Article : the-strange-secret-evolution-of-babylon-5

[valens_shadow]

JMS linked this in Facebook...

http://io9.com/5985727/the-strange-secret-evolution-of-babylon-5

[Marsden]

Thanks for the link!


I have a few grumbles about the article, I was going to list them and gave up. But it's nice to see B5 being talked about.

[Sinclair's Fan]

Thank you for sharing!

(Not too keen on some of the comments, though. People should show a little more respect for our honoured dead....)

Read and enjoy!

[pascalahad]

It's a great article! I saw nothing wrong in it.

[Looney]

Thanks!

Personally, I just love reading new things about the show. I only wish there were more buzz out there about the 20TH Anniversary, but then again, I am kind of a hermit and probably would miss it anyway.

[cornholio1980]

Might as well address this here, since it's also mentioned in the article (which I only took a quick look at; I'll read it thouroughly as soon as I got the time): I know that JMS always denied that Catherine Sakai would have gotten the part later filled by Anna Sheridan, but as much as I respect the Great Maker, I could never quite get myself to believe that. It seems to be such an obvious set up, with Sinclairs marriage proposal, and her being an explorer. So yes, she obviously wouldn't have woken them up, like Anna did, but I'm pretty sure she would have gotten to Z'ha'dum and ended up in a place not dissimilar to Anna Sheridan - thus making room for the Sinclair-Delenn-romance.

Thoughs/comments?

[JoeD80]

I think she would have ended up like Bester's girlfriend. Part of the Shadow ship and memory erased. Maybe I'm reading too much into initials, but Carolyn Sykes -> Catherine Sakai -> Carolyn Sanderson.

My interpretation is that the concept of Z'ha'dum wasn't created until it was decided that Sinclair would be moved to a different path; it's never mentioned until season two. (Interestingly, the question Lennier had to ask Kosh is unsaid in season one, making it convenient that it could have been about Z'ha'dum)

So I don't think Sinclair was supposed to go to Z'ha'dum. Z'ha'dum was specific to the Sheridan character and making him go through the fire and coming out changed. Sinclair had already been through the fire when the show started.

[Sinclair's Fan]

It's a great article! I saw nothing wrong in it.

Yes, the article is a good one! It's the comments that readers have posted below it I'm not to keen on, but I guess everyone's entitled to their opinion....

[Marsden]

Since I'm the only one that wasn't complimentary, I feel like I want to explain myself.

They barely mentioned Londo!

I don't think casting Melissa Gibert did a thing for the emotional impact of Anna having her personality destroyed and I did feel invested in the character from her few appearances. I can see the arguement that Sakai was actually there in person, but she was only in 3 episodes, I thought the ground covered in Revelations and the few other mentions was very well done. The character had died, to our knowlege, before the series began, but Sheridan (via BB's great portrayal) made her real to me, and I was as shocked as Delenn when she showed up.

That's all, just a difference of opinion and leaving my favorite character out.

Might as well address this here, since it's also mentioned in the article (which I only took a quick look at; I'll read it thouroughly as soon as I got the time): I know that JMS always denied that Catherine Sakai would have gotten the part later filled by Anna Sheridan, but as much as I respect the Great Maker, I could never quite get myself to believe that. It seems to be such an obvious set up, with Sinclairs marriage proposal, and her being an explorer. So yes, she obviously wouldn't have woken them up, like Anna did, but I'm pretty sure she would have gotten to Z'ha'dum and ended up in a place not dissimilar to Anna Sheridan - thus making room for the Sinclair-Delenn-romance.

Thoughs/comments?

I think JMS is not one to waste, and good ideas are good ideas. I can see part of the "mind-rape" in G'kar's assault on Londo, I guess.

I think she would have ended up like Bester's girlfriend. Part of the Shadow ship and memory erased. Maybe I'm reading too much into initials, but Carolyn Sykes -> Catherine Sakai -> Carolyn Sanderson.

That's a good point! That could be part of that thread. We don't even know if Shadows were supposed to use living beings as cpus, it could have been something comepletely different. Even in Season 1 JMS still refered to them as Shadowmen, maybe he had a different image of them in mind that refined to what we got.

[Sebastian]

I don't think casting Melissa Gibert did a thing for the emotional impact of Anna having her personality destroyed and I did feel invested in the character from her few appearances.

I agree. I had the complete opposite reaction suggested in the article. I was floored that Anna was still alive as I never got so much as a whiff of that coming and I had no idea that she was married to Bruce Boxleitner until years after the show was over. You don't need to have seen Anna in a whole bunch of episodes b/c you already "know" her through what Sheridan has been saying about her. You know what a hard time he had getting over her, you know how hard it was for him to let go & start loving Delenn, and you feel just as happy then distraught as Delenn does when she's initially watching over Sheridan then is suddenly interrupted by his wife showing up out of nowhere.

And the scene where Sheridan just woke up to find his wife alive with Delenn still there... wow. The awkwardness, confusion, & barrel full of mixed emotions is palpable. That was excellent and I was glued to my set with my jaw on the floor.

Other than that, though, I thought the article was pretty good

[Andrew_Swallow]

I think she would have ended up like Bester's girlfriend. Part of the Shadow ship and memory erased. Maybe I'm reading too much into initials, but Carolyn Sykes -> Catherine Sakai -> Carolyn Sanderson.

My interpretation is that the concept of Z'ha'dum wasn't created until it was decided that Sinclair would be moved to a different path; it's never mentioned until season two. (Interestingly, the question Lennier had to ask Kosh is unsaid in season one, making it convenient that it could have been about Z'ha'dum)

So I don't think Sinclair was supposed to go to Z'ha'dum. Z'ha'dum was specific to the Sheridan character and making him go through the fire and coming out changed. Sinclair had already been through the fire when the show started.

I do not know when Z'ha'dum was invented but the Shadowmen were there from the beginning.

[JoeD80]

Yes the Shadows were created early on and tied to Londo from the start; that's mentioned in the 10-page outline.

My thoughts about why Z'ha'dum is Sheridan specific:

Joe said about Sinclair's planned connection to the shadows:
(and I wish I had sourced these quotes better because these are actually from my notes and might be slightly paraphrased):

I figured [Sinclair] would get in to it by virtue of his involvement with so many others touched by [Shadows]; problem is, very soon that turns the character into an expositional sounding-board or problem-solver with the other person being the core of the story.

Joe said in early season two talking about how there would be more to the Sheridan character than first appeared:

there are really two ways to deepen a character and give him a dark side. One is to do something to him *before* you meet him, which he's still recovering from (Sinclair). The other is to meet him, and THEN drop him down a well.

Much later (after the Z'ha'dum episode) someone on the newsgroups stated that he didn't reazlie Joe meant Sheridan would be dropped down a well literally. Joe replied

Sometimes, I'm being far more straightforward than it would appear. Because I know everyone overlooks the most obvious stuff.

So I think some plot developments were Sheridan-specific, and I don't think Catherine and Anna had the same planned fates.