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

[Neroon]

GROPOS is indeed one of those fan favorite episodes, I think because of that rare glimpse into other aspects of military life in that universe. Compare it to "The Siege of AR-558". The episodes are very different in many respects, but.... in each you get to see a side of the conflicts that normally is hidden or forgotten.

 

[Mal]

'GROPOS' is actually one of my favourites. Aside from the fun aspect of it giving a rare glimpse at ground warfare in a sci-fi setting it had some memorable, if a little clichéd guest characters (Large, Dodger, The General & the SgtMaj.) Most of all, it was a very important episode for Franklin; who some fans seam to have it in for, though I never understood why exactly. I remember hearing back during season three or four that JMS was planning on bringing Franklin senior back during the civil war and I was always curious as to why that was never followed up on.
Personally I wonder if he stayed loyal to Earthdome or defected to Sherian's side. Sure the guy may be hard headed, a bit of a gingoistic hawk but he wasn't stupid and after that ISN propoganda piece from 'Illusion Of Truth' you'd think he'd smell the BS. I mean while he may buy that Sheridan had lost it and "gone native" with the aliens, he knows his son well enough to know he's not about to start playing Dr Mengala with Lurkers.

I think General Franklin would have been a much better choice than General Lefcourt, who was the General that confronted Sheridan at Mars in 4x20 Endgame, as well as was David Sheridan's poker buddy in In the Beginning. There's nothing that Lefcourt brings to the role that Franklin Senior wouldn't have done better - and it would have given the whole thing much more of an emotion appeal (for the viewers).

Plus, it would have added significant weight to the choice to send Doctor Franklin with Sheridan on the mission (with G'kar) to meet the Minbari Ranger.

Maybe they weren't clear on how exactly to make Paul Winfield look young. Or maybe, they just wanted a another B5/DS9 crossover

 

[JoeD80]

Most of all, it was a very important episode for Franklin; who some fans seam to have it in for, though I never understood why exactly.

They do? Didn't know that. Franklin is one of my favorite characters.

I remember hearing back during season three or four that JMS was planning on bringing Franklin senior back during the civil war and I was always curious as to why that was never followed up on.
Personally I wonder if he stayed loyal to Earthdome or defected to Sherian's side.

jms' take:

I think he would tend to fall on the other side, and it'd be good to show that some people may think that yes, there's a problem, but you solve that problem from within, not by breaking away. Could make for some nice drama....

Sounds like a bit of this thread got passed to Lochley when that character was created.

Maybe they weren't clear on how exactly to make Paul Winfield look young.

It was either in the script book or in an interview somewhere that Paul Winfield had some trouble with remembering large amounts of dialogue for his scenes; so perhaps they didn't bring him back in another episode because of that.

 

[Neroon]

I keep meaning to post this, and Jan did mention it in the SFF forum.

JMS has given approval to allow John Hudgens to post the music videos he's created over the years. I'm sure many folks have seen them, but in case you haven't ... go to Babylon5scripts.com/videos

The memorial to Andreas is actually a bit longer than the earlier version. It's still primarily done with the "Dragonheart" score, but now it's prefixed with G'Kar's epilogue from "Z'ha'dum".

 

[Phily B]

Got the entire universe boxset for Christmas which has every DVD. Good stuff. Looks awful on my HDTV mind.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

It was either in the script book or in an interview somewhere that Paul Winfield had some trouble with remembering large amounts of dialogue for his scenes; so perhaps they didn't bring him back in another episode because of that.

I also remember a comment, iirc by JMS (Jan help?), that Paul Winfield made some disparaging remarks about the Babylon 5 crew being "unprofessional" compared with the folks at Trek.

 

[Phily B]

holy shit, watched that episode with claudia, jerry and bruce commentating and it was fucking hilarious

needed more commentary

 

[Neroon]

"The Geometry of Shadows"? Yes that's a perfect example of cast commentaries and how two-edged they can be. Personally, I loved it, because I like the banter and so forth, but I can see how some folks aren't as entertained.

 

[Harvey]

I'm not really interested in commentaries to be entertained (unless they're going to go all out and do something like the Tropic Thunder commentary), but I'm a film snob like that. JMS' commentaries are well-prepared and informative, at least of the ones I've listened to. I prefer those, and wish he could speak to every episode (alas!).

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

^I found that it was mostly Christian and Doyle that were the ones who made a farce out of the commentaries, while the others put a little more consideration into their comments, especially Bruce and Peter Jurasik. I also thought Pat Tallman was quite good, in her commentaries, discussing her particular scene and what went on.

Bruce of all the "human" actors seemed to get the show the most, respected what JMS was trying to do with the format and the story.

 

[Vendor]

My favorite Kosh quote -

Kosh: The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote.

from - Believers

 

[Neroon]

At the risk of sounding maudlin... I regret never having heard Andreas Katsulas on a commentary.

 

[Jan]

I also remember a comment, iirc by JMS (Jan help?), that Paul Winfield made some disparaging remarks about the Babylon 5 crew being "unprofessional" compared with the folks at Trek.

I can't find anything in the archives or in the Jane Killick books. In the Other Voices script book for the episode, Larry DiTillio comments that Winfield had some problems with the long speaches and that they had to be cut down and that there was kind of a circus atmosphere when shooting that episode with so many extras.

At the risk of sounding maudlin... I regret never having heard Andreas Katsulas on a commentary.

Agreed completely. I'm completely in agreement with why he didn't (WB wouldn't pay him) but I'd very much have liked to get his insights into his character.

Jan

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

I also remember a comment, iirc by JMS (Jan help?), that Paul Winfield made some disparaging remarks about the Babylon 5 crew being "unprofessional" compared with the folks at Trek.

I can't find anything in the archives or in the Jane Killick books. In the Other Voices script book for the episode, Larry DiTillio comments that Winfield had some problems with the long speaches and that they had to be cut down and that there was kind of a circus atmosphere when shooting that episode with so many extras.

Thanks; I don't know where I saw it. But what I recall was that he said the cast/crew goofed off and that it seemed less professional than the Trek guys. I dunno maybe it was an interview with Paul Winfield. Or my memory is shot.

 

[Jan]

Thanks; I don't know where I saw it. But what I recall was that he said the cast/crew goofed off and that it seemed less professional than the Trek guys. I dunno maybe it was an interview with Paul Winfield. Or my memory is shot.

Well, JMS did say that laughter was a sound you heard a lot there.

Perhaps ther was an interview in the B5 magazine? At some point I'd like to catalogue just what's in each of them since it was always much more than showed in the Contents listing. Some day when I've got more round tuits.

Jan

 

[Neroon]

At some point I'd like to catalogue just what's in each of them since it was always much more than showed in the Contents listing. Some day when I've got more round tuits.

Jan

 

[Bluejay]

I wish outtakes were included in the B5 dvds (like those in ENT dvds...finally!) The only one outtake I remembered was the joke they played on Michael O'Hare in S1.

 

[Lindley]

There are outtakes on the B5 DVDs, but they're hidden. Also, incomplete. They cut the DS9 reference from the season 3 reel, for instance.

I think season 1 is the only B5 set where the hidden egg is the series trailer rather than the outtakes.

 

[Neroon]

The gag reels for the Season 2 and Season 3 boxed sets are hidden as easter eggs. However, the Season 4 and Season 5 boxed sets have their respective gag reels as separate tracks on the last disk of the set. Even so, all of those are still only a subset of the uber-reel for all five seasons.

 

[chrisspringob]

I believe the complete blooper reel for each season can be found on Youtube.