Who is Morgana Le Fay?
Oct. 8th, 2012 06:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragonofmemorySic Transit Vir:
"About Vir
He's a much stronger character than anyone might think. He's sort of the "God's Fool" character, to get literary for a second, who somehow manages to make it through it all."
Oh, Vir. We do love him. I really need to re-read the Centauri books again, because I remember them to be quite good and Vir was very awesome in them. Even if Londo breaks my heart completely since he is unable to do anything.
"Even the babble is pretty tightly scripted. The hesitations and occasional stumble-restatements are the actor's delivery. There's occasionally a very tiny bit of improv in that kind of scene, but very little."
JMS scripts are serious business. Do not mess with them. XD
"Londo is a very sharp, cunning character. He does what he does for sheer patriotism, to serve his people. *Whatever* that may entail. And Vir gets whipsawed a lot...he's a great character, with a wide range of characteristics I can play with, from comic to tragic."
That's probably the reason I've always liked Londo, even when he's dead wrong and doing things he shouldn't. He is serving his people to the best that he knows how. Even when that makes him evil. It also makes him completely heart-breaking.
"When Londo goes to Delenn earlier this season to ask about having Vir appointed to the Centauri diplomatic mission, he mentions then that the mission has been closed for some time, "some trouble I believe with our previous liaison." This just paid that off; those Minbari are just a darned bad influence, I guess."
Darn those Minbari with their influences. XD I think it'd be good for the Centauri to have outside influence. Left to their own devices, their society is fairly frightening.
"What happened to the previous liaison?
Went native. Bought into the whole Minbari theological system, dropped his Centauri citizenship, was last heard of in a distant retreat trying to grow a bone. "
*snickers* Growing a bone indeed. So many ways to take that statement...
"What happened to the Narn? And what were the Narns doing in Vir's room?
I could've *sworn* there was a line there about the Narn recovering; I'm going to have to check this. I hope I didn't accidentally cut it for time while doing something else. (It was a LONG editing session.)
I figured the Narns were there to discuss the fates of their families back home, but yeah, to a certain degree it was there as a great end for the teaser."
Oops. I have always wondered why the Narn Lyndisty caught was never mentioned again. Now we know. Poor Narn, lost on the cutting room floor.
"Who said the line that was cut?
It was in the observation dome scene with Ivanova; I realized that we'd cut a small piece for time that was expendable, but in the back and forth went one line too far without realizing it. Sigh....
What was the line?
The only line was that "the Narn is recovering in Medlab," something to that effect. Sigh...."
Well, that clears it up. Poor Narn. Poor JMS. He tries.
"About different Centauri speaking with different accents
We've just always assumed that not everyone on any given planet is going to speak with the same accent as everybody else from that planet. Seems more realistic.
Certainly, among Centauri, a certain accent is more associated with the "old school" of court nobility and the like."
IT DOES MAKE SENSE. At the same time, more people need to talk like Londo. Because Londo's accent is awesome and I adore the way he speaks.
""Did Sheridan and Ivanova really think that Vir was killing off thousands of Narn while he was on Minbar. Hey, this is Vir, not Josef Mengele we are talking about. Did they really think it was necessary to drag this all out in front of Londo instead of privately."
No, they didn't think he was doing it personally, only that he was expediting the transfer of Narns offworld for this purpose. You think someone like Vir could not do this. But most of the Nazis who send Jews to die weren't Josef Mengele, carving into bodies...they processed numbers from behind wire-framed glasses, and were quiet, sometimes even cheerful individuals with wonderful wives and children. The greatest evil can often wear a benign, smiling, affable face. And remember, people can change on this show. You look at Londo in season one, is this someone you could buy taking part in the bombing of the Narn homeworld and the death of millions of Narns? Yet that's what happened. And their belief was that it was probably Londo who was behind it all...it's Londo to whom Ivanova expressed her outrage, not Vir, who she figured was probably being pushed into it at his behest, so logically she *would* take this right to Londo. She figured, as you did, that Vir certainly wouldn't think of this on his own, but Londo could (and says so in the episode)."
You like those smiling, benign, and affable faces, don't you? You use them lots, while still manipulating us to knowing who are the good guys and who are the bad guys.
