Cult TV 9/97

Cult TV 9/97

THEY'RE ONE OF SF'S HOTTEST COUPLES. STUART BANKS TALKS TO BABYLON 5'S BRUCE BOXLEITNER AND MIRA FURLAN ABOUT INTER-SPECIES MATING TECHNIQUES AND LIFE ABOARD THE SPACE STATION.

It's 85 degrees, there's no air conditioning and the town of Blackpool has just been invaded by over 3,000 Babylon 5 fans. Well, to be accurate, one floor of one hotel has just been invaded by over 3,000 Babylon 5 fans. It's the second day of this summer's Wolf 359 convention and the bar is littered with Scottish Psi Cops and German Centauri. Elsewhere a bunch of West Yorkshire Rebels are bravely eyeing up the refectory's steaming hotplates. It's the biggest Babylon 5 convention ever and a hot event in every sense of the word.

But it's not just the weather that's sending temperatures soaring. Far from the madding crowd in a sanctuary filled with chattering printers and chilled-out cast members, Bruce Boxleitner and Mira Furlan - the real-life pairing behind Babylon 5's on-screen lovers Captain Sheridan and Ambassador Delenn - are heatedly discussing politics. Studio politics, or what Boxleitner likes to describe as "that ugly little game."

The Secret War

"It's been nothing but a struggle this last year - I mean, it rivals the Shadow War for God's sake!" he begins with sudden intensity. "The off-screen conflicts of keeping this series alive. Is it on? Is it off? Is it alive? Is it dead? Will I be in it? Will I not? We've been from one end of the spectrum to the other with this," he says commenting on the show's last-minute escape from cancellation.

But while TNT's decision to back Babylon 5 has ended one set of worries, the contractual wrangles that have followed have soured the deal for many of the cast.

"I have a lot to learn from Bruce about that whole - oh, God - that whole political aspect," Furlan admits. "I don't know how to do it. I am very vulnerable, I show my emotions. That's something I really have to work on--"

"--No, it's wonderful the way you handle things," Boxleitner interjects with a characteristic show of support. "You are telling the truth, and as far as I'm concerned you always deal with things in a very truthful way. I see no deceit in you. The awful part of our business is the business. I hate it, it's just that I've had enough experience in dealing with these people," he sighs.

It's a measure of Boxleitner's anger that he's criticising any aspect of the show in this way. Since coming on board at the start of season two, he's been one of its most vocal supporters. But it's clear that he's had a belly full of agents and contracts in recent months.

"You wouldn't be human if you didn't sometimes walk out going, 'Oh God, that was just my worst day.' I know Mira's been upset at times I know I've been upset at times. I try not to be, but I go home in the car and God help anybody who gets in my way because I'm angry.

"But you know this show has a saying that goes, 'Anything that doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.' This show has had to fight every step of the way for any recognition that we've had. [But now] look, we've got this massive convention and it's all Babylon 5 - there's no Star Trek here," he says with obvious pride.

"When Walter Koenig [who plays B5's Mr. Bester] walked out there the other day he couldn't believe it," he continues excitedly. "He said it was like reliving those early Star Trek days."

For Furlan, the strain of contract negotiations has left a deeper mark. A relative Hollywood newcomer, she spent much of her career playing Yugoslavia's theatres before the political situation forced to flee. But, like Delenn, it's clear that she's having some problems adapting to the often brash realities of her new world.

"It's a very different situation than I'm used to. I don't want to go into details, but generally speaking I miss that 'gentlemanly quality' in dealing with me [that I had in Yugoslavia]. I think it would be logical that some kind of generosity would accompany the kind of appreciation and success Babylon 5 has achieved, and yet I feel that I always have to struggle and fight for every tiny thing. I'm just..." She searches for the right words before sighing in frustration. "I don't like that and I am angry about it."

Inter-species mating

One of the things that's boosted the popularity of B5 in recent times, at least among its soppier fans, is the love affair between the captain and his alien ambassador.

She's changed for him, he's altered his behaviour for her, and Internet-savvy fans have dedicated a slice of the Internet to celebrating their ongoing love affair. this is no Mulder and Scully 'will-they-or-won't-they' scenario though, more your full-on Romeo and Juliet kind of bash. Boxleitner has a similar opinion.

