In Memoriam: Richard Biggs, Andreas Katsulas, Jeff Conaway, Michael O'Hare, Jerry Doyle, Stephen Furst and now Mira Furlan... and of course Tim Chaote (Zathras). We shall not forget you and your amazing work on this show.
Also, the show is finally in HD! Kinda. (only the purely non-VFX shots, the rest had to be upscaled, and it's only digital) Just bought the first season on Prime (best way to get it outside the USA, Seasons 3 and 5, oddly, are also available on iTunes in Europe). Really looking forward to watch it again.
80 from the cast and crew have died who have been on this show. Writers, directors, actors, production staff, etc... I was curious and checked last week. Scrolling through all the names I just wanted it to stop. It was quite sad. So many talented people gone and some very young. RIP all of them.
Yes, Michael O'Hare was a fine actor. Too bad he never made it to the big screen. But we got to enjoy him on B5. The role of Captain Sinclair was a perfect fit for him. Bruce B did a good job after him but O'Hare just shined in this role.
"say it fell from the sky" What a great line, spread just far enough from the opening about a single stone changing all the ripples, but not far enough to go unnoticed. This entire scene was masterfully crafted, like all B5 scenes.
Billy Mummy said he'd walk. When he accepted the pilot job he, no novice to sci fi, immediately asked how much time in the chair? They said a couple of hours at most. He showed up and eight hours later wasn't finished. One actress broke down that day and screamed with claustrophobia saying she couldn't do it. Mummy endured it once, then spoke to management. He said he had a family life and was quitting. They got it down to two hours by simplifying the amount of appliances. Imagine 8hrs in the chair, 6-8 hrs filming, 2 hrs in cleanup. Then do it again tomorrow. That's an 18 hr job in the studio plus two hours of transportation. Would YOU take that job. Babylonian Productions had a few things to learn about managing labor vs artistic expectations.
@@STho205 Perhaps, but then again, they (the actors) were likely commanding a high salary. Still, I have a hell of a time sitting in my Barber's chair for more than 15 minutes, so I suppose you have a point.
cameraman655. Yes, less than four hours of sleep a night on a two week shoot would really show in the acting. He wanted more than the Star Trek TNG stick a couple of latex items on the face, head or neck and shoot "aliens". I think JMS got it, even after streamlining the makeup. He probably saved quite the budget after reworking Delin for Season Two, leaving just G'Kar as a principle every erpisode lead with extensive makeup.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking, too. I'm sure it wasn't just coincidence that she tells him this, after all, he was the reason for the Minbari truce that saved humanity. I sometimes wonder how long it took him to make the connection himself, and consider how he might fulfill his destiny, even without becoming Valen.
The stone wasn't named Valen, it was the TriLuminary, and Valen was the person from the past that helped them enhance the balance in their society between warrior, worker, and the spiritual element...
@@IMChrysalis The point was that Valen (Jeffrey Sinclair was the stone that rippled through the pool of time. Jeffrey Sinclair created a prophecy that saved his own life.
@@sarahroth4283 OMG high time for a rewatch and watching carefully, especially S1 Babylon Squared and S3 War Without End Part 1 and 2. No, the Minbari did not see Kosh as Valen, they saw "Valeria". But Valen was a great leader and warrior thousand years prior, helping them to win the first Shadow war and establishing the Rangers. ;) The great twist was, who really was Valen. ;)
You need the proprietary adapter dongle that is only available from the Mimbari Store at three times the cost of a regular adapter dongle every other race uses.
What I love about this is..try to imagine what she thinks of him at this point in the story.. To her..he has the reincarnated soul of Valen himself! Their most beloved leader from history. There isnt any single person she could know that she would trust more..with any info she would leak to him. When he asks why she would do this..and she says you havent looked at the garden enough..shes basicly answered his question. HE is the one person she believes will change the universe.
Imagen how she felt when she found out that not only was her the reincarnation of Valen but that he was in fact Valen him self before he became Valen. That had to blow her mind big time.
Delenn was talking about Sinclair, one stone sent back in time that created such a ripple into the future that shaped and altered the fates of all. The power of one mind, the mind of Valen.
I do not think that at that time anyone including Delenn knew the full truth of Sinclair's relationship to Valen. They only knew that he had a strong genetic tie to him.
@@wyveriusblackfire3834 What they were reading in the Earth pilots they captured was DNA that had similarities to Minbari DNA. And that’s because Valen has almost as many descendants as Noah.
@@fmlazar That's not what the Minbari said. They said that advanced Minbari souls were not being born into the new generations of Minbari. It was with sinclair that they understood where the souls were going. Then there's the puzzle of the Triluminary. (sp?) It was an ancient relic that glowed when Delenn joined the Council showing she was a "Child of Valen". Then we saw it used on Sinclair at the Battle of the Line. Then it transformed Delenn into a more human form. Finally it went back in time 1,000 years while transforming Sinclair into Valen. Presumably it then became a sacred relic to be used when new members joined the Grey Council. So where did it come from? It was apparently never actually made, it just exists in a self contained time loop. Cool.
