Cliche to play a cliche on Flash Gordon

From syfyportal, A sexy, savvy alien who looks like a human supermodel makes her first visit to present-day Earth, and comedy ensues as she tries to learn the culture here on this planet.

If you're thinking we're talking about "Stargate SG-1's" Vala, then you need to read the headline again.

Karen Cliche, who was a regular on such series as "Mutant X" and "Vampire High," will bring a new character to the "Flash Gordon" series that premieres next month on SciFi Channel. And any resemblance she may have to Claudia Black's former Stargate character are completely coincidental.

"I play Baylin, a bounty hunter from the planet Mongo, and I basically end up on Earth on assignment," Cliche told online reporters at last month's SciFi Channel Digital Press Tour in Langley, B.C., just outside of Vancouver. "It's so easy for my character to be a little robotic at times, but there are so many opportunities for humor."

Cliche joined fellow actors Eric Johnson (Flash Gordon), Gina Holden (Dale Arden) and Jody Racicot (Dr. Hans Zarkov) on the set that will serve as Ming's Council Chambers in the series in studios that at one time were horse stables just north of the American border.

Unlike many of her co-stars, including John Ralston who plays Ming in the series, Cliche was not put under the pressure of reviving a character that has been around for decades. Because of that, she had the freedom as an actress to make Baylin her own, and audiences will get to see that right away.

"With my character, there were no expectations," Cliche said. "It was really fun to start with a blank slate and create Baylin with the help of everyone on the whole team. That is the real fun thing, how this alien on Earth, who is used to living her life alone as a warrior, and now has to be familiar with the family element that she now has with these guys."

Even though the new SciFi Channel series is a modern take on the 1930s comic book and subsequent television series and movies, Mark Stern -- the network's vice president of original programming -- said that the producers and showrunners wanted to make sure this new series stayed as true to the franchise's history as possible.

"I think there is definitely a conscious effort on the part of [executive producer] Peter Hume and the writers to be true to the original material. When you tune into the original show, you see the elements you expect to see based on the source material."

The show will stay away from camp as much as possible, but it's hard to totally avoid it as the original "Flash Gordon" projects practically invented the term.

"We want to make it grounded, to make it relate-able, to not take itself too seriously but to not make is frivolous either," Stern said.

Some of the other changes will include making Ming a more three-dimensional character that can be associated with bad guys of the 21st century. That includes modeling him a lot after the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and dropping the "The Merciless" title from his name, Stern said.

"If you look to the '30s, you see that kind of fascist dictator," Stern said. "I think the kind of dictator for the modern age is a little more savvy, and a little more about getting the [public relations], putting the right face on everything while he tortures and murders people."