A few years ago there was this porn parody for TNG, and you could watch a SFW trailer on YouTube. There's some other porn parodies out there with SFW trailers as well. This reminds me of that. Production value is exactly like what you saw in those trailers.
I was obsessed with the collectable card game. Even now I keep seeing cards in my head when the stills pass by me. Also comparing the powers of the characters to their cards is amusing, when the card game got it wrong a little.
Is G'Kar's Uncle the Soul Hunter from season 1? Yup (I also saw him on Time Cop The Series (its on Youtube) last week.)
Oh man, that episode...if nothing else had made me feel bad for the Narn, that would have... I guess if you watch the series in order the Narn don't come off as favorably as if you, like me, got into the show at S3/late S2 and had to work your way backward later on, but, as it probably should be, it's hard to imagine any typical race of people deserving what they ultimately got.
According to the B5 Security Manual, an in-universe-style reference that couldn't decide if it was a parody of those kinds of books or not, the Vorlon version of "SM" is, itself, sentient, which could be a nod to Douglas Adams, or just to the Vorlons not putting the same value on individual life that we do.
So I guess the Shadow War is upon us. Kosh is an angel!? The station’s defence system reveal was cool. I genuinely think Vir feels sorry for what is happening to the Narn. That scene with G’Kar was intense. Lennier and Vir should start an Assistants Support Group. Side note: I’m disappointed that Talia is gone solely because I enjoyed the relationship between her and Susan. But it’s the 90’s so two women can’t fully be together because OMG the horror! At least they shared a night together.
IIRC JMS had said that if the show had been made later, he would have pushed for a more open portrayal of their relationship. Needless to say, mid-to-late 90's network TV just wasn't there yet. At least it's not forgotten as there will be an incidental yet very definite mention of it later down the line. As for Talia leaving, that was down to the actress asking for more to do and being told something to the effect of: "no, because it's a heavily plotted ensemble show and each character has a prescribed role to play; sometimes that means they're mostly in the background and sometimes they'll be front and centre." She wasn't happy with that and so left to become a news anchor or some-such. That also may have been around the time she divorced Jerry Doyle...or married him? One or the other. I try to retain as little knowledge as possible when it comes to other people's personal lives, especially celebrities.
Knowing that their relationship would’ve been more open under different circumstances is nice. I do find it weird that she was listed in the credits for both seasons. Her character was more recurring than main. Same with G’Kar’s assistant, who I have been told is now on actor #2.
I think who shows up in the credits has more to do with their contracts rather than how much they're actually in the show. The order they show up and what precedes their credit (staring/featuring/and../etc.) is I think more of an actor's union/payscale thing. I could be wrong as it all gets a little confusing. Suffice to say, if an actor is in the credits and not showing up is as many episodes as everyone else then they're probably getting paid more per hour worked than anyone, so in this instance I don't think it was about the money so much as her genuinely feeling like she's not being given much to do (which she wasn't because the Narn/Centauri arc was the priority and season 2 had a lot of ground to cover introducing Sheridan.) Speaking of being the the credits without having much to do; fighter pilot McSmarmy face person who's name I don't quite recall (Keffler?) Was deliberately used the least amount possible because he was the result of the dreaded "studio notes". It's also why he was killed off at the earliest opportunity...which was news to the actor since he wasn't told that was his death scene. Side note: This was probably mentioned back when O'Hare jumped ship, but while JMS did carefully plot out each character's role, he also knew the realities of TV production meant he'd loose a certain number of cast members of the the course of 5 years, so he was careful to write in what he calls "escape hatches" where a character can be dropped out of the show and their arc role shifted onto someone else. In the case of Talia this had already happened as she was a replacement character for Pat Tallman's Lyta, who couldn't make it back after the pilot (there was a 12 month gap after all.) Though in a bit of a twist, the plot arc Talia inherited wasn't Lyta's but Takashima's too. I forget if 'Control' was always to be the means, but one way or another there was always going to be a spy/traitor among the main cast and it was originally supposed to be Takashima. There's still evidence of this in 'The Gathering' as in a blink and you'll miss it shot, you can see she's aiding the Minbari assassin. Oh and while we're talking about cast member changes and people seeming to disappear there's a reason G'Kar's aide just dropped out of the show; they went through like 4 actresses and eventually just gave up on the character. I may have the sequence of events off a little but IIRC the first actress (who's character name I forget) showed up in exactly one episode before being killed off screen and replaced by N'Toth mid-way through season 1. That actress had the leave at the end of season 1 because her skin reacted *very* badly to the heavy make-up appliances and to such a degree it affected her ability to get other work. Someone else was cast to replace her but for whatever reason she wouldn't' play the role to match the original N'Toth (she's noticeably more bland in season 2) and was just quietly dropped. I forget exactly where the 4th actress fits in; whether she was the second or first N'Toth, but she didn't even make in in front of the camera. Apparently as soon as they got the make-up on her she freaked out and quit on the spot.
Babylon 5 seemed to be an odd duck in that respect. I've heard of other shows throwing in the main characters for even a scene in an episode that doesn't involve them because they're being paid to be in the episode, anyway, but many of the Babylon 5 and Crusade actors were seemingly contracted for only a partial (but specific) number of episodes each season, despite being in the opening credits. For instance, Lennier, Vir, and G'Kar's Assistant were all signed up for six episodes in the first season. In the fifth season, Lochley was signed up for thirteen. The Lurker's Guide has charts listing how many episodes each character was in for the first two seasons, and the first halves of seasons 3 and 4, and you can start to get a sense of how the system must've worked (I don't know if the producers had the option to book an actor for an additional episode above their commitment, and that's why there are so many numbers that are off-by-one or what). The one you're forgetting is the first Na'toth, Susan Kellerman. Well, the zeroth Na'toth, since she didn't even make it through makeup on her first day.
I noticed that a bit during my recent rewatch of Star Trek: TNG, there were a few episodes where one of the characters would only appear in the teaser (the scene before the credits), which had nothing to do with the rest of the episode.
G'Kar spaced Kodath too, right near the beginning. Pity. She would have bee. A nice love connection for a Franklin.
I like how they retconned her to have actually been horribly tortured for three years. Did they bring back the season 2 actress for that episode?
As JMS tells the story (IIRC), he called Andrea and Claudia into his office together and said something like "I want to write Susan and Talia having a love affair this year. Are you two okay with that?" Claudia and Andrea looked at each other and without missing a beat started making out hot and heavy in front of him.