Unless otherwise marked, the following is spoken by Lani Tupu. His comments have been kept intact to the best of my ability. Clips have been noted to the best of my ability. Enjoy!

Playing two characters in a show - well, first of all, it's a blessing, that very few actors are given. Captain Crais, I play the character Captain Crais, who is a Peacekeeper Captain.

[Clip: Premier - Crais is walking onto command. Teeg is reporting the escape of the Leviathan and loss of Peacekeeper soldiers. She shows him footage of his brother's death. He demands to see who was in the shuttle that killed his brother.]

Pilot - I voice Pilot, on the other hand.

[Clip: Premier - D'argo is demanding maneuverability. Pilot insists there's nothing he can do to escape, while the control collar is still on. D'argo tears up the control panel.]

He's a wonderful navigator. A wonderful creature who is bonded to this Leviathan, from the waist down. And, it's a great pleasure playing Pilot.

[Clip: Premier - Pilot happily announces that they've succeeded in getting away. He does not, however, know where they are.]

When I first was offered the role, I was suggested to actually play the role as a harassed accountant. So, I think he's gone beyond being a harassed accountant [chuckles], now.

[Clip: :?Family Ties? - Pilot and Aeryn have a deep discussion. He asks on Moya's behalf about her progress in naming the newborn Leviathan.]

What I've introduced in the latter part of the Season Two, even though we're talking about Season One, at present, is an attitude to Pilot, that you don't really get to see in the first series. But, he's a great pleasure to play.

[Clip: DNA Mad Scientist - The crew takes one of his arms to fulfill a bartering deal with Namtar. His arm, for directions to their homes. John talks with Pilot about what happened.]

The first part of Season One, I was on set. In fact, I was in this room. And we had Pilot here, and I was able to - and Pilot's image, there, behind us. Behind you. And I would sit on set and work with the actors. And that was a great pleasure, to do that, but as time went on, it became more difficult for me, because I'd been working on another set. So, logistically, it was impossible to be here for the actors. So, what happens now, is that I work in a studio, which is also on this lot, at Homebush. And I go in there for about two to four hours, voicing Pilot. And, the rushes come up on screen, and I work in the dark, there, with a couple of microphones. And we just work quietly with Angus the technician, and when we're both satisfied that we've gotten what we want, we just go into the next scene. So - but the interesting thing is, when I go in, to voice Captain Crais, as well, I have to do Pilot first, because the voice I have for Captain Crais is much lower - lower register. So, Pilot's working - Pilot's [raising voice to a higher level] way up there, and [lowing voice deep] Captain Crais is way down there.

[Clip: Premier - Crais interrogates John. He accuses him of his brother's death. Aeryn stands up for John, turning Crais' wrath on her, and claiming her irreversibly contaminated.]

Initially, the story arch for Captain Crais, was that he would chase Crichton. Crichton's killed his brother, and out of revenge, I go and chase Crichton. And what happens through the first season, is that you see this man who is absolutely ruthless in his pursuit, for Crichton. Episode Seven, That Old Black Magic, when you see Crais again, in a great confrontation scene, we're sort of battling it out. What happens is, that Crichton explains that it wasn't his fault. He just came around the corner and knocked him. And I won't have a bar of that.

[Clip: That Old Black Magic - John and Crais are together in a center chamber. Crais on one side, John on the other. John starts a fire in the large center "cauldron" of this room, keeping Crais on his side. John explains what happened.]

It seems to me that some roles fit actors better than others - some actors better than others. And this was a role, that, even before I seen the bible, the character flesh-out of who he was, it was explained to me that he was ruthless. He was a Peacekeeper Captain. He was taken as a young boy and conscripted into becoming a Peacekeeper. Like stormtroopers. And I thought, wow, this guy is definitely intense. And there's a part of me that kind of jumped at that, and I thought, oh yes, I've gotta play this role! But with that, I didn't want to reveal everything at once. And this comes back to this whole thing, which I really like to see in actors, that they - it's a thing of great patience. If you're playing a character in a long running series, you have to have great patience in revealing the character's hand, like on Episode Fifteen. Or Episode Twenty. Or, in the Second Series. So, you just have to hang in there quietly. Just quietly work away, and then when it's the time to reveal it, do it right then. And it seemed to me that Crais' complexities, there's room for his vulnerability, later on down the track. And so, I kind of welcome that and kind of - I like wearing Captain Crais' mantle.

[Clip: That Old Black Magic - Maldis shows a piece of Crais' life to Crichton. About how Crais was taken from his family by the Peacekeepers. Maldis brings in the image of Tauvo, grown, and then shows his grisly death.]

