XPost: rec.arts.sf.tv   
   From: a@b.com   
      
   On 15 Sep 2006 03:46:41 -0700, atereshchenko@googlemail.com wrote:   
      
   >   
   >> Well.. If everything would go as planned orginally it wouldn't be   
   >> Sheridan that would be freed.. it would be Sinclair, after having been   
   >> turncoated by his old friend Garibaldi :P. The only extension I could   
   >> see to the Shadow War is an extra episode to decompress the climax   
   >> Into The Fire.   
   >   
   >When, because of Sinclair's departure the arc changed quite a lot - so   
   >I'm not sure if we can simply replace S. with another S. :-)   
      
   Sinclair's departure didn't really change a lot. Granted I haven't   
   seen this original outline thing that you supposedly can get buying   
   all the script books so if you have that you can correct me.   
      
   If we were going for a 'If Sinclair had stayed' universe.. Sheridan   
   was a minor character introduced in season 2 episode 1 when he got   
   assigned by the Clark as Starkiller and the great hater of Minbari and   
   vice versa to guard his interests at Babylon 5. He now spends the   
   first half of the year babysitting Sinclair integrated to the stories   
   here and there leading up to "In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum" where he   
   finds out his wife Anna was killed by the shadows. After fruitlessly   
   trying to get the information from Morden he's talked down by Delenn   
   who tells him of this great war that is coming and off he goes to   
   Minbar to eventually create the Rangers. Amazingly.. late in the third   
   season he shows back up in a ripping two-parter where we go back in   
   time and he shows up as Valen.   
      
   Sinclair on the other hand assumes the mantle of the hero story. He   
   gets sidetracked early in season 2 with Catherine Sakei going missing   
   out on an exploration run to a familiar sector just before they were   
   to be married. In order to get him back on track Delenn tells him she   
   got picked up by the Shadows and is pretty much dead. He then does   
   everything Sheridan did do without needless padding and ass-covering   
   like having Sheridan have a heart to heart with Garibaldi about   
   feeling like friends shortly before heading off to the big jump of   
   Z'ha'dum. Hence when Garibaldi turns on him late in season 4 it has a   
   lot more impact due to the fact it need not be grafted on.   
      
   The Valen Arc was simply a trap door for Our Hero should for any   
   reason he have to be replaced. He could be sent to cold storage   
   off-screen for a year and a half(with a minor guest spot or mention   
   here or there) and eventually dealt with while a new actor assumed the   
   main story to the show.   
      
   >> While the miscasting of Byron and the stretching of the story led to a   
   >> very weak first half.. need I remind you that the Telepath Arc is the   
   >> entire B-story arc for the show? This entire series is not one arc but   
   >> two and how they interweave to form a whole. Not including what   
   >> happened to the telepaths and how the resistance was created out of   
   >> the events of the show would have been silly. I still hold that season   
   >> 5 deals with the aftereffects of the events in 1-4 and as such its   
   >> basically a season that should have been entitled 'Epilogue' for the   
   >> climax of 'Endgame' and is one of the reasons it was so weak.   
   >   
   >While the Telepath Arc is the B-story, after the rushed season 4 it   
   >became the A-story and did not hold as well on it's own (mostly because   
   >the really interesting stuff of the Telepath War was saved for the   
   >possible motion picture). And departure of Claudia Christian.   
      
   I certainly won't argue there.   
      
   >I quite like first part of season 5 really (and the second part is as   
   >good as the rest of the series - no question here). I just regret all   
   >the missed oprtunities...   
      
   I rather liked the last part of season 5.. the first half just wasn't   
   there for me though.   
      
   >> Oh.. and personal belief. "Sleeping of Light" is "Deconstruction of   
   >> Falling Stars" and vice versa with the final two episodes to the show   
   >> being DoFS(Sheridan's death 20 years in the future and B5's demise)   
   >> followed by SiL(a recording of the events from the time of the end of   
   >> the show to the present 1 million years in the future with the human   
   >> race having succesfully evolved and moved on to New Earth).   
   >   
   >I'm not sure. It is quite clear that "Sleeping in Light" is *the* end   
   >of the series.   
      
   Thats one of my main quibbles.. DoFS felt like a much stronger ending   
   then SiL and it was actually one of the things that undercut early   
   season 5. It simply felt out of place. There are only so many times   
   you can pull the show you the end before how we got there bullshit. A   
   million years in the future the human race survives and heads to New   
   Earth! Thanks for the heads up and ho hum a couple more telepaths just   
   died.   
      
   >However with "Deconstruction of Falling Stars" I'm not   
   >so sure where it would fit in - it feels very rushed...   
      
   The only logical place for it is as the final episode of the series.   
   SiL can work before it np.. it doesn't really work well after.   
      
   -MJ   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)