STAR STUFF
A conversation with John Vickery

by JC Williamson

Even beyond it's titled luminaries, the B5 sky is full of stars. Some characters shine all too briefly, but a few stellar guests do return. John Vickery's Minbari warrior, Alyt Neroon, took center stage in "Legacies," then reappeared to replace Delenn on the Gray Council in "All Alone In The Night." Now Satai, Neroon is sure to recur. But while you're waiting, look closely -- Vickery brings yet another mysterious, and entirely separate, character to life in, "The Fall of Night," B5's season-two finale.

Recently, the versatile actor took some time to talk about his B5 experience, acting, and myriad bright stuff.

Q: Did you know going in that your role as Neroon would recur?

JV: I didn't. Straczynski has got it written out for five years, but on the other hand, I'm sure they have the ability to sort of take little curves and changes here. I'm sure they thought, well this could work with a larger story -- we'll just make him one of the Nine and then that becomes part of the larger story. Because I do know the first script I got introduced a Minbari warrior. And there was a footnote on the script that said it would be great if we could get the same actor to play Neroon. Meaning if they couldn't get me, they'd get somebody else, but it would work out great if they got me because then there would be this continuing familiarity. I'm sure its flexible to the extent that when something works he'll want to continue it, and when something proves to be a dead end they'll cut it off.

Q: Neroon is compelling -- his rivalry with Delenn remains intriguing.

JV: And now ... I'm coming back as someone else! That's interesting, to play different roles on the same show. Without giving anything away ... things are coming to a head in the storyline. There is a major shift going on. Apparently I come from some Earth diplomatic corps, attached to some diplomat who comes to B5 from earth. But I seem to have my own nefarious sort of plot going that they haven't explained to me yet.

Q: Will we recognize you? Will your voice give you away?

JV: Well ... nobody's really told me anything about the character. My intention is just to play it closer to myself and not do an accent, not do all the things that I was doing with Neroon. That's always a problem when you're playing an alien. You're going well, I'm an alien -- now what sort of culture does this being have?

Q: But your next character is human ....

JV: As far as I know I'm an Earther. I presume the Earthers can be ... well... more human! Although it says in the script that he's a bit of a wolf, which is the only character description that I've seen.

Q: How did you develop the alien Neroon?

JV: Well ... as alien as the aliens get. B5 sometimes has aliens which they try to make so alien you don't even know what motivates them. But most of the regulars on the show have a culture that can be understood. They're not that far out, the Minbari and the Narn and people like that. In general, the tips I got about it were from the casting director, and oddly enough from the makeup person, because I'd be sitting there for three hours -- so I generally pump them as to what's going on with the storylines. They're there day to day, they know what's going on with the broader storyline. And B5, as opposed to Star Trek, has got this huge big arc of stories -- it's sort of like "Dungeons and Dragons" if you're thrown into the middle of it. It's a little hard to make out what's going on, because it's a long continuing story. I know very well the first thing I'm going to do on the set is start pumping the makeup guy about ... What's going on with Earth? And who are these Vorlons?

Q: The same questions viewers are asking! But B5's main aliens do have very human behaviors.

JV: Yes, and they're humanoid -- you know, they have two arms and two legs -- and they speak English! So you don't have to go that far with it. I think the main motivating thing for Neroon was his discovery that the war had been calledoff for what he considered stupid reasons ... and so he was mostly angry. And he continues to be angry.

Q: His agenda isn't clear. If you could choose, what would you have him do?

JV: Well, in a way, that's what an actor does -- I mean an actor does it moment by moment, even though there may be a sort of long arc to the character you still have to play moment by moment. And in a way it's sort of a positive not to know where the character's going -- 'cause nobody knows where they're going in life . You can plan all you want, but you don't know from day to day what's going to happen to you. And in fact, I mean, Neroon doesn't know for certain (as much as he's planning) any more than anybody else does what's going to happen. So, in that sense, it sort of helps not to know.

Q: B5's characters aren't one sided.

JV: Yes. That's what I like about it -- everybody has positive and negative.

Q: When you work as a guest star with an established ensemble cast, is it easy to interact?

JV: Yes, usually. I tend to gather as much information as I can from everywhere -- from the casting director, from the makeup person, from the other actors. The first show, I was on with Mira. She and I got along well and I asked her quite a lot of questions about the Minbari and what was going on with the story. I admire her -- she does a very good job on the show.

Q: You've worked with others from B5.

JV: I just did a production of "Same Time next Year" with Jane [Timov] Carr. And [B5 set designer] John Iacovelli did the theater set. Bruce Boxleitner -- years ago I did a mini-series, it was horrible. Bruce and I were rivals. I married Courtney Cox and he took her away from me. Others I know by reputation. Andreas Katsulas has a fabulous background. I saw him ages ago in "A Midsummer Night's Dream." In films I think he usually plays villains, but I've seen him be extremely funny.

Q: Could you compare playing a Shakespearian role to portraying to a character from an alien culture in the future?

JV: The aliens are sort of well-spoken Englishmen! I was asked by the casting director to come in with an English accent. I think for the same reason that Patrick Stewart was picked as Jean Luc Picard -- he had the background, the stature -- he can just stand still and talk and be effective. That's probably what they were looking for when they were casting Europeans. Not only something slightly exotic, but something classy. After all, these people are supposed to be diplomats and fairly sophisticated aliens. They've been around the universe. In some ways, since both of those shows are so highly theatrical, a theatrical background (which is sometimes a drawback in other areas of TV and film) can be a plus.

