On recasting G'kar and Stephen. . .

[NotSoWize]

I don't want to start a flame war or anything, I just have a question that I think could lead to a lively discussion (and for the record, I really, really, really, liked Andreas and Richard in these roles.)

But . . . I don't quite see how JMS can on the one hand propose a Star Trek: Rebooted with new actors taking on the roles of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy etc. and on the other hand be so adamantly opposed to casting new actors in the roles of G'kar and Dr. Franklin.

In some of his discussion of the rebooted Star Trek, JMS and co-creator Bryce Zabel state: "Will the fans of the original series (call it Star Trek: Classic) accept a new cast and series under the original Star Trek banner? The answer, we believe, is a firm and unequivocal 'yes.'" If JMS truly believed that, then why would he think that the fans of the original B5 would not accept a B5 based series with new actors in the roles of G'kar and Dr. Franklin? I mean we B5 fans can be somewhat fanatical, but certainly not more so than Trekkers!

Personally, I think that the difference is that JMS had a personal relationship with the original cast and he feels it would dishoner those friendships to replace them with new actors. I just wonder if he still feels the same way about the Star Trek: Rebooted as he did when he and Mr. Zabel proposed it. I also wonder how he would have responded had the project moved forward only to be strongly opposed by William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy who originated the roles of Kirk and Spock.

Any thoughts?

[David Panzer]

Was there any indication that the Trek series JMS and Zabel created involved recasting the characters from the original series? Because I interpreted the phrase "under the original Star Trek banner" as a series set in that timeframe but not using the cast of the Enterprise.

While Gene Roddenberry created the Trek universe and the characters, the actors made those characters come to life. Same with JMS and the actors involved in B5.

[OmahaStar]

You're talking about two completely seperate things. In the Trek reboot, it's just that - a reboot. None of the original actors playing the same characters, and it would be the characters as we knew them 40 years ago.

In B5, it would be the same actors, in their same roles, but with two new actors stepping in as the familiar characters Stephen and G'Kar. It would not have been the same. It would have been a disaster, frankly. And this wasn't going to be a reboot. The Trek plan was. Apples and Oranges.

[Jan]

Yes, JMS and Bryce Zabel were, indeed proposing a new Trek in an alternate 'universe' using new actors in the original Trek roles. However, there's one major difference between that and his refusal to allow the B5 actors to be recast. That difference is that there's no way that the original Trek actors can play their original roles any longer *as originally portrayed*. Yes, those who are still living can certainly play their roles, but *not* as the young officers on the original 5-year mission.

EDIT: Oops...I was thinking in terms of the recasting proposed for TMoS, not the possibility of using new actors for Franklin and G'Kar. I think that you're on the right track with the fact that JMS had a relationship with the actors who brought his characters to life, NotSoWize. Going a little further, though, if you've heard JMS's talks about creating characters, you realize that he invests a lot of himself into them so that when the actors have died, he's also lost the ability to 'hear' those characters in his mind. [/edit]

And we don't do much in the way of flaming here. Folks know I really hate wearing my 'moderator' hat.

Jan

[NotSoWize]

And we don't do much in the way of flaming here. Folks know I really hate wearing my 'moderator' hat.

Jan

That is a very good thing to hear! I hate it when someone tries to ask a question only to be inundated with flames that never really respond the the original post.

[Jan]

Oh, things sometimes get heated and even brusque but not nearly as bad as some places I've visited. But then...JMSnews.com only attracts the very finest of posters, don't'cha'know.

Jan

[OmahaStar]

JMSnews.com only attracts the very finest of posters, don't'cha'know.

Jan

And they let the rest of us in here, too!

[Jan]

Well, they let *me* in, didn't they? Shhhhhhh!

Jan
(actually...I have always been here. )

[OmahaStar]

(actually...I have always been here. )

*groan*

[Dr Maturin]

Speaking of Trek, the first teaser poster is out.

