‘Black Scorpion’: Sci-Fi Channel’s Comic Book Superhero

It’s like this: explosive car chases, goofy one-liners, villains with wacky nicknames and chicks kicking butt, all wrapped up in Roger Corman’s throwback-yet-currently-in-vogue sensibility, which means tight skirts and titillation galore.

In other words, this is not “The West Wing.”

That’s fine by the Sci-Fi Channel, which was looking for an original show that would lighten up its schedule and broaden its audience. Executives think they’ve found it in “Black Scorpion,” a comic book-style series that launched in early January. The action-adventure show has already helped propel the Friday night block of original programming to a 9% increase in the ratings over the previous year. The 8 to 11 p.m. block, which also contains the network’s No. 1 show, “Farscape,” and “The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne,” is watched in an average of 820,000 households.

“Black Scorpion,” co-created by B-movie king Corman, is intended to be a sort of Batman for the millennium, with a former Miss Kansas, Michelle Lintel, in the dual role of by-the-book detective by day, scantily clad superhero by night. Her costume is a pseudo-dominatrix get-up with mask, black Playboy Bunny-esque suit and platform boots.

Her nemeses seem to have been plucked from central casting of the ‘60s and ‘70s: Adam West, the original TV “Batman,” is a super villain, as are Frank Gorshin (the Riddler in that “Batman” series), Soupy Sales and Lou Ferrigno. And then there are the Playboy Playmates and Penthouse Pets--17 of them--who sport the aforementioned tight skirts and play characters with names like Hourglass.

“It’s a little T&A;, but only a little,” said Bonnie Hammer, the network’s general manager. “It’s meant to be comic book in style. It’s not meant to be a serious, profound experience. There’s cleavage but not sex, action but not violence.”

What it is about is innuendo. Sample dialogue, as Black Scorpion is chasing a couple of armored car robbers: “I love a woman that plays rough,” says one scumbag. “Are you getting as turned on as I am?” says the other.

Show Spins Off a Cable B-Movie

Corman, with co-creator Craig Nevius, filmed all 22 episodes of “Black Scorpion” two years ago, and then shopped the series to cable networks. This, after he’d created two successful “Black Scorpion” made-for-TV movies that aired as part of a Corman-branded movie block on Showtime and spurred interest domestically and internationally for a spinoff series.

The well-known provocateur and prolific filmmaker--with more than 500 shoestring-budgeted movies featuring rubber-suited monsters, exploding heads, student nurses and bare-breasted cat fights to his name--had been interested in the superhero genre for years, he said. He had once been in line to bring Spider-Man to the big screen.

For his first TV series, Corman wanted to test a role reversal for the lead character. As a pioneer in the bad-chick-flick arena, Corman was creating empowered women roles for actresses like Angie Dickinson and Pam Grier as far back as the ‘60s.

“There’s an advantage to doing something a little different, and there’s a sexiness to a strong leading woman,” he said. “I wanted to do something out of the mainstream, with at least a modicum of originality.”

Being the consummate businessman--his best-selling autobiography, “How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime,” is a primer in guerrilla filmmaking--he insisted the show have broad commercial appeal. Hence, the cool cars, chase scenes, special effects, constant action and tiny outfits.

Lintel, a martial arts student and former model, readily admits to having a short acting resume, with a few television, commercial and direct-to-video credits. She’s in the Corman company of unknowns--the producer is famous for spotting young talent, having taken chances in the past with then-newcomers Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Sandra Bullock, Sylvester Stallone and others who have become Hollywood hotshots.

A Kick in the Right Spot Lands Actress the Role

It was an impromptu roundhouse kick during Lintel’s audition that landed her the part. She was acting with co-star Scott Valentine and, after watching a lot of Catwoman on the old “Batman” shows, did what came naturally. Though it wasn’t written in, Lintel kicked the script out of Valentine’s hands.

“Papers went flying, he looked totally shocked,” Lintel said, “and the room went dead silent.”

Corman, after going through several hundred actresses, knew he’d found the one. “I said, ‘That’s the actress I want,’ ” Corman said. “It was extremely difficult to cast for this. I wanted a beautiful woman who was tall and had a good figure who was a reasonably good actress. I wasn’t looking for Dame Judi Dench.”

Lintel said she was attracted to the show’s sense of parody and lightness. “You can look at it and say, ‘No cop runs around in low-cut shirts and short skirts and high heels,’ ” she said. “It makes the show fun. It’s very tongue-in-cheek. There’s enough heaviness and drama on TV. This is a superhero show--go with it.”

She does most of her own stunts, pulling from her tae kwon do and Krav Maga combat training. And she’s fine with showing some skin, though she did put her foot down when some scenes called for her to get hot and heavy with a love interest. (The original Showtime movies, starring Joan Severence, had nudity, but the Sci-Fi series does not).

“With my costume and the Playmates, I felt like we’d pushed far enough,” Lintel said. “People get it.”

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* “Black Scorpion” can be seen Fridays at 8 p.m. on Sci-Fi Channel.