Why did Michael O'Hare leave Babylon 5?
- Thread starter Clym
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My guess is that he retired around the time his child was born (late 2003). I don't think he's been in any plays since then. She'd only be turning 5 this month.
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Here is a interesting snippet i found on the net from JMS himself on the matter of changing cast members, posted way back in 1994...
http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/misc/sinclair-leave.html
http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/misc/sinclair-leave.html
The 'top heavy' thing doesn't make sense. These type of shows don't go without an engrossing hero on type and it's not easy to pull off. Shatner was good for his time, Stewart while oddly stiff in everything else he ever played was superb as Picard. O'Hare comes across as a proud Harvard elite who was never challenged enough in life to portray any emotional depth. A more non confrontational (and maybe better) solution would have been to limit him to just giving orders and play other characters emotional scenes off of his natural stiffness rather than trying to clone the Star Trek model. Would O'hare have taken that pay grade? Maybe not but he wasn't going to get more anywhere else.
I just always assumed it was either A) the studio was unimpressed with him or B) JMS planned it that way all along, although O'Hare desiring to be closer to his family makes a lot of sense, too. Whichever it was, his being replaced with Bruce Boxleitner as the show's lead paved the way for my favorite B5 episode of all-time: the 3rd season two-parter "War Without End."
There must be some tiny grain of truth somewhere in Doyle (who is actually the REAL nutcase here) and Christain's stories, but neither sounds like the reason for O'Hare's departure.
There must be some tiny grain of truth somewhere in Doyle (who is actually the REAL nutcase here) and Christain's stories, but neither sounds like the reason for O'Hare's departure.
I always believed it was a combination of things. That the Studio wasn't happy with him overall. That JMS was planning on bringing in the character that was Sheridan, with the knowledge and being able to get someone of Bruce Boxleitner decided to move it up. Having spent the year in California to make B5 that Michael O'Hare missed his family and the familiarity of Broadway. So these things all aligned to make the change.
I think I truly came to appreciate Sinclair on subsequent viewings of the show. As much as I love Babylon 5 as a whole, I really like the vibe of season 1. It feels more "hard science" to me....probably due to the world building going on. The station just felt "larger". You see the dockers guild, hear about how expensive space travel is, how space is limited aboard the station and they have yet to get to all of the various "mythology" elements. I don't mean the mythology *of* the show, but *in* the show.
There's no Rangers or Technomages yet. It all felt more believable. And while I liked the Rangers, I can't say that I ever really cared much for the Technomages. Despite the "technology that simulates magic" line, it basically was magic. That changed the vibe of things in the B5 universe, more Crusade than B5.
Sometimes I think I'd have enjoyed the show if it was just about life aboard a five mile long space station with a cool, inner core that had a small city in it. The story potential in just that was awesome, certainly moreso than DS9's smaller station.
The station had it's own class structure, mob, homeless folks, business community, "water front" dock guys, etc. The place just seemed endless and interesting to explore, and usually when watching season 1, I just like the more normal approach before the cosmic stuff kicks in.
There's no Rangers or Technomages yet. It all felt more believable. And while I liked the Rangers, I can't say that I ever really cared much for the Technomages. Despite the "technology that simulates magic" line, it basically was magic. That changed the vibe of things in the B5 universe, more Crusade than B5.
Sometimes I think I'd have enjoyed the show if it was just about life aboard a five mile long space station with a cool, inner core that had a small city in it. The story potential in just that was awesome, certainly moreso than DS9's smaller station.
The station had it's own class structure, mob, homeless folks, business community, "water front" dock guys, etc. The place just seemed endless and interesting to explore, and usually when watching season 1, I just like the more normal approach before the cosmic stuff kicks in.
I'd like to see more tv space adventures without telepathy or technomages, or even religion...the first is squarely within the confines of pseudoscience and in my opinion always will be. Technomages harken back to fantasy and I can do without that in hard SF. Religion is something that I feel more advanced societies will abandon (whether it's through a singularity or other means, idk).
You probably shouldn't say that about people that you don't know.
I've never read anything that said WB had a problem with O'Hare. But on the subject of what the studio wanted - according to Doug Netter's interview in one of the recent books, he does say that WB wanted an actor who had been a regular lead on a TV show before, which was part of the reason for bringing in Boxleitner.Tom Hendricks said:
I met Michael O' Hare at a convention in NYC during the run of the first season. I worked security at the conventions and I was assigned to him. From talking with him that day and the answers he gave, for all intensive purpose he was returning to B5 for season two. He talked about how excited he was to explore the character more in season two and how good he felt season one turned out. He did talk about how he missed Broadway and NYC but it didn't seam like he was talking about leaving B5 for it. In the long run it doesn't matter and we'll never know. We can only assert our beliefs and mine is that WB was unhappy with his overall performance.
From what I understand, at some point in S1, JMS realized that Sheridan/Sinclair was too big for a single character, and Sheridan needed to be brought onto the canvas at some point, in order to split that character arc up, though, it was initially meant to be a little later.
Seems like I recall reading in one of the big sci-fi mags of the day, Starlog or Cinemafantastique, an interview with JMS where he says that this was due to the studio and that he didn't expect it and that he'd be reworking the story a bit.
This is pretty much how I've thought of it all since then. I remember reading Ellison or JMS later saying "it was all planned" and thinking "whoa! that's not what you said earlier." It reminded me of Lucas saying for years "Nine movies" then later saying "It was never going to be more than six".
Was not aware of some of the other stuff I've been reading regarding various cast members and gossipy stuff.
Doyle particularly.
This is pretty much how I've thought of it all since then. I remember reading Ellison or JMS later saying "it was all planned" and thinking "whoa! that's not what you said earlier." It reminded me of Lucas saying for years "Nine movies" then later saying "It was never going to be more than six".
Was not aware of some of the other stuff I've been reading regarding various cast members and gossipy stuff.
Doyle particularly.
Christian's version is as close as any, but not very.
Can't believe this is still coming up. This is the post where JMS made the announcement about the change. Anybody who's familiar with JMS' posts and talks pretty much knows that if a studio forced something on him, he was pretty vocal about it - if not immediately, than down the road. For instance the way he was forced to change the squadron leader character that he wanted to a 'Han Solo type'. To this day, he's never wavered that the separation was amicable and mutual. And I'm certain that we would have by now.
Which doesn't mean that the studio didn't want a bigger name for the leader of the Station, only that the change wasn't forced on JMS.
As for Jerry Doyle, he's never been anything but an ass when it comes to Michael O'Hare. Or IMO, the period could have come after the word 'ass'.
Jan
Which doesn't mean that the studio didn't want a bigger name for the leader of the Station, only that the change wasn't forced on JMS.
As for Jerry Doyle, he's never been anything but an ass when it comes to Michael O'Hare. Or IMO, the period could have come after the word 'ass'.
Jan
I wish Trek had been able to do a "two captains" story this good. I felt like both Sinclair and Sheridan were portrayed equally well, neither particularly over shadowing the other, their differences and similarities nicely contrasted, and a general sense of goodwill towards each other with just the right amount of humor.
"Generations" was meh, and they never really attempted a team-up with any of the later captains, despite having the concept of "Q" to pretty much remove any limitations regarding time and space.
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