I have watched the entire series at least ten+ times and have seen this particular scene more than that since B-5 aired and just now do I see that J. Michael Straczynski was far more a genius than even we fans credit him to be. "We live for the one, we die for the one" Obviously I would benefit from my own stone garden.
Living for the one is always better. I‘ve read JMS‘ autobiography last year and it was just amazing… really well written (suprise) and have so much detail on his life and it’s just amazing what a decent person he is especially considering how awful his parents were. I mean truly awful. Vile pathetic creatures.
I think this shows the quality of the story telling that an arc that would be concluded in Season 3 was hinted at in the Pilot. Everything Delenn says and does makes perfect sense once you realise what she really knew at that time.
If I am correct, simillar stone garden was on the Minbar, in the house where Valen lived 1000 years before (which is quite normal if you know who Valen really was). So picture tourist from Minbar visiting Babylon 5, entering this stone garden and finding that it comes from Earth and was build by humans. His or her headbone (since boney's almost don't have hair) would stand on his/her head even more.
Unless the tourist was a Child of Valen. When Sinclair/Valen married a Mimbari woman and had children, his human DNA entered the Mimbari population until it became impossible to keep tabs on them. Even Delen is a direct descendant of Valen, so every time you see Delen and Sinclair talking to each other, Delen is talking to her 8x Great Grandad.
Well either that or the possibility that both cultures had similar artifacts or practices just like how on Earth, various cultures often have similar dishes or practices.
Want to point out that this scene sets up one of the fundamentals of the shows perspective. Individualism. The idea of great individuals that serve as nexus points for major moments of change in civilisation. Legendary figures that inspire, lead, and shape change in a moment of crisis. I don't particularly argee with that perspective, but I think the fact that the show has such a clear point, a clear argument, and can make that argument in countless different scenes and interactions is a huge part of what makes it such a fantastic show.
That’s interesting given the show was literally constructed so that if any actor had to leave they had already introduced someone to replace them. The major aliens and station staff all had someone they were mentoring that could replace them. Ironically in this scene was the one who didn’t and so they had to bring in another, different chosen one. And further ironic is I can’t imagine the show remaining with Sinclair after S1 which I guess highlights the limits of the great man of history way of viewing events. Sure that one person was absolutely critical to the way things unfolded, and the likely other candidates would have been absolute failures, but who’s to say a thousand others couldn’t have done as well or better but society wasn’t ready to find them? But I guess we are best defined by our contradictions. Even B5.
Oy, that makeup terrifies me. She looks like Darkness from "Legend" minus the red skin and horns. I'm so very, very, very glad they decided to drop the "androgynous male" idea for Delenn and made her more feminine in the series proper. Mira Furlan had a sweet, beautiful face back in the '90s; to obscure it behind heavy makeup is almost criminal.
DuracellEnergizer Well, the whole original idea for the Minbari was to have them be a race of semi-androgynous beings. They were always supposed to have hints of male and female characteristics to challenge the human centric notion of, two very seperate genders. In the series bible, long before Commander Sinclair had to be written out because of the actor's unfortunate mental problems, the idea was to have the Minbari decide Delenn should undergo a transformation turning "it" into a she, capable of becoming Jeffrey Sinclair's mate.
I actually liked the original androgynous idea. It made them more real in the sense that if we are to encounter actual aliens there is no reason to believe that they would be anything like us. I think it would add to some humans hatred towards the Minbari since they are so different.
I actually like the original mimbari look, however impractical it might be, because it makes them look truly alien and highlights why the two species would not trust each other.
The irony is those extremely wise words come from someone with the blood of tens of millions on her hands but then again G'kar also became enlightened even though he had plenty of blood on his hands as well. Well...I guess it's as G'kar said..."it is an imperfect universe".
In a way, that is why Deleen understood it the most. She threw a little stone.. well big stone("kill them all"), and it led to near total genocides... of the most important race for the Minbar. And she had done it very carelessly, without thinking, on instinct and emotions. She saw herself as the newby, without importance,t he small one, and she had the deciding vote of the most catastrophic event of the Minbar and Humans. She learned a harsh lesson, let's just say, and the guilt of it all on top of it.
I disagree She may of wanted revenge and could have acted differently But it was the humans who opened fire It was humans who sent a arrogant commander who was known to be bad at first meeting between races The sheer incompetence of that man
The original plan was that she was actually male and would transform also to female after chrysalis. But they couldn't get her voice down due to her accent. But you see she looks way more man like with the chin.
He would resign his post, he would not want to play Minbari Holly Figure. And he would despise Minbari for ending the war due to wrong reasons. Not because of coming to their better judgement, but because of entire soul bussines.
Well, he's the One that WAS, and only at the beginning. And I'm not entirely sure that Delenn know who he is yet, I think that comes later once Sinclair departs for Minbar.
@@Devyne187 I think they meant that she didn't know he literally WAS Valen - she just knew of the link between humans and Minbari and that the one she chose is the one who they would need to lead B5.
they didn’t lose it, she was the only one who appeared as just one gender while the rest were indistinguishable except among themselves…her transformation was needed for growth beyond what she was, she was the one to make her culture understand Humans by becoming like them
No, from the first season to the second Delenn loses the heavier jaw & chin prosthetics, and they re-did the nose & brow ridges to be less prominent to re-balance the face w/o the heavier jaw. They also changed her (and subsequently all minbari females’) lip color to more traditional lipstick tones (deep reds, mostly) instead of the bluer skin-tone lip that we see in s1. That’s what they meant by “losing the androgynous look”. It’s flat out stated as much in interviews that they toned it back deliberately bc they were going to pursue a relationship arc between her and Sinclair, so they wanted to make her more female presenting and less “militaristic” so the audience would be more receptive to the story arc. Delenn becomes a human-minbari hybrid that’s much more human-female gender presenting later on.
@@heatherr4321 Haha would certainly have been interesting to see a Sinclair-Delenn one instead too though wouldn't it, in some sort of alternate timeline or something
They should have given Sinclair this reply: "Ambassador, what I meant to say was that I had no idea you intend to be such a stone as these, changing all that is around you. That revelation is perhaps greater to me than whatever is on this data file."
She could be scary late on as well . "Only one Human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else!"
I often wonder why the rings from the pilot or first few episodes of B5 were never seen or used again? As those devices seemed to be very useful in offensive & defensive capability
Mira Furlun, her makeup when through some changes during the first season of B5. Her forehead ridges and chin were more prominent. She looked more alien.
No, not in this case, though I think the scene was staged to indicate that. She knows what he knows - if not because she's met him before, or because humans haven't had an opportunity to study Vorlons, then because the prophecies might advise her about that very meeting, how it should go, and what Sinclair would know and what he will need to be furnished.
Am I the only one who actually likes this makeup better? I thought the voice/accent she uses here as well as the makeup here would have made for a more dramatic transformation in season 2. On the other hand, I fully understand why the actors wouldn't want it.
Remember this was the pilot. Notice how her head isn't quite rounded ( the actresses hair is likely stuffed in there), the head ridge doesn't quit fit, when she talks the latex wrinkles and her clothing looks like a bath robe. This was low budget and while they were still experimenting on design. It was made to pitch the show. also notice the actors an actresses appear wooden. This is because they didn't have the time to fully get into the character.
Pity Sinclair was not continuing, I liked his character. Cutting back in the minbari kioks made Delenn look plain. Very odd change to the script. Season 1 is the best of them all.
This is such a great scene. At first glance it seems to say that the act of trust and cooperation will spread out and create waves. But this is Babylon 5 and they had thought/planned ahead. * spoiler warning * (might be a bit overly careful since if you watched this scene you will almost certainly have seen the show, but I like to be careful about spoilers) When you think about it, it is Sinclair that will be the real stone creating waves by going to the past and becoming Valen. This moment is actually a wave and not a stone in the greater scheme of things.
It was just one of the many "out" JMS had planned in case the actor had to leave. It was a nice send off for Sinclair(and O'hare), making him the most important character of the whole story. The one that starts both story and ripples for the Humans(B5+rangers) and Minbar(Velen).
The original meaning was actually that there are 2 stones which were meant to be Delenn & SInclair, meant to be the prophesized renewer of minbari society.
Personally I respect him even more. He was aware that the struggles he was having would soon likely cause problems with filming and, at worse, could cause ratings to drop and the show to be cancelled. He chose to leave with dignity. I don't think there's many, especially in the entertainment world, who could do that.
I liked her androgynous look from the pilot, I think it would have added more impact to her transformation later. Also her redesigned full Minbari look from season one made her look way too young almost childlike.
For those wondering why Delenn looks so different in the pilot, Delenn was originally supposed to be a male Minbari who became female as part of the transformation between season 1 and 2. JMS mentions it in his commentary at the time and later on Twitter, even saying that Delenn was meant to be transgender. He even seems to wish he'd been able to cast a trans actress for the role. "the plan was to turn Delenn from male to female in "Chrysalis," in my original plans, as well as making her half-human. And yes, it would've had one hell of an impact...but my concern when I made that decision not do do this back in the pilot was based on the reality that we couldn't do it well. The "male" voice, altered by computer-enhancement, just sounded REAL bogus; we couldn't get it right, and I had to decide between dropping it, and doing something the people would rightly describe as lame all season, just for one big payoff. It was a tough call, but it had to be made." "Though the flip-side is that by having Mira play Delenn as male, then transition to female, we would have been able to present the first transgendered character in SF TV, though alas not played by a transgendered actress given studio roadblocks at that time against the idea." sources: www.midwinter.com/lurk/guide/024.html twitter.com/straczynski/status/1000276776050835456
This was from the gathering. I've read somewhere delenn was supposed to be male with androgynous features but they had problem with the voice or something so they changed it completely for the series onwards.
A lot of supposition, theory, and debate. Consider the Trojan War - we know it happened in some form, but we do not know exactly what happened. There's troves of scholarship trying to find an answer, though. In the absence of certainty, that is the best you can do.
Delenn supposed to be masculine in the beginning then transformed to a female human/mimbari but they couldn't get some of the technical aspect of it right so they scrapped the idea.
Imagine how well this would've aged if they'd stuck with their plan to have her transition from a man in series 1 to a woman in series 2! The series would be held up as a shining beacon of progressiveness, all alone in the 90s....
In Memoriam: Richard Biggs, Andreas Katsulas, Jeff Conaway, Michael O'Hare, Jerry Doyle, Stephen Furst and now Mira Furlan... and of course Tim Chaote (Zathras). We shall not forget you and your amazing work on this show.
Also, the show is finally in HD! Kinda. (only the purely non-VFX shots, the rest had to be upscaled, and it's only digital) Just bought the first season on Prime (best way to get it outside the USA, Seasons 3 and 5, oddly, are also available on iTunes in Europe). Really looking forward to watch it again.
Too many lost far too young :(
80 from the cast and crew have died who have been on this show. Writers, directors, actors, production staff, etc... I was curious and checked last week. Scrolling through all the names I just wanted it to stop. It was quite sad. So many talented people gone and some very young. RIP all of them.
@@permeus2nd In the End, all that awaits you is death. For in the final hour, all must serve the one... true... king.
I honor them by rewatching the series regularly:)
He was such a good actor. It's sad how his life turned and ended. We have lost so many of the great actors form this show.
And now they have both gone beyond the rim.
@@vernonkatz5042 R.I.P. Delenn.
JMS helped support Michael O'Hare. He wouldn't abandon him.
Yes, Michael O'Hare was a fine actor. Too bad he never made it to the big screen. But we got to enjoy him on B5. The role of Captain Sinclair was a perfect fit for him. Bruce B did a good job after him but O'Hare just shined in this role.
The curse of Babylon 5...
"say it fell from the sky"
What a great line, spread just far enough from the opening about a single stone changing all the ripples, but not far enough to go unnoticed. This entire scene was masterfully crafted, like all B5 scenes.
Now that you say that I think I'll imagine that's what Valen answered when anyone asked where Babylon 4 came from. "It fell from the sky."
"I imagine I will be quite astonished by this breach of security." Such a great line.
Glad they eased up on the makeup as time went on.
The power of budget cuts.
The power of Mira Furlan's loveliness! It was a shame to cover it up with all those prosthetics, so they worked out a very elegant solution.
Billy Mummy said he'd walk. When he accepted the pilot job he, no novice to sci fi, immediately asked how much time in the chair? They said a couple of hours at most. He showed up and eight hours later wasn't finished. One actress broke down that day and screamed with claustrophobia saying she couldn't do it. Mummy endured it once, then spoke to management. He said he had a family life and was quitting. They got it down to two hours by simplifying the amount of appliances.
Imagine 8hrs in the chair, 6-8 hrs filming, 2 hrs in cleanup. Then do it again tomorrow. That's an 18 hr job in the studio plus two hours of transportation. Would YOU take that job. Babylonian Productions had a few things to learn about managing labor vs artistic expectations.
@@STho205 Perhaps, but then again, they (the actors) were likely commanding a high salary. Still, I have a hell of a time sitting in my Barber's chair for more than 15 minutes, so I suppose you have a point.
cameraman655. Yes, less than four hours of sleep a night on a two week shoot would really show in the acting.
He wanted more than the Star Trek TNG stick a couple of latex items on the face, head or neck and shoot "aliens". I think JMS got it, even after streamlining the makeup. He probably saved quite the budget after reworking Delin for Season Two, leaving just G'Kar as a principle every erpisode lead with extensive makeup.
The stone named Valen that sent ripples 1000 years into the future through the entire galaxy.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking, too. I'm sure it wasn't just coincidence that she tells him this, after all, he was the reason for the Minbari truce that saved humanity. I sometimes wonder how long it took him to make the connection himself, and consider how he might fulfill his destiny, even without becoming Valen.
The stone wasn't named Valen, it was the TriLuminary, and Valen was the person from the past that helped them enhance the balance in their society between warrior, worker, and the spiritual element...
The stone helped them recognized those who carried the traits of Valen...
@@IMChrysalis The point was that Valen (Jeffrey Sinclair was the stone that rippled through the pool of time. Jeffrey Sinclair created a prophecy that saved his own life.
Today we lost the wisdom of Delenn, RIP Mira Furlan, another one of the cast to go beyond the rim to join Sinclair/Valen
sinclair and valen? Please elaborate. I know when kosh left the encounter suit Minbari Saw valen
@@sarahroth4283 OMG high time for a rewatch and watching carefully, especially S1 Babylon Squared and S3 War Without End Part 1 and 2. No, the Minbari did not see Kosh as Valen, they saw "Valeria". But Valen was a great leader and warrior thousand years prior, helping them to win the first Shadow war and establishing the Rangers. ;) The great twist was, who really was Valen. ;)
@@TimeMaster77 will do. Another important actor/actress who have sadly passed
I loved the private interactions between these 2. And his smile gets me every time. Much missed, both of them.
It wasn't until Sinclair got back to his office that he realized Earth computers can't read Mimbari files.
You need the proprietary adapter dongle that is only available from the Mimbari Store at three times the cost of a regular adapter dongle every other race uses.
Or that the files were all .docx and he only had Word 2003.
Word Perfect
*Minbari
@@otiscarter1356 it was a better program...
What I love about this is..try to imagine what she thinks of him at this point in the story.. To her..he has the reincarnated soul of Valen himself! Their most beloved leader from history. There isnt any single person she could know that she would trust more..with any info she would leak to him. When he asks why she would do this..and she says you havent looked at the garden enough..shes basicly answered his question. HE is the one person she believes will change the universe.
Imagen how she felt when she found out that not only was her the reincarnation of Valen but that he was in fact Valen him self before he became Valen. That had to blow her mind big time.
@@judgedredd2039 Neroon didn't like it.
Not. At. All
@@judgedredd2039 Better yet, she is one of his descendants.
@@cadengrace5466 The triluminary glows when she makes her pledge to the Grey Council.
Not just that, but she is hinting that Sheridan IS the One.
Delenn was talking about Sinclair, one stone sent back in time that created such a ripple into the future that shaped and altered the fates of all.
The power of one mind, the mind of Valen.
I do not think that at that time anyone including Delenn knew the full truth of Sinclair's relationship to Valen. They only knew that he had a strong genetic tie to him.
@@fmlazar It wasn't genetic, it was his soul, I believe.
@@wyveriusblackfire3834 What they were reading in the Earth pilots they captured was DNA that had similarities to Minbari DNA. And that’s because Valen has almost as many descendants as Noah.
@@fmlazar That's not what the Minbari said. They said that advanced Minbari souls were not being born into the new generations of Minbari. It was with sinclair that they understood where the souls were going.
Then there's the puzzle of the Triluminary. (sp?) It was an ancient relic that glowed when Delenn joined the Council showing she was a "Child of Valen". Then we saw it used on Sinclair at the Battle of the Line. Then it transformed Delenn into a more human form. Finally it went back in time 1,000 years while transforming Sinclair into Valen. Presumably it then became a sacred relic to be used when new members joined the Grey Council.
So where did it come from? It was apparently never actually made, it just exists in a self contained time loop. Cool.
things sound mysterious wene the context of the exploration is left out.
I have watched the entire series at least ten+ times and have seen this particular scene more than that since B-5 aired and just now do I see that J. Michael Straczynski was far more a genius than even we fans credit him to be. "We live for the one, we die for the one" Obviously I would benefit from my own stone garden.
Living for the one is always better. I‘ve read JMS‘ autobiography last year and it was just amazing… really well written (suprise) and have so much detail on his life and it’s just amazing what a decent person he is especially considering how awful his parents were. I mean truly awful. Vile pathetic creatures.
JMS was a very patient man. He would insert a plot point which literally would not pay off until YEARS later.
B5 was so rich with intriguing charactes. Delenn was so mysterious. Too cool.
"It fell from the sky", the same place Kosh ends up saving Commander Sheridan from falling in the train above
I think this shows the quality of the story telling that an arc that would be concluded in Season 3 was hinted at in the Pilot. Everything Delenn says and does makes perfect sense once you realise what she really knew at that time.
Sinclair was absolutely Perfect in this role...
I agree, Cmdr. Sinclair is my favorite B5 commander!
There's a great deal of beautiful narrative nuance to this scene. This might be the one that made me fall in love with JMS's style.
Ah, I wish they had kept Delenn's original makeup. It's such a good design, and would have been so stark a change later on!
If I am correct, simillar stone garden was on the Minbar, in the house where Valen lived 1000 years before (which is quite normal if you know who Valen really was). So picture tourist from Minbar visiting Babylon 5, entering this stone garden and finding that it comes from Earth and was build by humans. His or her headbone (since boney's almost don't have hair) would stand on his/her head even more.
Or maybe it won't, seeing how the minbari surrended base on their belief of a connection between human and minbari.
which was not told to the general Minbari. Only the grey council knew. Very few humans also knew the reason.
Unless the tourist was a Child of Valen. When Sinclair/Valen married a Mimbari woman and had children, his human DNA entered the Mimbari population until it became impossible to keep tabs on them. Even Delen is a direct descendant of Valen, so every time you see Delen and Sinclair talking to each other, Delen is talking to her 8x Great Grandad.
To quote another film, I see plans with within plans
Well either that or the possibility that both cultures had similar artifacts or practices just like how on Earth, various cultures often have similar dishes or practices.
Want to point out that this scene sets up one of the fundamentals of the shows perspective.
Individualism.
The idea of great individuals that serve as nexus points for major moments of change in civilisation. Legendary figures that inspire, lead, and shape change in a moment of crisis.
I don't particularly argee with that perspective, but I think the fact that the show has such a clear point, a clear argument, and can make that argument in countless different scenes and interactions is a huge part of what makes it such a fantastic show.
That’s interesting given the show was literally constructed so that if any actor had to leave they had already introduced someone to replace them. The major aliens and station staff all had someone they were mentoring that could replace them. Ironically in this scene was the one who didn’t and so they had to bring in another, different chosen one. And further ironic is I can’t imagine the show remaining with Sinclair after S1 which I guess highlights the limits of the great man of history way of viewing events. Sure that one person was absolutely critical to the way things unfolded, and the likely other candidates would have been absolute failures, but who’s to say a thousand others couldn’t have done as well or better but society wasn’t ready to find them? But I guess we are best defined by our contradictions. Even B5.
A brilliant scene, with equally brilliant dialogue and delivery. I miss this show and all the personalities.
Zen skinny dipping, Love that phrase!
Jekub Fimbulwing
Lol. Same here. I still laugh at it every time I rewatch the series.
Maan, I miss B5.
this really deserves more views... a LOT more.
You just have to be amazed by the wisdom delivered in Babylon 5. Awesome!
Oy, that makeup terrifies me. She looks like Darkness from "Legend" minus the red skin and horns.
I'm so very, very, very glad they decided to drop the "androgynous male" idea for Delenn and made her more feminine in the series proper. Mira Furlan had a sweet, beautiful face back in the '90s; to obscure it behind heavy makeup is almost criminal.
DuracellEnergizer Well, the whole original idea for the Minbari was to have them be a race of semi-androgynous beings. They were always supposed to have hints of male and female characteristics to challenge the human centric notion of, two very seperate genders. In the series bible, long before Commander Sinclair had to be written out because of the actor's unfortunate mental problems, the idea was to have the Minbari decide Delenn should undergo a transformation turning "it" into a she, capable of becoming Jeffrey Sinclair's mate.
In dropping the androgynous theme
it looks as though Delenn dropped a gene for Narn chins.
If a daughter of Valen
why not a daughter of G'Quan?
Sure, she looked kinda scary, but I kinda liked her as a minbari in Season 1. She was sympathetic yet mysterious.
Delenn was originally supposed to be a male Mimbari. But Mira furlan hated the original makeup, so they went to a female Delenn.
I actually liked the original androgynous idea. It made them more real in the sense that if we are to encounter actual aliens there is no reason to believe that they would be anything like us. I think it would add to some humans hatred towards the Minbari since they are so different.
To this day the most powerful character in all of broadcast SF
I actually like the original mimbari look, however impractical it might be, because it makes them look truly alien and highlights why the two species would not trust each other.
"We may sometimes look like you, but we are not you. Do not forget that."
They'd have likely lost Bill Mummy as he really didn't like the makeup for the simplified mimbari
My one issue is that the bone crest doesn't look properly fitted.
In Valen's name! I had this pilot on VHS when I was a kid. I must have watched it hundreds of times!9
I like to imagine how it would have been if Sinclair ended up with Delenn as originally intended... I think they had a great chemistry as characters.
Great scene, crickets in the background and all...
@pepa cohetes Electronic crickets. Androids dream of electronic crickets.
Seeing Delenn in the pilot episode... I kept thinking about Legend.
The irony is those extremely wise words come from someone with the blood of tens of millions on her hands but then again G'kar also became enlightened even though he had plenty of blood on his hands as well. Well...I guess it's as G'kar said..."it is an imperfect universe".
In a way, that is why Deleen understood it the most.
She threw a little stone.. well big stone("kill them all"), and it led to near total genocides... of the most important race for the Minbar.
And she had done it very carelessly, without thinking, on instinct and emotions.
She saw herself as the newby, without importance,t he small one, and she had the deciding vote of the most catastrophic event of the Minbar and Humans. She learned a harsh lesson, let's just say, and the guilt of it all on top of it.
I thought the Earth Minbari war was surprisingly bloodless for 2 years of intense genocidal hate? Was it really that many?
I disagree
She may of wanted revenge and could have acted differently
But it was the humans who opened fire
It was humans who sent a arrogant commander who was known to be bad at first meeting between races
The sheer incompetence of that man
1:42 is the first point in the series when I knew Delenn would be one of my favorite characters.
Delenn was definitely juicing back then. look at that jawline.
Their race was supposed to be gender-neutral as in both male and female but after the pilot it was decided to make Minbari like us with two genders
Minbari
You mirin'?
I really, really like this scene. I'm redoing my yard this year, maybe I should try a Japanse garden in a corner.
+Candi Cabaniss Literally no watering required which is great if you live in a fairly dry area.
I've always liked them. They need plants in them as well, though.
It's great for the neighborhood cats - it's so pretty, they'll come from miles around just to squat in it.
1 little stone sends ripples that alter the universe forever.
I love how her look softened and you got to see more of Mira
i hated the way they made the Minbari look at the beginning..so glad they altered the faces
So was Mira Furlan. Especially since the original concept of Delenn was *male*!
Yeah, originally, the whole idea was that the Minbari were going to be very androgenous, to make them seem more alien
glad they changed it then, cause Mira was great in this
awful idea, glad someone had a change of heart
cf. the Klingons in STOS v. STNG. People change their minds.
I love Delenn's original look. I know the makeup was a PITA, but the transformation in Season 2 would have been much more dramatic.
The original plan was that she was actually male and would transform also to female after chrysalis. But they couldn't get her voice down due to her accent. But you see she looks way more man like with the chin.
@@hyperbitcoinizationpod Originally, It was more that the Minbari were androgenic(both and neither male/female)
And Now Delen is gone... :-(
Babylon 5 had so many great actors. Sad to know that so many are gone.
Love her makeup
The whole Minbari race was supposed to be androgynous, but the test audience didn't like that idea. ^^
I often find it interesting how Sci Fi can subtly introduce concepts in an way other Genres cannot!
RIP Mira
I'm glad they softened the makeup for Delenn after the pilot.
If only he know why Delenn would go so far to help him out.
He would resign his post, he would not want to play Minbari Holly Figure. And he would despise Minbari for ending the war due to wrong reasons. Not because of coming to their better judgement, but because of entire soul bussines.
Well, he's the One that WAS, and only at the beginning. And I'm not entirely sure that Delenn know who he is yet, I think that comes later once Sinclair departs for Minbar.
Zamolxes77 dude she used the tri luminary on himself an she picked his ship please actually watch it all especially the movies.
@@Devyne187 I think they meant that she didn't know he literally WAS Valen - she just knew of the link between humans and Minbari and that the one she chose is the one who they would need to lead B5.
Rip Mira Furlan.
It's a shame they lost the androgenous look. It would have made Delenn's transformation more astonishing.
they didn’t lose it, she was the only one who appeared as just one gender while the rest were indistinguishable except among themselves…her transformation was needed for growth beyond what she was, she was the one to make her culture understand Humans by becoming like them
No, from the first season to the second Delenn loses the heavier jaw & chin prosthetics, and they re-did the nose & brow ridges to be less prominent to re-balance the face w/o the heavier jaw. They also changed her (and subsequently all minbari females’) lip color to more traditional lipstick tones (deep reds, mostly) instead of the bluer skin-tone lip that we see in s1. That’s what they meant by “losing the androgynous look”. It’s flat out stated as much in interviews that they toned it back deliberately bc they were going to pursue a relationship arc between her and Sinclair, so they wanted to make her more female presenting and less “militaristic” so the audience would be more receptive to the story arc. Delenn becomes a human-minbari hybrid that’s much more human-female gender presenting later on.
*I meant a relationship w Sheridan 🤣🤦🏻♀️
@@heatherr4321 and a rather fetching hybrid at that I must say!
@@heatherr4321 Haha would certainly have been interesting to see a Sinclair-Delenn one instead too though wouldn't it, in some sort of alternate timeline or something
Back when Delenn was hot.
I think you maybe gay, I reckon you should look in to it 😂
They should have given Sinclair this reply: "Ambassador, what I meant to say was that I had no idea you intend to be such a stone as these, changing all that is around you. That revelation is perhaps greater to me than whatever is on this data file."
Never saw the pilot episode but ohh mercy that makeup they used for the pilot for the minbari. thank goodness they changed it.
Good show!!!🌏🌎🌍💖💖💖
Jesus H Christ, I didnt remember how frightening Delenn was in the pilot.
She could be scary late on as well . "Only one Human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else!"
I know that this might sound weird or even corny, but I would love to meet and fall in love with somebody like Delenn
I often wonder why the rings from the pilot or first few episodes of B5 were never seen or used again? As those devices seemed to be very useful in offensive & defensive capability
Mira Furlun, her makeup when through some changes during the first season of B5. Her forehead ridges and chin were more prominent. She looked more alien.
She was just trying to get what he knew out of him.
No, not in this case, though I think the scene was staged to indicate that. She knows what he knows - if not because she's met him before, or because humans haven't had an opportunity to study Vorlons, then because the prophecies might advise her about that very meeting, how it should go, and what Sinclair would know and what he will need to be furnished.
Am I the only one who actually likes this makeup better? I thought the voice/accent she uses here as well as the makeup here would have made for a more dramatic transformation in season 2. On the other hand, I fully understand why the actors wouldn't want it.
I’m glad they cleaned these characters up. They look much better after the movie.
I had forgotten Delenn used to look like this at first
Delenn is probing to see what Sinclair knows. At this point she's been working alongside Kosh for more than a decade.
Remember this was the pilot. Notice how her head isn't quite rounded ( the actresses hair is likely stuffed in there), the head ridge doesn't quit fit, when she talks the latex wrinkles and her clothing looks like a bath robe. This was low budget and while they were still experimenting on design. It was made to pitch the show. also notice the actors an actresses appear wooden. This is because they didn't have the time to fully get into the character.
Please keep in Mind
That You are the Sun
And I am the Moon...
All We can do is Reflect
Your Glory...
The awkwardness of a Student and unrepentant follower of Valene, looking at immature Valene and going, "Damn it, don't disapoint me...."
LOL!
No seriously it fell from the sky.....
Pity Sinclair was not continuing, I liked his character. Cutting back in the minbari kioks made Delenn look plain. Very odd change to the script. Season 1 is the best of them all.
