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The "Birth of Babylon 5"

Started by grumbler, March 27, 2009, 05:43:29 PM

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grumbler

March 27, 2009, 05:43:29 PM
There is an interesting posting at JMS's "vanity press" site that include4s his very first written thoughts on what would become babylon 5, see http://www.cafepress.com/thejoestore/6587738.

It is kind of interesting to see how much of what he originally conceived eventually made it on the screen, and what questions he had.  I thought it was particularly interesting that he noted that the commander of the station shouldn't be both a "war hero" and a "war survivor" because there was a "big difference" - and then chose to have the two commanders be one each, when it turned out he needed two commanders.

Dunno how long that page is gonna stay up, so if you are a fan you might want to look pretty soon.
The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.   -G'Kar

Bayraktar!

Benedict Arnold

#1
March 27, 2009, 05:53:54 PM
Wow.  That is pretty cool.  Impresisve how much of the basic structure was there, right down to the character and changes in character of who would later be Delenn and G'kar.

Barrister

#2
March 27, 2009, 05:59:58 PM
That was my thought as well - it is very close to what JMS's final product wound up being.

A couple of interesting what-ifs though:
-a more documentary style (only mere hints of this in the series - the intro voice-over is done in the part tense and INN, but nothing else)
-telepaths as cyborgs?  controlled by an AI?
-Londo as a drug addict?
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.

Delirium

#3
March 27, 2009, 06:06:31 PM
More or less everything is there, except for the lesbian character. I think.
Come writers and critics who prophesize with your pen, and keep your eyes wide the chance won't come again; but don't speak too soon for the wheel's still in spin, and there's no telling who that it's naming. For the loser now will be later to win, cause the times they are a-changin'. -- B Dylan

Barrister

#4
March 27, 2009, 06:14:34 PM
Quote from: Delirium on March 27, 2009, 06:06:31 PM
More or less everything is there, except for the lesbian character. I think.

I'm only recently viewed seasons 1-3.  4-5 I'll pick up one of these days.

There are hints Ivanova is a Lesbian in those first three, I think confirmed later on.
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.

Habbaku

#5
March 27, 2009, 06:15:22 PM
It's like an actual writer was responsible for it...
The medievals were only too right in taking nolo episcopari as the best reason a man could give to others for making him a bishop. Give me a king whose chief interest in life is stamps, railways, or race-horses; and who has the power to sack his Vizier (or whatever you care to call him) if he does not like the cut of his trousers.

Government is an abstract noun meaning the art and process of governing and it should be an offence to write it with a capital G or so as to refer to people.
-J. R. R. Tolkien

Cerr

#6
March 27, 2009, 06:16:31 PM
Quote from: Delirium on March 27, 2009, 06:06:31 PM
More or less everything is there, except for the lesbian character. I think.
From what I remember, Ivanova and Talia almost had a relationship.

Barrister

#7
March 27, 2009, 06:18:26 PM
Just double-checked - hints of a lesbian relatinship with Talia, but nothing more.
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.

Delirium

#8
March 27, 2009, 06:19:18 PM
Those weren't obvious hints, I never noticed them. Ivanova had a sort of fling with a male character.
Come writers and critics who prophesize with your pen, and keep your eyes wide the chance won't come again; but don't speak too soon for the wheel's still in spin, and there's no telling who that it's naming. For the loser now will be later to win, cause the times they are a-changin'. -- B Dylan

Cerr

#9
March 27, 2009, 06:20:32 PM
Yeah I think Ivanova was probably bisexual.

Barrister

#10
March 27, 2009, 06:21:19 PM
Quote from: Delirium on March 27, 2009, 06:19:18 PM
Those weren't obvious hints, I never noticed them. Ivanova had a sort of fling with a male character.

Susan, in the Minbari rebirth ceremony, admits to Delenn "I think I loved Talia".

She was pursued by Marcus, but I don't think she ever reciprocated.

And I'm not putting up a spoiler warning for a show that ended 10 years ago.
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.

Delirium

#11
March 27, 2009, 06:22:45 PM
Heh, probably true about spoilers. Don't think she was bisexual though.
Come writers and critics who prophesize with your pen, and keep your eyes wide the chance won't come again; but don't speak too soon for the wheel's still in spin, and there's no telling who that it's naming. For the loser now will be later to win, cause the times they are a-changin'. -- B Dylan

Barrister

#12
March 27, 2009, 06:24:54 PM
Quote from: Delirium on March 27, 2009, 06:22:45 PM
Heh, probably true about spoilers. Don't think she was bisexual though.

Agree.  Probably full lesbian but in denial.
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.

Cerr

#13
March 27, 2009, 06:27:10 PM
I thought she said she loved Marcus.
It's a been a while since I watched it though.

Barrister

#14
March 27, 2009, 06:28:25 PM
Quote from: Cerr on March 27, 2009, 06:27:10 PM
I thought she said she loved Marcus.
It's a been a while since I watched it though.

Maybe - I haven't gotten up to that part yet.

But if so, it was only after he was dead.  Knowing someone sacrificed their life to save your own is probably a different kind of love.
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.
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