(Transcribed by Karen Savage)
Opens with a clip from "No Compromises" showing Sheridan telling Delenn, Franklin, etc. that he wants to be a hands-on president Sheridan- "Well, maybe it's time that things were done differently."
Switch to Crier- "So there"
BB- "So there"
Crier- "When he was starring 'Scarecrow and Mrs. King' and 'How the West Was Won' actor Bruce Boxleitner proved that he was out of this world. Well, he's doing it again in a different way. His hit show Babylon 5 is about to blast off into it's fifth season with a change of address. The show's new destination is the TNT network where it will premiere on January 21st, welcome , Bruce Boxleitner.
BB- Thank you
Crier- We were continuing our conversation from a few moments ago. He said the problems we are facing here on Earth are the same anywhere else in the galaxy.
BB- Two hundred years from now, and I have it on good , (both laugh), on good experience, two hundred years from now we are going to have some of the same problems folks, sorry.
Crier- And you already know this?
BB- Yes, I know this.
Crier- And you are really going to have these problems since you are going to head up this, this Interstellar Alliance.
BB -Interstellar Alliance. Yes, so President Clinton, I know what you're going through trying to hold this alliance against Iraq. I deal with it every week.
Crier- You really have a really scary scenario out there if we look at science fiction from HG Wells forward so much of it comes true.
BB- That's very very true.
Crier- So what does Babylon 5 tell us about us about the future of the Earth?
BB- (They show clip from "No Compromises" as he is speaking) Well, we take place 200 some years from now on a space station that's literal mission is to be a place not unlike the United Nations. And we are sort of like a metaphor for today's world. All these different races from all these different worlds come here because there was a great galactic war that shattered everything...that caused a lot of problems. And basically like the United Nations, a place where we can meet and try to head off some of those problems. Well, as we know today how hard that is. Easier said than. .
Crier- Not so successful.
BB- Not so successful, right. Babylon 5 has been an ongoing saga, a continuing story...I think that's what the fans like about it. A soap opera...
Crier- It's not episode by episode...
BB- No, it's all linked, connected. And now that we're in our fifth season, I used...my character...used to be..he was the captain that came on in the second season to replace the former commander of the station which was then held by what was called Earth Force which is the military. They commanded the station but it was basically a civilian operation. But we may be doing that one day when we return to being the space faring nation I hope we will be.
Crier- I do not think that that's far fetched at all.
BB- No, I don't either. There are people who would laugh.at that.
Crier- Used to have a bunch of buddies at NASA and they expect those space colonies out there. And they say that just like the old world moving to the new it's not a matter of if, it's simply when. But tell me about your character having to confront all this because there was a critic's review that loved the show and said that all of the characters were seductively flawed. And I thought what a great term. Tell me how...
BB- We have a wonderful creator and writer, JMS, Joseph Michael Straczynski, who created this back in 1986. It took him a long time to but he finally got it to Warner Brothers.
Crier- Really fought to get this on.
BB- Because science fiction on television is basically Star Trek. But there's room, it's a large universe for another version (shows clip from Stark Trek: First Contact) of the future. And my character when I first came on, John Sheridan, was right away compared to William Shatner.
Crier- Of course
BB- And he will be because Captain Kirk was the space captain we all know and remember and you're going to be compared to. But, it's the 90's now and our heroes carry a lot of baggage with them. They're not just for good against evil. My character has made mistakes, he strives very mightily but he falls often. And then he rises again because you really have to carry on the heroic myth. But the heroes do eventually have to triumph because that's our hope for the future anyway, right? We want to think that we will triumph.
Crier- Well, something you said, I loved. You said the sci fi today are really our westerns of yesterday.
BB- Yeah, it's our morality plays. I think that Star Wars certainly shows that. Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader. Which Lucas was really smart in that. He took all the great myths of humanity. The knights, the dark knight, the white knight...
Crier- Sure.
BB- And so on and so forth, even down to the sword play. Broad swords, laser swords, (shows another clip from B5). But we need that mythology. I have small children and they live by it and now like the western movies and so on and so forth that we grew up with in America...We need those myths and space is the frontier to do it in.
Commercial Break
(Shows another clip from "No Compromises"
Crier- Welcome back. I'm continuing my conversation with Bruce Boxleitner. He's the star of the hit sci fi series, Babylon 5. The fight to get this on took about five years. It's now...I'm sort of worried that you all are already projecting the finality for this.
BB- We're actually in our fifth season and the author/creator Joe Straczynski really intended it to be a five year story. That's all he wanted to do with it and I don't know what the future of it will be. We're in the last...we've got about six more episodes and we're done with the fifth season and...
Crier- Hasn't there been a conversation?. Can't you tell us if there's life after five?
BB- Well you know, it's science fiction. Anything can happen.
Crier- Well, the Internet has been very important in this series.
BB- Huge
Crier- Keeping it on...
BB- Keeping it on, constant discussions about it. See, if nothing else if the show just got people thinking and talking and like all good entertainment, people see things in there they might not have been intended but at least they're thinking and they're seeing and they have a version of it and they're expressing it to their friends on the Internet. We have many, many web pages for Babylon 5. It's amazing. It was a whole new world to me when I got on it. I was not aware of it.
Crier- Are you hooked now?
BB- Yes, yes..
Crier- I confess (raises her hand)
BB- I get on it all the time now. I get in the chat rooms and see what they're saying.
Crier- You're braver than I am!
BB- (Laughs)
Crier- I simply read the stuff on there. But you've been a science fiction, NASA space fan for a long, long time.
BB- I was very, very fortunate. My first going down to a shuttle launch. We were invited because we have a big following of Babylon 5 at NASA...a big fan club.
Crier- I understand they actually get together at lunch and watch the tapes...
BB- Yes, they do. They watch the tapes on the big screens that some of the old missions were seen on. We saw STS-84 where Michael Foale was going up to replace Jerry Linenger on the Mir station. No one quite knew then what adventure he was about to undertake. He was the American up there when the collision happened.
Crier- Well, tell me the truth. I understand that you believe in aliens.
BB- (laughs)
Crier- Now c'mon, I read a quote where you said we will likely kill the first aliens who arrive because we did it before in Roswell.
BB- Oh my gosh, well I don't know if that's an exact quote but maybe that's a pessimistic.side of me.
Crier- In the Washington Post in 1995 you said that...
BB- (laughs) Well all right, ...Washington Post, I can't argue...we'll shoot 'em.(both laugh) Well, human nature, it's the terrible side of us, the dark side of us, what we don't understand, we try to destroy sometimes. I'm being pessimistic, but I believe there are other life forms out there. I don't think I'm being not religious or anything like that. I think that we can't be the only life in the universe. It's preposterous. There's no one of anything on this planet. So how can there only be one world. I can't understand it.
Crier- And do you like the way the future is being portrayed in this series?
BB- Yeah, I think there is some good things being said and a lot of times this is about the choices we make, taking the responsibility for the consequences of those choices. My character has to constantly deal with that. I think those are good lessons for people to learn.
Crier- They are excellent questions.
BB- Taking the responsibility...it may not be fun. But for your choice, you have to take it.
Crier- Well, I'm very glad that TNT picked it up.
BB- You are!
Crier- It's a fasncinating story...Babylon 5. Bruce Boxleitner, I hope you don't have any immediate plans after the five years are up.
BB- No, I kinda like it in space.
Crier- Good thing! Thanks so much for joining us.
BB- Thank you for having me.
Thank you, Karen!
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