Re: Newbie question
He's seen up to Season 4 so we're good.
Basically, here's how I would distribute all cast-changes (of regular players) in B5.
Real Life Factors
Lyta (originally)
Takishima
Talia
Ivanova
Na'Toth (v.1)
Loaded Gun
Benjamin Kyle
Carolyn Skyes
Sinclair
Keffer
Na'Toth (v.2)
Marcus
From my above post we can see that Talia was intended to be a 5-year person... Lyta only got brought in to replace her replacement, for lack of better words (Patricia Tallman was quite let down about not being in the series after she took bad management device and turned down the chance, and made it no secret to con-goers at the time that she wish she'd get a chance to get back in, so we can imagine JMS was thrilled at the thought to be able to bring his original teep back into play with a willing actress)
As for Ivanova...
As for the rest, I have a feeling that her character would have gone buisness-as-usual as Lochley did in Season 5. Though we might have gotten a Marcus/Ivanova Day of the Dead event, which would have been rather neat 
Now onto the final one... the one most of my intrest. If you couldn't tell by now, I've always been a bit... obsessed with the character "what ifs" B5... all of which these are examples of. But none so greater then this one in paticular... the Sinclair/Sheridan question. The reason why it's difficult is because for all intents and purposes, Sinclair was a 5-year arc character. He was billed as the main character in everything, and indeed, was. But yet the Valen thing was set up from the beginning, supposedly. So how would War Without End work?
First off, I'm a bit doubtful of assurances JMS has made since then that the Valen thing was always set up due to this little gem of info...
So that's something to consider.
Some have suggested that WWE was the original Series Finale. I have a hard time accepting this for one simple reason: No motivation without the Shadows around anymore. The motivation behind going back in time to steal B4 is to save the station from an alternate reality where B5 is destroyed by a Shadow attack. But in any year after 2261, there would be no more Shadows. No more motivation for an attack. So, it would have to happen in Year 3... but if that was the case, how could Sinclair eventually become Valen if he was intended to be there for 5 years?
Another intresting WWE problem is the question of "The One". It's quite possible that The One would have been handled in the same way, only with a different character... I tend to lean this way and towards Ivanova, who does become En'Til'Zha at the end of SiL, which seems like a smoother transition then Sheridan occupying the role over the past 2 years because Delenn became two busy with work as ISA President.
Just some food for thought. This is quite an intresting subject matter, and truth be told if I could ask JMS *any* question, I'd do anything to hear him answer this: "How would the series arc have been had Sinclair remained and Sheridan never came into play?"
While I have every confidence that the story was better for Sheridan's addition (even though I'm a much bigger Sinclair fan personally), I'd still love to know desperately... but I don't see jms answering that one anytime soon
Originally posted by Joe Nazzaro
I don't want to give anything away for our Newbie friend who started this thread, so maybe he'd better skip over this post, but I can't help wondering how much of that is 'loaded gun' and how much is actually revisionist history. Would Talia have become a part of the five-year arc if Pat Tallman had been brought back in the first place to reprise the role of Lyta? Would JMS have needed Sheridan if not for Michael O'Hare's departure, and how would that affected big chunks of his arc, particularly World without End? What would season five have been like with Ivanova instead of Lochley?
I don't want to give anything away for our Newbie friend who started this thread, so maybe he'd better skip over this post, but I can't help wondering how much of that is 'loaded gun' and how much is actually revisionist history. Would Talia have become a part of the five-year arc if Pat Tallman had been brought back in the first place to reprise the role of Lyta? Would JMS have needed Sheridan if not for Michael O'Hare's departure, and how would that affected big chunks of his arc, particularly World without End? What would season five have been like with Ivanova instead of Lochley?
Basically, here's how I would distribute all cast-changes (of regular players) in B5.
Real Life Factors
Lyta (originally)
Takishima
Talia
Ivanova
Na'Toth (v.1)
Loaded Gun
Benjamin Kyle
Carolyn Skyes
Sinclair
Keffer
Na'Toth (v.2)
Marcus
From my above post we can see that Talia was intended to be a 5-year person... Lyta only got brought in to replace her replacement, for lack of better words (Patricia Tallman was quite let down about not being in the series after she took bad management device and turned down the chance, and made it no secret to con-goers at the time that she wish she'd get a chance to get back in, so we can imagine JMS was thrilled at the thought to be able to bring his original teep back into play with a willing actress)
As for Ivanova...
