James Marsters

From Spike to Smallville

Saturday, October 15, 2005

James Marsters is ready to wreak havoc again.

He previously joined the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in its second season as Spike, a deadly but wisecracking vampire. It was meant to be a brief role, but Spike proved so popular that he kept coming back, and eventually became a regular, sticking with the show until it ended. Then Marsters moved to the spinoff Angel for its fifth and final season.

Now he’s joining the cast of another fantasy-oriented series, WB’s Smallville.

The series follows the adventures of young Clark Kent (Tom Welling), a teenager who will eventually grow up to be Superman. At the end of the fourth season, Clark graduated from high school. In season five, he has begun attending a university in Kansas.

Marsters plays Professor Milton Fine, one of Clark’s teachers.

"He’s a political-science teacher, trying to show his students that we’re not all good guys," Marsters said by phone from a hotel room in Vancouver, where Smallville is filmed. "He’s doing it for Clark’s benefit. He’s got plans for that young man, and he knows exactly what his powers are.

"He’s trying to turn (Clark) against the human race. Human beings, from Professor Fine’s viewpoint, are ruining the planet and will be gone in 100 years.... He thinks this is an infestation, this is not a truly intelligent race."

Viewers already know that there’s more to Professor Fine than he lets on. He was seen in the season premiere earlier this month emerging from a crashed UFO. And comic-book fans know that Milton Fine is the alter ego of Brainiac, a highly intelligent alien android. It may take Clark a while to figure that out, though; Marsters has already signed on to be in 10 of the season’s 22 episodes.

One thing that drew Marsters to the role was the fact that Professor Fine/Brainiac is quite a different character from Spike.

"One important thing is that Brainiac is always smiling," he said. "He’s so good at what he does, he’s enjoying himself.... He’s a very intelligent character. Spike was not stupid, but I don’t think his hallmark quality was vast reserves of intelligence - charm, good hair, maybe, but not intelligence.

"And this man is very good at lying, which Spike never was."

He also appreciated the fact that the character’s scheme doesn’t involve a simple slugfest.

"The more interesting thing to do is not to attack (Clark) physically, because he’s invulnerable," he said. "Attacking his mind and his confidence is a much stealthier move."

So far, fans have caught only a glimpse of Professor Fine. But he plays a more prominent role starting with the next episode, "Aqua," which will be shown at 8 p.m. Thursday on WB.

Marsters, 43, has been successful on television, but his first love remains the stage. Later this month, he will fly to England for a three-day run on the London stage in a play called Teechers.

"It’s an hour-and-a-half to three-hour magic trick," he said of stage work. "You have to cast a spell, you have to take the audience somewhere else."

He has not done a play for about three or four years because of other acting demands. But he doesn’t regret his TV roles.

"Spike was the ’funnest’ thing of all," he said with a laugh. "It’s like having the best role in the play in the whole season every day. You just hope for one a season, that one role that pops like that."

When viewers last saw Spike in the season finale of Angel in 2004, the character was facing down an army of demons. His final fate is unknown, but there has been speculation that WB may commission a new TV movie with Spike.

Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy and Angel, "has come to me twice about it," Marsters said. "He said he didn’t have any ideas, nothing was really happening, but, if anything were to happen, would I be interested? Both times I gave him the same answer: Yes, hell, yes, but we’ve got to do it within five years. Because Spike doesn’t age, and I do."