Babylon 5's Captain Elizabeth Lochley (Tracy Scoggins). Photo copyright of Babylonian Productions.
In today's Sci-Fi Blast From The Past, actress Tracy Scoggins chats about booking her role of Captain Elizabeth Lochley on Babylon 5.
In the world of television science fiction and fantasy actress Tracy Scoggins is known for her brains as well as her beauty. In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode Destiny she played a Cardassian scientist looking for love in all the wrong places when it came to Chief Miles O’Brien. In Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman her character of Catherine (Cat) Grant was never one to pussyfoot around Clark Kent/Superman, while as the immortal Cassandra in Highlander she enchanted Duncan MacLeod and audiences as well.
The actress’s recent work as Captain Elizabeth Lochley on Babylon 5 has gained her a whole new legion of fans. Her character of Lochley replaced the departing Lieutenant Commander Susan Ivanova (Claudia Christian) in the show’s fifth and final season. Lochley serves alongside ex-spouse Commander John Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner) and helps keep things ship-shape aboard the bustling space station. She eventually tales complete charge of Babylon 5 when Sheridan’s work as the President of the Interstellar Alliance begins to demand more and more of his time. Never one to shy away from hard work Scoggins was thrilled to sign up for space duty.
“The casting directors of Babylon 5 are the same ones who cast me in Highlander, so we already had a good relationship,” notes the actress. “They brought me in and I must say they were very supportive of my efforts in getting this role. I used an English accent for both of my auditions and during the second time around one of the producers asked me, ‘Would you mind going out and preparing it with an American accent?’ I asked, ‘Which state?’ and they said, ‘Yes, use that attitude and come back.’
“I really wanted this role. I’ve had a real take-it-or-leave-it- attitude with a lot of things in my career but this was not one of them. I was already a fan of the show and had heard good things about the producers and what a happy set they had, which is something that matters very much to me.
“What I truly like about Lochley is that she has the capacity for using diplomacy in situations that call for it, but if that doesn’t work she’s just as capable of saying, ‘Attack!’ She’s not afraid of a good fight and is equally comfortable with words or warfare. Lochley has a lot of integrity, too. It truly matters to her to try to take the correct path. I believe that in her mind it’s not about self-aggrandizement and getting promotions; it’s about doing the right thing.”
A casting call for Lochley went out after contract negotiations between Claudia Christian and Babylonian Productions fell through. The character of Susan Ivanova does appear in the program’s finale Sleeping in Light but it was filmed long before a fifth series of Babylon 5 was officially commissioned and when Christian was still part of the regular cast. While Lochley did assume Ivanova’s position she was never intended to be a carbon copy of the character. Scoggins made sure viewers understood that Elizabeth Lochley was a new face in the crowd but beyond that left them to form their own opinions about the stalwart captain.
“One of the things we, Tracy and Elizabeth, have in common is a tendency not to concern ourselves with things that we absolutely cannot control,” she says. “I can’t force people to like Lochley but what I can do is use my energy creating the most watchable character I possibly can. Notice I didn’t say amiable. In the beginning I purposely didn’t make her that likable because I think there were different steps to go through in her development. So I feel my responsibility was to create an interesting character and then let people decide.”
Steve Eramo
As noted above, photo copyright of Babylonian Productions, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!
I really love the last paragraph and how she approached the role - she really was quite different from Ivanova. If Ivanova was a block of deadly sarcasm, she was almost a block of fierce ice. Loved that quality about her. She was assigned to the station not to be a friend with everybody but to do a job... And the job eventually grew on her. :)
Posted by: alex | 03/01/2011 at 08:04 AM