A few quick Babylon 5 questions

[Bandoman]

I picked up the first season of B5, as well as The Gathering/In The Beginning, and I have just embarked on this journey. I watched The Gathering, and then moved on the the first episode of the season box set (Midnight on the Firing Line). (I'll save In The Beginning until after the 4th season, thanks to advice from you experts.)

I have a few questions:

(1) How much time passed from the air date of The Gathering and the air date of the first episode? (i.e., how much real human time, not how much time on the show)

(2) How much time passed on the show from The Gathering to Midnight on the Firing Line?

(3) There seem to have been some pretty major (as yet) unexplained personnel changes. Susan Ivanova is the new second in command (what happened to that cute asian chick?), there's a new actress playing Delenn, and there's a new doctor. Was this planned from the start, or were the changes made because some producer didn't like how the pilot looked?

(4) What the hell happened to Sinclair's hair? It looked normal in The Gathering, now it looks like his barber was a little distracted and used the clippers a little too long.

[Chew]

About the only question I can answer for sure is number 3. There were some real world and then Babylon 5 explained reasons for casting changes. IMO, the doctor was a really bad actor. On the show, an explaination is given for his departure (which I won't ruin here). As to the second in command, I'm not really sure. I think they just wanted a stronger female character.

Delenn, believe it or not, is the same actress. She was under layers and layers of make-up for the pilot and they changed her appearance for the series. She'll undergo an even more dramatic change later on........

According to IMDB, the pilot was '93 and the series was '94.

[das Monkey]

1) 'The Gathering' originally aired in February of 1993. 'Midnight on the Firing Line' didn't air until almost a year later in January of 1994. Technically, the DVD contains a re-edited version that aired in 1998 when TNT picked up the series. Special effects were redone and some scenes were shifted to add clarity.

2) Not sure exactly - would have to research that - but not much. Note from the Season 1 narration that "the year is 2258." <I>B5</I> wasn't completed until 2257. My guess would be a few months.

3) As you may have noticed, Tamlyn Tomita couldn't act for dung during 'The Gathering'. I've always liked her and was surprised how bad she was, but I agree with the decision to ditch her and bring in Claudia. Delenn's the same actress, just different make-up. There was a lot of experimentation with 'The Gathering', so alien make-up changed considerably before 'Midnight' finally aired. At the risk of spoiling anything, I'll just say that there's a story for each of the characters who is in 'The Gathering' but not 'Midnight' (including those you listed); some are more important than others. In reality, some changes were made because of bull-headed producers, and some were made because jms didn't like the look and/or feel of the show. All of this was pretty new to them, so the pilot was a way to test new things. They ditched what didn't work, and in some cases, that meant actors had to go.

4) Unknown.

Welcome to the adventure.

das

[Bandoman]

Thanks, Chew9. I can't believe that's the same actress as Delenn - she looks a whole lot older in The Gathering.

[Bandoman]

Thanks das!

[cooper2000]

I just started watching too and am too getting into it.
I am up to about episode 9 now.
The plot thickens....