Mr JMS

[J.R.Harris]

How about a movie, when Commander Sinclair goes back a 1000 years and what happins there? It's from War Without End...THE BEST ONE OF ALL!!!

[Jan]

Hello, J.R. Harris,

I'm afraid that JMS doesn't post here at all. To the best of our knowledge, he doesn't read here, either.

You can post questions to him, however on the moderated newsgroup rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated. You can find out more here in the FAQ.. Keep in mind, though, that no story ideas may be posted there and your idea, while pretty obvious, is close to one.

Hope you'll hang out and join the conversations.

Jan
Moderator

[rallytbk]

How about a movie, when Commander Sinclair goes back a 1000 years and what happenings there? It's from War Without End...THE BEST ONE OF ALL!!!

I wanted to see something like this also, but some people have claimed that an alien only movie (Jeffery Sinclair as a Minbari) would not fair well with the average movie going audience.

Highlight to read possible story idea:

It was also discussed that this could be corrected if humans from earthÆs history or missing people from history could fill in the gapsà Such as the real explanation to the Bermuda Triangle (to fight the shadows) or explanations to disappearances in history (Vorlon abductions like what happened to Sebastian) and reasons for advances in computer technology, but in these discussions, we have some people are pro and others are con to these suggestions, so now we wait and see if what JMS has plans for us.

Side Note: As for Michael O'Hare playing Jeffery Sinclair/Valen in the future? not likely. IMHO They treated him badly during the transition and his brief appearance in War without End 1 + 2. I was also upset that he didnÆt get a chance to do a commentary for the DVDÆs, but thatÆs show business. One day they hate you, the other they are kissing your butt.

EDIT: Added 'spoiler' tags to hide possible story idea-jan

[Jan]

Side Note: As for Michael O'Hare playing Jeffery Sinclair/Valen in the future? not likely. IMHO They treated him badly during the transition and his brief appearance in War without End 1 + 2. I was also upset that he didnÆt get a chance to do a commentary for the DVDÆs, but thatÆs show business. One day they hate you, the other they are kissing your butt.

Actually, they tried to get in touch with him, even contacting other folks to track down a contact phone number to ask him about doing commentary and he either passed or didn't return the phone calls-I'm not sure which, and can't check right now.

EDIT: Found the thread where JMS tells what happened here.

Jan

[rallytbk]

Commentary: S1 DVDs - No Michael O'Hare?

>Just heard from Ruth. Seems that Michael did indeed get that phone
>message but decided against the interview (she didn't say if for
>scheduling or other reasons) and didn't call back. He also didn't
>mention the call to *Ruth*, who only found out about it when she asked
>him about it a short while ago.
>
>Well, *I* feel like seven different kinds of idiot for opening up this
>whole can of worms. <g>
>
><engage Emily Latella voice>
>
>*Never* miiiiiiiiiiind...
>

This is why it's best, before raising the alarms, to simply ask what the
situation might be. I'm pretty straightforward in answering these things.

jms

From this quoteà it seems Michael O'Hare didnÆt want to give an interview for a show that dumped him. Do you blame him?

They treated him badly during the transition and his brief (reluctant) appearance in War without End 1 + 2.

[Jan]

I dunno...I can't assume from any of that that MO'H declined for any reason any more than I could assume that Andreas declined for any particular reason if JMS hadn't indicated that it was due to the fact that WB doesn't pay for that sort of thing.

What basis do you have for saying that he was reluctant to do the WWE episodes because of ill treatment or that he was treated badly during the filming? I understand that you said that it was your opinion, but you must have some facts to have based that on? This post seems to indicate differently.

Jan

[rallytbk]

What basis do you have for saying that he was reluctant to do the WWE episodes because of ill treatment or that he was treated badly during the filming? I understand that you said that it was your opinion, but you must have some facts to have based that on? This post seems to indicate differently.

Nothing, just a gut feeling that Michael OÆHareÆs departure was done in such a dubious manner.
While it has been discussed beforeà it seems as if his actions and support for a show he is no longer in, is kind of the actions and support of a person who missed the boat. Like arriving early to a party and leaving before the fun really startedà Just my opinion.

I may be wrong, but that's what I am getting from the rumor mills.

About Michael O'Hare's Departure

http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/misc/sinclair-leave.html

Dragon*Con '97: Michael O'Hare June 28, 1997

http://www.scifi.com/transcripts/dragon97/MichaelOHare.html

[Jan]

I can't find anything even slightly negative in those, especially the DragonCon interview. Michael himself said:

MichaelOHare: Yes, we had some interesting talks. And I agreed with him that the show needed to take another direction. The Sinclair character had reached its pinnacle of definition.

