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Ron Moore talked a lot about plans for the next season of Battlestar Galactica. You can't go much higher than him, but maybe the vice president of programming for Sci-Fi Channel would work. Mark Stern added to Moore's tease of season for, as well as previewed the new Sci-Fi series Flash Gordon. Eric Johnson plays the title hero with the female lead still to be cast, but it looks to be a very different update to a classic than Battlestar.

CraveOnline: I know you just wrapped, but when can we have more Battlestar?

Mark Stern: We're wrapped on season three. Season four is now going to be 22 episodes. Two of those are going to be kind of an extended two hour episode coming back in November that is a standalone movie unto itself. It's great, it fills in some other mythologies. It's not just a continuation between season three and season four. And then the remaining 20 episodes are going to be broken in half and come back in '08.

CraveOnline: Are you suggesting some prequel elements in there?

Mark Stern: More than suggesting. I think there's going to be both of those. There's definitely going to be some parallel and I think Ron's already talked about this to some degree. It follows a kind of parallel story of the Pegasus and how Pegasus came to be, what happened to the Pegasus and all that.

CraveOnline: So that still involves regular cast, it's not like way back?

Mark Stern: Yes. Actually, it involves the regular cast. It's kind of a bit of a flashback episode. The way they've structured it is fascinating. It's flashback from almost like the middle of season two back to the history of the Pegasus and then kind of brings us to the present. It's a really interesting story that way.

CraveOnline: Is that a continuity nightmare?

Mark Stern: Always, but when is it not on this show? This show is one big flash forward, flash back, flash sideways.

CraveOnline: Not everyone liked the direction season three went. Are you taking that into account going into the next storyline?

Mark Stern: What I love about it and they've done the same thing in season four is they never really just sit back and say, "Well, that works so let's just do that again." It's always like, "Okay, let's elevate it." I think one of the things that definitely did that was the whole New Caprica settlement thing which was the beginning of season three. We were on New Caprica and we were out of space, we were out of our spaceships for four or five, six episodes. I think that disconcerted some people and definitely the series went into some relationship driven places and there were some love triangle things that some people felt like it departed a bit too much. I think people are definitely looking at, I think Ron and David are definitely looking at what worked and what didn't work as well as they go to season four.

CraveOnline: Isn't that inevitable with any long running series, that not 100% of the fans will like every twist and turn?

Mark Stern: No question. It's always about how do you grow the show? How do you continue to evolve it without evolving it to a point where it's no longer the animal you started with? That's a constant calibration process of back and forth. Sometimes you go a little too far on one side. Then you bring it back around again. The key is to hold onto what's working about the show, why are people watching it, let's make sure those elements are there and then going from there.

CraveOnline: With all the acclaim, why does it remain a niche show?

Mark Stern: I think part of it is Battlestar Galactica on The Sci-Fi Channel is always going to be a barrier to some people and the recruitment of that is just always going to be a challenge. I think part of it is that it's serialized so there is maybe the sense of it's too late for me to come in and figure it out. Look, that's part of the issue of doing a serialized show. You've got to make sure you have a way of recruiting people. That's why I love DVDs and iTunes basically.

CraveOnline: As the executive, do you give them more freedom than other shows since they're your crowned jewel?

Mark Stern: Yes. I mean, for a lot of reasons, not just because it's so well received but because they know what they're doing and it's not broken and we don't need to fix it. So for us, I think we view our role as let's kind of be a keeper of the flame in terms of what the heart of the show is and what's working about it. If we feel like it's going a little a field, let's talk about that but otherwise, they really know what they're doing.

CraveOnline: Is there any danger that budgets could escalate to an unfeasible point?

Mark Stern: There's always that concern on a show like this but I think that one of the things is you've got a large cast and the nice thing about having a large cast is in a war scenario, there's always someone who if they need to take a bullet, can take a bullet. These guys are not shy about killing people whether they're in contract negotiation or not. I think there's a great sense, and they're very smart about how they work the show to make sure that there is an eye on the budget because that's always a danger.

CraveOnline: Does each successful show give you the chance to try two more?

