Spike: The 'Spock' of 'Buffy'?

Fans of Avengers director Joss Whedon's campy ‘90s teen vampire show Buffy the Vampire Slayer would be hard pressed not to think of actor James Marsters' pivotal, genre-defying role as suave bad-boy vampire Spike when reminiscing about the series. But what did Marsters think of the character?

"In Buffy, I thought that I wanted to be the new Spock," he tells ET. "I was a little side character that no one really thought would be much, but I kind of turned the theme at a different angle so you could kind of look at it. …Spock was that side character that nobody thought would be much and he ended up kind of turning the theme on its head, ‘cause Star Trek really was about human beings perfecting a world view and then sharing it with the galaxy, and then Spock was just trying to figure out how to be human in the first place."

The now fifty-something star was just one of many sci-fi icons present at Creation Entertainment’s Grand Slam Convention: The Star Trek and Sci-Fi Summit in Burbank, CA, among other such notables as Sir Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Brent Spiner, and many more.

Fee-Fi-Fo-Fun! Giants on the Big Screen

Marsters went on to do a bit of reminiscing himself, eventually giving us his take on the differences between the more traditional, aggressive Buffy vampires of then and the softer, more melodramatic Twilight vampires of now. "In the world of Buffy, vampires were supposed to be ugly and very quickly dead. Joss used to say that he wasn't into the Anne Rice thing. He didn't want vampires to be romantic. That's why in Buffy when we bite people we become hideously ugly. Because in Buffy vampires are a metaphor for all the problems you face in adolescence. So, the vampires of today are very different. They're more in the Anne Rice vein. And that's cool too."

"I think every generation has their own take on vampires, and I think it's fabulous," he continued. "I think vampires, for some reason, they are the most malleable of all of the basic archetypes of horror. Like, wolfman has to be wolfman, has to be a good man or woman that's forced to do evil by the moon. If the wolfman is a jerk, it just doesn't work. Or, if the invisible man is not a jerk, it won't work. The reason the invisible man works is he's a real jerk and so the audience is terrified when he's invisible cause, what's he going to do now? If it's a really nice guy and he's invisible, who cares? But for some reason, vampires can almost be anything. You can use them to whatever ends that you want. Whatever the zeitgeist is in this decade, or whatever, vampires can morph to fit that."

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When talking about Buffy creator Whedon, Marsters fondly referred to the man as a "true artist," though he recalled one encounter in particular that made him realize that even the most talented of artists suffer their creations. "I asked him one time, 'It must be wonderful to wind up the universe and just see how it plays out,’ and he was sweating. He was like, 'Yeah, the problem is I have to keep winding.' He was really killing himself to put the show out, and basically do a 48-hour movie every week, and so I got to see him under intense pressure."

"He's a genius," Marsters concluded, "so it's like, some days you'll get a huge amount of love, and some days you want to hide from him."

Creation Entertainment, the company behind the event, hosts a number of interactive film and television genre conventions throughout the year. For more information on upcoming events, CLICK HERE.

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2nd person arrested after missing mom found dismembered, scattered around Bronx nabe

A man has been busted for allegedly helping his friend chop up his own mother's body after a woman's dismembered remains were found in trash bags in the Bronx.

Sources said that the son will likely be charged with stabbing 45-year-old Tanya Byrd to death.

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Her 23-year-old son, Bahsid McLean, and his acquaintance, 26-year-old William Harris, have been arrested on charges of unlawfully dissecting a human body and hindering prosecution — but not on murder or manslaughter charges.

Police say they're still investigating, and one of the men may be responsible for her death.

Tomas E. Gaston

Tanya Byrd's body was chopped up and scattered around her Bronx neighborhood.

It isn't immediately clear whether the suspects have lawyers. No phone numbers could be found for their homes.

Yesterday, sources told The Post that the lunatic son hacked up his mother and dumped her remains all over the neighborhood because the woman told him to grow up and move out.

The dismembered remains of the home health aide and devoted mother of three were found in four locations around Morrisania beginning at around 4 a.m. by a father and son walking their dog.

McLean confessed to the horrific crime — telling cops he did it, “basically because his mom wanted him to grow up and move out and be a man,” said a law-enforcement source.

