Johnathan Harris speaks with Steve Parady at Megacon

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Jonathan Harris is, of course, best known for portraying Dr. Smith in the Lost in Space TV series. He has said that he has made a career of doing comedic villains. To Battlestar Galactica fans he is remembered for providing the voice of the deliciously evil Lucifer, Baltar's second-in-command on the Cylon base ship. Harris's characterizaton of Lucifer is all the more remarkable considering that the Lucifer had no facial expressions and indeed very limited range of movement at all! Everything about the character had to be portrayed just through voice alone. At a previous convention two years ago, Mr. Harris told the audience how he was responsible for the character.

"Lucifer had no background information written about him. His lines just were there in the script. I came up with the idea that Lucifer was after Baltar's job." He also provided the voice of Spectre, another IL series Cylon in the episode, "The Young Lords."

Lucifer has always been one of my favorite characters on the show, and it was indeed a pleasure to talk with Mr. Harris again at Megacon in Orlando, Florida. Even though he was born in the second decade of the last century, Jonathan Harris's voice is still as strong and unique as ever and his mind is just as sharp. As I did not have a tape recorder with me for this conversation I will paraphrase Mr. Harris's remarks as best as I can remember.

SP: Are you still doing voice work?

JH: Oh yes! I've done many animated cartoons and recently A Bug's Life for Disney.

SP: Have you heard that Battlestar Galactica is being brought back?

JH: I've heard that Richard Hatch is working on something, but nothing definite except rumours. I was the voice of Lucifer in that series. It was one of my favorite roles. All I had to do was go to the recording studio.

SP: It's just been reported that Bryan Singer will be doing a series for Studios USA and the Sci-Fi Channel. He did the X-Men movie. It is to early to tell if Richard Hatch will be involved.

JH: Oh yes? I would love to do the voice of Lucifer again.

SP: Do you remember John Colicos (Baltar)?

JH: Wonderful actor. I never saw him when doing Galactica, though. All my lines were done in the recording studio. The executive producer once asked me if I wanted to go down to the set to see what I looked like. I said "no". This is what I'm being paid for, my voice! I did see the show later on TV. I was golden.

SP: You really glowed!

JH: Yes, I really was glowing, wasn't I?

SP: John Colicos said that he did not know you were involved in the series until it was nearly over when he met you by chance in the studio lot. It has been great talking with you. Would you mind if I put your remarks on BattlestarGalactica.com?

JH: What is BattlestarGalactica.com?

SP: It is a web site for fans of the show. I'm sure the fans would love to hear from you.

JH: Of course you may. My fans always love hearing from me!