Interview with Margaret Cho of Drop Dead Diva

[Michael]

Q: Do you think Drop Dead Diva would appeal to sci-fi fans?

Margaret Cho: Well, it is a very fantastical show where you have the soul transference. Then you have a woman who’s gone through this very kind of after death experience. It’s not a near death experience. It’s an after death experience. So she’s actually already dead and she’s sort of reliving a life, so it is science fiction. Not so much science fiction but it is sort of fantasy.

Q: Are women underrepresented in sci-fi?

Margaret Cho: Absolutely. I mean, well, nowadays there is definitely a lot more female fans of sci-fi. I’m a big sci-fi fan myself but I notice nowadays, I think that women have been really brought into the horror genre with things like Twilight and all the vampire stuff. I think those kinds of shows really speak to women but I’ve always been a big sci-fi geek.

Q: What are your favorites?

Margaret Cho: Mine’s Star Wars. I’m obsessed with Star Wars. I even read the Star Wars novels. I know everything about Chewbacca. I know that Lowbacca is the newest Jedi.

Read the full article here.

I have noticed that actors like Cho and the cast of shows like Stargate claim to be lifelong science fiction fans. When I was a kid (many decades ago) you didn't hear actors say that about themselves. I'm sure some of the Star Trek actors were SF fans (they now say they were -- I see no reason to doubt them) but back then actors just did not claim to be genre fans. It was all about Shakespeare and serious drama.

How the film and television industry has changed. All the kids grew up and became the directors, producers, actors, and interviewers. We took over the industry, or a huge chunk of it, and made the things we love both important and credible.

I'm beginning to understand what certain people have said to me on a few occasions: that each generation finds its own themes and issues.

So in 50 years, will science fiction be as forgotten and unloved as, say, the Classic Western or the Dapper Comedy?