This weekend marks not just the release of the highly anticipated Thor in theaters, but also a smaller budget version of the Norse myth called Almighty Thor, premiering May 7th, on Syfy. The Marvel version may have a much larger budget (Almighty Thor was shot for around $500,000 and in an impressive twelve days), but Syfy's version has something that Marvel's doesn't. Cody Deal, an amazing new comer, whose enthusiasm and charm are enough to make Almighty Thor, a different take on the myth, worth a watch.

Deal was born in Oklahoma. After only a few years he and his family moved to the small Midwestern town, Sedan, Kansas. He graduated in 2004 as valedictorian as well as a 1st-Team All-Star athlete.

Deal was an athlete for most of the early part of his life and had a desire to play in the NFL, and went to Butler College in El Dorado on scholarship in both basketball and football. Unfortunately, his sports career camed to an end when he fractured his hand and forearm during football and also sustained other injuries from his other hobby of free-diving.

It was then that Deal and his brothers began creating short films, a step up from their younger years of filming their own 'Pay Per View' wrestling matches. His mother suggested at this point that he should take acting seriously, but Deal did not take her advice and moved to Wichita, and later, to Las Vegas to pursue a modeling career.

While Marvel's Thor is premiering in theaters across the country, Syfy will be premiering their own version, Almighty Thor, this Saturday, May 7th, at 9/8c pm. The film follows Thor as he is forced to become a warrior and hero to retrieve the Hammer of Invincibility and save Asgard and The Tree of Life. The film, which was written by Eric Forsberg and directed by Christopher Ray, stars new comer Cody Deal as Thor, Richard Grieco as Loki, Patricia Velasquez as Jarnsaxa, and Kevin Nash as Odin.

Cody Deal and Christopher Ray recently sat down with the digital media, including Scifi Vision and Media Blvd, to talk about film.

Fandom Access: Exclusive Interview with Eric Forsberg  - 5/4/11
Interview by Jamie Ruby and Karen Moul
Written by Jamie Ruby

Almighty Thor follows the title character, played by Cody Deal, as he becomes the hero that we know him to be today. The movie will premiere tonight on Syfy. The writer of the film, Eric Forsberg, joined Fandom Access this week to discuss the movie.

The Almighty Thor is different than the marvel movie, because is based on the Norse myth as opposed to the comic books. "It's Almighty Thor; it's the Norse myth. There's a big difference between this Almighty Thor and the Thor Marvel movie that's coming out. That movie is based on the comic book, and that comic book took the character from the myth, and then created a story that imposed upon the character in order to create the identity of the human that was secretly Thor. And I didn't go that route at all; I went straight for the myth. The end of the world. One of the things about the Norse myths is that they're all about the Tree of Life supporting all the worlds on it until finally the fated and predetermined end of all time will occur in a great and final battle called Ragnarok. And when it's over, boom, the universe is gone. And so I took that theme and built on that and I have Thor being a young inexperienced god, the youngest son of Odin (Kevin Nash), and he because Ragnarok comes upon them is forced to step up to the plate and find the powerful god of the Asgard, or Valhalla, he has to find that god within him and really he fights and struggles through the whole movie to discover his inner power and he perseveres. So that's much more like the type of Thor that is in the myth than the comic book Thor."

Bobby Flay is well known in the food world, and for most is a household name. He not only owns multiple restaurants around the country, has appeared on many shows, and published multiple books, but he has also had quite a few of his own cooking shows, and hosted many as well. He is probably at the moment best known for his series Throwdown with Bobby Flay and as one of the Iron Chefs. He also recently hosted The Next Food Network Star, which will enter its seventh season this June. He even guest starred on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Flay now hosts America's Next Great Restaurant on NBC, which will air its season finale tonight. America's Next Great Restaurant is a reality competition where contestants compete to make their restaurant concepts become a reality. The winner will have their idea turned into three restaurants in Los Angeles, New York City, and Minneapolis, all of which will open for business tomorrow.

Flay sat down with the digital media to talk about America's Next Great Restaurant's season finale.

By Jamie Ruby

Anyone who has watched Syfy in recent years already knows who Amanda Tapping and Robin Dunne are. Stars of Syfy's Sanctuary, Tapping, probably best known for her work in Stargate: SG-1 and more recently Syfy's web series Riese, and Dunne, who fans should recognize from his lead role in Syfy's Beyond Sherwood Forest, sat down with the digital media last week to talk about the series. As of Friday, Sanctuary premiered the second half of its third season. The series has already been renewed four a fourth season, for which the cast has already begun table reads.

Sanctuary was originally written as a web series before it was made into a full television series, but things have changed since then, according to Tapping. "We were I think a bit ahead of our time in terms of how to monetize on the web, in terms of utilizing - social networking even has changed since Sanctuary first came out. I mean Twitter and Facebook and all that has blown up way bigger than what it was when we started.

"So, I think the possibilities on the web are far greater now than they were. And, I think it's an amazing tool. Riese is another prime example of a web series done well - with good production value...They've got amazing production values and they were able to utilize the web as an advertising tool. And it brought them the notoriety of the networks, which is much the same as what happened with Sanctuary. And I think it's just going to happen more and more. It's an amazing tool.

"But what I think is going to happen - I think the paradigm really is starting to shift, where shows will live and breathe and stay on the web. That they don't necessary have to transition to television. That there will be a whole contingent of not just you know, the squirrel riding a skateboard on You Tube kind of shows, but real production value on the Web in ongoing series."

By Jamie Ruby

Joe Flanigan has appeared in both film and television, but he is probably best known for his work on television, most notbably for his character of Lt. Colonel John Sheppard on Syfy's Stargate: Atlantis, for which he also served as writer on for two episodes.

Flanigan's newest role is in the new Syfy creature feature, Ferocious Planet. He recently sat down with the digital media to discuss his newest indeavors.

Flanigan did not plan to be an actor growing up. "[It was] by accident. I actually ran out of money - I was in New York City and I was working at Interview Magazine and I managed to get myself fired -- don’t ask me how -- and I was pretty much out of money. And I had a neighbor who happened to be an actor, and he was always enjoying himself not working nearly as hard as me, and apparently making much more money than I was.

"And I said, "What is it that you do?" He said, "I'm an actor." I said, "Well, what does that mean?" I didn't quite understand what that meant. Now granted he was a commercial actor, but anyway he put it in my head that maybe this is something I should try out, since I was "in between jobs", and I did.

"I went to the Neighborhood Playhouse and I just thought to myself, "Well, if I'm going to try this, I might as well try it now," and I just happened to get very lucky."