Babylon 5 speculations

[vilakins]

Another ep of B5 (Mind War) and ooh, it's moving right along. Bester has already appeared, Sakai encountered an ancient being, and we've learned more about the Psi Corps. And everyone is more than they seem. But of course! :-)

Knowing what will happen makes me wonder how it would have been had some of the actors not left.

The appropriately named Talia Winters (so glacial and 40s) was obviously intended to be more. Ironheart has given her telekinesis--which I don't remember her using again--and I'm sure she was meant to have the story line Lyta Alexander took over. To give Lyta the skills that Ironheart gave Talia, she had to encounter the Vorlons. I'm sorry about what JMS did to Talia's character, but I'd have been sorrier if he'd done it to Ivanova's as he'd apparently originally planned.

Had JMS not lost his first JS (yes, we noticed) when Michael O'Hare left, Catherine Sakai, the explorer and planetary surveyor would have been the one to discover the Shadows and be suborned by them, but instead he had to create Anna for that role. I heard she was named for Avon's Anna; rather a give away for those in the know.

I'm impressed that JMS had the story in his head from the very beginning, and was able to recover so well from people leaving. I wonder how the Valen story would have worked out had Sinclair stayed? Would it have happened much later, perhaps at the end?