Deathwalker: Talia thoughts

[AntonyF]

Talia was looking soooo hot. Oh, this isn't NC-17. Ahem, I have proper thoughts.

So what was that all about, with Kosh, the thought-recording guy, and Talia? I was reading the Lurker's guide, but found no explanation as such. But did it ever become apparant? I have ideas, and vague recollections of reading stuff, but I want to know for sure.

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Step outside, walk with me
Everyone I know and see is falling
Is crawling after something maybe,
A bigger house, faster car, never knowing who they are
They're lonely, they're lonely, they're lonely

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

I think it was intended "for the future" - that is for events in Talia's story that never happened before she left the series.

The station telepath arc was one of the few really fixed points in the B5[:b] story. The telepath would get her powers enhanced, and form a close alliance with the Vorlons. This was set-up for Lyta in the pilot, with her scan of Kosh. When Talia replaced Lyta, new ways had to be found of getting the character to the same point in S4 and S5 that Lyta would have reached - hence Jason Ironheart and, later, the ViCR.

After Andrea left and Pat Tallman returned as Lyta, all of this prepartion was moot and the whole thing was quietly dropped. One possible use for Kosh's recording would have been to restore "Talia version 1.0" after she was revealed as Control and taken over by the artificial personality.

I think this was one of numerous "trap-doors" that JMS left himself so that he would have maximum flexibility in telling the story. (Although a lot of subtle signs had been inserted pointing to Talia as Control - especially by contantly framing her in shots containing mirrors - JMS deliberately obscured Control's identity not only to create suspense, but in case he needed to write out some other character at around that point in the series.)

Regards,

Joe

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Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net

 

[Jomar]

It's interesting to speculate what might have happened if Andrea had remained with the show. I've forgotten the actual sequence of the episodes but it was Lyta's return late in year 2 which revealed the hidden personality in Talia. IIRC it was after Kosh was killed that Lyta returned with the enhanced powers. That was late in year 3 so it would have been a completely different story line if Talia had remained.

Babylon 5 never stops being interesting.

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I always seem to be diagonally parked in a parallel universe.

 

[Recoil]

*sigh* I just realized I skipped over Joe D's post and he basically said the same thing I said before I said it. I didn't even see it there, oh well...

I think it was more of something like this:

Lyta was supposed to be the station telepath, and to have her powers enhanced by the Vorlons. She didn't start the series, Talia did. So she got her powers enhanced by Ironheart. One thing I remember reading is that JMS always had 'trapdoors' built into each character in the event that they left the series, that would not only fit into the story arc, but also have a replacement set up to take over. When Talia left, Lyta was poised to take back over the telepath arc...albeit a little different.

I think the ViCAR thing wasn't meant as a plot point to ENHANCE her, I think that it was a trapdoor for the character if she ever needed to be brought back. When she left, her personality was wiped out, one would think that was a permanent thing. Yet we have this guy who has a copy of who she is floating around. Also in the very episode Talia gets her personality 'replaced' Girabaldi flashes back to that very ViCAR moment recalling it, as if to clue us the viewer that there is a chance that she can be recovered.

The story went forward, and Talia wasn't used again so it never came up, but it is always out there should ever JMS need the character, he can bring her back using that.

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'I don't believe in the no-win scenario' - JTK

[This message has been edited by Recoil (edited January 14, 2002).]