But I've had this conversation several times lately. I can point to all sorts of things to show that Michael wasn't 'forced out' but it doesn't change anybody's mind. In fact, you just pointed to exactly the same thing to back up your point Guess it's an 'agree to disagree' situation but I'll believe what JMS and MO'H actually say over rumors.

[rallytbk]

But I've had this conversation several times lately. I can point to all sorts of things to show that Michael wasn't 'forced out' but it doesn't change anybody's mind. In fact, you just pointed to exactly the same thing to back up your point Guess it's an 'agree to disagree' situation but I'll believe what JMS and MO'H actually say over rumors.

Funny you used that quote to describe what I was thinkingà I was going to copy and paste that quote to get you to read between the lines, but you copied it for me, kewl beans. HereÆs one of the sites that led me to believe it wasnÆt JMS or Michael OÆHareÆs decision.

Michael did NOT quit. I want that to be 100% part of the record. The short of it is, the powers that be at PTEN (B5's home for the first 4 years) wanted a stronger leading man, so he was quietly forced out. Michael O'Hare is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. He lives in the east coast and ever since leaving the series he has always had glowing things to say about B5. He always wanted the project to succeed, which is what makes his departure from the series so sad.

For more info:

http://www.webcs.com/b5/neverwas.html

In addition to Michael OÆHareÆs willingness to reprise the Valen role, what I get from this site, kind of makes it look like the suits took away Michael OÆHareÆs role and gave it to Bruce Boxleitnerà As for the PTEN quote, I kind of believe it is true, only because Bruce Boxleitner and Peter Jurasik has worked together before; and having a leading man would change the scope of the showà [Add your own concussions] which it did and had Michael OÆHare as a guest from time to time.

[Milkman]

Actually, from what i remember way back when from watercooler gosip was that he wanted to leave for various reasons including other job posibilities. Of course i have no links to back that up. It was convention rumor if i remember right.

[cornholio1980]

I really wouldn't take too much emphasis on that "B5 that never was" site, since it clearly states some info that is just wrong - so why should I believe the other bits and pieces?

For example... JMS stated clearly that if he would have known from the start that there will be a 5th season, he would have ended the 4th with "Intersections in Real Time" - so he definitely NEVER EVER planned to stretch out the whole Shadow War over the entire course of a season. And there's also no way that Catherine Sakai could have taken on the roll of Anna Sheridan - since the Shadows were wide awake when she was still traveling aroung through the stars.

So, while there's some stuff on that site that provides some nice interpretations and approaches, I would definitely recommend to take it with a grain of salt...

[Jan]

I agree that the 'B5 that never was' site is dubious at best. Nobody I know of has any idea who the writer is (not that I know every fan by name, mind you. )and he certainly doesn't provide any proof or industry credentials to back himself up. Lots of people keep saying O'Hare was forced out but repitition doesn't make anything true.

Funny you used that quote to describe what I was thinkingà I was going to copy and paste that quote to get you to read between the lines, but you copied it for me, kewl beans. HereÆs one of the sites that led me to believe it wasnÆt JMS or Michael OÆHareÆs decision.

But why read anything other than what was said?? He said he'd come back. He said he agreed with the direction the show would take. He even said he was still watching. Doesn't sound like somebody who'd had a bad experience to me.

Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't. All I know is that, having read JMS's posts for several years now, I've independantly verified many truths and never a lie so I'll take his word at face value.

Jan

[vacantlook]

And there's also no way that Catherine Sakai could have taken on the roll of Anna Sheridan - since the Shadows were wide awake when she was still traveling aroung through the stars.

I think that Catherine could easily have taken on the Anna part with only a slight modification: she wouldn't wake the Shadows up. Catherine still could have very easily in season two gone off on an exploration mission, been captured by the Shadows to serve as a living-CPU for a Shadowship, and pulled out of the ship with the resulting screwy mind like Anna upon the Shadows learning of who Catherine was in relation to Sinclair.

[grumbler]

I think that Michael O'Hare was actually glad to leave the show, because he had had a difficult time performing week after week with so much dialogue and so much less time than he was used to (from the stage) for rehearsal.

Both Peter Jurassik and (less obviously) Stephen Furst implied (without naming MO) that he was frustrated by the fact that he could not give his best peformances on the shooting schedule of the show.

I have seen nothing credible that supports the idea that Michael O'Hare and JMS were not in agreement that a change was good both for the show and for Michael, or that PTEN had any significant input on the change.

The real problem was that JMS had written Sinclair "too Minbari" from the start, and needed to step back to get the charactor development he needed to make the bigger story believable and exciting.

[cornholio1980]

I think that Catherine could easily have taken on the Anna part with only a slight modification: she wouldn't wake the Shadows up.

But wasn't that essential to the character and the show itself? I mean, if Catherine wouldn't have done that, we would have had ZERO connection to the guys on board the Icarus that did it.