Michael O'Hare

[munnp001]

I had never seen anything to do with B5 before a few months ago and have bought all 5 seasons of B5 the Crusade Set and Legend of the rangers on DVD. i was not impressed when i started watching season 2 and i found that Michael O'Hare's character (Jeff Sinclair) was no longer in the show. Did the Actor leave or was he fired?

[Jan]

At the end of season one, JMS looked ahead and realized that if Sinclair, having the connection to the Minbari (and through them the Vorlons) as he did, also had a connection to the Shadows it would have stretched credulity too far. It became obvious that a Sheridan character would need to come about which would have moved Sinclair off to the sidelines for quite some time. JMS and O'Hare came to a mutual conclusion for Sinclair to go off the show but to return at some future date to conclude his arc of becoming Valen. This was hardly unprecedented as JMS re-examined 'The Gathering' in the same way and made several cast changes based on what worked with chemistry and story.

There's been *much* speculation over the years with people certain that O'Hare was fired for all sorts of reasons. The above is what JMS has said, though and he, Michael and Doug were the only ones in the room.

You can do a search of JMS's posts and the forum archives if you want to relive the ever-lasting debate.

Jan

[JohnFourtyTwo]

It also makes The One being three different people more credible also since the Minbari are so afixiated on threes. I wondered if JMS had this Trinity vision in mind since the beginning with The One like in Christianity you have The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost.

[KoshN]

I had never seen anything to do with B5 before a few months ago and have bought all 5 seasons of B5 the Crusade Set and Legend of the rangers on DVD. i was not impressed when i started watching season 2 and i found that Michael O'Hare's character (Jeff Sinclair) was no longer in the show. Did the Actor leave or was he fired?

http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/find/Usenet/jms94-10-usenet/14.html

[DGTWoodward]

It also makes The One being three different people more credible also since the Minbari are so afixiated on threes

However the minbari 'fixation' with three only gets its first metion in the early/mid second season (in a first season episode, Delenn even actually states that there are ony TWO castes of minbari), as was the idea that Valen was a minbari 'not born of minbari' - ie AFTER Michael left the show.

Some may even say that, far from stretching credibility to breaking point, Sinclair's minbari/shadows history is exactly what made him the perfect leader for the B5 story, being able to logically link all the elements of the story together. If a Sheridan-like character was going to come into it all along...why give Sincalir ANY shadow connected back story at all?

His full 5 year story could also answer the question of where Valen's children came from. The full, 5 year arc ending with B4 hurtling back through time and on board are a hybrid Delenn and a human Sinclair - who then realises that to fully close his circle of time he too would have to undergo the chrysalis transformation into a human/minbari hybrid, so as to continue the line of Valen.

I don't actually fully believe these ideas.....it just shows what room for speculation there is in any situation.

[Jan]

What am I missing? I don't recall any Sinclair back story that relates to the Shadows at all.

Jan

[DGTWoodward]

Didn't he and Garibaldi find a buried, intact shadow Ship? That would have been the perfect in- point to fill out the shadow part of his story...

and Hello Jan!!!

[moreorless]

My memory is a little fuzzy but didnt JMS state that the idea of dividing Sinclair's story between two characters came to him during season 1? If so that could explain the points Lightstorm made.

The impression I always had was that it was a combination of pressure to replace O'Hare and the possibility of shifting his role that caused the change.

[Jan]

They didn't find it but you're right, they did know of the excavation. I'd forgotten about that. I was thinking more in terms of Sheridan's connection to Anna which took him to Z'ha'dum.

Hi, LightStorm!

Jan

[AmyG]

It also makes The One being three different people more credible also since the Minbari are so afixiated on threes. I wondered if JMS had this Trinity vision in mind since the beginning with The One like in Christianity you have The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost.

Of course, Christianity doesn't have the market cornered on 'sacred threes.' The Celts were somewhat enamored of triads well before the Christians came and swallowed them up, for instance.

[grumbler]

The impression I always had was that it was a combination of pressure to replace O'Hare and the possibility of shifting his role that caused the change.

That, and the fact that O'Hare was apparently not very happy with the pace of the filming and his own responsibilities on the show. There are several interviews with former cast and crew that contain references to a "certain actor" (never named) who was, well, disruptive and self-absorbed and tried bringing in acting coaches and whatnot to help him keep paced with the filming, and who left after Season 1.

Seems to me his replacement was a win-win (or "mutually-agreed decision") to the show and the actor, as JMS has always said.

[JohnFourtyTwo]

Of course, Christianity doesn't have the market cornered on 'sacred threes.' The Celts were somewhat enamored of triads well before the Christians came and swallowed them up, for instance.

Thanks for the info Amy. I'm not too much into religion, nothing against it, but I do remember some things from my childhood and constant preaching from my mom.

For some weird reason, my fiancee doesn't like triangles. I got her a Rubic's Cube recently and it came with a triangle base to put it on when you're not playing with it. She said she doesn't want the base because it reminds her of something else. She was talking about something religious but I just let it go and said a WTF in the back of my head. I have no idea what she's talking about.

I don't know what faith she used to be when she was in Korea, but she's a Christian now and lets me know she is every now and then. She keeps hinting that I need to go to church.

Sorry for getting a little off-topic.

[Joseph DeMartino]

The Celts were somewhat enamored of triads well before the Christians came and swallowed them up, for instance.

Just to correct Amy's minor typo, "swallowed them up" should, of course, have read, "saved them from eternal damnation."

Regards,

Joe

[FuryPilot]

Just to correct Amy's minor typo, "swallowed them up" should, of course, have read, "saved them from eternal damnation."

..and that's when she shot him, Your Honor.

[Joseph DeMartino]

..and that's when she shot him, Your Honor.

LOL! I used that last week on a guy at the office who for some reason thinks it is really funny to announce "It's Friday!" on any day that isn't Friday. (He also go a lot of mileage out of "see you next year" on last business day before New Year's, a joke that lost its charm for me when I was about seven.) He said it once too often to me on Wednesday or Thursday and I turned to whoever was next to me and said Franklin's line. The problem is everybody laughed, including joke boy, so I'm afraid he's just going to add it to his (limited) repetoire.

Regards,

Joe