Babylon 5 the Lost Tales

‘Babylon’ is back
The latest Babylon 5 adventure, Babylon 5: The Lost Tales — Voices in the Dark, won’t air on TV — at least not right away — but will instead by released as a direct-to-DVD movie in late July, timed to coincide, promotionally, with the annual Comic-Con in San Diego.

Bruce Boxleitner returns as Interstellar Alliance President John Sheridan, who returns to Babylon 5 for the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Alliance. The only other returning series regulars in this first of the proposed series of Lost Tales DVD movies are Elizabeth Lochley (Tracy Scoggins), now a Colonel and still commanding Babylon 5, and Galen (Peter Woodward). A third story featuring Michael Garibaldi (Mike Doyle) was dropped due to time constraints on the production but may be used in a future installment. J. Michael Straczynski, the series creator, returned to write and direct this production, which was filmed on virtual sets in Vancouver.

“We had two old pieces,” Boxleitner said after a panel for an upcoming Hallmark Channel film he stars in. “Two Star Furies they found somewhere on a back lot and dusted them off.

“In one way it was a great reunion, and in one way, it felt like we had never shut down production. It’s a great script. Joe is one of the finest television writers I’ve ever worked with and he gave me material I haven’t seen the likes of since the show, really juicy stuff to delve into — aspects of Sheridan we had not played before.”

Sheridan will be more of an elder statesmen, Boxleitner said. “He’s a man who’s more likely to weigh things instead of being so action-oriented. We used to joke he was John ‘Nuke Em’ Sheridan. He’s much wiser now and more seasoned.”

Some things stayed the same, much to Boxleitner’s delight: “They found the original wardrobe and I proudly say I still fit.”

Boxleitner said the company that produces visual effects for Sci Fi Channel’s Battlestar Galactica will do the FX for this new Babylon 5 production.

“The ships, the station, they’ll all be recognizable but new. There are some additions and some of the original ships will have things added to them just like we do nowadays, new weaponry, things like that,” Boxleitner said.

The film will also include mentions of the whereabouts of characters that will never be seen again because the actors who played them have died: Richard Biggs (he played Dr. Franklin) and Andreas Katsulas (G’Kar).

“The way Joe handled the loss of those [actors] who are no longer with us, how he did it, I thank him so much,” Boxleitner said. “Their characters’ futures are revealed and I get to do it in a very loving way. They’re still around. It’s a way to give a nod to Andreas and Richard, an homage to them.”

Babylon 5: The Lost Tales, starring original cast members Bruce Boxleitner, Tracy Scoggins and Peter Woodward will be released on July 31 (Sept 3rd for UK R2 DVD) , and will sell for $24.98 (approx 75 mins). The movie will be in Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1), with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. It looks like just a single bonus item for the set, "Straczynski Diaries" - A first person, inside look at the creative process involved in making the Babylon 5 film.

This first DVD, entitled "Voices in the Dark," covers the same 72 hour period of time as Sheridan travels on board a Presidential Cruiser en route to Babylon 5 from Minbar for a celebration marking the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Interstellar Alliance. One part of the story follows Sheridan as he picks up an unexpected visitor on the edge of Centauri space, Prince Regent Dius Vintari, and a warning about what will come afterward delivered by the techno-mage, Galen. The other part of the story is set aboard Babylon 5, as Colonel Lochley summons a priest from Earth space to deal with a problem that may have dark supernatural overtones. The two parts of the greater story intersect at certain key plot and thematic points, so that they overlap and complement each other while telling separate, but simultaneous, stories.

The first DVD is going to require nearly 200 EFX shots, taking us all over Alliance space, and Babylon 5, which is being redesigned using the latest CGI technology. The same CGI is being used to create virtual sets a la Sin City, but on an even more detailed basis, in many cases integrating them with practical sets based on the original blueprint designs for Babylon 5.

A number of behind-the-scenes pieces were shot for inclusion on the DVD, as well as a number of original short pieces that will be filmed in February which feature glimpses into the future of Babylon 5 and her characters.

We have set-up a temporary webpage of photos from the shoot from my personal collection. These images mark the very first photos to emerge from production. [http://babylon5scripts.com/TLT-JMS-photos.html]

For more information, keep an eye on www.babylon5.com as well as Babylon5scripts.com. WB will be integrating the internet as a key component for promoting B5:TLT and we are pleased to be a part of that effort.

It's been a decade since Babylon 5 ended its television run, but the B5 universe has continued to live on in the imagination of its creator, J. Michael Straczynski. And the upcoming direct-to-DVD release of Babylon 5: The Lost Tales heralds the series' return—just in a new wrapper. The Lost Tales uses an anthology format to explore two sides of a story that reunites Interstellar Alliance president John Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner) with Col. Elizabeth Lochley (Tracy Scoggins), commander of the Babylon 5 station. Also along for the adventure: Galen (Peter Woodward), who was last seen in Babylon 5's second TV movie, The River of Souls.

