Contradictory characters

[dreamer]

Who did what now?

Talking about Ivanova's character in this thread, made me think how sometimes some characters do something that I never really expected or wanted them to do.

Franklin

Generally I felt that Stephen was a very serious man, regardless of how at ease and smiling he was when we first met him or how he was with his father, or in similar situations ruminating over how fragile life can be. On another side he had his romantic adventures, or perhaps erotic would be a more correct thing to say since there wasn't really anything else but lust there. That was fine. I think it was interesting and brave to portray something like this in the character - even if it was unintentional.

Few times he however said something which I sort of would've wished for JMS to spot and yank out from the script.

The lesser thing was when he ordered the command staff on some food plans and he told Ivanova to eat more and Ivanova protested that she'd gain weight and how she felt like the expanding russian frontier, after which Franklin made a remark "with some very nice borders".

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It was a funny thing to say, but afterwards I've sort of started to think about if he'd really say something like that to a senior officer. Even if Ivanova had changed from that dry, humourless and intimidating creature into the girl on the station that we've all come to love. I'm not disagreeing with Franklin's remark, though.

The thing that I felt that was really off key with the character was when Franklin (again to Ivanova after she complained how an alien race apparently treated sex as a hand shake) told her to "put a bag over his head and do it for Babylon 5", and sort of giggled afterwards.
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These sort of remarks were far too little to feel anything but way off. This sort of waters down his after hours wanderings to B5's pleasure parks to seek something for himself, because with these remarks he'd be a borderline pervert or even a chauvenist and I'm not sure if I'd like the character anymore.

Am I just thinking too hard or do I have something here?

How about you people?

 

[Cell]

I think there are some out of character moments on B5, I'm particularly distressed by Delenn in season 5's Learning Curve where she regresses as a character right before our eyes and then all of a sudden the next episode she's back to the Delenn from the first four seasons.

However I don't think those were out of character moments from Franklin. Had they happen in season one I would have agreed, but near the end of season one and the beginning of season two the show made it a big point to include Franklin in the "group", if you will, of Sinclair/Sheridan, Garibaldi and Ivanova. That group of friends still did their jobs and were formal about them quite a bit, but they also always had a playful nature with each other and that was seen in the various barbs and one liners they would sling at each other. If anything I felt that comments like that from Franklin helped to show how integrated he was becoming in the group as opposed to the isolationist he was for most of season one.

 

[Jade Jaguar]

The thing that I felt that was really off key with the character was when Franklin (again to Ivanova after she complained how an alien race apparently treated sex as a hand shake) told her to "put a bag over his head and do it for Babylon 5", and sort of giggled afterwards.

It was clear to me that Franklin was kidding when he made this remark. And, I agree with Cell. This sort of remark would normally be out of place, but Franklin and Ivanova were close friends, so his remark was unlikely to be misinterpreted, and was just a bit of friendly humor.

 

[jnk5y]

Also Franklin was not a big military guy even though he wore the uniform. He wouldn't see making a joke to a superior officer as taboo. The second quote was also spoken when he was off duty and going for a drink with Ivonova.

In the first couple of seasons where there were different writers I think they did a pretty good job with keeping the characters in character. The one that fluctuated the most in my opinion was Delenn.

 

[KoshFan]

Delenn's character was supposed to fluctuate a bit -- in Season Two she was supposed to get weaker as she wrestled with the consequences of the chrysalis, and then she was supposed to rally as the Shadow War stepped up. But she was also a potent mixture of steel and compassion, and different aspects came out at different times, and to different degrees.

 

[Cell]

Delenn's character was supposed to fluctuate a bit -- in Season Two she was supposed to get weaker as she wrestled with the consequences of the chrysalis, and then she was supposed to rally as the Shadow War stepped up. But she was also a potent mixture of steel and compassion, and different aspects came out at different times, and to different degrees.

I agree with that, except in the case of learning Curve where her character completely regressed from everything she had become before, and then it was forgotten at the end of the episode. The one thing about Delenn's character that never really changed was her belief that her rigidness and haste to action after Dukhat's death led to a terrible war and an untold number of deaths. Because of that she has spent the last 10 years preaching against the enactment of revenge, etc.. And yet here she immediately goes the revenge route and even pulls rank to do so. That was not in character for her at all.