Tracy Scoggins didn't join the cast of Babylon 5 until the fifth and final season, but quickly earned a loyal base of fans as the no-nonsense Captain Elizabeth Lochley. Now she's back, in Voices in the Dark, the first part of Babylon 5: The Lost Tales. Joe Nazzaro spoke to her about her continuing passion for the show.

Does it feel strange to be talking about Babylon 5 again after all these years?

No. I’ve always said, I’m not just the captain, I’m also a fan, so Babylon 5 never really went away. One time I called Jerry Doyle [Garibaldi], because I had been watching all five seasons on DVD, and he said, "Get a life! Don’t you have something better to do?" I guess I should have seen that coming! Sentimentality was just not meant to be there, but the friendship always was.

So I always knew – or, at least, I had a very strong premonition – that I’d be back in uniform. Indulge me a moment’s vanity, too, because they had to seam in the waist of that uniform, as I’ve lost a little bit of weight!

How quickly did you settle back into the character and surroundings?

First of all, there was nothing similar about the sets. It was almost entirely green screen, so I felt like I had been dropped into an enormous Sprite commercial. It was very disorienting at the beginning, but luckily Joe Straczynski was there, and he has every action and stage direction dancing around in his mind. I don’t know how I could have done it without him.

I’ve stayed in touch with Joe over the years because we both keep Vampire Lestat hours. We like to stay up all night, so we know that we can call each other at an uncivilized hour and say, "Hey, what’s up?" I wasn’t around when he directed before, but I really enjoyed it. With the green screen, it would have been really hard working with another director, but Joe knows me so well by now.

Was it strange to be shooting Babylon 5 with a brand new group of people?

Nothing against the crew in Vancouver, who are lovely, but I didn’t realize how good I had it before. We were all part a family, so doing this was like a family reunion where most of the family wasn’t there.

Except for Lonesome Dove, Babylon 5 was unlike any other series I have worked on, because we couldn’t get enough of each other. We would all sit together and joke around at lunch, or sit in Jerry’s trailer and look at the Pamela Anderson/Tommy Lee video… It was always fun and we always felt completely free to walk into the offices, just to say, "Hey, what’s up?"

At what point does this DVD fit into continuity?

It’s after Crusade, and, of course, it would have to be before Sleeping in Light. I think one of my first lines of narration indicates that it’s eight or nine years since I’ve taken over the day-to-day command of the station. Crusade was meant to be a five-year mission, but, since it never finished, who’s to say how long the mission was?

How do you think Voices in the Dark will be received?

I think fans will be just as happy as we were to see life breathed into these characters again. The FX are nine years down the road, too, so people won't be disappointed. My part was written to go along with my beliefs, which Joe knows so well, so it was a very meaningful part for me as an actress.

Lochley's a full colonel now, who could do anything she wants. She could have a cushy desk job somewhere, but she cannot help but have this love for Babylon 5, and that’s how I feel about it, too!

Babylon 5: The Lost Tales: Voices in the Dark is released in the US on 31 July 2007.