Great new article just out today:
http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/an-ora...novel-that-showed-a-different-way-to-tell-sci
http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/an-ora...novel-that-showed-a-different-way-to-tell-sci
Babylon 5
- Thread starter Kail
- Start date
Just finished season one with my wife, she enjoyed it immensely. Can’t wait to start season two, it’s going to throw her for a loop.
Sad now. Conceptual consultant to Babylon 5, Harlan Ellison passed away in his sleep earlier today.
JMS posted:
Variety article here: https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/harlan-ellison-dead-dies-star-trek-1202861048/
For myself, I doubt if I qualified as the slightes casual acquaintance but Harlan was kind when I was fundraising for a mutual friend battling a terminal illness. He allowed me, a virtual stranger, to auction off his time and personal space in order to raise over $2000 for our friend. The world's a much less interesting place without him.
JMS posted:
Variety article here: https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/harlan-ellison-dead-dies-star-trek-1202861048/
For myself, I doubt if I qualified as the slightes casual acquaintance but Harlan was kind when I was fundraising for a mutual friend battling a terminal illness. He allowed me, a virtual stranger, to auction off his time and personal space in order to raise over $2000 for our friend. The world's a much less interesting place without him.
Wow, so sorry to hear this. I know his health has been faltering for a while, but the news still makes the world a bit less colorful place. I especially love his mind-searing prose, reading and re-reading his many short story collections periodically. But his non-fiction and media criticism were also very engaging -- his "Glass Teat", "Harlan Ellison's Watching", and "An Edge in My Voice" collections are often still as relevant today as they were when they were written.
I thought his participation in B5 was interesting, and I still smile when I hear his "Babylonian Productions Inc." voice-over at the end of the first season episodes...
Last edited:
It's hard to believe that the angry young man of Science Fiction was 84. He's one of my favorite writers and, in my opinion, the last of the great SF writers, even though he was just a boy when the others were already in middle age. Like Clarke, Asimov, and the rest, he was a giant influence on me as a writer. From classic fiction like "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman" to slice-of-life essays like "The Three Most Important Things In Life," Ellison was a presence in American culture that everyone should experience.
RIP, Harlan.
RIP, Harlan.
I just watched the first episode of the second season for the first time. I already miss Sinclair. I know the actor left for health reasons but that he didn't want that known at the time. So how did JMS explain it back then to the press? (Was there press? 
) Did he just pretend it was part of his plan?
) Did he just pretend it was part of his plan?
Pretty much as DonIago said. At the time he said only that it was a mutual and friendly decision. No, he didn't say that he'd planned it all the time. The little detail that he did give is that there would have needed to be a Sheridan character for story reasons and that would have put Sinclair in the background some so that was part of the reason.I just watched the first episode of the second season for the first time. I already miss Sinclair. I know the actor left for health reasons but that he didn't want that known at the time. So how did JMS explain it back then to the press? (Was there press?
I just watched the first episode of the second season for the first time. I already miss Sinclair. I know the actor left for health reasons but that he didn't want that known at the time. So how did JMS explain it back then to the press? (Was there press?
In away he sort of did a dis-service to the actor because I think the idea back then was he was being replaced because Sinclair was boring. Which I myself actually felt he was but still if you are the actor I don't think he would want people thinking about that as a reason though he oviously had bigger issues to deal with than his acting reputation at the time.
Jason
I think Sinclair had a little more presence as an actor, but Sheridan was an interesting character in ways Sinclair couldn't have been.
Sinclair was a Picard type, and the show needed an Adama type. Military, but with lots of empathy and belief in the greater good above over strict discipline.
I'm curious if Sinclair was originally planned to fall in love with Delenn. It works better with Sheridan with his history and created Minbari frictions that Sinclair couldn't have.
Sinclair was a Picard type, and the show needed an Adama type. Military, but with lots of empathy and belief in the greater good above over strict discipline.
I'm curious if Sinclair was originally planned to fall in love with Delenn. It works better with Sheridan with his history and created Minbari frictions that Sinclair couldn't have.
Last edited:
Yes, they were planned to become a couple. In the outline JMS published in the B5 script books, something would have happened to Sakai - a mind rape of sorts - that would have removed her memory of Sinclair. The only way to revers that would be to subject her to the same kind of rape again and Sinclair couldn't do that to her. At that point, Delenn would have moved in on him.
So hard to remember the timeline of exactly when things happen between seasons 2 and 4. When does G'Kar go Jedi again? I keep thinking for some reason I'm close to it.
I was aware of this. When I say dis-service I was thinking of it more of something unintentional. When fans don't have all the facts they can fill in stuff with theories. Most of which end up being incorrect.
Jason
"Dust to Dust" is the big episode for that, in S3.
And there was a fair amount of that. And some cases of malicious gossip. But the main reason for not mentioning his illness was to not hurt any future for his career and in that I think it mostly succeeded.
I'm just watching Born to The Purple and I almost forgot that the 5.1 mixes on the DVD's are also quite...lacking. The VHS audio (and Laserdisc audio), which has the original 2.0 Dolby Surround mixes sound better. It's to bad that Warner's didn't put the original 2.0 mixes on the DVD's. The B5 mixes don't even compare to the 5.1's that appeared on the Star Trek 40-volume set that was released between 1999 & 2001.
Similar threads
