Second in Command

Dreamwatch: What can you tell us about Babylon 5's third season?
Bruce Boxleitner: this season we'll be taking the war to the enemy instead of just reacting like we have been in the second season. There's going to be some new people in the show, and some people are leaving. Andrea Thompson, who played Talia Winters, will no longer be with us, which left me sad because I enjoyed working with he and I think she played a great character, and Jeff Conaway's role is bigger now. I don't want to give away too much, but I really think this will be a hugeseason for Babylon 5; I feel it's really come into its own now.

Many feel that one of the best things about Babylon 5 is that you never really know what will happen next.
I think that's true. Just when you think you've got it figured out, Joe Straczynski turns the tables on all the characters! Even I don't know that far in advance; I've got the first four scripts (of the third season), but since I've taken this role I never try to know too much - I like to be surprised. We take every day as it comes, and on Babylon 5 it comes at a cataclysmic pace! (laughs)
We go from episodes where Ivanova and I are on strike because we don't want to pa rent on our quarters, which is a mundane thing, to the Narn Homeworld being blown up.

Did you audition for the role of Captain Sheridan, or were you sought out?
I was sought out for it. I'm sure there were a few in line before me, a number of "name guys" who were offered the part and, for one reason or another, turned it down. I did not know Mr. Straczynski, but I had worked with Douglas Netter and John Copeland on a Western back in 1979 called Wild Timesand hadn't seen them since. I got this call from my manager, asking if I'd like to go up to Babylonian Productions and meet with Doug Netter for the possible replacement of Michael O'Hare on Babylon 5. I went there, and the role really attracted me.

Were you surprised to be asked to portray the male lead on a TV science-fiction series?
I was very happy about it; it answered a bunch of things in my life and career. I'd just returned from doing a four-hour mini-series in the middle of India for almost two months - I'd had enough of travelling, I guarantee you! I have two sons I'd like to see growing up and I've spent so much time away from them the past couple of years because so many things are not shot in Hollywood anymore. It was really nice to know they shoot Babylon 5 in North Hollywood. I wanted to do a series again, not just movies of the week, and there's nothing else I was really y interested in. I prefer the adventure genre, which I would put science fiction in, as well as Westerns, Scarecrow and Mrs. King,and Bring 'em Back Alive.

Didn't you play an explorer in that show?
Yes. Frank Buck, a procurer of wild beasts. He was a famous character during the 1920's and early 30's. It was basically an Indiana Jones rip-off, one of several, and we lasted one season. I had a lot of fun. That's the kind of thing I'd gotten a reputation for. I've always preferred these sorts of roles, and Sheridan was very much in that mould.

Overall, how would you characterize your Babylon 5 experience?
Oh, nothing but just wonderful. I really had no trepidation about joining the show; I met a cast and crew that were nothing but supportive and welcomed me right into the fold. I love working with Claudia and Jerry then later on Jeff Conaway came on board, and Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas are constantly entertaining and fun. It's just a great bunch of people and one of the better sets I've ever worked on, to tell you the truth, in all my twenty-four years of television. My first big break in Hollywood was a Western series with James Arness called How The West Was Won.I think Babylon 5 has a similar feeling of a family and everyone pulling together for the show and doing the best they can.

That's a comment I've frequently heard from the regular cast and guest stars.
I think it has something to do (with the fact that) we're way out in Sun Valley and not over at the Warner Bros studios. Sometimes we wish we were, but I think what gives us that sense of family - and reality to actually being on a space station - is that we're all alone out there. We're in these factories and warehouses that have been reconverted to sound stages, so it's not like we can go to the commissary at lunchtime and sit and talk to people on other shows - we're there in each other's faces everyday! Our offices are all there, not on some other part of he lot, so if you have something you want to talk to Straczynski or any of the other writers, they're generally twenty feet away. It forms a real close-knit bond with everybody.
The crew is a young, vital bunch of kids, and for some this is their first gig, so they're really trying to learn and do as best they can; they're giving all. They're not a bunch of jaded old veterans who've seen shows come and go. It's not just another sow to them, they're involved; on how many other shows do you have crew members sitting around with a scripts, reading what's going to happen next week?

