sholio | Babylon 5 script books

I ended up getting a bunch of these for myself as a pre-Christmas gift, which ended up being a post-Christmas gift, but I have been having an amazing time going through them. I'll post more detailed reactions and scans as I go back through the books from the start - right now I'm just skimming - but here are a few interesting little tidbits so far!

The season one script in which Londo's tentacle genitalia is not only first described, but seen, was apparently written while JMS was basically tripping balls on cold medicine and thought it would be hilarious, only to have very little memory of anything in that script when he sobered up.

Bruce Boxleitner wasn't the vibe JMS wanted for Sinclair's replacement (he was after someone with a Pierce Brosnan affect, dashing and hero-y, who would come on as a hero type and grow slowly into a messiah role). Since Boxleitner was known for lightweight, comedic roles, he didn't think he could get the audience on board with that, so he decided to go to completely the opposite end and give them what they expected from that actor - a lightweight, goofy character who makes you think "oh, this guy is exactly what he seems, there's not much depth to him" ... and then turns out to have a lot more going on underneath.

Sheridan and Garibaldi's relationship is meant to evoke a sibling vibe, starting with Sheridan giving some of his life force to save him early on, so the two of them relate to each other like family without really noticing that they're doing it; the fighting in season four is meant to evoke brothers fighting. (Now that I know it's there, I can see it!) They needed to make the characters' relationship distinct from the one that Sinclair and Garibaldi had, while also making them feel close enough that the betrayal in season four hits as hard as it should considering that they haven't technically known each other all that long compared to the relationship that was originally supposed to occupy that ecological character niche.

The reason why the pilot guy - can't remember his name off the top of my head - in season 2 dies so unceremoniously and is immediately forgotten is that the network refused JMS's actor suggestions and saddled him with an actor he didn't want, so he decided on the spot that the guy was going to be killed off anticlimactically by the end of the season.

Byron was meant to directly evoke Marcus, in a Marcus/Ivanova -> Byron/Ivanova parallel, so in the emotional backlash from never having opened up to Marcus until it was too late, she opened up to Byron too fast and got sucked into a cult. Of course then they lost Claudia and also the reason for Byron to be anything like that.

The scripts on the whole are spoken as written; there is very little dialogue ad-libbing by the actors, and in general the dialogue in the episodes is verbatim what's in the scripts. However, I was intrigued by how much of the interpersonal byplay and body language that sells the vibe must have been either ad-libbed or added by the director/actors in filming, because some of what I would have considered key elements of the characters' physicality (in the scenes I've rewatched enough to notice it) isn't there in the script. A couple of examples that I noticed are that Vir and Lennier's goodbye hug isn't there in the script (Lennier just walks away), and neither is Londo and G'Kar's goodbye arm clasp in "The Fall of Centauri Prime" (the stage direction there is just that Londo touches his arm).

That's all I can remember off the top of my head that I wanted to mention from the first pass, but I'll also stick this in, because I already took a picture of this page to send to

sovay.

This is from the original season 5 episode breakdowns, after the overall plot arcs for the characters were roughed out, but before the exact beats and order of all the events was completely nailed down. In the original version, Londo ascends to the throne later in the season, and is still on Babylon 5 when the assassination attempt on G'Kar is made.

handwritten notes with typed version beneath

G'Kar: Stabbed by Narn (Na'Toth?) -- some disappointed he is not striking [at] Centauri, accuse him of getting too close. Londo at bedside, "I should have been protecting YOU." Finds his attacker (Na'Toth, scarred physically and mentally), who is threatened by/does not understand his change. Strike again, so come back even stronger. Embraces, heals wounds. Healing ceremony, even Londo comes.

.... so on the one hand, I can see why it didn't go this way. The key character/relationship beats ended up being broken up between Na'Toth's rescue on Centauri Prime, and Londo saving G'Kar during the bombardment of the capital (which doesn't have any equivalent in the original breakdowns). And I liked what we got! But at the same time ... what an episode that would have been. And what excellent fanfic fodder it is.

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I'm so happy you're having a blast with these!! ♥

p.s. Sheridan and Garibaldi's relationship is meant to evoke a sibling vibe, starting with Sheridan giving some of his life force to save him early on, so the two of them relate to each other like family without really noticing that they're doing it; the fighting in season four is meant to evoke brothers fighting.

I see it! And I like it!

Edited 2025-12-31 07:04 (UTC)