SFX Issue 64

May 2000

News:

B5 meets Who

Babylon 5 ’s Londo swaps series for the new Doctor Who audios

“The interesting thing is that I’ve had very minimal exposure to Doctor Who ,” says Jurasik, whose Who -fan friend Cedric has been rapidly filling him on the details. “I took the gig two weeks ago, and now I’ve gotten here and people are telling me about it I’ve started getting nervous, thinking, ‘Wow this is much bigger than I thought!’”

The story, Winter For The Adept, is due on sale in July. “It takes place at a girls’ school in 1963, in the mountains,” he explains. “It’s the holiday, so most of the girls have left, but there are two girls still there, so it’s a little like The Shining for its setting – naturally spooky already. My character is chasing after one of these girls, a 19-year-old student. He’s a bit of a shady, sleazy character. As it turns out, Doctor Who arrives. His TARDIS – is that how you pronounce it?” he asks (we assure him he’s got it bang on), “– lands up in the attic. They are in search of what they think are poltergeists at the school.

“I don’t know what I thought Doctor Who was going to be about,” he says, “but I thought it was going to be more kind of space stuff. But it’s quite suspenseful, more like a Twilight Zone or an Outer Limits .”

Director Gary Russell says, “The chance to work alongside one of the very best actors from B5 was an opportunity too good to pass up. You know it’s all worked out when they ask if they can do another one. The man’s a real gentleman.” We can also reveal that fellow B5 star Jason Carter is lined up for a Big Finish play later this year.

Dave is a TV and film journalist who specializes in the science fiction and fantasy genres. He's written books about film posters and post-apocalypses, alongside writing for SFX Magazine for many years.