The story is set 10 years after Sheridan is appointed president, and four years after the last of the Babylon 5 TV movies, A Call to Arms. When SCI FI Weekly spoke with all three actors, each was cagey about how their characters fit into The Lost Tales' story. But all shared an unrelenting enthusiasm for the futuristic universe they'd left behind.

What did you think about how Straczynski crafted the story for The Lost Tales?

Boxleitner: I think the format is interesting. Joe directed it: Who else would know better? It kind of feels like one of those great, crisp Twilight Zone scripts. All the same story, but two different locations on it—and then they come together. At least that's the way it was kind of explained to me. Joe is such a wonderful writer: It was such a pleasure to have his dialogue again. His imagination.

How did it feel to step back into the role of John Sheridan after all of these years?

Boxleitner: That's what was so much fun about doing this: To revisit John Sheridan again was absolutely wonderful. He's the best character I ever got to play. I get to return to him again at my own age, his age at that time—this is 10 years after [the series], so it's roughly about the same timing. Now I get to play the president as a little more seasoned, and weary of the world of politics and interstellar politics. I grew my gray beard back again and wore the old president's suit, and climbed up into the only two shells left of our Star Furies that they found somewhere out on the backlot, all beat up and knocked around.

Most of the original props from the series were lost over time, but the production was able to salvage or procure some items.

Boxleitner: It was fun dredging up what they could find. I did get a laugh. I still fit in my wardrobe [laughs]. Nine years later. They shipped the Star Furies up to Vancouver. And they had one little section of wall that was left, and the rest was [reconstructed with] new digital technologies.

The Lost Tales relies heavily on computer-generated imagery and special effects; the production had only minimal physical sets.

Boxleitner: Actually, there is no set—just one little half of a wall that they did build. The rest went into this gigantic soundstage that is one of the largest green screens up in Vancouver Film Studios. Even with the sets we did have, the station sets, so much of what we had to do was looking at a little piece of paper on the wall.

In the ensuing years, Babylon 5 stalwarts Andreas Katsulas and Richard Biggs have both passed away. How is their absence dealt with?

Boxleitner: I think we deal with it very delicately and very beautifully in the story. I get to talk about it and their characters. But anyone who knows is going to know that we're talking about Richard and Andreas, and lovingly. It's sort of paying homage to them.

The DVD shoot was fairly condensed as compared with a weekly series or a television movie. Did you feel that while you were filming?

Boxleitner: It did. It did feel condensed, but I knew that intellectually going in. The storytelling is very taut, very concise, and it moves with a speed to it. It's different than doing the full hour episode or the two-hour movies.

How was it working with Straczynski again?

Boxleitner: It was terrific, you know? We went out to dinner and I hadn't seen him since the day I left the set. I don't even think I saw him the last day I was there; I don't think he was there. I hadn't talked to him. And over the years, where things were supposedly said by him, by me about him and him about me, blah, blah, blah-blah-blah. And a lot of it was nonsense. And that night at dinner, in rainy Vancouver, it was great to see each other, and then we just buried the hatchet. We just laughed about it. We got it all out, and it was great. It really was.

What is Straczynski's strength as a director here?

Boxleitner: He's the great maker, and he knows it. And he did a wonderful job [directing]. Who should know better? Remember, he was busy writing all of those episodes while we were doing the series, so there's no way he could have directed them, because he could never have taken the time out. As a director he was very good. We clicked right away, because we both know these characters. He had to get me up to speed again a little bit on certain things. And it was just always the little quick sentences with each other about this—sort of in shorthand. He'd only directed the one episode, I remember, "Sleeping in Light," which was held till the end. But I wished he had done more.

Do you have a particular favorite moment from the shoot?

Boxleitner: It has to do with green screen, and Peter Woodward and I are in this intense dialogue, walking around each other, talking, and it's at a real fever pitch there. And we would get mixed up because there was no real "something" at which to stop and know "This is the mark I stop on" without looking down and looking at our feet, which we couldn't do in the scene. So we got goofed up a number of times, and we'd end up laughing.

What do you think about the way the two episodes that comprise The Lost Tales were structured?

Scoggins: I just got to watch it for the first time yesterday, and I have to tell you I'm absolutely crazy about it. It far exceeded my expectations. Even though you know that you're in good hands with JMS, we shot almost exclusively on green screen—which means you basically feel like you're in a huge Sprite commercial set. Everything is green, and the CGI is added in later, and so there's always that tiny bit of doubt that your reactions are as they should be for what's going to be laid in later.

So how was that to work? I understand from talking to Peter Woodward and Bruce that it was basically all around you.

Scoggins: We were surrounded by it. I'm telling you it was a big, huge, green 7-Up stage; lime green, everything. In Lochley's quarters, I'm used to looking around at the walls and seeing familiar things to me; my art, my family photos, my awards, my whatever. This time I'm looking at just a sea of green.