[AmyG]

You're talking about two completely seperate things. In the Trek reboot, it's just that - a reboot. None of the original actors playing the same characters, and it would be the characters as we knew them 40 years ago.

In B5, it would be the same actors, in their same roles, but with two new actors stepping in as the familiar characters Stephen and G'Kar. It would not have been the same. It would have been a disaster, frankly. And this wasn't going to be a reboot. The Trek plan was. Apples and Oranges.

OmahaStar hit the nail on the head. While I'm sure that the personal relationship JMS had with the actors on B5 has something to do with it, I think that if this were 40 years down the road from the original airing of the series, and he were (still alive and) recasting all the roles, it would be a different kettle of fish entirely.

But putting two new actors into the roles of Franklin and G'Kar, with all of the other original actors still playing their roles? It'll never happen. I'd bet the mortgage on it. Even if someone offered JMS forty gazillion dollars to do it.

And I, for one, am very glad of it.

[vacantlook]

I can't imagine even the other actors accepting Franklin and G'Kar recast, let alone jms himself.

[Harrdy]

I would prefer if they use old footage from previous filming for appearences, but build the stories around the missing characters (meaning in a way so they don't need to be there).

But IF there was a re-casting I would definitly like a *similar* person for the role. And that person should try to fill the role as good as she can, not trying to be like Andreas or Richard but doing their impression of the role as good as possible. Nobody seems to have a problem with different actors playing the same role in the same theatre piece, so I think it would be possible... but again: Only if the actor tries to be "G'Kar" or "Stephen", not if he tries to be "Andreas G'Kar" or "Richards Stephen"...

PeAcE

[SpanishFan]

No recasting, please.
We are not reimagining B5, maybe someday someone will, but till then Andreas is G'Kar and Biggs is Franklin.
It's not just their faces. It's their voices, the way they move, their facial expressions,...
Remember the recasting of Na'Toth.
G'Kar is wandering through the galaxy, and no doubt Franklin will be busy in his new job, so it will be *easy* to write around them (except for the emotional implications of doing so).
Still, I would like it if could see a call made by their characters (if the existing footage allows it).

[AmyG]

I would prefer if they use old footage from previous filming for appearences, but build the stories around the missing characters (meaning in a way so they don't need to be there).

Since JMS has already said, publicly at a con, that G'Kar is gone, and there will be no more G'Kar stories, we thankfully don't even have to speculate on how, when, and why they would do this.

But IF there was a re-casting I would definitly like a *similar* person for the role. And that person should try to fill the role as good as she can, not trying to be like Andreas or Richard but doing their impression of the role as good as possible. Nobody seems to have a problem with different actors playing the same role in the same theatre piece, so I think it would be possible...

The nature of theater is different than the nature of television. Even in this modern age of everyone owning video recording devices, theater - for the most part - is ephemeral. What I saw last August on stage, on Broadway, in "Spamalot," will never be seen by anyone ever again. At least, not the exact performance that I saw. A television series is static: what I saw in 1993 can be seen again, and again, and again, by anyone in the world, precisely as I saw it thirteen years ago. Andreas exists as G'Kar throughout 110 regular series episodes, and six or so telefilms. That's a lot of hours of film. Imagine if after seven or so years on television, they'd tried to replace Colonel Blake on "M*A*S*H" with another actor. Nope, couldn't be done. So instead they gave his character a discharge, and brought in another commander. Because peoples' memories are long, and you can't just shove another actor in the same role when one particular actor has so owned the role.

That's why you could recast Draal, but not - for instance - Delenn. Because as fine a performance as Louis Turenn gave, it was all of forty-two minutes, and no one imprinted on Turenn as the character the way you would have if he had been a series regular, and had already given us fifty or sixty hours on film as Draal.

No one will play G'Kar other than Andreas -- and no one will play Franklin other than Richard Biggs -- in B5 productions featuring the original cast. It's a done deal, set in stone, so let's turn our energies to something more productive than fantasy-casting replacements for our beloved dead.