"I love the Ivanova/Vir scenes; I fall down laughing every time."
SIX. Oh, Vir. And poor Ivanova. I'm quite sure she didn't want to have that conversation. Ever. XD And yes, I have written Jack Harkness contemplating the SIX. Several times, actually, I think.
"It's been established that Minbari can and do lie when it's done to save the honor of another. Here, Delenn saved face for Sheridan at dinner."
And poor, poor Delenn. Sheridan tries so hard. I don't think she's going to let him cook again though. I imagine this going something like Yuri and Flynn, except Delenn uses a lot more tact in steering John from the kitchen.
"When will Delenn and Sheridan kiss?
Me? A tease? Moi? I just report the news, I don't make it.
The kiss is coming. But I wanted to do it in such a way that it somewhat unexpected, in a way that would have even more weight than under any other possible conditions. How do you turn a kiss into a wham? (Aside from kissing the right person, natch.) Stay tuned...."
How do you do it? You keep us waiting that long. >.> We still haven't gotten to their chronological first kiss, after all.
Over all, it's a very, very fun episode. With a dosage of disturbing on the side, as JMS is wont to do. Also, Londo vs. the Bug is always amusing.
A Late Delievery from Avalon:
"Michael York is currently shooting with us in "A Late Delivery From Avalon," and doing an amazing job. This may turn into one of our best episodes, from a performance and emotion perspective. I had a few doubts about the script -- it has a kind of writing style I don't use very often, and very stylized in appearance -- but it's coming out great."
No doubts allowed with that script. It was awesome. Totally epic.
"York finished with us quite some time ago. Great episode, and a nice man. Very friendly, very polite, nothing of the "I'm a STAR" attitude one often gets with...well, *stars*. He was even very nice when I gleepily asked him to sign my laserdisk of CABARET."
JMS? You just outed yourself as a total and complete nerd with the laserdisk comment. We love you anyway, but I thought you should know. Still, Michael York is pretty awesome.
"I *really* like this episode a lot. The performance, the music, everything works; I tried to get a little artsy, try out some different kinds of stuff, stretch some muscles I haven't used enough, and it came out very nicely. It's just nifty."
I think it's impossible not to like this episode. G'kar's moments in it alone elevate it to pure awesome. But the imagery is lovely.
"The Delenn/Arthur moment played out very well; no lines, not a word, just the images, and the emotions under the surface."
It was a pretty breath-taking scene. Yes, I was making all sorts of Monty Python references during it, probably ruining it entirely, but hey. It's a lovely one. Even if strange women lying in ponds and distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. I won't even call it a 'farcical aquatic ceremony'. XD I'm terrible, I know.
"About the title
I often labor a long time on these things, to try and give them many layers, or turn the title in on itself, or do a play on words. I can't start work on a script until I have a title, because the title sets the mood."
I wish my titles were as awesome as yours, JMS. I really do. Sigh.
"Did Arthurian legends influence the heroic-epic style of B5's storyline?
Well, if you're going to look at heroic epic, sure, the Arthurian story is a classic...but the earliest and best of these remain the Illiad and the Odyssey. Homer was definitely hitting all cylinders with that.
If there's an aspect that informed B5's development, it's the arc of that heroic epic, which if you look at it dispassionately, is as much about the people *around* the hero as the hero himself. And all too often, the hero achieves the goal, but falls or falters or is changed by the end of it. Much of what passes for contemporary "heroic epic" assumes that it means the Good Guys Win. Heroic here as a term goes back to its much earlier origins, a "heroic effort" is something that takes everything you have, against terrible or impossible odds.
Yes, you achieve the goal...but you fall in battle in the fields of Troy. Yes, you create Camelot, but in the end you are destroyed and Camelot falls. There's tragedy and mistakes side by side with the glory and the gains. The accounts of Arthur's meeting with Mordred at Camlan field, and how the final battle began is classic ironic drama, a tragedy of great proportions...and an aspect of that fed directly into the development of the B5 backstory, as you'll learn later this season.
