Season 1: Ko'Dath's brief visit to the show

[Recoil]

Does anyone know if there was any behind-the-scenes reason as to why Ko'Dath was in just the one episode, then written out in favor of Na'Taoth?

She was in "Born to the Purple" as G'Kar's new aide, and it seemed like a role she was to keep. Basically being another Vir or Lennier. But that was her only appearance. Two episodes later, in "The Parliment of Dreams" she was mentioned as getting killed in some airlock accident, and Na'Toth was her replacement.

Was it planned from the start that way to build suspicion around Na'Toth due to the assassination B-plot of that episode? Or was Ko'Dath supposed to be the character going forward, and maybe there was some pay/schedule/conflict reasons why she was written off and Na'Toth was brought in?

Either way, I think we clearly got the better of the two, but I was just curious.

 

[Jan]

Does anyone know if there was any behind-the-scenes reason as to why Ko'Dath was in just the one episode, then written out in favor of Na'Taoth?

JMS wrote:

As y'all may remember, originally we had Mary Woronov slated to be
Ko'Dath, G'Kar's assistant. She had *very* real problems with the idea of
wearing prosthetics, and also wouldn't wear the red contacts. So we went our
separate ways, and Ko'Dath had an unfortunate accident with an airlock.

The entire post is here

Jan

 

[Recoil]

Ahhh figured it was something like that. Thanks.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

In another post on the subject JMS mentioned toying with the idea of giving G'Kar a new aide very week, a la the ever-changing secretaries on Murphy Brown, and having them all meet with unfortunate airlock accidents or other grisly deaths. But then he ate something sweet and lay down for awhile and the feeling passed.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Recoil]

That would have been....interesting. As it was, Na'Toth wasn't in the series much either though. In a handful of episodes the first season, in like two the second season --- with a different actress, then *poof* never heard from her again till season 5. They explained where she was, but never did it when she actually left for Narn. I always thought it was weird how she never became as prominent as the other "aides." She was the most interesting of them all IMO.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

The second actress they brought in to play Na'Toth basically refused to play the role as written. She kept trying to "soften" the character - despite repeated note and chats with JMS and various directors about how what she was doing was antithetical to the nature of the character. They didn't want to recast again and they couldn't bring in a new character because by then G'Kar was out investigating events on the Rim and his aide had to be famliar with events that had taken place before he left. As soon as possible JMS had Na'Toth disappear, which worked dramatically because it further isolated G'Kar and left him without the kind of support system the other ambassadors had. (And thus forced him into tentative alliances with people like Sherdan, Garibaldi and Marcus, which he probably would have avoided if he'd had a Narn confindante.)

JMS wanted to show that Na'Toth has survived the war and therefore brought her (and Julie Caitlin Brown) back for a final bow in S5. If you want to find out what happened to Na'Toth after that, try to track down the short story, "True Seeker" by Fiona Avery.

Regards,

Joe

 

[GaribaldisHair]

IIRC wasn't it the makeup that did for JCB also? Something about feeling unable to audition for other roles because the prosthetics left her skin in such a poor state?

 

[RW7427]

I like Na'Toth better anyway.

 

[GaribaldisHair]

I like Na'Toth better anyway.

Likewise ... but only the first one. As it were.

 

[darth_librarian]

So we had one Ko'dath and Two Na'toths? And Julie played Na'toth first, and then again in S5 ?

My brain is hurting...

 

[Sindatur]

So we had one Ko'dath and Two Na'toths? And Julie played Na'toth first, and then again in S5 ?

My brain is hurting...

Yes, and three French Hens...Er...three wives of Londo.

 

[A_M_Swallow]

Yes, and three French Hens...Er...three wives of Londo.

Make that 4 wives and a mistress.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

My brain is hurting...

That's the normal condition for a B5 fan. Now, allow me to explain the history of the Triluminaries and the timeline of Jeffery Sinclair's life...



Joe

 

[GKarsEye]

That's the normal condition for a B5 fan. Now, allow me to explain the history of the Triluminaries and the timeline of Jeffery Sinclair's life...



Joe

Hah!

Man I remember we had this one thread here about that and there were literally diagrams.
Diagrams, people... diagrams.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Diagrams, people... diagrams.

Not to mention the twenty seven eight-by-ten color glossy pictures with the circles and the arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was .

Joe

 

[Sindatur]

Make that 4 wives and a mistress.

4 Wives? Pestilence, Famine and Death would be 3, who am i forgetting as a 4th?

 

[Sindatur]

That's the normal condition for a B5 fan. Now, allow me to explain the history of the Triluminaries and the timeline of Jeffery Sinclair's life...



Joe

Not to the mention who was unstuck in time and when.

 

[GKarsEye]

4 Wives? Pestilence, Famine and Death would be 3, who am i forgetting as a 4th?

Londo once told someone (forget who, probably Vir I guess) that when he was young he married a dancer with whom he was in love, but his family threatened to disown him, so he had to divorce her.

That was probably his first act of putting nationalism/patriotism/duty ahead of personal desires and emotion. Also would explain why he fell so fast and hard for another dancer, Adira, that must've reminded him very much of his first love. Also didn't hurt that Adira was an absolutely kickin' babe.

 

[Sindatur]

Londo once told someone (forget who, probably Vir I guess) that when he was young he married a dancer with whom he was in love, but his family threatened to disown him, so he had to divorce her.

That was probably his first act of putting nationalism/patriotism/duty ahead of personal desires and emotion. Also would explain why he fell so fast and hard for another dancer, Adira, that must've reminded him very much of his first love. Also didn't hurt that Adira was an absolutely kickin' babe.

DUH, thanks, I had forgotten he had divorced the dancer, I placed her in my mind as one of the 3 he was still married to.

 

[Telepath]

Oh man,
if you follow the link Jan posted above, it reads in the end:

Insofar as I know, that's all Larry blabbed about. Go ahead, tell me
there's more...tell me Larry blabbed about Sinclair's sex change...go ahead,
watch a grown man have a cardiac infarction....

jms

erm... is this a joke or not?? in "to dream in the city of sorrows", valen's face is always described as featureless. it has been some time since i read the novel, but could it be that valen was originally intended to be female? an interesting question if you consider delenn would have been a minbari male in the original outline, changing to a half-human female after season 1. if delenn wanted to even the scales... guess what.

or am i getting something wrong here?