Writer/Director Kevin Smith has taken a lot of flack for shying away from some of the big budget projects that have been dropped on his doorstep in recent years. By his own admission, he’s never been comfortable with big, visual films. Now though, it sounds like Smith is ready to break through the blockbuster barrier, and push himself a little further.

Speaking to MTV, Smith revealed that his tenth film will almost certainly be something called Ranger Danger and the Danger Rangers. He’s currently hard at work on his much anticipated sex comedy Zack and Miri Make Porno, and after that he’s doing a horror film called Red State. But once both of those are out of the way, Ranger Danger is next, and it’s a big time science fiction flick.

Not much is known about the project, except that it’s some sort of comicbook/sci-fi movie in the vein of Flash Gordon. Hopefully that doesn’t mean Kevin is planning some sort of awful, campy, 80s movie with a Queen soundtrack. Aside from that, the only real clue we’ve had to the nature of the film is a “Ranger Danger” t-shirt which Randall wears in Clerks. It features some sort of flying, Rocketeer style character.

Smith says that directing the pilot episode of television's best new show Reaper had a lot to do with getting him to finally get going on this. He tells MTV, “Reaper’ made me feel a bit more confident when it comes to effect shoots - not like I’m going out and seeking them, but when it comes to one like ‘Ranger Danger’ I [used to think] ‘maybe when I’m fifty I’ll be ready for it, but now I feel like, it’s easier to work through things.” We’ll keep you up to date as Smith drops more hints about his big sci-fi project.

Meanwhile, if you’re as excited about his next movie Zack and Miri Make a Porno as we are, Smith has just updated his blog here with his first installment of what will likely be a deluge of “making of” posts related to the production. In this edition: Why he has less work to do than ever. They start shooting the thing next Wednesday.