Histories are written about the soldiers who won their battles; but songs are sung about the soldiers who fell in battle struggling for a greater cause. What inspires us is the unfinished work, the dream of picking up the fallen standard and taking it ten more feet up the hill, knowing that even if you fall, the next man in line will take it another ten feet, until finally the hill is taken. Humans are constantly throwing their lives away on causes logic tells us are hopeless...but which in time become real for that reason.
It's a dangerous romance with myth, heroism, and death. On the one hand, it inspires an Arthur...on another, it inspires a car bomber to blow himself and 27 bystanders to bits en route to an appointment with Allah.
What makes the heroic epic work is that it taps into all the myths and archetypes that have been with us for all of recorded history, and much of its oral history. Where B5 gets into this area is in trying to look at the kinds of myths and epics that have gone before, and finding not the specifics, but the themes which are universal, the *sense* and the feel of it, which are intangible, and which is what makes doing an epic so hard. Either you feel the structure, or you don't; if you try to hammer it down into a formula, a step-by-step process, it turns to quicksilver in your hands and slips away. You have to take it all in, then listen to the inner voice and write accordingly.
I remember a stanza from a poem I read a long time ago; "Love will die if held too tightly; love will fly if held too lightly; lightly, tightly, how do I know, whether I'm holding or letting love go?" This kind of fiction operates on the same basis. Substitute the word epic or story for love, and the logic holds.
So the epic hero or story can't be a *model*, to use your phrase; it can only be an inspiration for what has gone before...an echo in the back of your mind that whispers and guides you through all the dark places."
Okay, I might have seriously swooned a little there. Especially when you said the earliest and best are still the Iliad and the Odyssey. It speaks to the Classic minor in me. Plus that whole tragedy thing is so true. I'm just going to sit over here and swoon a bit more.
"Was the "who is Morgana Le Fay?" scene a dig at people on the net who say B5 is just some other story with different trappings?
The references given (he said vaguely, to avoid spoiling anybody) were first and foremost intentional to the story and to set up stuff...but as I wrote it, the way this stuff has been discussed online did come to mind, and on some level it was probably a slight *plink*, yes.
Sort of a "yeah, well, TWO can play at that game, and most of you missed THIS particular analogy, so THERE."
I am in serious need of a vacation, I think...."
Yes, yes, you might. But we love you for it anyway.
"Was the Excalibur in the episode a real sword?
Yes, it's a real sword...I'm trying to remember where we got it, it may have been a vendor in these things, one of many that frequent catalogs and Ren faires."
It was a very shiny sword. I like swords. <3
"Marcus and Franklin make a good team, it's a nice balance. And Marcus did fit in well with the whole Arthur storyline (it's kind of an obvious but well-fitting match).
As for Marcus' line...sometimes offhand remarks are only offhand remarks...and sometimes they aint...."
Indeed they are. I still can't ship them though. >.< I do love the two of them interacting, at least. And yeeeeeeeeeeeeeah, we know about your offhand remarks, JMS. We don't believe you when you equivocate.
"What was Delenn told before she went to Medlab?
She was told the whole background...including who David really was. She was in a way taking the pain from someone who had attacked the very ship she and the other Grey council members had been aboard."
Hm. So she knew all of that? Wow. I don't think we've actually seen that scene yet, but I keep think of when they showed that bit in the series.
"You basically had two large convoys meeting one another. Two Minbari ships were hit and destroyed, a third damaged badly; this was the one carrying Dukhat and the Grey Council, including Delenn.
Just for the record, what happened after that...the Minbari ships opened fire, and a number of the Earth ships were fragged. The rest fled as the Minbari ships hesitated, waiting to see what happened to Dukhat. When it was learned that he was killed, they took off and pursued the ships back to an Earth base. Initially, one of the Earth captains explained that they had encountered hostiles (trying to cover his ass), and when the Minbari ships appeared, all hell broke loose.
It was shortly after this "cowardly attack" on their ships, and the assassination of their leader, that the Minbari declared what is in essence a jihad, a holy war, against Earth. The worker class went along with it, even though the religious caste was unsure...but divided, they couldn't raise sufficient objections to the war to stop it initially."