Towards the end of the season, you know, I realized that - and we talked this through with the writers - that Crais himself understands that he's actually made a mistake. And, out of guilt for not being there for his brother, because he wanted to pursue his greater ambition. You see the vulnerable side of Crais.

[Clip: Family Ties - Crichton talks with Crais, who is in a cell on Moya. Crais admits to his faults and mistakes.]

It is tiring. When I go in there to work - and it really depends on the complexity of the scene. But, for instance, there was one episode, which I'm in the Aurora Chair, screaming my heart out. [chuckles] Where I'm having my mind extracted and looked into. Physically, at the end of the day, I'm exhausted. You know, I'm working there for say, twelve hours - twelve to thirteen hour days. And when I get in the car, to go home, I just collapse in a heap, you know, and go to sleep. I'm not driving, by the way!

[Clip: The Hidden Memory - Aeryn enters the room, where Crais is bound to the Aurora Chair. He demands that she release him, but she has other plans. She takes his Ident Chip, and cranks up the Chair. Leaving him to be forced to watch his life.]

I just go in there, and if the scene requires me to go to a great depth, emotional depth - because, you know, we have limited time, I try and get all my work done in one or two takes. And so, I literally just go for it. And that's really, really exciting, you know, it's like a hundred yard dash, you know you've got to get to the line [laughs] really quick, so go for it. You know, you can't sort of take your time in there. And because of that, it gives the scene an edge and it also pushes me, to try and get in all the information I that need to get in there, in that time. I'm also working off the other actors. Working with Claudia, working with Virginia, working with Ben. Ben is so fantastic. And these guys give you everything, in there, and so, when we're working in there, it's like a piece of jazz. Intense jazz. We don't really talk about how we're actually going to play the scene, interestingly enough. We go in there, the scene is blocked, and we hear action, and we just go for it. And what Ben gives me, I give back. And Claudia. And so on. And all the other actors that come in as guest actors, as well, see the style that we're working on. Initially for guest actors it was kind of confronting, cause they weren't too sure whether it was kind of like Star Trek, which doesn't go into great, huge, emotional depth. This is really like drama, this is full-on drama. So, we don't hold anything back. It kind of, you know, worked them up a little [chuckles], because we would just go in there and play it, like hard ball.

[Clip: Family Ties - Rygel brings Crais on board. He has found out that Scorpius has ordered his death and comes to Moya for asylum. D'argo beats him to the ground and makes Crais tell everyone that he knew all along that D'argo did not kill his wife.]

See, the thing is this, at the end of Season One, he, you know, I take the baby. And, from one point of view, it's kind of like, you can't do that, you can't take the baby and run off. But in actual fact, I look at it from this point of view, had I not taken the baby, he wouldn't have survived. He simply wouldn't have survived. He wasn't kind of strong enough at that stage to go with Moya, he needed to Starburst out of there. He needed to make a quick exit, and I make a quiet decision, to do that. [Chuckles] And I do! I don't find him - you see, it turns out later on, that he's not that - he's a strategist. So, he - even though he has a blindness in his ruthlessness, for chasing Crichton, he is a great tactician, and strategist. Well, that's the way I like to play him [chuckles], so that's what I think of Crais. So, you know, it comes back to, like, do I think he's a bad man, no, I don't. I just think he makes specific choices. And, because of that, it makes him what he is.

[Clip: Family Ties - Pilot's announcing that Talyn has broken away from Moya and is operating on his own. Crais orders the ship to go into the deepest part of the asteroid debris. Crais and Talyn disappear into the debris.]

My relationship with Talyn is, kind of….how would I - how can I explain it? Talyn is like a child. I think the best way is - explaining it in terms of the way an adult interacts with children. And so, my relationship with Talyn is like a parent to a child. And, I train Talyn. Teach him what he needs to know. Combat. Flying. Warfare. Strategy. But, in that process, as always happens with parents, parent/child relationship, that child will also teach the parent. Things about themselves. And so the relationship, you know, really grows stronger because of that. And where we take - where we see Talyn and Crais through the Second Series that is solidified, we - and then now that we're shooting the Third series, we really see the repercussions - not the repercussions, we see the result of what has happened with Crais and Talyn, being together. They're bonded. They'll have great arguments. In fact, in the third series, the one - the episode I'm shooting right now, which is written by Ben Browder, it's a magic, magic episode called the Green Eyed Monster. You see Talyn and Crais, in a completely different light. And, not that I'm going to give anything away, but it's worth hanging in there [chuckles] to see, because, you know, you just wonder who has the upper hand. [Chuckles] END OF INTERVEW.