The Interceptors (2008 series) (History of Margovya)


 * This article is about the 2008 TV series. For the 1969 TV series, see . For the 2007 science fiction TV series, see .

The Interceptors (marketed as The Original Interceptors) is a Margovyan police drama television series, amd part of the  franchise. The show was developed by as the continuation of the 1969 cult classic  TV series created by. It currently stars, , , , , , , , , and. The series premiered on June 1, 2008, and its seventh season will begin on June 15, 2014. The series follows the story of the Interceptors, a special unit in the, and later a covert-force unit under the direct control of the president of the fictional South American Confederation, charged with intercepting all manners of grave heinous crimes threatening to destabilize Margovya and, later on in the series, the entire South American continent.

Plot

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Former Interceptor Ieronim Antonovich of the Arbatskaya City Police Department is approached by the  and asked to become the head of the bureau's newly-formed special unit, Task Force Interceptors. Its task: to protect amd defend the Republic of Margovya from being destabilized by criminal elements who seek to profit from the chaos following their heinous crimes.

The Original Interceptors (2008)

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The first season of the new Interceptors consists of ten episodes. It is concerned mostly with the assembly of a new deniable operations unit for the Republican Bureau of Investigation, codenamed "The Interceptors". Ieronim Antonovich (Umalin) is hired by the RBI to assemble a team capable of accomplishing the objectives set before him by the agency. He brings in RBI agents Gavriil Galichevsky (Chakulakov), Yelena Questramova (Glaser), Izmail Berovsky (Pankavuranov), Stanislav Bekchurambetov (Shungarhanbayev), Yelizaveta Glebova (Serova), and Ustin Balikrokov (Kubasov) into the team. Also, Antonovich recruits Colombian extortionist Mateo Barrquiel (Boevsky) to help fund this new venture. Their first job, taking down a human trafficking ring operating on the Margovyan-Peruvian border, goes off without a hitch.

Anonymous (2009)

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The second season consists of ten episodes. After a cyber attack of unknown origin almost cripples the Margovyan Defense Ministry's networks, the Interceptors are asked to uncover the people responsible for the attack. Technologist Berovsky recognizes codes used by the hackers to access the network as the digital "fingerprint" of the Margovyan branch of the hacktivist group. He arranges a secret meeting with one of the group's members, who denies that Margovya Anonymous was behind the attack, and reveals that a group of radical hackers had split off from the group to become cyber-terrorists. The Interceptors eventually locate the splinter group's headquarters in Duyao, and after an intense gunfight between the Interceptors and the cyber-terrorists, as well as Berovsky's efforts to stop the terrorists' attack on Margovya's surface-to-air missile control network, the cyber-terrorists are finally brought to justice.

Herencia Española (2010)

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The third season consists of ten episodes. The Interceptors are back in action after a few politicians in Bonjoaya were kidnapped by an unknown group, forced to accept a "Spanish baptism", and then executed. The Interceptors later determine that the group responsible is the Army of the Spanish Culture, a supposedly low-level insurgency in Bonjoaya dedicated to restoring Margovya's Spanish heritage, and the removal of the entirety of the country's Russian heritage. Their chase eventually ends at the slums of Banananovich, when the Army kidnaps Berovsky. Although the Interceptors succeed in rescuing Berovsky, he hands in his resignation from the group, stating that this latest venture was the last time he wanted to see frontline action. Meanwhile, it is revealed that a shadowy group of Margovyan politicians has already started the process of "de-Russifying" the country, implying that all the Interceptors' efforts were moot.

Confederation (2011)

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The fourth season consists of ten episodes. Balikrokov is killed and Glebova severely injured during a dangerous high-speed chase, leaving the Interceptors woefully lacking in their respective areas of expertise. New RBI Director Dmitry Zhorin (Tramvitumov) considers disbanding the unit, but they are saved by President Pelayo Topacio Almendras (Talnaev) of the South American Confederation, who wants a deniable operations unit under the direct command of the office of the President. For their first mission under the SAC, the Interceptors are tasked with taking down a new drug cartel selling a revolutionary new drug in Brazil that heightens both sex drives and aggressiveness. They finally track down the cartel's leadership to a German-Brazilian named Hans-Ludwig Redl, whose grandfather was linked to the network and, the Nazi "Angel of Death" obsessed with twins. The final confrontation occurs in Redl's hacienda in the rural countryside of the Brazilian-Margovyan border, and in the ensuing firefight, the Interceptors free hundreds of Jewish twins forced to do slave labor for Redl's cartel, and they quickly turn on their former guards and tormentors. Redl, shocked by the crumbling of his drug-fueled neo-Nazi reich, commits suicide by ingesting cyanide.