And it's definitely one of the most memorable bits of the series. I'm pretty sure we haven't watched it now though. I look forward to Nar's reaction to it.
"Open gun ports as a sign of respect?
It goes back a long time...if you look at certain members of the animal kingdom, they will often flash their teeth or growl to establish their identity, to show equality with someone else. You have to step outside a human perspective and ask how an alien would show respect, which may not be how we would logically do so. (Heck, in many cultures here on earth, a perfectly normal habit -- crossing your legs and the bottom of your foot showing -- is taken as a grave insult in some cultures. Certain customs are deeply rooted in cultural backgrounds or incidents that are often incomprehensible to us.)"
Oh, aliens being aliens. I do love that about B5.
"The name of the Ranger pin is spelled Isil'zha.
The Minbari term for Ranger One, btw, is Entil'zha.
Z'ha'dum is where the shadows live. Odd, that reversal...."
Sneaky bastard.
This is actually one of my mother's favorite episodes. And really, it is quite epic. Not only do we get to see G'kar drunk off his ass, but Garibaldi goes against the post office and Marcus does one of my favorite monologues. Sadly, that's only the latter part of it, but still.
Ship of Tears:
"Today Walter Koenig and Bill Mumy had a scene together; this (saith Bill) marks the first time a Lost in Space regular and a Star Trek regular have acted together in the same scene."
BATTLE OF THE FANDOMS. XD That actually amuses me greatly.
"Where did you put the war room set?
Since we're not using the casino much this season -- not a lot of room for frivolity -- we yanked it out and put up the war room on stage C."
Wow, really? I feel kind of bad for the casino now. XD The War Room is pretty awesome though.
"Who's behind the shadows? Nobody. The shadows are the shadows (though that's not the name by which they call themselves), a race of their own. Question is, why are they doing what they're doing?
You'll find out by season's end."
Oh, the season three ending...
"Why did Garibaldi need a computer to read the Book of G'Quan?
To follow the book, there still has to be a knowledge of the language. You need to have a dictionary around, which is what was used.
The comparison, I suppose, would be those who say that Jorge Luis Borges' work can only be most truly appreciated in the original Spanish. There's a *translated* version, which someone has gone through and made the translation for you, written it all out in English...or you can learn the language, and then read the original manuscript.
Garibaldi doesn't know Narn, so how other than with a dictionary could he read the original material, except by sleeping with it under his pillow and praying for divine intervention."
That actually made perfect sense to me? Then again, I've seen ESL kids use similar things on a regular basis. Seriously, a few of my Vietnamese students were like, attached to the things. They make a heck of a lot of sense if you're still navigating the language.
"How could G'Quan and the Narn telepaths fight the Shadows if the Narn telepaths were all killed?
Those were the last remaining ones, the older telepaths, their children all killed, too old now to produce any further children, and the technology of cloning or genetics was still way beyond them.
The story of the last crusade of G'Quan is actually quite interesting; I hope to get it into the show at some point. Right now it's mainly background, even though I've worked it out fully."
I... want to know this now. Cause you never did get to show it. It sounds really interesting too. T_T
"That's one of the things about the show that makes it very appealing to write; you can go from fall down funny, broad comedy in "Vir" to something more emotional, almost lyrical but serious in "Avalon," then right into something vaguely horrific in "Ship." You get to use all your muscles, not just the same ones over and over. I like to stretch, try something I haven't tried before. Which means from time to time I fall on my face, but that's okay; it's the only way to learn. I have absolutely no qualms about making an ass of myself and failing if it means that the next time, I can do it right.
I didn't give Mira or Andreas any instructions on that scene except what was in the script, which was minimal. When you have two performers that solid in the room, just give them the lines and run like hell.
Speaking of going back and rewatching episodes...part of this goes right back to the *pilot*, where, you'll recall, G'Kar tried to seduce Lyta, mentioning that there are no Narn telepaths, and they feel very strongly it's important to their survival that they start breeding them at the first opportunity.
Ding....!"
That first paragraph pretty much covers one of the reasons I loved writing for Who. I could do all sorts of things, and while not all of them worked, some of them did. The second paragraph? So Many Feelings. Oh, God, that scene. And don't taunt us with the Pilot, JMS. We know you're brilliant.