As an actress, was it challenging to work with green screen on such an all-encompassing scale?

Scoggins: It really, really keeps your focus. It keeps just a laser focus going in your head at all times. Focused on where you really are, and where your head and your heart and your character are supposed to be, rather than what's actually surrounding you.

What else was different about this approach?

Scoggins: You have to manufacture the feeling of familiarity. And another thing that I think a lot of our fans probably realize is that we were always the same people, too—and this time, we are without those familiar faces that you're used to passing in the hallways and saluting or smiling or ignoring or whatever your character's relationship is with them. They weren't there, either.

How was it working with Straczynski as a director?

Scoggins: It was different. And it was fun. Plus, we have a friendship and an understanding of each other. JMS knows a lot about me personally—not just me, but he knows all of us— and so he injects [aspects of that into the characters]. He used to observe us all at the lunch table back in the day, and it's just sort of like Dian Fossey observing the great apes and then writing about them later. He knows us. He knows our hearts pretty well, and he writes accordingly, and I have to say, in my segment of the Lost Tales he's spot-on.

What is it about Babylon 5 that gives it its enduring quality?

Scoggins: Well, I think this is commenting on the obvious, but the writing is exceptional. It's intelligent and yet accessible. I think JMS throws in so many fun historical references, biblical references, current-affairs references, pop-culture references. It just makes it fun to watch and [you] sort of pat yourself on the back when you get them. [What] JMS does is he presents ideas, and he doesn't necessarily provide you a conclusion or any problem-solving. He promotes thinking. I think his writing really, really incites people to think on their own and come to their own conclusions. I can think of very few shows that do that. And JMS infuses the future with a sense of hope.

Any big changes in store for your character?

Scoggins: Capt. Lochley is now Col. Lochley. I actually asked for a promotion. I think maybe a couple of my co-stars asked for some other things, and I was the only one that got what they asked for. She may have had a slight pay hike, but she buys beef burgers on Brown level anyway, so I don't think it really matters to her much. She doesn't seem very materialistic to me.

Well, several times we would walk the wrong direction and Joe would have to go "Okay, one more time, walk off to the right," because it all looks the same. I'd like to say we finally got it right, but we really didn't. Although when I saw it put together, I'm like, "Damn, it looks like we walked the right way!"

What were your thoughts when your first stepped back into Galen?

Woodward: It's a fascinating character, and I loved getting back to it. It wasn't at all difficult to find him again; I found I just slipped it on like a glove again. And I hope that this is going to turn into a whole series of these adventures, because I think it would be great if it did.

What makes Galen so special for you?

Woodward: There are very few roles in which you are allowed to think, to take your time, to deal with emotions and ideas and principles and thoughts. Very few characters are allowed to do that, because there's never any time. All the writers are under the gun as far as time is concerned. In most modern drama now, there are very short scenes, very short, staccato speeches; it's totally unrealistic. People don't actually talk like that anymore. So in a way, television has got away from the reality of the way people actually talk and behave, completely.

There are several times in this particular film where Bruce [Boxleitner] and I just sit and talk. This would never be allowed on a lot of network television now, because people sitting and talking, where's the interest in that? But of course, [Straczynski] knows his audience. He knows that the people who are interested in science fiction actually respond to what they see, and they like thoughtful and thought-provoking stuff. And it's so unusual to actually be able to play scenes like that, to be able to play them at the right speed, with the right intensity, and that the thoughts and the thought processes of those characters are clear. He's a very good writer for that, and it's great to play that.

What can you say about Galen's role in the film?

Woodward: But I couldn't possibly tell you, or he might kill me. He's deliberately mysterious. He interferes, he interrupts. No one quite knows the extent and range of his powers. No one entirely understands what his agenda is. There are times when you think actually what he's suggesting is something evil. But it usually comes out that he may use evil means, but to good ends. And he always gives humans the choice. He offers them moral choices.

As usual, life is continuing as it normally would and suddenly he's there, which creates both a problem and an opportunity. And he offers both and he says, "OK. Here's your problem, here's your opportunity, and here are your choices." But you make the choices. Galen does not make the choices in this one. He doesn't arrive in a great big spaceship and zap the baddies and protect the goodies. He says, "Look, there is a moral problem here, and a practical problem about the future. And this is how you can solve it, but it's your choice exactly how." And so in that way he has a very interesting role in introducing a problem where there perhaps might not be one in the first place. And that's just about all I can tell you without giving too much away.

You spend your time onscreen with Bruce Boxleitner. What was it like getting back together with Bruce on set?

Woodward: It was very funny. Almost immediately I was kicking his ass and he was criticizing me for being this arrogant Brit. So we had a good time. It was great fun to get back together—poor old guy, he must be 103 now, whereas I have stayed roughly the same age of 28. And so I helped him up the stairs from time to time. [Laughs.] That's the kind of repartee we had between us.