Subject: UK Showing - ep 517
From: J. Michael Straczynski <[email protected]>
Date: 08/05/1998 09:40 AM
Forum: Compuserve
It's no secret that I would've had Ivanova becoming somewhat
linked to Byron romantically (she would see him as a character like
Marcus, which is why there are certain similarities, and she would take
a chance only to find it wrong this time, underlining that she'd missed
her one major opportunity thus far for a good relationship). This was
expressed to Claudia toward the last part of S4, so she knew at that
time that her latent ability would be coming out, and that she'd have a
big part in S5.
In this scenario, Lyta would have become a devoted follower of
Byron's, much as she has, but it would have been more love from afar:
protective, somewhat unrequited but hoping for more...so that when he
met his fate, Lyta would end up right where she is now, just by a
different road.
jms
From: J. Michael Straczynski <[email protected]>
Date: 08/05/1998 09:40 AM
Forum: Compuserve
It's no secret that I would've had Ivanova becoming somewhat
linked to Byron romantically (she would see him as a character like
Marcus, which is why there are certain similarities, and she would take
a chance only to find it wrong this time, underlining that she'd missed
her one major opportunity thus far for a good relationship). This was
expressed to Claudia toward the last part of S4, so she knew at that
time that her latent ability would be coming out, and that she'd have a
big part in S5.
In this scenario, Lyta would have become a devoted follower of
Byron's, much as she has, but it would have been more love from afar:
protective, somewhat unrequited but hoping for more...so that when he
met his fate, Lyta would end up right where she is now, just by a
different road.
jms

Now onto the final one... the one most of my intrest. If you couldn't tell by now, I've always been a bit... obsessed with the character "what ifs" B5... all of which these are examples of. But none so greater then this one in paticular... the Sinclair/Sheridan question. The reason why it's difficult is because for all intents and purposes, Sinclair was a 5-year arc character. He was billed as the main character in everything, and indeed, was. But yet the Valen thing was set up from the beginning, supposedly. So how would War Without End work?
First off, I'm a bit doubtful of assurances JMS has made since then that the Valen thing was always set up due to this little gem of info...
Subject: Obviously I can't say much about...
From: STRACZYNSKI [Joe]
Date: 05/20/1994 02:22 PM
Forum: Genie
Obviously I can't say much about season two plans at this time, since
doing so would destroy the intent of doing some things folks may not expect.
All I can say is that the deeper we got into the series, and the more I *saw*
the dynamics of the characters, the more I kept looking back and forth, from
the Minbari to Sinclair, Sinclair to Minbari, and thinking...hmmm...y'know
what'd be *real* neat...?
Which is all I can say on that for now...except to add that in any novel,
there's always some surprises that the author didn't plan for, and the key is
to be open to that.
jms
From: STRACZYNSKI [Joe]
Date: 05/20/1994 02:22 PM
Forum: Genie
Obviously I can't say much about season two plans at this time, since
doing so would destroy the intent of doing some things folks may not expect.
All I can say is that the deeper we got into the series, and the more I *saw*
the dynamics of the characters, the more I kept looking back and forth, from
the Minbari to Sinclair, Sinclair to Minbari, and thinking...hmmm...y'know
what'd be *real* neat...?
Which is all I can say on that for now...except to add that in any novel,
there's always some surprises that the author didn't plan for, and the key is
to be open to that.
jms
So that's something to consider.
Some have suggested that WWE was the original Series Finale. I have a hard time accepting this for one simple reason: No motivation without the Shadows around anymore. The motivation behind going back in time to steal B4 is to save the station from an alternate reality where B5 is destroyed by a Shadow attack. But in any year after 2261, there would be no more Shadows. No more motivation for an attack. So, it would have to happen in Year 3... but if that was the case, how could Sinclair eventually become Valen if he was intended to be there for 5 years?
Another intresting WWE problem is the question of "The One". It's quite possible that The One would have been handled in the same way, only with a different character... I tend to lean this way and towards Ivanova, who does become En'Til'Zha at the end of SiL, which seems like a smoother transition then Sheridan occupying the role over the past 2 years because Delenn became two busy with work as ISA President.
Just some food for thought. This is quite an intresting subject matter, and truth be told if I could ask JMS *any* question, I'd do anything to hear him answer this: "How would the series arc have been had Sinclair remained and Sheridan never came into play?"
While I have every confidence that the story was better for Sheridan's addition (even though I'm a much bigger Sinclair fan personally), I'd still love to know desperately... but I don't see jms answering that one anytime soon

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