"Why didn't all the Narn support G'Kar's request to send an expedition to Z'ha'dum in "Revelations," if G'Quon wrote about the Shadows?
Narn is somewhat factionalized itself, as is every world; there are different followers of different denominations of sometimes similar basic beliefs. Catholics and Protestants are both members of the same faith, but a Protestant doesn't recognize the power of the Pope; neither does a Mormon, or a Lutheran. Similarly, not everyone invests G'Quon with the same amount of reverence or credibility. And G'Kar can call upon those who believe similarly to send out an expedition, but may not have the clout in the rest of the government to do much more afterward.
And yes, initially the shadows had no interest in the Narns, until such time as the Narns, led by G'Quon, began to engage in sabotage and direct attacks to drive them off their homeworld. Then the killing started."
I love it when JMS uses logic against people. It's refreshing. Also, STOP TAUNTING US WITH AWESOME STORY YOU WON'T TELL US. T_T
"Why didn't Bester stay with Carolyn?
Logically, he can't just go away indefinitely, and it's going to take a long time before they can get Carolyn in shape. A very long time. If he stays, he'd be noticed and hunted down by the Corps, which ends his usefulness. His staying served no purpose."
And there's your answer to the 'where is Bester?' question, Nar. XD
"Was this change of heart planned from the start?
Yes, this was definitely intended from the start with Bester."
This does not surprise me in the slightest.
""Then out of the hundred popcycles in the Shadow transport, we just happen to pick the one guiding light in Bester's life. God, aren't we lucky."
Yes, and how amazingly coincidental that of all the women around, Oedipus would just happen to murder his father and marry his mother without knowing he had done so. Okay, it was a coincidence, I'll own up to that. We have very, very few of them on the show. And the reason the word "coincidence" exists, and the word "synchronicity," is that sometimes stuff like that does happen. You ever pick up the phone to call somebody and have that person already on the line calling you? You ever think of someone you haven't seen in a while and run into them the next day? It happens. As long as it doesn't happen to excess, and become a venue for sloppy storytelling every week, it doesn't bother me, it's a legitimate plot device.
And you misspelled popcicle."
I think I love the snark at the end of that comment the best. And honestly, I was never too bothered with that. We've already seen he doesn't use coincidence to excess. Besides which, HITSUZEN. It would have happened because it should happen. <3
"Why aren't other TV networks available? What happened to the two reporters at the ISN desk when it was shut down?
ISN is one of the only interstellar networks bounced via the tachyon relay systems from Earth to the outer colonies and beyond. There are lots of other channels back home, but to get this far out you need the support of the government.
The other two reporters are, to say the least, in deep guano."
Hm, that does make sense.
A lovely Bester episode, over all. You have to love someone as evil as Bester being in the Army of Light. Also, he does wear black. <3
Interludes and Examinations:
Momentous episode warning. You are now warned.
"Script 15 is entitled "Interludes and Examinations," and has a plot turn I hadn't seen coming, but which fits perfectly into the arc; I think you're going to be stunned. (I was.)"
Wait, really? Wow. Something JMS didn't see coming. Was it Kosh, I wonder?
"Re: titles...yeah, you got to watch out with this show, sometimes I put on deliberately dull titles when I want to sneak up behind you quietly. The more innocuous sounding, the more you should worry...."
Sneaky bastard. But I've said that before.
"Let me answer this way...whenever I'm going to unveil something on the show, I begin to point to it in upcoming episodes. I've begun pointing to the question of what the shadows want, and why they're doing it. So, logically, I'm now going to have to follow up on that...."
Because really, that makes a lovely amount of sense, story wise. It's a pity more people don't try it.
"In general, you always know when I'm going to start answering a question, because I begin to point at it in episodes; I'm now beginning to point to the shadows and ask, "What do THEY want?"
The answer is coming."
Sneak. Really. XP
"It wasn't my idea. It was Kosh's idea. It was his pulling me that way that led to it. "Trust me," he said. I followed.
And yeah, it does hurt. Pat Tallman was devastated at the screening. Even my own crew wouldn't talk to me for a day or so after the script came out.
