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.