Protect the President! (2012)

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The fifth season consists of ten episodes. The Interceptors are back in full operational strength with the Spy's recovery and recruitment of a new Speed, and just in time, as presidential candidate and former Interceptor team member Konrada Fufanova (Isarmova) asks Interceptor Antonovich a personal favor: keep her safe during her campaign. A death threat claiming that God wants the threatener to blow up Fufanova makes its way to the RBI and the Interceptors, but with many others also wanting to take out Fufanova (some dating back to Fufanova's days in the original Interceptors unit), the new Interceptors are too busy taking down threats to focus on one single threat. Eventually, a man named Antay Ribabov is discovered to be the one behind the death threat letter, and the Interceptors quietly arrest him, and Fufanova is eventually elected president.

Trail of Ashes (2013)

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The sixth season consists of twelve episodes, and marks the first time the new series had more than ten episodes in a given season. The Interceptors, undercover in Iquique, Chile, discover that Moroccan arms dealer Osama Ghelassie has plans to sell components of nuclear devices to a yet-unknown terrorist group operating in South America. Both the Margovyan and Confederation presidents are adamant that the devices be intercepted at once, but this is complicated by the arrival of Jonathan Longissimus, an American mercenary who once had connections with Interceptor Antonovich, and who now works for an unknown person or organization. Technologist Denchov finds out that Ghelassie obtained the devices through "disgruntled elements in South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe," and the Interceptors track down Israeli scientist Thomas Ezra in Brazil, who reveals that two South African nukes (built with Israeli cooperation) were left behind in Namibia, and that said nukes have gone missing since 2008. Antonovich reluctantly teams up with Longissimus once they learn that a device has been located in Buenos Aires, while other members of the team head for Peruviyanovsk when they learn that the Shining Path of Margovya has purchased the second nuke from Ghelassie. They successfully steal the nuke from Senderos Margovianos, but then Antonovich tells the team that Longissimus has double-crossed him, and has taken the nuke in Buenos Aires for himself and his mysterious client.

No Place for Heroes (2014)

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The Interceptors: No Place for Heroes (originally The Interceptors: Back at 6) is the upcoming feature film celebrating the 45th anniversary of the Interceptors franchise, and the first Interceptors feature film starring the cast of the 2008 series. It will see the Interceptors being deployed to Carbombya as part of Margovya's contribution to the South American Confederation Mission to Carbombya (SACMICAR), where they chase after a mysterious private military company known only as "Group I", and discover links between a high-ranking Carbombyan general, the deputy commander of Margovyan ground forces in Carbombya, and a notorious Carbombyan warlord. Meanwhile, Interceptor Antonovich is still after the trail of Jonathan Longissimus and his stolen nuke, while back in Margovya, a new threat makes himself known to the people closest to the Interceptor's heart.

Heroes & Better Men (2014)

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The seventh season will consist of between 10-15 episodes. It will continue the story that started in No Place for Heroes, with the Interceptors chasing both corrupt generals on both sides of the Carbombyan conflict, and the freelancer Jonathan Longissimus and his stolen South African nuke, whose purpose for the weapon is still unknown. Meanwhile, the new threat from the movie will finally strike the Interceptor where it hurts the most: his heart.

Cast

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Current cast

 * as Ieronim Antonovich (Interceptor)
 * as Gavriil Galichevsky (Brain)
 * as Yelena Questramova (Mouth)
 * as Mstislav Denchov (Technologist)
 * as Stanislav Bekchurambetov (Brawn)
 * as Casemiro Gonçalves (Actor)
 * as Yelizaveta Glebova (Spy)
 * as Raisa Chernyshenko (Speed)
 * as Fernando Tarrasco (Extortionist)
 * as Kazimir Vorkovsky (Lover)

