ET Interviews Ben

Date: 06/13/2001
From: davron

"Farscape"

Join BEN BROWDER on his wild ride through Uncharted Territories as John Crichton in the Sci Fi Channel's top-rated "Farscape."

ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT: Were you personally interested in science fiction before you got the role on "Farscape"?

BEN BROWDER: (laughs) Personally! Well, I have a great affection for aliens. Actually I did a pilot, which died a very ignorable death. That was the last thing that I did right before I got "Farscape." As far as being interested in science fiction, yeah, I am a big fan, go way back. I saw '2001: A Space Odyssey' when I was a small child. My dad took me to see it in the theater, and it made me want to be an astronaut. Thirty-something years later, I hauled my children to the theater to see it. And there they are, sitting there next to me, enraptured by the same film. Also, I read a lot of science fiction. I'm a huge fan of the original "Star Trek" series. I was at a second-hand book store and came across WILLIAM SHATNER's book on Inside Star Trek.

ET: There is a lot of mythology that accompanies a show like "Farscape." What is it like for you to enter an alternate universe and make sense of it so that it works for your performance?

BEN: I'm lucky. I have the script to help me along. (laughs) But Crichton's way of making sense of it is to identify it in the same way that most of our audience would identify it and go, "Oh my God, it is the Salt Monster from 'Star Trek' the original series," as opposed to describing it as the Slabarian something Beast. (laughs) I sort of make sense of it in layman terms as I go along and catalog it. I always look and go, "Okay, that is a Sykaran and that is in the script," but I get to reduce it down to, "That is the blue vegetable and that is the gray slug." Which I reckon sort of makes it easier for all of us.

ET: What are the special challenges in interacting with animatrons?

BEN: God, I have answered this question so many times that I keep trying to think of a new way to answer it. (laughs) The simple truth is that you treat the puppets like actors, primarily, because the puppeteers are performers and actors in their own right. And the animatronics are more than effective at conveying performance and emotions. You can actually improvise with them. They are limited in their movement but they are not limited in their expressions or in their ability to talk back. You just get sucked in and you treat them like actors. You just look them in the eye and you talk to them. The only difference is that you don't know if they are looking you in the eye or not. (laughs)

ET: What can your fans look forward to for this season?

BEN: One hell of a ride. Specifically I can't say anything. I am contractually bound by my contract not to disclose any plot points of unaired episodes. So there is not a lot that I can give. There is stuff that I would love to give, but I can't. (laughs) I guess that I can say that we are in the middle of doing a two-parter right now which is just humongous, but it is emotionally huge for the characters as well. They've got some big stuff ahead.

ET: Is Aeryn alive?

BEN: Aeryn is alive, but Zhaan is dead.

ET: Can humans and Sebaceans mate?

BEN: The answer is yes, they can mate, but can they reproduce? We haven't produced evidence of that yet.

ET: What do you think is the basic theme of "Farscape"? Is it good versus evil? Everybody is the same under the skin? Or is it more Wizard of Oz-y -- there's no place like home?

BEN: None of the above. More than anything else, "Farscape" is a journey into the unknown and coping with it. It is about discovery, but it is more loose -- not just the discovery of what our humanity is, but a discovery about the possibilities of what else is out there and what they are. The theme is about a journey as well as a personal journey. It's a journey into discovering how one is going to cope in a dangerous and alien environment and also an amazing environment. It's about life on the other side of the universe. It's about facing death on the other side of the universe. It's about how do I get out of the other side of the universe? It is not a single message and, at least up to this point over two-and-one-half seasons into the series, it is about personal growth, development and adventure.

ET: I like that. The first fan club was held in Burbank a while back. Where you able to attend that?

BEN: Yes, I was.

ET: What was that like? What were your fans like?

BEN: It was "Galaxy Quest" meets my life. It was remarkable! Because we work here in Australia where the show is not on the air, we work pretty much in isolation for the most part. I could strip naked and walk down the street and no one would know go, "Look there is John Crichton. Quick, get a picture." We work in anonymity. So to go somewhere where the show is on the air and meet people who really know the show, who enjoy the show and love the show, is a fantastic way to reinforce your commitment to the show and to your audience. It's overwhelming to be confronted by a few thousand people at one time that seem to know everything about the show.

There is such an overwhelming sense of affection and love coming from the audience that you feel at that moment that you can do no wrong -- until you go home where everything you do is wrong. (laughs) It is fascinating. Two days of something that I never experienced before and, being that this was my first time, I doubt that I will ever experience again. It was fantastic.

ET: I imagine that it was quite different than "Party of Five" fans.

BEN: I don't know. The "Party of Five" fans that I met were pretty devoted to the show. They used to watch it in large groups. There is a certain similarity there. "Party of Five" is another one of those shows like the original "Star Trek" series that was saved by the fans. The Internet was responsible for, essentially, saving the second season of "Party of Five. " Then it went on for five or six years. So they have that same kind of hard-core fan base with a large Internet community, not as large as "Farscape", but fairly rabid. Many of the fans that I met were fairly rabid about the show.

ET: How many months out of the year do you have to stay in Australia? And when do you get back to the States?

BEN: I am in Australia probably 10 months out of the year. Our pre-production, shooting, and postproduction schedules eat up most of that amount of time. I'll be in postproduction for at least a month after we finish shooting. Then I wrote one script this year, which meant that I was in meetings with the writers here in Australia and back in the States. Probably the same will be true of the fourth season as well.

ET: Was that the first script that you have written?

BEN: The first produced script, yeah.

ET: Is that an area that you would like to pursue?

BEN: I love doing it. I absolutely love sitting at a coffee shop writing. The thing that I love about writing is that you are alone with your thoughts and you are totally responsible for the story at that point, as oppose to being a part of it. You are creating something anew; you're creating something for the first time in total, whereas in acting you are doing part of a story and you are interpreting.