"They're like this chaste, very old fashioned kind of couple," he says delicately tip-toeing around the subject of sleeping with his on-screen partner. "I remember talking to Joe [Straczynski] about this... this guy stuff, and Joe said, 'But you're looking at it like a 20th Century guy, a 90's guy. How do you know what the Minbari are capable of? Maybe they're different and maybe they look upon it in a childlike way.' It is frustrating sometimes --"

"--I found this playing Delenn," Furlan says picking up the thread. "Here was this incredibly spiritual, incredibly wise, dignified, intelligent person and all at once she's playing these tiny little games, being flirtatious - you know many women protested about that. I've heard it. They say, 'We hate what Joe is doing' and in a way I can understand that."

Under the thumb

It could be argued that the childlike approach is also Delenn's way of manipulating Sheridan. He doesn't know how to respond to these games and it actually gives her more power over him. "That's right, it actually accentuates her strength," Furlan agrees.

Boxleitner has no problems with the balance, and id happy to reveal he has a similar situation at home. "My wife is a very strong woman," he laughs. "I like that. She makes more of the decisions in our household that I do. That's okay, I don't mind it. If it were left to me nothing would get done. Melissa makes the lists: this has got to be done, then this... It all gets planned out. Me, I procrastinate, and things never get done!"

He also believes there is a more practical reason for the awkward, almost bumbling nature of Sheridan and Delenn's relationship. "We're dealing in these massive, serious, dramatic themes," he begins. "If we don't have something that lightens it, it makes us almost unapproachable. So when we have these goofy little moments, like Kate Hepburn and Spencer Tracy -- and that's what I like about our thin: it is very Hepburn and Tracy, the befuddled male and the wise female -- it humanises us, because if we keep pushing on with this warriorish stuff --"

"--and this unbelievable seriousness --" Furlan interjects.

"--it's going to be grim all the time," Boxleitner concludes.

"Exactly," Furlan nods in agreement. "The humour and lightness is essential."

"Our relationship is a very sweet one. In the midst of all this chaos, this battlefield, there is a flower growing, and my God we need the flowers," he says rounding off the analogy. "We do, we sincerely do."

Screaming passions

Whatever the reasons for the relationship, for some fans it has become the major reason for turning on. Or should that be for becoming turned on? Judging by the screams that accompanied every digitised kiss or cuddle run during the convention, it seems that Boxleitner and Furlan are inspiring quite a following.

"They love it," Furlan agrees.

"Of course they do." Boxleitner grins. "You know what I think, hearing those people scream at those scenes? We are obviously doing something right. And if it brings them enjoyment, and they enjoy those characters..." He stops with a shrug. "That's how I look at it. I started grinning when I watched that."

For Furlan though, the fans' reaction is less of a laughing matter. "I have to say I try to be detached from this adoration. I have been doing this too long and I know how it can change into something else. I know it from my own experience," she says referring to the bad feeling that followed her refusal to take sides with either the Croats or the Serbs during the recent civil war in her homeland. "The audience project things onto you, but it's not you, it's not me, it's not Bruce - it's those characters."

"It's a trap..." Boxleitner nods in recognition.

"It's a trap that you can fall into and it can be really dangerous." she says momentarily running with his analogy. "That detachment that I told you about is important, it's a healthy thing and it keeps you grounded. The audience has this image in their heads, but you have to be who you are, no matter whether they love you or hate you, because they can hate you for many different reasons. What do you do then, kill yourself?"

"It's a bizarre experience that you can't know unless you've experienced it," Boxleitner explains.

"It's not any kind of ungratefulness or anything like that. It's just the feeling that it's not exactly you... No wonder Leonard Nimoy wrote those books, " she says with a wry smile.

"I loved it when he wrote the first one, I Am Not Spock, and now it's I Am Spock!" Boxleitner grins.

"And yet I can understand that tension," Furlan adds with a smile.

With no time left, we leave them with an interesting thought: can we expect t see similar books by these two in the future then? I Am Not Sheridan, perhaps?

They both laugh, and as they leave Boxleitner can be heard walking away down the corridor calling, "I am Sheridan. I am not Sheridan. Maybe I am Sheridan. I want to be Sheridan."

Talk about schizophrenic. Still, that's what happens when you carry bits of Vorlons about with you.