Niners Unite...around Babylon 5! - The Lost Threads

Discussion in 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' started by Neroon, Aug 20, 2007.

  1. Lindley

    Lindley Moderator with a Soul Premium Member

    Joined:
    Nov 30, 2001
    Location:
    Bonney Lake, WA
    Because the Starfury wasn't designed for HD?
     
  2. JoeD80

    JoeD80 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Oct 1, 2008
    Location:
    Los Angeles
    What's weird is that the "dispute" is all from the outside. O'Hare and Straczynski were all fine with it. Just the other day I found yet another O'Hare interview (from about 1996 I believe) where he was talking about the challenges of working on stage vs. television and he says he likes them both and it's interesting to build episode-on-episode on a character vs. playing the same lines on stage every night and he says specifically about B5: "after 22 episodes, I knew I was done with the character" and in a 1997 interview from DragonCon he says "The Sinclair character had reached its pinnacle of definition."

    As for working out the kinks with Sheridan; interestingly enough, Sheridan's scenes for this episode were actually written and filmed after Bruce had been filmed in subsequent episodes. Filming for season 2 started mid-August, and the re-written scenes and re-filmed scenes plus some new scenes involving Sheridan for "Points of Departure" weren't done until mid-September, after several episodes had already been filmed. It was the only episode that involved re-shooting, and jms mentioned in the script books that it was done so that jms could first see how the character was going to fit in before expanding on the scenes in the first episode.

    The reason Keffer didn't go right is because jms had another character in mind that he really wanted to do -- a 30 year-old Japanese fighter pilot. The network vetoed it, and told him they wanted "a han solo 25 year old" character -- so Keffer was born and jms didn't want to use him. The two episodes where he has a big presence (A Distant Star, GROPOS) were written by other writers.

    Just a comment on terms: Larry DiTillio and Harlan Ellison were the only two on staff; the other writer's scripts were commissioned.
     
  3. PlainSimpleJoel

    PlainSimpleJoel Fleet Admiral Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jan 18, 2002
    Location:
    Melbourne, Australia
    Was HD around then?

    Anyways I'm now in the process of watching season 2 for the second time, while I wait to get season 3.
     
  4. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2005
    A slight correction. I wasn't using the term "dispute" to describe O'Hare's departure--by all accounts, unlike Claudia Christian's fuss, it was entirely amicable. I was using the term "dispute" to describe the exact reasons for O'Hare's departure. Even JMS has trouble explaining them, exactly, in the script books, his final conclusion is that the details will be only known to the people who were in the room when the decision was made.

    It seems probable to me that (a) O'Hare wasn't keen on shooting a weekly television series, (b) the character's arc had proceeded much more rapidly than JMS had intended, resulting in his role mostly playing out by the end of the season, and (c) the studio wanting a more prominent actor playing a more traditional leading man in the role. But that's just speculation.

    That's an interesting tidbit, and one I didn't remember. I still think some of his scenes in the episode are quite awkward, but it's been a while since I've seen "Points of Departure."

    I think he didn't even want to introduce Keffer until A Distant Star, but changed his mind (at the studio's insistence?) and introduced him in the opener instead. D.C. Fontana mentions having to re-write what would have been Keffer's introduction in her script because of changes made in the season two premiere. It IS a shame JMS couldn't have introduced his version of the character, though, because Keffer is pretty cookie cutter.

    Quite right. ElimParra used the term "writing staff" and it didn't dawn on me that most of those writers were freelancers, a point that's quite obvious in the "Other Voices" books. Thanks for the correction. :)
     
  5. Damask

    Damask Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Dec 26, 2007
    Near the end of season 2 and it's gone a bit Lord of the Rings in space (not in a bad way!). Interesting.

    I'm starting to cringe anytime a character mentions an "old human saying" though.
     
  6. JoeD80

    JoeD80 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Oct 1, 2008
    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I don't think this happens too much (don't remember all the dialogue in my head), but remember it's an Earth station so the alien characters try to learn about Earth stuff.
     
  7. Pemmer Harge

    Pemmer Harge Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Jun 19, 2009
    Location:
    Between the candle and the star
    From All Alone in the Night:

    Delenn: "Lennier, for the first time, I feel very much alone."
    Lennier: "No. Never alone, Delenn. Never alone"

    Damn that was heartwarming.
     
  8. Mal

    Mal Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2005
    hey kiddos: just FYI, a first-time-through B5 is going on over in the SF&F forum here. these things are a thing of beauty :)
     
  9. tomalak301

    tomalak301 Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 2, 2003
    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    Thanks for linking to my thread. I've been debating putting something in here because this thread has been here for a while and I am trying to avoid spoilers. Still, as a Niner who is getting into B5, it's good to let fellow Niners know that as well. :techman:
     
  10. Kosh Naranek

    Kosh Naranek Captain Captain

    Joined:
    May 25, 2009
    Location:
    Elwood P. Dowd's House
    DS9 and B5 - two of my favorite shows. I love popping into tomalak301's thread.
     
  11. tomalak301

    tomalak301 Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 2, 2003
    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    I'm glad there is much participation in that thread. If there wasn't I probably wouldn't be talking about every episode.
     
  12. Mal

    Mal Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2005
    i think there's so much participation because your summaries/commentaries are so good.
     
  13. ShamelessMcBundy

    ShamelessMcBundy Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 14, 2003
    Location:
    Bursting through walls.
    I know i'm bursting in rather late, but my friend has gotten me into B5 and i am so far into season 2.
     
  14. DevilEyes

    DevilEyes Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Jun 9, 2009
    Location:
    basking in the warmth of the Fire Caves
    Well, inspired by sykonee, I've decided, I'm going to do it: I'm going to start a parallel chronological DS9 rewatch and B5 first time watch (so far I've only seen The Gathering and The Midnight on the Firing Line, a few months ago, but didn't find the time to continue).

    In the meantime, I've found out that Babylon 5 is by ar the most searched term on Trek BBS:

    [​IMG]

    I find it fun to see what some of the other most searched terms include crap, khaaaaan!, more beer! and the women!. :rommie:
     
  15. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2005
    Not quite the most searched, but the most tagged, to be sure.
     
  16. Jan

    Jan Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2005
    Location:
    ...is insane. --JMS
    Enjoy your first watch and please post as you go along!

    Jan
     
  17. tomalak301

    tomalak301 Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 2, 2003
    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    Just curious, do we still need this thread stickied? Doesn't seem to get much action and there is currently a lot of talk about the show in the Scifi Forum lately.

    Personally, I got so excited that Farscape was being rereleased that I've been watching that lately. I'll get back to B5 later on of course (Stopped a little before the Severed Dreams two parter, even though I went through the series completely in August/September) but right now I'm on a bit of a Farscape high. I'm not asking for a "Niners Unite...Around Farscape" or anything but that actually would be nice. I just know this current thread hasn't seen anything for 2 months and I'm wondering why it's still stickied.
     
  18. JoeD80

    JoeD80 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Oct 1, 2008
    Location:
    Los Angeles
    They used Epoxy. That stuff doesn't unstick.
     
  19. canDarian

    canDarian Cadet Newbie

    Joined:
    Jan 9, 2010
    Location:
    Vulcan,Alberta
    Farscape <3 DS9 <3 and B5 <3 thats a new one though I woulda thought it woulda been correlated to BSG,both the old and new one since so many things coalesce between B5 and BSG.
     
  20. hg99076

    hg99076 Guest

    apologies
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 7, 2010