alien makeups: Babylon 5 – Aria Tenus

Babylon 5 – Aria Tensus

In ‘The War Prayer’ a racist group is terrorizing non-humans on Babylon 5, stabbing and branding them. Meanwhile Londo has trouble with Aria Tensus (Danica McKellar), a young Centauri woman who wants to break with tradition by ignoring her arranged marriage and instead marrying for love. Naturally, the two stories become intertwined.

The makeup

The makeups for Babylon 5 were originally designed by John Vulich and Optic Nerve Studios; Everett Burrell was the makeup effects creator (seasons 1 & 2); Jeff Fahey was the special makeup effects supervisor (season 5 & the TV movies); Mike Measimer was shop supervisor and also an on-set makeup artist.

They explicitly set out to lift the bar for Sci-Fi TV shows: ‘not just a forehead’. They largely succeeded – setting a standard which only Farscape has beaten. The Narn makeup was particularly ground-breaking proving it was possible to put leading characters in neck-up prosthetics within the time and budget constraints of a TV series – although there were problems in finding actresses prepared to wear it.