Which is when I knew it was the right thing to do."
IT WAS KOSH. They killed Kosh! You bastard. >.> I have to say though, it has done good. It did, after all, start one of my favorite rp's when I was having feels after rewatching that episode. Oh, Weiß rp. I could never regret you, no matter how bad you were at points. Also, I wouldn't have spoken with JMS after that either. >.>"It's funny, out of all the awful terrible things I've done to our characters over these 3 years, the one that honked off the whole crew was the Kosh development. On one level, they loved it...loved how it tightened the screws...but they still didn't want to know from me for a day or two."
That's because it's Kosh you killed. >.> Despite being a complete troll, we were attached to him.
"Yeah, that's [Kosh's death] the story turn that surprised even me. (And, of course, I can't wait for the folks who'll say it was over a contract dispute with the actor....)"
Don't make me quote Babylon Park again... Though it makes sense. I think he'd have led up to it a lot more if he'd known it was coming.
"The mentor always dies in heroic sagas.
I think Kosh sort of "hit the wall" when he saw that Sheridan wasn't going to go away; I think finally he was ashamed, and recognized his fear, and in a sense the air went out of him, and he reconciled himself to what had to be.
You're right about the mentor; sooner or later, the mentor has to step aside (or fall by the wayside) for the others to grow into the hero's journey. Originally this was slated to happen a bit later...I think, on some level, I was reluctant to do it, because to write this kind of stuff you have to *feel* it yourself, and I think I was avoiding that as much as Kosh was avoiding his fate. I didn't want to go through writing that. So I kept putting it off. I knew it *had* to be done...but not yet....
And that's when, for lack of a better explanation, Kosh stepped up and began to pull me in that direction in the script. It was time. His passing shouldn't be frittered away or minimized; it should happen at the right moment, and this was that moment. It's almost impossible to describe this to a non-writer, but the character, this fictional construct, was simply determined to have his way, and that was the end of it. I kept trying to dance away in the script, to go back into safer waters...but each time was pulled back in this direction, until finally I had to admit that yes, this was the right time, and the right way, to do this.
And Kosh fell.
But what finally convinced me was the realization that this was not only right for now, but right for *later*...though you won't know what that means for a while yet."
It does make it right for later. Which is why I was a little surprised that it wasn't planned. With that, though, it was planned eventually, I suppose. Also, that bit about the character being determined to have their own way? Yeah, I get that. I so get that. It's ridiculous how much that applies to me as well."Mainly, I think I was just trying to avoid it...put it off as long as possible...but the character knew, even more than I did, that this was the right time to do this. It's a very hard thing to do this to a character; the only way to get that kind of emotion into a script is to feel it yourself as you're writing it, and that's a painful thing to do. So I was avoiding it. But he outfoxed me...as usual.
That's Vorlons for you."
It's good to know that the Vorlons troll even JMS sometimes.""So, to sum up, has it been hard making these changes after you and all of the fans have gotten to know them? Or is it simply a matter of: "Well...it's their time...?"
It's both, kinda. In the case of one character, who's been with us a long time, and who...shall we say delicately, is en route to becoming an ex-character by the end of this season...it was hard knowing the actor, because the actor said, "Was there something I did wrong?" To which you can only answer truthfully and say no, not at all, just the opposite...you did a GREAT job, that's why we're offing you. If you'd been just mediocre, nobody'd CARE."
In another case, also later this season, it was *very* difficult for me personally to do it, very emotional...and I wouldn't probably have done it at all if the character hadn't basically grabbed me by the lapels and dragged me kicking and screaming to that point of the story and said, "Look, this is right, you know it, I know it, now DO it." So I did. (And the cast and crew were equally stunned. Of everything that's been done on the show to date, THAT one thing got the biggest reaction; nobody'd eat across from me for two days at lunch after that.)
Bottom line...you've got to go where the story leads you. That *has* to be your first and foremost obligation. If it's anything else -- catering to the audience's expectations, or your own preferences -- rather than doing what the cold logic of the story *demands* you to do...you're finished."
