[1994.03.02] A rogue telepath with exceptional powers takes refuge on Babylon 5, and two PSI Cops arrive to capture him. Catherine Sakai heads to Sigma 957 to survey it for Quantium-40, ignoring G'Kar
I'm glad to see you're picking up that seeds are being sown :D And I can't comment on any of them without spoilers, darnitall!
Koenig was originally cast to play a different part in an episode you've not gotten to yet but due to health issues had to back out. JMS still really wanted him to be on the show, so he was re-cast as Alfred Bester (yes, named for the author of "The Demolished Man"). He was so well-liked in this role (and he loved doing it becuz it was so against type of what roles he usually got) that he became a recurring character.
A JMS quote about the episode: "Re: my favorite thing about this episode...it's that when all is said and done, *nobody knows anything.* Bester doesn't know what Ironheart is turning into; Sinclair doesn't know if Ironheart was really telling the truth or not; nobody knows where Ironheart went; nobody knows what the alien ship is/who they were...the closest I can come to is to compare it to writing a mystery novel, without revealing the killer, but *without* frustrating anyone in the process, because there's *closure.*"
* Funny incident today, though, also at lunch. Walter Koenig joined some of the cast members at their table for lunch, and as he came to the table, they all stood up at attention. When asked why, they explained that it's protocol for junior officers to stand when a senior officer comes to the table. It was kind of a nice moment.
* Today, Walter Koenig's 2nd day working in the B5 universe, as a Psi Cop in "Mind War." He's doing well, taking part in some very difficult scenes (fight scenes and the ilke), and it's a very powerful performance, not at ALL what people have seen before. He's a terrific performer when given a role with some meat to it. And the dailies look great. I think this episode will wake up a lot of people who have never seen Walter as anything other than Chekov.
* Walter decided that an interesting character trait for Bester would be if this skilled psi cop had a useless left hand.
* It's a funny thought, but knowing Walter as I do, I can say without fear of contradiction that he was *not* doing Shatner. Given the chance here to do something *utterly* outside ST, which was his hope, and our pleasure to provide, he wouldn't do this, and having spoken with him at some length about his character and his performance, know that he *didn't* do this.
* Chekov is just one character, which was created by another, and played by Walter. Agreed, too many people have seen him as just this one person; but there's a talented actor with a great range behind that character, able to do *many* other things. I'm glad we've been able to let him show that range a little.
* "JMS is on an anti-typecasting crusade."
That's actually true, in a lot of ways. My sense is that here we have many actors who created enduring works because they were good at what they did; they're *good actors*. But because they were so good at it, they got typecast as only able to play that. How many people snickered, wrongly, when they heard Walter was going to be Bester? "Chekhov in the Psi Corps," was the usual lament.
Until they *saw* him. And saw what he could do.
To work against the typecasting is simply payment on a debt to those who created enduring characters. And I'll continue to do it wherever and whenever I can. (Look for Robert Englund in an upcoming episode playing a very different sort of character than he's played elsewhere lately.)
* We'd initially offered Walter the role of Knight Two in "Sky," but when his health prohibited using him, we went to Patrick McGoohan, who loved the script, wanted to do it, but was going to be out of the country at the time of shooting. We then shifted Walter to "Mind War."
Sorry to leave you on read. Thanks for bringing all the behind the scenes stuff. I like that sort of thing but, in my avoidance of spoilers, I can't let myself. So it is all very much appreciated!
I really like what JMS has to say about typecasting. I'm no actor, at least on professionally, but I've been on stage a few times. Acting is much harder than it looks. It's kind of like writing nonfiction versus fiction. The challenge with fiction is that it has to be believable. Same with acting. You can't just pretend to be someone else. You have to make people *believe* you're someone else. This is especially hard when the character is meant to be unbelievable, which MOST OF THEM ARE! Anyways, typecasting feeds into the common misconception that actors are just playing themselves. I'm sure a few of them are, but the fact is, you *can't* be yourself on a stage or in front of a camera. That skillset that turns you into one believable character can turn you into any number of characters. So it's a real disservice to actors who honed their craft to be stuck in iterations of the same role over and over.
Excited to hear that I'm picking up what's being laid down. I won't lie, if it weren't for B5's reputation, I would've probably never watched more than two or three episodes. A lot of people told me that the first season is just backstory for what happens after that, but so far I'm inclined to disagree. It may be unravelling frustratingly slow and scant, but I am detecting longer threads.
As far as closure without reveal goes, the episode was really well written in that regard. I could detect pieces of a larger narrative, but if I were coming into this episode without B5's reputation behind it, those pieces could just be read as narrative color. The closure happens because the episodic stories do wrap up, and the larger story is only gestured at enough to make it feel like part of a real universe.
