Allen and Cox on Their Favorite Superheroes: While Cox wanted to know if Bewitched counted as a superhero show, Allen was quick to come up with his own personal favorite. “I wanted to be Flash. That's why this character [in Zoom] came up, because I read comic books when I was a kid all the time and all of them had problems," said Allen. "Superman was a little creepy because of the kryptonite thing, because he could be brought down by a frickin' green rock…horrible…that Lex Luthor always seemed to have an endless supply of, so you always bring out that. But the Flash, they never really examined how fast he could go.”
Figuring Out Tim Allen’s Superhero Characteristics: “The balance of this skewed a little younger because the real sci-fi had to have a lot of pipe laid and the studio said it would just get too long. But the idea is that Zoom, if he starts running, he really doesn't know how to stop. And that's how the original problem arose because he sent the guy into another dimension because he could barely stop himself. He scared himself so he kind of…when you do something terrible, you put a limit on yourself and you don't want to go back again.
That's why I always liked the Flash. Because no one ever discussed how fast could the Flash run. …If this guy Zoom, when he says I'll be back in a second, he literally would be standing there [going], 'Got it.' And the studio went, 'Well, how do you show that?' And I go, 'That's not my problem. My problem is I think it would be funny if the guy was [makes a bunch of sound effect noises of a guy moving quickly].' No noise, I'm back because I can run that fast. I literally had the studio look at me like you people are looking at me now (mockingly), 'Wow, that's interesting.'”
Relating to the Feeling of Not Fitting In: Allen joked that his co-star Courteney Cox never had a problem fitting in anywhere, but Cox revealed there was something different about her growing up that definitely set her apart from her peers. “When I was a kid I didn't feel like I fit in because - this is really silly and I probably shouldn't say it - but I didn't think anything was funny. I used to go home and literally cry to my mom and my step-dad at the time. I didn't think anything was funny; I couldn't laugh and all my friends thought everything was really funny and I didn't. So that was really a big thing for me to be able to learn to laugh. And then of course I got to work with Tim Allen.”
Cox said she eventually got over her inability to laugh, thanks to a lot of funny co-stars. “I got to work with some funny people and it really helped me. I'm not kidding; I just am a snob when it comes to humor.”
Zoom and the Galaxy Quest Parallels: Allen said he was fully aware of the parallels between Zoom and one of his most popular movies. “Yeah, this was all about that. But it was a real tough sell because Galaxy Quest was real delicate, and the parody reality of it. I'm saying it out of respect for Sony because it was tough to tell them that this was what it was all about. The underlying thing and there's still - and I'm being even conservative - 85% of the Galaxy Quest-ish look at superheroes is still in this. They still wanted to skew it so kids would understand, but they left a lot of the adult references in it. I got to be the smartass, which I really wanted to be, that didn't take any of this seriously.
The only thing that we've kind of glossed over, and I've literally in my life, because I love comic books, [thought this], ‘What would superheroes really do right now with what's happening in Lebanon?’ If you had flames that could come out of your eyes, just stand there and, 'Look out!' Have you ever seen a bus fall off a bridge? Anybody? Anybody ever seen trains derail? The reality is that superheroes would sit in superhero firehouses and wait for s**t to happen that just doesn't. Eventually one gets bored and goes AWOL and then you’ve got to go get him back. That's what superheroes do.
I had this long speech in the movie explaining that essentially that you just go get rogue guys. That's what superheroes do; you don't actually do anything. You're never around burning buildings. Is there an alarm? Superman can get there quick - he's the only guy that can do that. But how busy would he really be? He would be so busy. You know, blowing out fires, stopping domestic disputes, come on? Please, don't make me break your back with my little finger. The reality is that superheroes couldn't do what civilians get ourselves into, and that's where I wanted this parody to go. There's just not much for us to do. That's why this guy was angry... He just went AWOL himself and just didn't really want to be part of that.”