Former cast

 * as Izmail Berovsky (Technologist, 2008-10)
 * as Ustin Balikrokov (Speed, 2008-11)
 * as Mateo Barraquiel (Extortionist, 2008-11)
 * as Martina Ximenez (Extortionist, 2011-13)
 * as Barbara Evangelista (Lover, 2009-13)

Recurring cast

 * as RBI Director Eva Soryanova (2008-10, 2013-Present)
 * as RBI Director Dmitry Zhorin (2011-12)
 * as Margovyan President Konrada Fufanova (2012)
 * as Confederation President Pelayo Topacio (2011, 2013)
 * as American mercenary Jonathan Longissimus (2013-Present)
 * as Bogdana Queruva, Ieronim's ex-wife (2013-Present)
 * as Arkady Arbatsky (2014-Present)

Casting
The executives of the MNBN was not sure whether to recast the actors who starred in the last season of the original Interceptors for the new series, or whether to start all over from scratch. Eventually, a compromise was reached: a new cast would be assembled for the new series, but a member of the old series cast would be named the new series' Interceptor. The executives had narrowed the selection down to two choices, and, who played the Extortionist Ieronim Antonovich and Mouth Konrada Fufanova, respectively. Both Umalin and Isarmova were tagged as possible Interceptors, but eventually Isarmova had to turn down the offer due to ongoing commitments with other shows, and Umalin became the first Interceptor of the new series. Isarmova did express interest in being involved in the project as soon as her commitments allow, and she did star as her character in the old series in season 5 of the new series, now as a presidential candidate.

Development
first saw the original  series in 1990, although he claimed to not like the series until was brought on as the series' executive producer in 1993. He wrote one of the episodes of the final season of the original series, and when the series was finally canceled, Orfanov immediately set about writing a proposal for a movie, and elements of his proposal ended up in . He also had a proposal for a reenvisioned and revitalized Interceptors series that he brought to the Margovyan National Broadcasting Network, but he was refused by the network because they considered that it was still "too soon to relaunch." Eventually, in 2006, Orfanov was given the go-ahead by MNBN executives to relaunch the series by approving the production of a single ten-episode season.

Until 2014, the series was approved only for a single season per year extension. That year, the MNBN and Orfanov reported that they had reached an agreement that extended the new Interceptors to at least four seasons and a movie, to be produced both by the MNBN and Orfanov's Orphanage Productions.

Training
The main cast actors were given an intensive training program by RBI agents, rumored to be similar to the one used by the RBI in its Greendrop training facilities. Starting with season 2, they were also given firearms training by members of Margovyan special forces, and taught many aspects, including running, teamwork, tactical manouvers with and without weapons, and other paramilitary tactics. In preparation for the filming of The Interceptors: Back at 6 (which would later be renamed The Interceptors: No Place for Heroes), the actors were trained by members of a yet-undisclosed private military company in the tactics that they utilize in open and urban battlefields, how to assemble and disassemble various weapons, and more. They were also taught how to handle weapons such as the, , , , , , and the.

Filming and locations
Filming for the first season began in Ikulsk in early March 2007, with scenes set in the Margovyan-Peruvian border being shot in Peruviyanovsk and Greendrop and surrounding areas in May of the same year. For the second season, Duyao became the primary location of shooting and was subsequently named as the place where most of the season's events take place. The third season, taking place in Bonjoaya, was filmed there, but the slums depicted in the episode "Secuestrado!" were built on soundstages in MNBN's studio lot. Beginning with season 4, when the series narrative made the action go international, filming for the series regularly took place outside of Margovya, but the climactic fight between the Interceptors and Hans-Ludwig Redl's cartel was shot in the Hacienda Pankavuranov de Banananovich. For the fifth season, Ciudad del Celebridad was used to represent the many Margovyan cities that the Interceptors visited, with German Orfanov stating that he chose Ciudad del Celebridad because it "has facets of almost every other Margovyan city within its limits, meaning we can use it to stand for almost any city in Margovya we chose." By the sixth season, the series was being filmed in Sao Paulo, Brazil; Iquique, Chile, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, with the parts set in New Marginalia being filmed in or around Svolochyville, Opula.

For the movie No Place for Heroes, principal filming took place in Muluwheyo, whose government has a good relationship with Margovya's government. Muluwheyo will also be the place where much of the upcoming season, Heroes & Better Men, was filmed.