XPost: rec.arts.sf.tv   
   From: a@b.com   
      
   On Fri, 15 Sep 2006 12:42:53 -0400, Jeffrey Kaplan    
   wrote:   
      
   >Or even something happening back on the station.   
   >   
   >> >, and no telepath conflict would be present (or at least with much less   
   >> >screen time, and with Ivanova involved instead of Lyta).   
   >>   
   >> While the miscasting of Byron and the stretching of the story led to a   
   >   
   >Byron was not miscast.  Byron was supposed to be a tragic romantic   
   >type, like Marcus, and with more than a passing physical resemblance to   
   >Marcus. Because he was supposed to have gotten involved with Ivanova   
   >as she tries to fix her mistake of having snubbed Marcus by going with   
   >someone who reminds her of him.   
      
   First of all.. you're talking to type not casting. I'm referring to   
   casting Robin Atkin Downes as Byron. He has all the charisma of a wet   
   sponge, certainly not anything I would view as someone able to pull   
   off the role of a leader. As per getting involved with Ivanova? Not a   
   chance. First.. she is a broken person from the stuff with Marcus.   
   Second.. Day of the Dead would still have happened and she clearly   
   would have bonked him then. Third... it would have caused major   
   problems in the Talia/Lyta superpowered telepath arc.   
      
   How I would have liked to see it done? First.. Talia stays with the   
   show :P. Drop the romantic part, cast the leader from season 2's "A   
   Race Through Dark Places" as Byron. Basically your typical cult leader   
   true believer type willing to do anything including get himself killed   
   for the cause which is what Talia gravitates to. Then after he gets   
   killed Talia takes up the "Remember Byron" cause and turns into the   
   new leader of the Telepath resistence and eventually making the deal   
   with Garibaldi. But what we got was so far removed from anything   
   remotely realistic that we even got the infamous "You are My Willow"   
   bs. The romantic stuff was pure unadulterated padding as a result of   
   the compression of season 4 as others have said.   
      
   >The problem with Byron is the same   
   >problem with the entire telepath story in the first half of the season:   
   >It was by itself insufficient for the airtime it was expanded to fill.   
   >I have every confidence that if the story had progressed the way it was   
   >supposed to, then the Byron story would have been shorter and better.   
      
   I agree with shorter and better but the romantic stuff was padding and   
   not needed to tell his story.. nor did he have to be a pretty boy as a   
   result.   
      
   -MJ   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)