Didn't you encounter some flak initially from fans who seemed to use you as a scapegoat over Michael O'Hare's leaving?
You know, I think a lot's been made of that, there wasn't so much, just the occasional letter. It's been blown up because it makes good copy. The fans really don't know the machinations of television. There were reasons for Michael leaving, and it was worked within the story. I know Harlan Ellison has said, "Well, it's all part of the scheme," and some of that is true. The possibility for him coming back in a two-parter is very strong (sic), and I anxiously await working with him. It'll be great to see Sinclair and Sheridan meet.

In real life, have you two ever met?
No, I do not know the gentleman at all. I'm told that when Babylon 5 first came on air, Mr. O'Hare was shot at a lot and called "wooden". I find it ironic that by the end of the season when he was leaving, some of those very people were like, "Oh my God, we love him!" (Chuckles) He was playing a role that was written specifically in this way. This was a man with something missing, and his quest - all of our characters are on some kind of quest - was to find that missing part of himself. I think initially people were befuddled about Sinclair and what he was doing, but if they watched carefully, they began to understand where he and the other characters were coming from.
The same thing with Sheridan: I think the next four episodes, when American fans see them, will show some bigbig changes in the character which weren't there in the beginning.

At first, Sheridan seemed very cheerful and happy at his new posting on board the station.
Yes. They wanted a lighter tone, a lighter character. That's not to say that he was going to be light- they just wanted a different energy.

Recently you got to see a different side of the fans at a science fiction convention, didn't you?
Yes. I went to my first convention, Magnum Opus Con, in Georgia. I was on stage for an hour and a half and could've kept on going. The audience was really into it this is a really wonderful new world for me. The fans are very critical and hard to please - and that's good! That's what makes you do even better.

What would you consider o be your favorite episode so far?
In the Shadow of Z'ha'dumis one of my favorites. Sheridan had a wonderful speech concerning the dilemma Winston Churchill had to go through at Coventry, whether or not to reveal to the Nazis that they were on to the Enigma Code. I like it when Joe brings those kinds of things to the show. I enjoyed working with Ed Wasser, too. Eddie has this very smug look and calm smirk as Morden, and I damn near wanted to put a chair over his head! (laughs)

And not to drag other SF shows down, but Sheridan's behavior in that story is the sort of thing that Star Trek would never do.
Right, and I love that. What I like about Sheridan is that I'm getting to play many different colors, and I'm not always correct. There are flaws like crazy, very human flaws, in all of these characters. Sheridan makes lots of mistakes and bad judgments; he's a bit foolhardy and "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" Here's this guy that's got this huge, amazing toy at his fingertips, with a lot of firepower, and we're entering into a war where his fines qualities are going to come into great need.
Sinclair became much more the diplomat - and is going to become even more so - but the times call for different characters, like World War II called for George Patton. He was disgusting to some people and an absolutely embarrassing person, but at the time, he was needed against the Germans. After that, he was discarded. Something like that is happening here. I don't wan to say Sheridan's like Patton, but h has these certain talents and abilities that are going to come into great need.

Would you care to comment on what direction Sheridan's relationship with Ambassador Delenn seems to be taking?
Like I said, we're all taking a journey. Delenn's is unpopular with her world and her people. You're seeing almost an Arthur and Guinevere thing that may happen. Mira Furlan's terrific to work with. There's a lot going on in Babylon 5 which is very relevant to her and her homeland. We're enjoying where the characters are going. Do you think the fans were upset with Delenn becoming more human?

