Who's your favorite guest star on B5?

[Andrew_Swallow]

Originally posted by CRONAN

********Incoming Spoilers*******

Dont read this if you havent read the Psi Tril!!!!!!


(I loved the scene where Bester attempts to convince Garibaldi hes not a monster, where he talks about having a wife and kids and taking walks in the park, to wit Garibaldi claps, then says - with a straight, sincere face - ''Close. For a second there, you almost had me convinced you were human.'')

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As the books make clear, Bester was lying.

[grumbler]

Actually, the series made that clear. Bester himself notes "there was no love there."

[NotKosh]

These are all great answers. Excluding Koenig and Alexander, I would have to go with John Vickery, as Neroon and Mr. Welles (also on Crusade!).

[Merian]

My fav would be the guy who portrayed Emperor Cartagia Worthem Kremmer.

[AmyG]

There are way too many extremely talented actors in recurring roles for me to choose one - I mean, we have Walter Koenig (Bester), William Forward (Refa), Wortham Krimmer (Cartagia), John Vickery (Neroon)....

So I'll restrict myself to single-appearance guests. And again, most of them are _extremely_ talented actors, so it's hard to choose just one based on acting ability. That leaves personal favorites, based on simply my own whim. So, having said that, it's got to be Michael York as Arthur ("A Late Delivery from Avalon"), and David Warner as Aldous Gaijic ("Grail"). Both phenomenal actors who brought tremendous grace and soul to their characters. Oh, let me also put in a mention for Keith Szarabajka as Matthew Stoner ("Soul Mates"). I think he's one of the US's best, most unsung character actors. JMS and the crew had a real knack for finding great, underused talent like him.

Aisling

[jcbatz]

Originally posted by Ranger1
Martin Sheen!!!! as the Soul Hunter in River of Souls muuahahahahaha

You know, that always bugged me. Martin Sheen is such a good actor. Why the hell did he flake out all over his performance in River of Souls? Is it just as simple as: he didn't really know what he was doing?

Willard let me down, man...

[grumbler]

Originally posted by AislingGrey
JMS and the crew had a real knack for finding great, underused talent like him.

And a lot of luck, in some cases. I thought Bruce McGill as Major Ryan was a great casting "against type" move in that he wasn't the sleek selfconfident earthforcie we saw before, he was more luck an ordinary guy "thrust in the middle of extraordinary circumstances."

Ironically, it was Everett McGill JMS thought he was casting - in other words, another sveldt EA type. I thought Bruce was, in retrospect, a better choice.

[Lieutenant Keffer]

also, lest us not forget the guy who played the Centauri Regent with such an irreverent flair! he was fabulous!

and then what about Mac and Bo???? i mean c'mon people! those guys were real mechanics! it was in their blood i tell ya! LOL

[NotKosh]

Here is another 1 episode guy.

Londo's dueling association friend that he had to kill.

[jolty]

Well for me as well it's Walter Koenig's role as Bester I was so blown away by his performance I had no idea he was that talented. I mean he always did an fine job as Chekov but to be honest any resonably good actor could have done it. Not so for Alfred Bester only an extremely talented actor could have done what he did with that character. And it's great to see that Walter Koenig finially got a role worthy of his talent.

In fact as far as all charactors on B5 I would say Bester was second most interesting only to Londo.

But as far as guest actors go other than Walter Koenig goes I'd have to mention Wortham Krimmer (Cartagia) and Ed Wasser(Morden)stand out. Of the guest actors that only appeared once my all time hands down favorite was Gregory Martin as Colonel Ari Ben Zane his performance blew me away. It's to bad Ben Zane had to go off the deep end at the end of the episode "Eyes" he could have been a great re-occuring villian. Eyes is one of my all time favorite episodes that I've watched countless times mostly because of the strength of his performance. As far as I'm concerned Gregory Martin stole the show in that episode.

[WorkerCaste]

I'd have to agree with Notkosh (and AislingGray, too) that my favorite would be John Vickery, both as Mr. Welles and Neroon. Tremendous presence and great voice. Pleasant surprise, too, when I heard that familiar voice on Broadway in "The Lion King" as Scar.

[Ben-Thayer Dunnthaedt]

Bester is absolutely at the top of the heap, hands down.

But any scene including Morden (Ed Wasser), Cartagia (Wortham Krimmer), or the Minister (Damien London) should be classified officially as "stolen". Especially the Minister, he cracked me up. "We'll be in the SAAAND GAAARDEN"

Lt. Keffer:

Mack and Bo...! Man, I got a good laugh at that one

But one performance usually goes unnoticed, that of Turhan Bey in the role of Emperor Turhan. Bey made a name for himself in the 40's in a run of Arabian Nights-themed films with Maria Montez and John Hall. That was a terrific piece of casting, absolutely PERFECT for the role.

[AmyG]

But one performance usually goes unnoticed, that of Turhan Bey in the role of Emperor Turhan. Bey made a name for himself in the 40's in a run of Arabian Nights-themed films with Maria Montez and John Hall. That was a terrific piece of casting, absolutely PERFECT for the role.

He also did a great job as Turval, the Ranger meditation teacher, in "Learning Curve." I think he made a better Minbari even than a Centauri.

Aisling

[Ben-Thayer Dunnthaedt]

I can't help it, this thread is fantastic! So many references to so many great characters.

So can we take it one step further? How about everyone continuing by citing an example of something that unforgettable character did; a quote or an anecdote for example.

One of the things Bester did that I enjoyed was his use of relevant quotes from great literature. For example, "For the love of God, Montresor" from A Cask of Amontillado. Darn it! I'm trying to figure out which episode this was and what the situation was. I want to say it was either to Zack or Garibaldi, with Bester saying something like "you wound me". Anyone know the exact scene? Another was when the guard told him to mind his own business he replied "Humanity IS my business! ...Marley to Scrooge." WK used this kind of dialogue to its utmost, giving the character even more depth.

[Jan]

Originally posted by Ben-Thayer Dunnthaedt

One of the things Bester did that I enjoyed was his use of relevant quotes from great literature. For example, "For the love of God, Montresor" from A Cask of Amontillado. Darn it! I'm trying to figure out which episode this was and what the situation was. I want to say it was either to Zack or Garibaldi, with Bester saying something like "you wound me". Anyone know the exact scene?

I'm not certain, but wasn't it when Garibaldi was trying to shoot him if he wouldn't record a confession?

Jan