The Episode That Never Was

[Jan]

JMS has mentioned wanting to do this episode before but I don't think he's gone into detail of who'd have swapped around.

Because of the recent news about Rising Stars being picked up by MGM, I've been doing a number of interviews of late, and they invariably delve into my past work. From time to time during these discussions I get asked if there's anything I didn't do on Babylon 5 that I regret. I never have a good answer at the time, only later does my brain kick in.

One of the things that I wanted to do that would've been just a ridiculous amount of fun was an episode featuring Londo in medlab sick and feverish. As we go in and out of his fever-dreams, we swap characters and actors.
In those dreams, I wanted to have Andreas play Sheridan (no makeup, obviously), Peter would be Garibaldi, Bruce would play G'Kar, Jerry would play Londo, Mira would play Ivanova, Claudia would pay Delenn, and Stephen and Bill would swap places as Lennier and Vir. The only actor who would be the same in both versions would be Rick since he'd be the doctor in the dreams and "real-life."

I thought it would be great fun, especially given the breadth of the cast's acting abilities. But the studio execs vetoed the idea because they thought it would be "too confusing."

Idiots.

Actually, Jerry frequently did a pretty good impersonation of Londo while joking around on set.

Would have been glorious!

Jan

[Dan Dassow]

JMS has mentioned wanting to do this episode before but I don't think he's gone into detail of who'd have swapped around.



Would have been glorious!

Jan

Agreed! That would have been glorious and fun.

[DaveNarn]

They say at some time you need a scorecard to keep track when things get complicated.
FarScape tried a similar idea, using photos of each occupant around the necks of the occupied, in an episode called Out Of Their Minds.

https://youtu.be/4uGThCTuTWE

[Ubik]

Yes, I remember him using this as an example of what he might do when re-casting some of the old cast members on a B5 reboot. Could have a been a fun episode.

I guess TV at the time just wasn't quite ready for that! When you look at how far Buffy pushed the boat out for it's offbeat episodes (the musical episode, Angel muppets episode), seems we have come on a bit!

[moreorless]

We did get a little hint at this concept with G'kar(rather than Andreas playing him of course) being dressed as Cartagia during The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari.

Looking back earlier you also have Soul Mates were Londo is in a similar position in medlab and this kind of concept could have been used so perhaps it wasn't a totally dropped episode but rather a different idea for one we actually got?

[JoeD80]

This episode outline is in the script books (last page of Volume 3), except Bruce is Minbari and Claudia is Narn.

A Dream Within a Dream

[G'Kar] is Captain Jack Carr of the Earth Alliance; his female Russian second in command is Commander Dylan (a human version of Delenn...), and his security chief is Len (the human version of Londo)...Minbari ambassador Sherdinn, Narn ambassador S'san, Centauri Ambassador Garabaldo

[Ubik]

Centauri Ambassador Garabaldo

Hahahahaha. Oh dear. Comedy gold.

[Delenn_of_Mir]

This episode outline is in the script books (last page of Volume 3), except Bruce is Minbari and Claudia is Narn.

That is awesome. Thanks for sharing!

[Satai with Punsch]

That would have been hilarious indeed.
And yes, the Farscape version worked fine. I am not sure though if it would have fitted in the B5 universe. It was after all, occasional campiness asides, a very serious show. Thinking of how many fans went bananas over the Day of the Dead episode, something like this would probably have generated a lot more dislike. Unfortunately.

[Ubik]

That would have been hilarious indeed.
And yes, the Farscape version worked fine. I am not sure though if it would have fitted in the B5 universe. It was after all, occasional campiness asides, a very serious show. Thinking of how many fans went bananas over the Day of the Dead episode, something like this would probably have generated a lot more dislike. Unfortunately.

Farscape always did do 'zany/crazy' episodes really well.