting the questions and hearing what they want to know. Half the time I don't know the answers, but you get a great perspective on the fans' view of your show.

What's funny is that without the white hair and the red dress, most people at conventions don't really recognize me from Battlestar. When I first started doing conventions, I'd literally have to have a name plate on my table. I'm starting to get a little less anonymous. Fans actually are kind of shy around me -- I think I scare some of them because of my Number Six character. She's quite strong and mean sometimes, so people are usually very polite around me and kind of nervous about coming up to me. Maybe that will change once people know that I'm actually nice and I'm not an evil robot.

Question: Are you a fan of science fiction?

Helfer:: I'm a fan of science fiction in that I grew up without a television and rarely went to movies, but what we did see were the Star Treks and the Star Wars and Superman films. My dad was a science-fiction fan, so we'd go to see those big-event movies. I can't really necessarily remember details to the level of most fans, but I do remember seeing them, and I loved them when I was a kid. Although earwigs (in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan) scared the b-Jesus out of me. I was very young and I remember that scene, and it really had a frightening effect on me.

We drove out from Alberta, Canada to British Columbia to the orchards to get peaches, and we were driving back and a peach bug -- I think that's what they're called, and they look like the earwigs -- crawled over the seat from the boxes in the back and bit my sister. I was terrified. I wouldn't sleep the entire ride home, and it was a 15-hour drive. I sat in the back and literally white-knuckled on the seat because I was terrified that an earwig was going to get me. Maybe I've been a little scarred by that incident -- maybe that's why I don't really see anything any more. I'm scared of the earwigs. Hmm...

There is plenty more where that came from. Check it out!