Lani Tupu is most recognizable to Farscape fans as the show’s first antagonist, Bialar Crais. He was also the voice of Pilot, one of the alien creatures created for the show by the Jim Henson Creature Shop. We were able to snag some time with him just before Dragon Con officially ended.

Daily Dragon (DD): CGI or Puppets?

Lani Tupu (LT): Puppets, definitely.

DD: Defend your thesis!

LT: I like working in a team. And when you have puppets there you’ve got the whole team and there’s this wonderful interaction with each other. I would miss that if it was just CGI.

DD: You played two roles on the show, a Peacekeeper and the voice of an alien puppet. How do you approach both kinds of acting?

LT: The way that I worked with Pilot—well, he needed to look after everybody. All the lines were driven toward that perspective. Crais was more about self-interest, so there’s a completely different dynamic.

DD: Was it difficult to swing between both?

LT: Oh, no. My mind’s pretty split, anyway! [laughs]

DD: We’ll say you’re good at compartmentalizing.

LT: That’s it.