Saturday, May 21, 2016

‘Hunters’ Producers Talk Avoiding Sci-Fi Cliches in Their New Alien Drama

Hunters Review Syfy Alien Terrorists
Photo from Variety


WARNING: MILD SPOILERS


I finally got around to watching Hunters and I must say I am pleasantly surprised. I'm only a handful of episodes in, but each one is better than the last. Episode 3 in particular stood out, providing useful information about Regan's background and motivations. It revealed a lot about her, but also skillfully increased the mystery surrounding her. The pilot was rough; mostly boring and uncomfortable (and not the good, edge of your seat kind either). If you gave up after the pilot give it another shot, it's well worth a second look.

Check out an excerpt from an interview with the producers at Variety. They mention some of the things I have already noticed:

What were some of the rules of your world and the sci-fi cliches you wanted to avoid?

Natalie Chaidez: If they’re here and they’re so powerful, what is taking them so long to take over? Why are they waiting? If they have all this technology, why haven’t they developed it? So I worked backwards, and I don’t want to spoil the season, but how do the Hunters get here and they’re not in a position of power? They’re desperate and they’re hungry, and they’re not in a place where they can take us over yet, and that kind of led me into the story of the series and the first season, and really not wanting to do “Roswell,” not wanting to do some of the clichés and conventions. What it did lead me into was the idea of sound, and I said “I’m not going to do lights in the sky, so what else is there?” Sound. That led me to the idea that Hunters were sound-based creatures; that they communicate through music; that they have this clicking language.

Having a diverse cast and crew was clearly very important to you guys.

Chaidez: Extremely important. I mean Gale’s, obviously, the pioneer with “Walking Dead,” and I’m Mexican-American, and it was really, really important to me. Of course, Britne was just terrific.

Gale Anne Hurd : It came down to two women for the lead, and one was blonde and brown-eyed, I think. But the best actress won. And the part was not written for a particular ethnicity. Natalie found the best person, and made sure that the role with Mark Coles Smith reflected his [Aboriginal] background, so that we don’t have people playing an ethnicity that they’re not.

Chaidez: Originally, [Mark Coles Smith’s] character was named Chou, and he was an Asian character. And then we saw Mark Coles Smith, and we were both like “holy cow, did you see that guy, he was amazing.” So he’s playing Aboriginal, which he is, and I hope we get a second season, because I would love to do his origin story. The diversity was extremely important to us.


They also have the best (gross) alien guts on this show. They talk about how they achieved this by opting for a "low-tech" approach instead of relying solely on CGI. Check out the rest of the article below:



Photo and text from Variety

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