Praise and Admiration for Babylon 5

[Easter Lily]

I've been reading the foreward to The Scripts of J. Michael Straczynski and it's hard to believe now that the show almost didn't get made! *shudder* As much as I loved DS9, I am not impressed with what Paramount did. However, every cloud has a silver lining because it forced JMS to stretch his writing legs and distinguish B5 from its rival and every other scifi show before.

The little detail that made me giggle was that the original spelling for G'Kar was "Jackarr"... I am so glad that he went with G'Kar... much more befitting of the character's eloquence.

[AGateFan]

Off work today... got my B5 DVDs.... wonder if I can get through them all in 3 days and still get some other stuff done (like house cleaning). I think I will focus on the commentaries for now, I dont remember if I watched those when I first got the DVDs. I was never into commentaries until I started doing the Stargate (and yes farscape) ones. Now I try to do commentaries for any DVD I get that I really liked.

[manybleemsago]

I've been reading the foreward to The Scripts of J. Michael Straczynski and it's hard to believe now that the show almost didn't get made! *shudder* As much as I loved DS9, I am not impressed with what Paramount did. However, every cloud has a silver lining because it forced JMS to stretch his writing legs and distinguish B5 from its rival and every other scifi show before.

The little detail that made me giggle was that the original spelling for G'Kar was "Jackarr"... I am so glad that he went with G'Kar... much more befitting of the character's eloquence.

I heard that it took some doing...and he's made reference several times about how difficult it was to keep it going. I guess that's why he's a big one for having faith when all seems lost.

I hadn't heard about the original spelling for G'Kar. Yup, much better the second way. Btw, Andreas was amazing...what a find.

[manybleemsago]

Off work today... got my B5 DVDs.... wonder if I can get through them all in 3 days and still get some other stuff done (like house cleaning). I think I will focus on the commentaries for now, I dont remember if I watched those when I first got the DVDs. I was never into commentaries until I started doing the Stargate (and yes farscape) ones. Now I try to do commentaries for any DVD I get that I really liked.

JMS does some particularly good commentaries (at least, that's my experience with the season 2 dvds). He always has something interesting to say. I did like his commentary about G'Kar's codpiece.

JMS: "We had many discussions about how big to make it...Andreas wanted it down to his knees. We said no.

I just love how he threw that in there...then it was off to talk about more serious stuff. What a hoot.

[AGateFan]

Watching the Gathering. I am thinking that guy on the bridge with the old Lt Commander looks an aweful lot like Mr Morden, except with blonde hair.

So because I am a geek and have nothing better to do I looked it up and found out that it is the same guy, Ed Wasser . Maybe you guys already knew that but I had not watched The Gathering I think sense it originally premeired even though I have had the DVD for a while...

Lots of differences between it and the series. Kinda like Stargate the movie vs Stargate the TV show. I love that they softened up on Delenns look A LOT. Commander Takashima was nice and all but shes no Ivonava same with the Dr. Not sure why they initially replaced Lyta with Talia unless they always meant to bring her back the way they did. I much, much prefer the gun looking PPGs over the startreky looking ones they have in this ep. I remember watching this waaaayyy back and thinking "great concept but terrible acting"....but I found the acting not to be as bad as I remembered. I can see how some people knock the special effects on this but again this was made a long time ago and at the time these were great. Also, you can already get a sense of what is to come in this pilot ..... or is that me just projecting .

[OriKiller]

Watching the Gathering. I am thinking that guy on the bridge with the old Lt Commander looks an aweful lot like Mr Morden, except with blonde hair.

So because I am a geek and have nothing better to do I looked it up and found out that it is the same guy, Ed Wasser . Maybe you guys already knew that but I had not watched The Gathering I think sense it originally premeired even though I have had the DVD for a while...

