The first time I saw it I was skeptical they really got together but on rewatches it's just plain obvious. That one scene where Talia wakes up and reaches across the bed is unambiguous.
Babylon 5
- Thread starter Kail
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That's how I always saw it. Does any one know if this was ever touched on in a novel or comic?
One of the less-than-canon numbered novels (the first one, "Voices") focused on Talia, and said she regularly was hired for nonsense meetings by Kosh, apparently to foster her growing telepathic abilities, and he helped her escape the station to prove her innocence when she was framed for a crime. I'm pretty sure that's the only time anything related to the mind-recording or Talia's enhanced powers from Jason Ironheart ever came up outside of the show.
I just finished season 2.
So what's up with Warren Keffer? He showed up in the credits at the start of season 2, made no impression, then died. Not only died, but died in a way that hurt the good guys. Was he supposed to be anything? Did he audition then the writers realize they made a horrible mistake?
So what's up with Warren Keffer? He showed up in the credits at the start of season 2, made no impression, then died. Not only died, but died in a way that hurt the good guys. Was he supposed to be anything? Did he audition then the writers realize they made a horrible mistake?
According to J. Michael Straczynski's commentary for the episode "The Fall of Night" on the Babylon 5 Season 2 DVD, the network wanted a hotshot pilot for the show and forced him to write in Keffer. As such, Straczynski never intended Keffer to survive.
https://babylon5.fandom.com/wiki/Warren_Keffer
That was my suspicion at the time well before JMS confirmed it. I thought it was a great takedown of the hotshot ace pilot trope that got network TV executives excited as they imagine viewers drool over Top Gun vibes and would tune in despite the science fiction elements. Another such example would be giving the captain a dog, although that didn't happen on B5. I'm not sure what the inspiration is for that - maybe TV exec like dogs. B5 also had the compulsory martial arts fighting episode (TKO) but I don't know if that was pushed for by the network.
A Squadron leader had been planned but PTEN nixed JMS' character outline for Idori (Dory) Shima. They wanted the 'B5 version of Han Solo'. Even so, perhaps something might have come of the character except that Larry DiTillio let it be known that the actor just really couldn't carry an emotional scene Larry had written for him in GROPOS which may or may not have been a regular issue so...he got melted.
Hell, most of the time I forget even existed and when I'm reminded of him, the only thing I can ever remember about him is "Oh, that's the character the network forced JMS to include and then he died."It might have upped the stakes of the show a bit if anyone had actually cared about Keffer to begin with.
But in Keffer's death we got Marcus... so it all worked out in the end!
I have absolutely no memory of Keffer. I only watched the show once so far, but I have clear memories of pretty much every other main character and a lot of the recurring characters, but I had to look Keffer up on the Babylon 5 Wiki, and he doesn't even look familiar to me.
There is? I just watched season 5 for the first time a week ago.
Like clockwork, and it's almost always a borderline non sequitur. It part of the reason I only tend to skim this thread; I've heard 90% of the talking points before so many times now, I can practically write the inevitable back and forth myself with about a 90% degree of accuracy.
I swear the reason why Lorien sat at the bottom of that pit for a million years was probably a very similar one...
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The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote.
The hour of scampering isn't over until the fat pak'ma'ra sings!
Somebody has been drinking too many Jovian Sunspots.
Granted Keffer was only added due to network pressure, but assuming JMS had been more open to his inclusion, which in turn assumes that there hadn't been concerns about the actor's ability to deliver (I feel bad about that part in particular, and I wonder how much the actor knew about his character's life expectancy), I wonder where things might have gone with him. Would JMS still have killed him at the end of S2, but perhaps in a different way? Given that there wasn't a lot of direct intersection between the pilots of the Starfuries and what Our Heroes were up to most of the time (arguably more in S1), where would his path have even gone? Perhaps he would have become a recurring White Star captain or 1st officer or such? It did seem a little weird that Lennier was doing White Star stuff when AFAWK he didn't have any real training on such things?
It's sort of like if you're in a department at work and there's a person who's part of your department but does radically different work. Ostensibly you're all part of the same team, but you probably don't have a ton of interaction.
It seems like everyone else has a clear reason to be directly or second-handedly involved with the main characters:
Sinclair/Sheridan/Lochley - Captain of B5
Ivanova - 1st Officer
Garibaldi - Chief of Security
Delenn/G'Kar/Londo - Ambassador
Franklin - CMO
Talia/Lyta - Resident Telepath
Vir/Lennier/Na'Toth - Ambassador Aide
Marcus - Okay, this one's a little murkier. He's the face of the Rangers, but they probably could have had different rangers filling this role if so inclined.
Zack - Garibaldi's deputy and later Chief of Security. Up to a point, they probably could have had different deputies working with Garibaldi if so inclined.
What did Keffer - Hotshot Starfury Pilot, bring to the list of characters given where the show was going?
It's sort of like if you're in a department at work and there's a person who's part of your department but does radically different work. Ostensibly you're all part of the same team, but you probably don't have a ton of interaction.
It seems like everyone else has a clear reason to be directly or second-handedly involved with the main characters:
Sinclair/Sheridan/Lochley - Captain of B5
Ivanova - 1st Officer
Garibaldi - Chief of Security
Delenn/G'Kar/Londo - Ambassador
Franklin - CMO
Talia/Lyta - Resident Telepath
Vir/Lennier/Na'Toth - Ambassador Aide
Marcus - Okay, this one's a little murkier. He's the face of the Rangers, but they probably could have had different rangers filling this role if so inclined.
Zack - Garibaldi's deputy and later Chief of Security. Up to a point, they probably could have had different deputies working with Garibaldi if so inclined.
What did Keffer - Hotshot Starfury Pilot, bring to the list of characters given where the show was going?
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