Her body parts were wrapped in plastic, with some stuffed in luggage, cops said.

Police discovered a saw blade and gloves in their apartment, which reeked of bleach, the law-enforcement sources said. A box for a new Black & Decker handsaw was found in the apartment, but the tool was missing.

McLean, being held with charges pending last night, told cops he chopped up his mother in the bathtub, where he drained the blood, the sources said.

He and Harris were seen on surveillance video hauling the bags out of the house, the sources said. After at first confessing to the crime, he changed his story and said his cohort killed her.

“He and another guy are blaming each other,” said a law-enforcement source. “He’s constantly changing his story as we find more physical evidence. There’s no question he did it.”

The dog walkers who found some of the remains picked up two bags thinking they contained books, law-enforcement sources said.

They later realized it contained an arm and leg and called cops in a panic.

McLean was arrested for stealing cash from his mother in 2009.

His grandfather said the man was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was institutionalized for much of his childhood.

With AP. Additional reporting by Dan MacLeod

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Miami hotels saw big numbers in January

College football was good to South Florida hotels last month.

Boosted by the Jan. 7 BCS National Championship Game, the Miami-Dade hospitality industry reported strong year-over-year improvement.

Hotels countywide were 82.5 percent full, an increase of 4.7 percentage points compared to the previous year, according to data from Smith Travel Research. Rates leapt more than 12 percent to top an average of $211 a night, and revenue per available room soared 17.5 percent to $174.26.

Broward too posted gains, though not as large. Hotel occupancy increased one percentage point to 80.1 percent at average rates of almost $141, nearly 6 percent higher than January of 2012. Per-room revenue increased 7 percent to nearly $113.

In the Florida Keys, hotels were 79.2 percent full, a jump of nearly 5 percentage points. Rates were up more than 7 percent to $225.42 a night, with revenue increasing 12.6 percent to $178.53.

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Handcuffed suspect eludes Hollywood cops

Hollywood Police are looking for a man who escaped policy custody Tuesday afternoon in front of a doctor’s office.

The man, identified as Marc Vega, was placed under arrest for a domestic dispute in front of Pediatric Associates at 4500 Sheridan St. about 2 p.m., said Sgt. Lester Cochenour.

The female victim suffered injuries to her face and other areas of her body including her legs, Cochenour said.

Cochenour said Vega, donning handcuffs, managed to pry open the back door of the police car.

The man, who was covering his handcuffs with a green shirt and wearing a white or gray T-shirt, was heading south through several Hollywood neighborhoods, police said.

According to police, Vega is 6-feet-2, 220 pounds and is sporting tattoos throughout his body.

Cochenour said unmarked and marked police cars, K-9 units and a helicopter were searching for the man.

Anyone who spots Vega is asked to call 9-1-1.

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Carrie Fisher Briefly Hospitalized

ET confirms that Star Wars legend Carrie Fisher was hospitalized briefly in Los Angeles following a medical incident related to her bipolar disorder.

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According to the 56-year-old star's rep, "There was a medical incident related to Carrie Fisher's bipolar disorder. She went to the hospital briefly to adjust her medication and is feeling much better now." Fisher is currently in Los Angeles.

The star was recently honored with the Utah Film Center's Kim Peek Award for Disability in Media for her forthright candor in dealing with her bipolar disorder and for raising awareness about the condition, saying that people suffering from bipolar disorder must choose between being a victim and "taking it on and flying in the face of it."

Related: Carrie Fisher Loses 50 Pounds!

The accomplished writer and performer has also been making headlines as of late with rampant speculation that the original Star Wars trilogy cast will appear in the in-development Star Wars VII, directed by J.J. Abrams.

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Elderly woman targeted in elevator rape attempt

A twisted sicko tried to rape an elderly woman in an elevator of a Harlem apartment building late this morning and he was caught in the act, sources said.

The 74-year-old victim took the elevator to the floor she lives on in an East Harlem housing project and noticed a suspicious man lurking in the hallway around 11:30 a.m., sources said.

Sensing that something was wrong, she returned to the elevator, only to have the creep follow her and try to rape her as the lift continued on to other floors, sources added.