Lots of differences between it and the series. Kinda like Stargate the movie vs Stargate the TV show. I love that they softened up on Delenns look A LOT. Commander Takashima was nice and all but shes no Ivonava same with the Dr. Not sure why they initially replaced Lyta with Talia unless they always meant to bring her back the way they did. I much, much prefer the gun looking PPGs over the startreky looking ones they have in this ep. I remember watching this waaaayyy back and thinking "great concept but terrible acting"....but I found the acting not to be as bad as I remembered. I can see how some people knock the special effects on this but again this was made a long time ago and at the time these were great. Also, you can already get a sense of what is to come in this pilot ..... or is that me just projecting .

Ed Wasser appeared at our local SciFi convention back in 1997 and he talked about playing both roles. Here's another one: remember Robin Atkin Downes, the guy who played Byron in season 5? He actually appeared as a Minbari named Morann (or something like that) in the season 4 episode "Atonement". He reappeared in the pre-quel movie "In the Beginning" playing the same role.

Regarding why they went with Talia over Lyta, my guess is that WB told him to get new actors when he did the show. JMS probably accomodated them to a certain extent, but fought for actors that he felt he needed (Michael, Jerry, Peter, Andreas, Mira). I remember him saying that he really wanted Pat Tallman but he was told to get rid of her. So he did, but then he brought her back later when the show was successful. My theory about having to fire the cast is based on what happened to Gene Roddenberry after the Star Trek pilot. He was told to fire everyone except the captain, but he fought to keep Spock because he felt the character was too important to lose. I'm thinking something similar happened with JMS. But it's just a theory.

[Tok'Ra Hostess]

I can see how some people knock the special effects on this but again this was made a long time ago and at the time these were great.

Ron Thornton did all the SFX for the pilot in a corner of his bedroom with the original Lightwave 3D program on one Amiga and a VideoToaster. Given that, I think the effects were absafraggin'-lootly great!

[manybleemsago]

Regarding why they went with Talia over Lyta, my guess is that WB told him to get new actors when he did the show. JMS probably accomodated them to a certain extent, but fought for actors that he felt he needed (Michael, Jerry, Peter, Andreas, Mira). I remember him saying that he really wanted Pat Tallman but he was told to get rid of her. So he did, but then he brought her back later when the show was successful. My theory about having to fire the cast is based on what happened to Gene Roddenberry after the Star Trek pilot. He was told to fire everyone except the captain, but he fought to keep Spock because he felt the character was too important to lose. I'm thinking something similar happened with JMS. But it's just a theory.

I just read the other day that Pat Tallman was told by a producer that she wouldn't get all of her pay if she didn't...you know. So she refused and that's why she didn't come back. Then when JMS found out about this, he was horrified and made sure she came back. They got rid of the producer...tehe.

[AGateFan]

haha... Ivonava kills me...
Ivonava to ISN reporter: "Don't your too young to experience that much pain"
I dont know why people say season 1 isnt that good. I think its great... ofcourse I do have an attachment to the characters from having seen the rest of the series but still..... Interesting to note that we learned more about Sinclare, Garabali, Ivonava and all the embassators in the first 5 eps then we have learned of any of the SGA people in 2 seasons... or any of the new SG-1 people in the 12 eps we have seen. However we did learn a ton about the original SG-1 in its first 5 eps.... so I still see a tie there.

[AGateFan]

Sinclare to Psi cops Mister, I don't care if you had a personal message from God, complete with stone tablets. You lied to me

Ivonava to Psi cops: Good ol' Psi-Corps. You never cease to amaze me - all the moral fiber of Jack the Ripper. What do you do in your spare time, juggle babies over a fire pit? "Oops, there goes another calculated risk!

EDIT: Man the speach G'Kar gives at the end of this ep to Sinclares girlfriend is awesome. I think this was the first time you start to think of him as more then just the "annoying bad guy ambassador". You get hints in this ep of things to come... The ancient race... and what about the telephath Ironheart when he tells Sinclare he will see him in a million years... does that mean a million years in the PAST when he becomes Valen? Wow what a great ep.