Mark Stern: I'd love to say it's that scientific but it's more like certainly the more success we have, the more it emboldens us to try new things and to try different things. But by the same nature, if a show doesn't work as well, it doesn't shut down our need. It just maybe puts us in a different direction.

CraveOnline: Did you project this growth when you started the job or has it surpassed your expectations?

Mark Stern: I think it's kind of surpassed my expectations. I started four and a half years ago and to do this many, not just series but reality shows and miniseries, I remember when I took this job and I was like, "So how many shows am I going to be able to work on?" I almost feel like I have a few too many shows now. There's a lot of work to do but obviously it's great.

CraveOnline: Does Flash Gordon have the same perspective of turning a campy old show into something respectable?

Mark Stern: Definitely, in a very different way. I think that Flash is, we're not looking for it to carry the mantle of a show like Battlestar Galactica but definitely, it's about taking something that's maybe a little pulpy and a little more high concept and finding a way to modernize it. I think it's going to be much more of a Stargate. I don't think Flash is going to be attacking the pressing issues of day, the 2008 election. I think it's really more about taking that kind of fun romp, the humor and the energy of Stargate and really kind of applying it to the Flash Gordon franchise.

CraveOnline: Flash Gordon has also been movies, not just a television show. Are they drawing on all the sources?

Mark Stern: I think Peter Hume and the writers are definitely borrowing liberally where they feel like it serves the show.

CraveOnline: Does the success of Heroes allow for more superhero shows?

Mark Stern: It's not actually really a superhero show. Although yes, but in this case, I think the success for us of Stargate actually is really a sign that there's opportunity in this arena, kind of an everyman who suddenly finds himself thrust into having to deal with aliens and other worlds and stuff like that.

CraveOnline: Will it be full on modern effects or still some camp?

Mark Stern: One of the best things about this series is that Robert Halmi, Sr. is producing it, and he doesn't do anything halfway. I think it's already, so far into the series, more than he expected it to be in terms of the visual effects and bringing over a lot of amazing people. Right now, we're shooting up in Vancouver. So a lot of those kinds of larger than life sets are going to be retooled. A lot of the same visual effects teams are going to be repurposed. So his concept on the show is amazing, and it is really about being very grounded, very real, not going campy at all but starting to have fun with it as well.

Mark Stern: That's a very good question. In fact, we're looking at cameos because it's just fun to do but also because we want to call back to certain things we are going to be looking for. And his father is going to be a great opportunity and, you know there's some really interesting casting I'm sure.

CraveOnline: Is Ming going to be pretty much the same way we remember him?

Mark Stern: No. I think that Ming is probably the best opportunity we have to move away from that arch overblown serial to a new character. I think our model from Ming is Saddam Hussein where he is a beneficent dictator. So Ming has got this dictatorship going on, but it's all about how good he is to the people and you only see the machinations from under the surface and he has this concept where he controls all the water on the planet. In essence he has this control over these people and it is a picture for the sort of Stalinesque poster of a socialist realism kind of world that he lives in. And that's where Flash finds himself dumped into and his father has been kept prisoner somewhere by Ming, who has discovered technology and has now used it to his benefit. He's not fighting a Ming that is just a mustache twirling bad guy. He's not bald or “big thing with the mustache."

CraveOnline: What are the costumes going to look like?

Mark Stern: Very, again, kind of very organic and real. Ming’s world is populated by various sculptures, each one has its own style its own look. But again, very much believable for the world that this is.

CraveOnline: Do you guys have an idea for an overall arc? Or is it more just seeing how it goes with this?

Mark Stern: We're doing 22 episodes and definitely going to arc out in terms of certainly the story of Flash's father and what's happening and where he's going to go, when is Flash going to get in contact with him, what means he uses and how that develops the plot of the story and at what point does Flash kind of end up on Ming's radar? Because you don't want him to be automatically targeting him. It makes it a little too one sided.

CraveOnline: How does this affect the plans for a feature film that was being planned for?

Mark Stern: I'm not in the phone tree. I honestly don't know. I think they're two unrelated things to my understanding.