I was reminded on another page that it was three years ago yesterday that JMS held his 'Promise Panel' at the Phoenix Comic-Con reunion. This is what I posted that day:
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For the second half of the panel, JMS shooed to 'moderator' off and talked about Rick, Andreas, Jeffrey and Michael. It was a true tribute to their courage and grace in the way that inspired him. I'll go into more detail on what he said about the others, but the promise he'd made was to Michael O'hare.
Toward the last third of season one, JMS and Michael realized that he had a problem of increasingly delusional episodes, typified by paranoia. This can be helped with medication but that takes time and there really wasn't time while the show was shooting. JMS was even willing to shut down production for Michael to be able to get the help he needed but Michael didn't want to be responsible for the show shutting down and asked JMS to let him try to complete shooting. JMS did, and admired Michael was he struggled.
After shooting was done, they all knew that Michael couldn't carry on so JMS let him know that when the time came, Michael could come back to complete Sinclair's arc. Thanks to friends, JMS knew when Michael was able to come back and perform in "War Without End". Afterward, JMS promised Michael that he'd 'keep the secret to his grave' but Michael asked him to keep the secret to *his* (Michael's) grave instead. And so...JMS told the story of Michael's struggle today. And he told us how there were times when the fans really helped Michael keep. going.
JMS' admiration for the courage that each man showed was obviously deeply felt and sincere and the entire room (which was full to capacity) gave him a standing ovation and thanked him for what he'd said. It was an amazing experience.
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One of several videos online:
