Text 16835, 220 rader
Skriven 2007-08-06 16:36:45 av Mac Breck (3312.babylon5)
  Kommentar till text 16826 av rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated (3303.babylon5)
Ärende: Re: Lost Tales: My Review (SPOILERS, obviously!)
========================================================
"Charlie Edmondson" <edmondson@ieee.org> wrote in message
news:46b75380$1@news.cadence.com...
> Mac Breck wrote:
> > "Brian Harvey" <bh@cs.berkeley.edu> wrote in message
> > news:f92pc8$2jfc$1@agate.berkeley.edu...
> >
> >>"Mac Breck" <macthevorlon@yahoo.com> writes:
> >>
> >>>If the actor read the books in question, it'd put another set of
eyes
> >
> > on
> >
> >>>things, and if the actor was sharp, more things could get caught
and
> >>>corrected *before* they made it into the finished product, for us
> >
> > fans
> >
> >>>to discover, later.  It's too bad that Peter won't read the books
> >
> > which
> >
> >>>feature his character, because I think Jeanne Cavelos and Peter
David
> >>>captured his voice quite well.
> >>
> >>I think it was I who started this sub-thread.  I wasn't thinking at
> >
> > all about
> >
> >>inconsistencies.  I think the difference it'd make if he read the
> >
> > books would
> >
> >>be in his tone, his stance.
> >
> >
> > Why?  Peter David and Jeanne Cavelos modeled their Galen after Peter
> > Woodward's Galen from A Call to Arms and Crusade.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >>Consider.  /We/ know that the technomages are
> >>doomed, that this is the last generation.
> >
> >
> > No, we don't *know* that, not for sure.  The Technomage trilogy
ended in
> > 2262.  We don't know whether or not the mages were ever able to
create
> > their own tech after 2262.  Yes, I *know* the title of the
Technomage
> > trilogy is "The Passing of the Techno-mages."  With the trilogy
ending
> > in 2262, that fits.  However, post-2262, we don't know what happened
> > regarding the mages ability to create their own tech without
resorting
> > to the Shadows' methods.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >>We know that they're not
> >>self-created hackers, as first presented, but are rather a piece of
> >
> > shadow
> >
> >>tech, with this deep contradiction at their roots.  /Galen/ knows
all
> >
> > that,
> >
> >>too.  It's just Peter who doesn't know!  (At least if we can take
> >
> > anything
> >
> >>in the Extras on the DVD seriously.)
> >
> >
> > Peter *should* know, because it would inform his performance, and
make
> > for better continuity between the Galen of the books and the Galen
of
> > the TV episodes/DVDs.
> >
> >
> >
> >>I mean, I get why JMS never wants the actors to know the /future/ of
> >
> > their
> >
> >>characters, but they ought to know the /past/ -- except in special
> >
> > cases
> >
> >>such as Sinclair's and Garibaldi's induced amnesias.
> >
> >
> > Exactly.  Peter should know the Galen of the novels.  Hell, it
should be
> > required reading for him.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> Hi Mac,
> Sorry, but I must disagree.  If Joe thought that Peter needed to read
> all the novels, and know every bit of his backstory, then he would ask
> him to.  As far as I know, this hasn't happened, and I think I know
why.
>
> To Joe, continuity is not everything.  While he like to maintain it,
he
> is not a slave to it, and doesn't mind breaking it if he feels a need
> to.

To me, continuity should be maintained wherever possible.  It makes both
stories the stronger for it.


> After all, with these stories and the comic book, he has advanced
> the idea of Franklin and G'kar going beyond the rim,

in 2271, or maybe even a little bit earlier

>  when for pure
> continuity purposes, they would 'have' to come back so that G'kar can
> kill Londo

in 2278 (7 years down the road)

> and Peter

Stephen

> be at that final dinner party.

for SiL in 2281 (10 years down the road).  That's entirely acceptable.




> If tomorrow, Joe
> gets a great idea for Galen (or any other character) that should
happed
> to break continuity with the novels or other published ideas, he will
> put it on paper and screen, and we will grouse about it, but love it
> just the same.

I won't love it if it flagrantly violates continuity.  The more
continuity violations you have, the more the whole of B5 is weakened.
It would just look shoddy.




> Peter feels that all he needs is what Joe puts on the page for his
> performance.

That's too bad, because it could lead to problems.  I would think that
reading the books would allow Peter to better get in-character, and
that's a GOOD thing.  Also, two heads are better than one.  Without
that, we're depending that JMS won't accidentally screw up continuity
between the books and the scripts (Yes, I know. Heresy!  String me up.).
We already have the problem that Galen appears[1] much less adept in
Crusade than he was at the end of "Invoking Darkness."  How did that
happen, I wonder?  In "The Memory of War" Galen says that his staff was
the only thing he had that could have dealt with the problem.  Duh!
*Spell of Destruction*  Oh, that's right, that hadn't been thought of
yet.  Ditto for the other six base spells.  How'd that stuff get into
the books if Joe reviewed them?  If he allowed it, then such a major
thing like that has to be canon.  If not, we have a whopping continuity
problem.  So, I guess we have to fanwank it by saying that Galen was
just acting more limited than he really was in "The Memory of War."


>  If Joe needs a nuance of some portion of his backstory, or
> wants to foreshadow some future happening, it will be there on the
page,
> or added to his direction (if he is directing the episode.)  It is up
to
> Joe and Peter, not us.
>
> BTW, this also applies to things that we have 'heard' such as Lyta's
> planned appearance in a Crusade episode, and Lennier's same planned
> appearance,

Not really, because that never really came out (not on screen, and the
details of that are not in the books).


> plus other things hinted to us by JMS.  If he does do the
> Telepath War some day, he can change any and all of this at his
leisure.
>   It is his sandbox, as they say...
>
> Charlie

[1] It could be an act, but I don't think Galen would have risked losing
his staff, which was his Convocation/Induction gift from Elric, just to
act like he wasn't as accomplished and powerful a mage in Crusade (2267)
as he really is by the end of "Invoking Darkness" (sometime in 2261).


-- 
Mac Breck (KoshN)
-------------------------------
"Babylon 5: Crusade" (1999)
Galen: "There is always hope, only because it's the one thing that no
one has figured out how to kill yet."

"Brimstone" (1998)
Angel: Oh, there's one more thing you should know. Your fate was never
determined until you killed Gilbert Jax. All in all, you've led a good
life, Ezekiel. Have faith. Your work's appreciated.
--- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32
 * Origin: Time Warp of the Future BBS - Home of League 10 (1:14/400)