Q: Another theatrical element: that extensive alien makeup. Is your approach to acting different when you're working behind a mask?

JV: I would say only technically, in that you don't want anything to fall off! Hearing is a little difficult at times -- unless someone's standing in front of me and speaking fairly loudly. That may be one reason why my character's so angry. I'm being loud so I can hear myself! Also, the costume for Neroon, the big robes -- they're fairly heavy -- force you to be tall and heavy and grand. Little naturalistic gestures don't seem to mean much of anything in a costume like that.

Q: What is it like to act around FX -- things that aren't there?

JV: I was on Star Trek once [TNG "Night Terrors"]. I was actually "unconscious" the entire episode, in telepathic communication. Everything I did was voice over. Star Trek used a lot of blue screen and I've always said that it's like a different acting talent, because you've got to stare at nothing and react to it. And literally, sometimes it's nothing. It's a different talent. You have to ... in your imagination, see what they've written in the script, or what the director tells you you're looking at, and of course the end product is never quite how you imagined it. You don't find out until you get there that that's how they're going to do it ... it often changes.

Q: Did you have much interaction with Straczynski?

JV: No, but he's written my episode coming up {The Fall of Night"] ... this one has something to do with a war starting. Maybe he steps in when there's a huge big plot change about to happen. He's there at the auditions, he's around, and he shows up on the set from time to time just to see how things are going.

Q: Does B5's groundswell of popularity surprise you?

JV: I don't know, this is the first time I've had contact with it!

Q: B5 fans are well-connected through newsletters, bulletin boards, conventions. Would you do a science fiction con?

JV: I know about them, never been to one. I suppose I would. I remember years ago ... I met James Doohan. And what he did at the time, for a living, was he drove around the country and went conventions. He had all the problems that most of those actors ran into -- they were typed and found it difficult to get work until the ST movies came along.

Q: How about going online?

JV: Now, with the link to the internet and the producers being very much glued into that ... if I knew more about computers, I would know more about all this! I'm pretty out of it, in terms of information. I think I'm just one of those people that just so, so overwhelmed by the onslaught of it all, I just prefer to go home and be quiet.

Q: What does capture your interest?

JV: Actually, I am a science fiction fan. I miss the old Twilight Zone! It was a seminal growing up experience. I love William Gibson novels -- when I first read "Mona Lisa Overdrive" I found it so exciting, because he seemed to have invented a whole new category. I think we're just getting that now, on television. William Gibson was writing about that maybe 10 years ago. But he was also a very good writer -- and that's what I look for. That SF imagination, but it's scientifically grounded in some way. That they also have good technique as writers. I love it when I come across somebody I've never even heard of before and they've written some fascinating novel. You go to the SF section of bookstores now and so much of it is not what I would really call science fiction -- it's fantasy. I'm interested in the hard science kind of SF that has to do with spaceships and time warps and time travel. I generally prefer ones where the author has some sort of explanation about how it works. But I also like the literary side of it -- I like a writer who knows how to write a sentence.

Q: How about B5's own, Harlan Ellison ?

JV: I used to read him, ages ago. I saw him lecture once. I remember he was very intelligent, there were sort of sparks flying out of his head and everything, he's so irascible! But I never saw him on the B5 set.

Q: You've been compared to Star Trek's John de Lancie.

JV: That's funny you should say that because somebody -- at the last play I was doing, some audience member came backstage and I don't know why he did this because it's very clear in the program what my name is -- but he thought I WAS John de Lancie. I know John. Not very well, but as a matter of fact he aced me out of a series, "Legends."

Q: He was on a soap opera and so were you -- One Life To Live. Which was more alien, B5 or OLTL?

JV: OLTL is more alien than B5. To answer the obvious question!

Q: So if you could chose the role, what type of character would you wish to play?

JV: A scientist. A Robert Oppenheimer ... or an Einstein! I studied math and just about earned my degree.

Q: Mathematics to acting. That's quite a range -- left brain, right brain, clear across.

JV: Maybe not so much. My interest in math was more in the artistic side ... You know, the more abstract side of math. Less the engineering, practical aspects of it, anyway.

Q: So how did you turn to acting?

JV: I was drafted by my high school English teacher, to be in "Twelfth Night. " I couldn't think of anything more embarrassing or anything I less wanted to do. But I was taken with the excitement -- it got me! In college, I did plays for fun. My background was in experimental theater, which had more to do with where and when I grew up, in the 60's, in Berkeley.

Q: You're primarily a theater actor. It must be a totally different experience -- having an audience, going directly through from start to finish.

JV: I'm enjoying doing television and film more than I used to and god knows I'd love to do more of it. But I have to do some sort of major role in theater every couple years. There's something about theater that strikes people as artificial as opposed to what they see in television and film. From my perspective, it's just the opposite. I know all the artifice that has to go into television and film, most of which disappears by the time you get the final project. Whereas, theater is continuous and an actor has total control over his performance. This production I just did, "The Misanthrope," was tremendously empowering because I felt quite good about the work I did. You get the luxuries of time in theater and that's what I really like. It's a process of discovery.

Interview copyright JC Williamson and should not be reproduced without permission.