1:08 Funnily she did not say "Meeting a Vorlon for the first time".
This is such a great scene. At first glance it seems to say that the act of trust and cooperation will spread out and create waves. But this is Babylon 5 and they had thought/planned ahead.
* spoiler warning * (might be a bit overly careful since if you watched this scene you will almost certainly have seen the show, but I like to be careful about spoilers)
When you think about it, it is Sinclair that will be the real stone creating waves by going to the past and becoming Valen. This moment is actually a wave and not a stone in the greater scheme of things.
It was just one of the many "out" JMS had planned in case the actor had to leave.
It was a nice send off for Sinclair(and O'hare), making him the most important character of the whole story. The one that starts both story and ripples for the Humans(B5+rangers) and Minbar(Velen).
The original meaning was actually that there are 2 stones which were meant to be Delenn & SInclair, meant to be the prophesized renewer of minbari society.
This is why there are no cats on Minbari. The cats would love the fancy litterbox.
he was such a great actor. it's a shame what became of him. such a waste.
Personally I respect him even more. He was aware that the struggles he was having would soon likely cause problems with filming and, at worse, could cause ratings to drop and the show to be cancelled. He chose to leave with dignity. I don't think there's many, especially in the entertainment world, who could do that.
What happened to him???
Stephanie Anderson he was on the Robert Downey shit violent drunk crazy ass shit. type him up an see
He had bipolar disorder, worked it out with JMS to voluntarily leave the show; a few years back or so, he passed away of a heart attack :(
Not his fault - he had Bipolar Disorder; JMS finally revealed that fact to the public with a video on TH-cam.
Delenn looks so different
At the end she is as cryptic as a Vorlon
Well, Minbari society was greatly influenced by the Vorlons, after all.
"No one here is exactly who they appear to be."
We can see the purpose of the religious caste at work. Enlighten and guide.
I like the character better after the change
And Sinclair opens up the file later and finds it is as empty as the Earth Force files.
Delenn is so wise
Delenn, before the facelift.
Damn. I'm glad they changed the character designs on the aliens
I'd forgotten just how much they altered delenn's makeup
I liked her androgynous look from the pilot, I think it would have added more impact to her transformation later. Also her redesigned full Minbari look from season one made her look way too young almost childlike.
She actually had met a Vorlon before.
For those wondering why Delenn looks so different in the pilot, Delenn was originally supposed to be a male Minbari who became female as part of the transformation between season 1 and 2. JMS mentions it in his commentary at the time and later on Twitter, even saying that Delenn was meant to be transgender. He even seems to wish he'd been able to cast a trans actress for the role.
"the plan was to turn Delenn from male to female in "Chrysalis," in my original plans, as well as making her half-human. And yes, it would've had one hell of an impact...but my concern when I made that decision not do do this back in the pilot was based on the reality that we couldn't do it well. The "male" voice, altered by computer-enhancement, just sounded REAL bogus; we couldn't get it right, and I had to decide between dropping it, and doing something the people would rightly describe as lame all season, just for one big payoff. It was a tough call, but it had to be made."
"Though the flip-side is that by having Mira play Delenn as male, then transition to female, we would have been able to present the first transgendered character in SF TV, though alas not played by a transgendered actress given studio roadblocks at that time against the idea."
sources:
www.midwinter.com/lurk/guide/024.html
twitter.com/straczynski/status/1000276776050835456
This was the pilot episode if I'm correct. Later in the series Delenn had a more feminine appearance and didn't seem so hard to pinpoint a gender.
This was from the gathering. I've read somewhere delenn was supposed to be male with androgynous features but they had problem with the voice or something so they changed it completely for the series onwards.
RiP Michael 😊 I was fond of Sinclair
RIP MIRA
Drop in a file see how hole picture changes Zen 101
If one mind can change the universe what can two do?
It's an inverse relationship.
Only one mind can change anything.
A committee can't order lunch.
An election....
Well, look what happened last time 🙄
Summary: Delenn is cool😊
oof, the makeup from the pilot. Glad it eased up during the show.
Wow, that make up is insane, almost didn't think it was the same actress. Thank F they altered it.
1:28 Then why are they so large?
A lot of supposition, theory, and debate. Consider the Trojan War - we know it happened in some form, but we do not know exactly what happened. There's troves of scholarship trying to find an answer, though. In the absence of certainty, that is the best you can do.
Jeffrey Archer, the one!
jeffrey sinclair, you idiot.
Sort of a David Bowie look for Deleen.
She looked very different there
Delenn supposed to be masculine in the beginning then transformed to a female human/mimbari but they couldn't get some of the technical aspect of it right so they scrapped the idea.
Wtf did they do to her chin? It looks much normal during season 1.
Did they reshoot the pilot? Cause I rember this scene but holy fuck do I not rember that mimbari look
Kash arrive in two days and I went John showed up
what?
Imagine how well this would've aged if they'd stuck with their plan to have her transition from a man in series 1 to a woman in series 2!
The series would be held up as a shining beacon of progressiveness, all alone in the 90s....
Delenn looks so bizarre like that.