I'm glad to see you're picking up that seeds are being sown :D And I can't comment on any of them without spoilers, darnitall!
Koenig was originally cast to play a different part in an episode you've not gotten to yet but due to health issues had to back out. JMS still really wanted him to be on the show, so he was re-cast as Alfred Bester (yes, named for the author of "The Demolished Man"). He was so well-liked in this role (and he loved doing it becuz it was so against type of what roles he usually got) that he became a recurring character.
A JMS quote about the episode: "Re: my favorite thing about this episode...it's that when all is said and done, *nobody knows anything.* Bester doesn't know what Ironheart is turning into; Sinclair doesn't know if Ironheart was really telling the truth or not; nobody knows where Ironheart went; nobody knows what the alien ship is/who they were...the closest I can come to is to compare it to writing a mystery novel, without revealing the killer, but *without* frustrating anyone in the process, because there's *closure.*"
A few more quotes becuz I like them ;-)
* Funny incident today, though, also at lunch. Walter Koenig joined some of the cast members at their table for lunch, and as he came to the table, they all stood up at attention. When asked why, they explained that it's protocol for junior officers to stand when a senior officer comes to the table. It was kind of a nice moment.
* Today, Walter Koenig's 2nd day working in the B5 universe, as a Psi Cop in "Mind War." He's doing well, taking part in some very difficult scenes (fight scenes and the ilke), and it's a very powerful performance, not at ALL what people have seen before. He's a terrific performer when given a role with some meat to it. And the dailies look great. I think this episode will wake up a lot of people who have never seen Walter as anything other than Chekov.
* Walter decided that an interesting character trait for Bester would be if this skilled psi cop had a useless left hand.
* It's a funny thought, but knowing Walter as I do, I can say without fear of contradiction that he was *not* doing Shatner. Given the chance here to do something *utterly* outside ST, which was his hope, and our pleasure to provide, he wouldn't do this, and having spoken with him at some length about his character and his performance, know that he *didn't* do this.
* Chekov is just one character, which was created by another, and played by Walter. Agreed, too many people have seen him as just this one person; but there's a talented actor with a great range behind that character, able to do *many* other things. I'm glad we've been able to let him show that range a little.
* "JMS is on an anti-typecasting crusade."
That's actually true, in a lot of ways. My sense is that here we have many actors who created enduring works because they were good at what they did; they're *good actors*. But because they were so good at it, they got typecast as only able to play that. How many people snickered, wrongly, when they heard Walter was going to be Bester? "Chekhov in the Psi Corps," was the usual lament.
Until they *saw* him. And saw what he could do.
To work against the typecasting is simply payment on a debt to those who created enduring characters. And I'll continue to do it wherever and whenever I can. (Look for Robert Englund in an upcoming episode playing a very different sort of character than he's played elsewhere lately.)
* We'd initially offered Walter the role of Knight Two in "Sky," but when his health prohibited using him, we went to Patrick McGoohan, who loved the script, wanted to do it, but was going to be out of the country at the time of shooting. We then shifted Walter to "Mind War."
Sorry to leave you on read. Thanks for bringing all the behind the scenes stuff. I like that sort of thing but, in my avoidance of spoilers, I can't let myself. So it is all very much appreciated!
I really like what JMS has to say about typecasting. I'm no actor, at least on professionally, but I've been on stage a few times. Acting is much harder than it looks. It's kind of like writing nonfiction versus fiction. The challenge with fiction is that it has to be believable. Same with acting. You can't just pretend to be someone else. You have to make people *believe* you're someone else. This is especially hard when the character is meant to be unbelievable, which MOST OF THEM ARE! Anyways, typecasting feeds into the common misconception that actors are just playing themselves. I'm sure a few of them are, but the fact is, you *can't* be yourself on a stage or in front of a camera. That skillset that turns you into one believable character can turn you into any number of characters. So it's a real disservice to actors who honed their craft to be stuck in iterations of the same role over and over.
Excited to hear that I'm picking up what's being laid down. I won't lie, if it weren't for B5's reputation, I would've probably never watched more than two or three episodes. A lot of people told me that the first season is just backstory for what happens after that, but so far I'm inclined to disagree. It may be unravelling frustratingly slow and scant, but I am detecting longer threads.
As far as closure without reveal goes, the episode was really well written in that regard. I could detect pieces of a larger narrative, but if I were coming into this episode without B5's reputation behind it, those pieces could just be read as narrative color. The closure happens because the episodic stories do wrap up, and the larger story is only gestured at enough to make it feel like part of a real universe.