Na'Toth / Season 2

[JoeD80]

OK, I've seen one or two mentions of the Na'Toth subject here and there but no thread dedicated to it.

Question after the quotes. At first as Season 2 starts jms says this:

but after we broke down the stories for the second season, and determined who we'd need for what stories, I think it came out to 22 each for Sheridan, Ivanova, Garibaldi, Delenn and Franklin; 13 for Na'Toth, Vir, Talia, G'Kar and Londo; and 8 for our new squadron leader.

So 13 episodes in Season 2 were planned to use Na'Toth. Of course, after the first episode that Mary Kay Adams appears in, her performance isn't what jms wanted and he states this:

We cast the best actor to come in the door to fill Na'Toth's boots, and we need that character there because of the prior knowledge she needs to have to fill her role in the story. Mary Kay is, I think, trying to reinterpret the character. We're nudging in the other direction. One way or another, this will be made to work.

However, "nudging her in the other direction" seems like a weird statement because she doesn't even show up until "Acts of Sacrifice" which is episode 12 of season 2, which doesn't give her much time to work on her performance and it turns out to be her last appearance.

The question is: Were there other episodes with her written in to scripts to give her another chance on not playing against character? Or was the decision made after Episode 2 of the season not to use her, and she was put in episode 12 because she was the only character that made story sense (since she's the only Narn that would be loyal to G'Kar and report the other Narns)?

[mandragora]

Also, to whom was Na'Toth's storyline and character arc going, if she was important enough to be in 13 episodes? Could it be that Ta'lon became what originally was supposed to be Na'Toth?

[Morden]

Interesting idea. Thinking about it a bit longer, it seems quite plausible that a lot of the Ta'Lon-storylines might have been Na'Toth-stories in the first place, even - or especially - regarding Ta'Lon's function in later seasons.

[moreorless]

Interesting idea. Thinking about it a bit longer, it seems quite plausible that a lot of the Ta'Lon-storylines might have been Na'Toth-stories in the first place, even - or especially - regarding Ta'Lon's function in later seasons.

Does make alot of sense, both characters have a very down to earth personality set agenst G'Kar's devolping idealism.

[Orta]

I always thought it was a bit odd that Na'Toth was just kind-of dropped. There wasn't even a little line somewhere from G'Kar et al about her whereabouts after the Centauri occupation.

Until obviously G'Kar goes back to rescue her from Narn, which turns out to be a secret Centauri plot etc.

It's one of B5's rare inconsistencies.