No, but because she seemed to make similar overtures to Sinclair, many people feel it's as if Delenn's cheating on him...
(Jokingly) They gotta get with it - Sinclair's not there anymore! He's on Minbar. Midway through this season we're going to go through a massive change that the fans are going to be excited about. Some fans don't react to change very well; it's like sacrilege or something.

Well, I think that's what American fans are used to. Trek almost always maintains the status quo. And since I'm on the subject, why do you think Babylon 5 tend to get compared with Star Trek, and vice versa?
We just can't seem to get away from Trek, and I think this bugs the hell out of both show's fans. I've never quite understood why you can only be a fan of Trek or Babylon 5, one or the other. In some of the letters we get, fans have a tremendous identity crisis going on: "I don't know what to do! I secretly watch your show and love it, but I feel like I'm cheating!" Why? In science fiction, there are no rules! It's a huge universe out there...
Star Trek - and I say specifically Paramount - has suggested to a lot of people, "Don't pick this show up." They don't want the competition, but space adventure started long before Star Trek. Frankly, I only watched Trek in its first seasons; after that, I never really watched it again. I liked Combatbetter! (Laughs)

Did you consider yourself a science fiction fan prior to being on Babylon 5?
Certainly film-wise, things like the Star Warssagas and anything that came out on the big screen. Reading-wise, I like alternative history a lot. I just finished the second of a five-book saga by Harry Turtledove called World at War.It's about aliens invading the Earth in the middle of World War II. The whole world ends up uniting, which is obviously the message, but he does it very well. It's a terrific saga, where you have Germans and Jewish partisans fighting with each other instead of against each other. I used to read Heinlein, and I'm re-reading Arthur C. Clarke's 2001trilogy again. Being on Babylon 5 has really reawakened the science fiction fan within me.
I'm so anxiously awaiting (the re-release of) Star Wars; when it opened in 1977, I was tenth in line in Hollywood! I've watched all of them and everything George Lucas has done. I can't wait for the re-mastered original and then the Jedi Knight Trilogy (the first three chapters of the saga).
My wife has a baby on the way, which will be a couple of years old by the time these films come out, so we'll start a whole new generation of Star Warsfans. My youngest stepson is six years old, and it'll be so great for Dad here to go be a kid again. That's what's so wonderful about these movies; they reawaken the child in all of us, and hopefully Babylon 5 does a little of that, too.

Some time ago you did an episode of Tales From The Cryptwith John Astin and Jon Lovitz. What was that like?
With those two guys, who could concentrate? What a funepisode - it was a laugh riot the entire week! I was nominated for a Cable ACE Award. And I'm proud of that. Every take you saw, we had to do at least three or four times because we couldn't keep a straight face. Every time Astin bugged his eyes out, I lost it. That was a terrific one; I loved Tales From The Crypt.

How do you feel about TRON in retrospect?
It's almost the granddaddy of Babylon 5. I was doing a Western movie in Tucson, Arizona, when they sent me the script, and initially I said no. When I got back to Hollywood, they wanted to see me again, so I met Steven Lisberger, the director, and found out that Jeff Bridges and David Warner were in it. Then I re-read the script and Steven explained the language to me; I was computer-illiterate at the time.
I wish it had turned out to be a better picture, but TRON has grown with popularity since it came out. It didn't get a very big reception in 1982; it came out in a summer with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Blade Runner,a very seminal summer for science fiction films. I think the effects were certainly showing us where things were going because there ere no miniatures, and up until that time even Star Warsused models. TRON showed us what computer graphics could do, creating images three-dimensionally which weren't there.

Do you still get a lot of recognition from being in Scarecrow and Mrs. King?.
Oh yeah, because if anything, that's what probably what I'm known for the most. I loved that show and I think a lot of that character is in Sheridan, the espionage end of it. You'll see much more of that, because Sheridan is a spy. Much more of a cloak and dagger thing will be going on this season concerning Earthdome, so my Scarecrowtraining is coming back to the fore!

Bruce Boxleitner, thank you very much!

Thanks, Nicky & Janet!