[Shep'sSocks]

The season one knockers often concentrate on Sinclair. Things l've heard include 'The guy's a bad actor', 'He's too stiff', 'He's not command material', and similar. And admittedly, I wasn't overkeen on Sinclair to start with but I adored him fairly quickly. And I was one of those who said 'Ah! Right! Explains everything!' when he was revealed to be Valen. For me, the acting was so subtle because the character was indeed stiff and awkward and not necessarily command material. All these things were revealed but it wasn't the acting, it was the character, and when we learnt what he'd been through, it was made all the more clear.

[OriKiller]

The season one knockers often concentrate on Sinclair. Things l've heard include 'The guy's a bad actor', 'He's too stiff', 'He's not command material', and similar. And admittedly, I wasn't overkeen on Sinclair to start with but I adored him fairly quickly. And I was one of those who said 'Ah! Right! Explains everything!' when he was revealed to be Valen. For me, the acting was so subtle because the character was indeed stiff and awkward and not necessarily command material. All these things were revealed but it wasn't the acting, it was the character, and when we learnt what he'd been through, it was made all the more clear.

Regarding Michael, I read some interviews with cast members and from what I gather of their comments, Michael was frequently nervous on the set and always seemed to think he had to give a "great" performance every time. He was a classically trained actor and he often brought his acting coach to the set to make sure he was doing it right. I believe this accounts for the "stiffness" that you might observe in the character of Sinclair. Everyone knows the type: a perfectionist who puts way too much pressure on himself to perform well. Too bad, because he's really a great guy.

Regarding his departure, the official company line from JMS is that he felt that the pressure of being the haunted war veteran and also the future "messiah" character for the Rangers was too much to put on one character, so he kind of split that up between Sinclair and Sheridan. Unofficially, I believe once again that WB put pressure on JMS to ditch Michael in favor of a more seasoned, more well-known actor, hence the move to Bruce. Notice how the archaeologist background was transferred from Catherine Sakai over to Anna Sheridan, and Catherine disappeared into the great void (which JMS's wife fleshed out in a novel a couple years later). You'll never convince me that it was all planned out. As for Valen, I think JMS made him up after Michael left the cast, as a way of bringing him back and giving him both a past and a future. Scan the first season and see if you can find any mention of Valen. My guess is that he is never mentioned. The first time I can remember hearing him mentioned is the second episode of season 2, Revelations.

[AGateFan]

You may have a point about Valen.. they have not mentioned him yet, not even in the "everyone show off your religion ep" (edit: ep name was THE PARLIAMENT OF DREAMS).... However, the very, very important part about the Valen story does happen in season 1 when B4 shows up. Unless they were originally going to go another direction.

EDIT: Sha'quan was mentioned in BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY. So G'Kars religion is established in season 1.

[AGateFan]

BELIEVERS one of the more depressing eps of B5. I actually thought SGA was going to have Beckett pull a similar stunt with Teylas Mentor last week. I was actually happy they didn’t go there, I don't they could have done it in the B story, but on the other hand it would have made that story a bit more interesting. Beckett is a bit more willing to accept people’s beliefs then Franklin is, despite all Franklins protestations that he is open minded.

[OriKiller]

You may have a point about Valen.. they have not mentioned him yet, not even in the "everyone show off your religion ep" (edit: ep name was THE PARLIAMENT OF DREAMS).... However, the very, very important part about the Valen story does happen in season 1 when B4 shows up. Unless they were originally going to go another direction.

I believe they really were going to go in a different direction. Notice how Delenn is wearing the red outfit in BABYLON SQUARED, but then she's got a green (teal?) outfit on in WAR WITHOUT END, PART 2. It might be just a little continuity error, but who knows. I think they originally intended for Sinclair to be there 20 years later with Delenn (who is not actually shown in that ep, although you know it's her by the voice) but when they switched to Bruce JMS had to change the whole thing. Hence, the rhetorical gymnastics on the part of Zathras to explain why he was calling the person in the suit "the one": "You're the one who was, you're the one who is, and you're the one who will be." Uh huh. *wink*

And I've just lost anyone who is not a total B5 geek. Hey, the DVD's are still available.