Another tenant trying to get on the elevator got a shock when the door opened to reveal the heinous crime in progress, sources said. That witness called 911, and the perpetrator was still inside the elevator when cops arrived to cuff him, the sources added.

The 50-year-old suspect, who also resides in the building where the attack occurred, is in custody but his name has not been released and he has not been formally charged yet.

kconley@nypost.com

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Homestead, farmer look to settle lawsuit with Air Force

The Homestead City Council met Monday night to discuss settling a lawsuit that the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed on behalf of Homestead Air Reserve Base against the city and a family farm near the base.

For decades, the city has struggled to find a balance between property owners’ rights and base officials’ safety concerns. The lawsuit, filed in 2011, alleged that the city had ignored safety restrictions after it allowed Alger Farms to develop residential units near the end of the base’s runway.

Alger Farms President John Alger said he had no intention of building the residential units or selling the property to developers. But Air Force officials were concerned the city was putting lives at risk since Alger Farms lies in the flight paths of F-16s, F-15s and other warplanes that pass 750 feet overhead while coming in for a landing.

“We have no immediate desire for development,” said Alger, a third-generation farmer. “But the development rights allow us to preserve a hypothetical value that can be used for collateral.”

City restrictions established in 2010 limit development in an area of Homestead that the Air Force calls “the accident potential crash zone.”

Councilman Stephen Shelley said this week he worked on a settlement agreement that respects the safety restrictions.

“The settlement will benefit all of the parties involved,” Shelley said. “The solution is so simple. I’m not sure why we didn’t think of it before.”

Shelley said the deal would allow Alger to transfer his development rights to another property he owns that is not in the danger zone.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office filed the lawsuit after the city allowed Alger Farms to build one residential unit per five acres. This translated into 48 housing units in Alger’s 240 acres. The new proposal would allow Alger to transfer the right to build those units to another tract he owns in the city.

The other site “is not the greatest place for homes, but I still have this value,” Alger said.

With the new deal, Alger would have the right to build 55.4 units on a 37-acre property, because he would have the 7.4 units inherent to the 37 acres and the 48 units transferred. Shelley said there would not be a density issue.

“We clustered the density into an area that is not compromising the safety and it’s much less dense than what’s adjacent to it,” Alger said.

Alger’s grandfather, Mason W. Alger, started farming the land in 1934, and in 1942 military planes started taking off and landing at the base nearby. Alger’s father, Richard Alger, and his grandfather purchased land from South Dade farms in the late 1950s. They now grow sweet corn, snap beans, and trees for landscaping.

The base is home to units of the Air Force Reserve Command, Florida Army National Guard, Florida Air National Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Coast Guard, and Special Operations Command South.

When Alger found out that the restrictions affected his land, he thought the U.S. Constitution and Florida’s Bert J. Harris Act, which passed in 1995, protected him. The act allows property owners to seek remedies against government regulations causing an "inordinate burden."

But the U.S. Attorney’s lawsuit questioned the existence of Alger’s development rights. Before the council granted Alger Farms the right to build the residential units, city staff and city attorneys said Alger Farms didn’t have any development rights in the first place, because it lost them after annexation into the city in 1996. Alger disagreed.

“It’s an asset,” Alger said. “The federal government was asking me to devalue an asset without compensation.”

Alger said he is in agreement with the settlement that Shelley is proposing. Now he hopes that military officials will be in agreement too.

The settlement the council discussed Monday night will come up for a final vote within the next month or so, Shelley said.

“My family is very anxious to get our name off that lawsuit,” said Alger. “Imagine that your government is suing you because you want to preserve your rights. So I can spend money paying my lawyers while my government uses my own money to pay for their lawyers.”

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Poll: 7 in 10 back FL medical-marijuana plan, could affect governor’s race

As many as seven in 10 Florida voters support a state constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana – more than enough to ensure passage and possibly affect the governor’s race — according to a new poll from a group trying to put the measure on the 2104 ballot.

Medical pot’s sky-high approval cuts across party and demographic lines, with Republican support the lowest at a still-strong 56 percent, the poll conducted for People United for Medical Marijuana, or PUFMM, shows.

