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"The Gathering" Question

Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

The Vorlons were certainly one of the major races. Just because they weren't talkative didn't mean they weren't a factor.

There are four people having a conversation in a room. There is also a giant in the room. He might or might not be paying attention. How many people are in the room?
 
Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

My guess, in the orignal script for "The Gathering," the Minbari were the oldest of the five races. By the time jms revised the script, he had gotten the idea that the Vorlons were angels of light and the counterpart to the Shadows. Not wanting to tip his hand, he left in G'Kar's line -- which, as far as G'Kar knew, was the truth.
 
Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

Well, think about how mysterious the Vorlons were supposed to be. No one knew a lot about them, so for all G'Kar knew, they were indeed younger than the Minbari. If any race on B5 would have have a lot of info on them it would be the Minbari, and Delenn tells Sinclair that even they don't know very much about the Vorlons.
 
Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

I just went and reread the scene of Jackarr in Delenn's quarters in the original "The Gathering" script. In the original script, Jackarr doesn't have the line saying that the Minbari are the oldest of the five. The conversation between the two of them flows differently than it does in the movie itself. There are still some pieces of the conversation that are the same, Delenn's comment that the Narn were slaves to the Centauri, for example. But Jackarr saying that the Minbari were the oldest isn't in there.

As for Vorlons being beings of light, I think the foundation is still there, but perhaps a bit more subtle. The descriptions I've read in the original "The Gathering" script of Dr Mendak working on Kosh still sound relatively similarly to Dr Kyle's working on him in the movie. There's still the kind of revelationary sense of awe that Dr Mendak gets when he sees inside Kosh's suit. Also, Kosh does glow when Velana reaches in and touches him when she reads his mind to see who the assassin was.
 
Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

I'm pretty sure the Vorlons as beings of light were opposite the Shadows. After all, light versus darkness and order versus chaos figure very prominently in the religions of Mesopotamia... and the formost city of Mesopotamia, for many centuries, was Babylon.

I think this line hinges mostly on G'Kar's ignorance and less on script evolution.
 
Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

I don't think anyone (as far as I've been paying attention to the discussion) has been questioning the place of light vs darkness, order vs chaos as one of the primary themes of all of Babylon 5. I think the questioning has been were the Vorlons always the species that was going to embody the light and order side of things, or was there going to be some other species that would eventually be introduced after the show got going, with citations of G'Kar's quote in "The Gathering" as potential evidence that the light and order side might originally have been someone else.

But with that line not being in the original script for "The Gathering", and with Kosh still glowing when Velana scanned him, I have to concur: that line of G'Kar in the movie is more of G'Kar's not knowing much of anything about the Vorlons and not an issue of the development of the script.
 
Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

I hadn't realized the original script was already available. Obviously, my guess was wrong. (I suppose it's possible that at this point the Vorlons were beings of light, but not yet First Ones.)

Are there any interesting differences between the first and final scripts -- differences not in the events of the pilot, but in how jms envisioned his world?
 
Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

Seriously according to JMS and the excerpt on the scripts page the two seem to be very different .JMS gave a list of differences when he announced thebooks I wouldn't know mine hasn't arrived yet. :mad:
 
Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

I wonder whether the Vorlons were originally intended to play the role later played by the Shadows? In addition to the flyer where they are made out to be so warline we also have the description of Velana's hand in the orgininal scrip that makes Vorlons sounds really insectile...
 
Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

Watching the gathering for the first time right now. Delenn looks like a man! wtf?
 
Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

Originally Delenn was supposed to be played by a woman but the character be male, making the transformation in Chrysalis even more dramatic. At the time, they couldn't alter the voice convincingly so they dropped that aspect and left the character female.

Jan
 
Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

Haha that certainly explains it. It really screws with continueity when you see Attonement during the Battle of the line and she looks like she is meant to.
 
Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

Originally Delenn was supposed to be played by a woman but the character be male, making the transformation in Chrysalis even more dramatic.
Click to expand...

Was it really that Delenn was going to be male and then change into female? Because I remember reading that the Minbari were all going to be an androgynous species and have neither male nor female sexes.

One thing about The Gathering Delenn's makeup that I totally like better than it is in the series is the ears. They actually look like they have an ear canal that goes into the head instead of a flat and obvious prosthetic that sometimes looked like it was picked up at a Halloween costuming store.
 
Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

I remember it the same way VL, that she was meant to be Androgynous until the transformation.
 
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