I have so many feels for that last paragraph. I don't know how many times I've said that, especially around characterization. That's the Unicorn for you. And the Brigadier. And Izkyr. We won't go into Phelan. No, I've never quite forgiven myself for Phelan. He knows this, and he takes advantage of me every single time. That doesn't mean I regret for a second killing him, because that was the whole reason he came into being. But still. Also, I love that it's Kosh that everyone is revolting for. XD The ex-character bit also made me laugh.
"The Delenn/Sheridan axis is proceeding, but I've been very deliberately holding off the kiss, and what would follow that, so I could do it in a very special way. You'll see soon enough...."
""JMS, why did you edit out the scene where the Ranger follows Morden and ends up being killed by the Shadows? Don't you think fans of the show would rather see that than the scene in the bar where Garibaldi asks for info on Franklin's blood from the other doctor? When you edit the show please keep in mind what the fans would what to see. Rangers and Shadows fighting is much more exciting than a unimportant scene that could have been left out easily."
Because it was important to set up what Garibaldi wanted, where it was, and how he was going to gain access. It had to show his concern for Franklin, the moral ambiguity in asking for this, the betrayal we see on Franklin's face, the difficulty in Dr. Hobbs dealing with his request. The ranger scene was a brief piece that was really unconnected to the rest of the story, had no setup elsewhere or payoff, was only a brief piece of action. I needed the time to establish the character and plot information in the Garibaldi scene.
And when you cite what "the fans" want to see, bear in mind that there ain't no such critter. There's what *you* like, but *you're* not the entirety of the fans. Some fans thought "Avalon" was one of the best of the series to date; others thought it was just a character piece and wanted more action and arc and called it a "waste." Some people when they read a novel read for the action, then when they come to a few pages that establish the look of the forest, or some character background, jump ahead a few pages to where the action starts up again. Some do just the opposite.
My obligation, first and foremost, is to the story, and to tell that story as best I can. If I start trying to second guess what *The Fans* want, when there is no ready concensus, when there ain't no such thing, when different fans want different things, it'll just get watered down and wander around lost."
That comment baffled me. It really did. The scene between Garibaldi and the other doctor was pretty important, or so I thought. But hey, apparently someone didn't think so. I'm glad we got what we did, at least.
"Just a quickie aside...the background/depiction of Brakiri space was taken right from a Hubble deep-space shot. We use them a lot, as provided to us by the folks who keep track of it all and keep it running."
Okay, that's actually seriously cool.
"One theme of the show is how we each deal with the traumas that beset us, and the choices we make. The difference is in how we handle them. In "Shadow" and "Interludes" both Londo and Sheridan have to confront somewhat similar losses: the death of a loved one. But Sheridan, at the last, was willing to suck in the pain and do what was right, however much it grieved him, and forego revenge...Londo, on the other hand, has embraced revenge."
"Bruce is a hell of a lot better than some folks were willing to give him credit for in the beginning. I think that's coming out now as his role becomes more deep and more serious."
I adore him. But that's just me.
"How could you kill Kosh before explaining Sheridan's dream in "All Alone in the Night?"
The problem is we're telling different stories. What makes it interesting for me is that Sheridan *isn't* prepared, Kosh *didn't* finish his training. It isn't nice and tidy. And to stop and explain the dream in "Interludes" would've meant taking, oh, about 3-5 minutes OUT of that episode, and it's very tight as it is. And it would've just been a case of, "Here, here's this bit of exposition relating to something you've seen before."
No, the dream *does* get explained...and it gets explained *this season*, in the course of the final five. In detail. But at the right time, and in the right place. To have explained it sooner wouldn't work, it has to come at the right moment, with the last bits of information our characters need to *use* that interpretation."
YOU ARE THE HAND. XD
"Why doesn't Delenn tell Sheridan what she knows?
Delenn's been holding back. More than she should. There will be a price."
There is that. XD
Koooooosh. And Londooooooooo. So much happening in this episode. So much still to come. SO MANY FEELS.
I think I'm going to cut off on this one here, since the next two episodes are more than likely going to have lots of JMS comments and this one feels pretty long anyway. Might as well make the split now, if I'm going to have to split them anyway. I suppose that means I have to change the title, since the original one came from War Without End...