The outsized support of Democrats and independents brings overall backing of the amendment to 70 percent; with only 24 percent opposed, according to the poll obtained by The Miami Herald.

Regionally, voters from the Miami and Orlando areas, among the most socially liberal in the state, want medical marijuana the most.

Non-Hispanic white women, blacks and Hispanics — all Democratic leaning — are the most-likely to back the measure and could be more likely to turn out to vote in two years if the medical marijuana makes the ballot.

“Supporters of the proposed amendment are less certain to cast ballots in the 2014 governor’s race,” David Beattie, Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson’s pollster, wrote in an analysis of the poll of 600 registered voters taken Jan. 30-Feb. 3 by his firm, Hamilton Campaigns.

If it made the ballot, the measure would draw even more attention to Florida’s nationally watched 2014 election in which Gov. Rick Scott will fight for his political life.

“The proposal to allow the medical use of marijuana could provide a message contrast in the Governor’s race,” Beattie wrote, “heightening its effectiveness as a turnout mechanism.”

But, Beattie warns PUFMM in a memo, “don’t frame turnout efforts on the passage of the ballot initiative in a partisan way.”

To that end, former-Republican-operative-turned-Libertarian Roger Stone is planning to join PUFMM’s efforts to give it a bipartisan feel.

A longtime backer of marijuana legalization, Stone, a Miami Beach resident, is seriously considering a run for governor, where he’ll likely advocate for the initiative called “Right to Marijuana for Treatment Purposes.”

On the Democratic side, former Nelson and Hillary Clinton fundraiser Ben Pollara, of Coral Gables, is signing up as the group’s treasurer. Pollara said they’ve had discussions with Eric Sedler, managing partner at Chicago-based ASGK Public Strategies, which he started in 2002 with former White House advisor David Axelrod, still a President Obama advisor.

“The poll numbers were very encouraging,” Pollara said. “But it’s still a Herculean effort.”

That’s because Florida’s Legislature and voters have made it tougher than ever to get measures on the ballot by citizen petition. PUFMM needs to collect the valid signatures of 683,149 Florida voters. That could cost up to $3.5 million.

Right now, PUFMM has raised just $41,000 and has collected only 100,000 signatures, not all of which are valid. Some might be too old because they were collected as far back as 2009.

PUFMM’s Florida director, Kimberly Russell, said the group hopes that this poll and the top-notch campaign minds could turn things around.

“If we get this on the ballot, we have a great chance of getting this passed,” Russell said. “The more these pass in other states, the more people support it everywhere else.”

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Pretty Little Liars Sneak Peek Clip Out of Sight Out Of Mind Ezra's Son

Since day one, Pretty Little Liars fans have been hot for teacher, and thanks to the revelation that Ezra Fitz fathered a love child, he's now firmly cemented his status as a D.I.L.F. as well.

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Now, with the secret that threatened to tear Ezria apart out in the open at long last, PLL has also opened the door for Ezra's son to come to Rosewood -- which is exactly what happens in Tuesday's all new episode, titled Out of Sight, Out of Mind.

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ETonline scored a sneak peek at Aria's unexpected first meeting with Malcolm -- but that pales in comparison to the shock Ezra lays on her. Watch!

Pretty Little Liars airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on ABC Family.

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Teen caught with loaded BB gun in Harlem school

Police were called to a Harlem school today after a teenager was caught with a loaded BB gun, authorities said.

A teacher at P.S. 46 on Frederick Douglas Boulevard found out that the 13-year-old had the pellet gun just before 1 p.m. and notified the principal, cops said.

The boy refused to fork over the weapon, so the school called the police and the child’s parents, said a spokeswoman for the Department of Education.

"A student had a small BB gun, the parent was notified, NYPD was notified. He is at the 32nd precinct now with his mother. No problems, no one got injured," said principal George Young.

The child did not make any threats to use the gun and no one at the school was hurt, cops said.

"He should be punished, that's the only way he'll learn. You can do harm with a BB gun, he should be suspended," said David Lawrence, 26, who has two children that attend the elementary school.

He was brought to police station to be questioned and faces disciplinary action by the school, police and DOE said.

"It's kind of crazy for something like this to happen in an elementary school," said Luis Ramirez, 25.

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