From: schroede@bnlux1.bnl.gov (gary l. schroeder)
Subject: Re: BABYLON 5: Rest of the Casting, First day of filming
Organization: Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 13:00:11 GMT

In article <63877@cup.portal.com> Edward_Lee_Whiteside@cup.portal.com writes:

>Following is the last two actors to be announced for Babylon 5, along with
>a report on the first day of filming by the show's creator and 
>writer J. Michael Straczynski.  

>Commander Jeffrey Sinclair:

>His face has a
>curiously haunted look, but at the same time is (I'm told by the women who 
>go "yum" whenever he enters the room) quite appealing.

>     The one thing we did NOT want, which we knew from the start, was one 
>more pretty-boy TV actor...we wanted someone with character in his face, 
>with a broad dramatic range.  And we got all of it in Michael O'Hare.

Seems like conflicting statements to me.  Mr. "Yum".

>Finally, there it was at last...all of our characters, in full  costume or
>uniform (and the uniforms look DYNAMITE!), on the sets.
>fully, completely *real* at last.

>I cannot begin to tell you what 
>star material we've found in Michael O'Hare.  He's got a voice and a 
>presence that could give Sean Connery or Clint Eastwood a run for their 
>money.

"Yum".


>     Our Warners liason came by today for the first time to the set, and he
>couldn't believe the sets, how much we've done, the details, the elaborate
>stuff we've pulled off.  He was absolutely blown away.


Ka-boom.


>     Long story short...it went *great*, better than I'd hoped.  Richard 
>Compton was magnificent behind the camera, coming up with some very 
>difficult and challenging shots, great angles...it's going to look wonderful.  
>Very cinematic, almost film-noir in its use of textures and shadows.

The next Stanley Kubrick.


>     Later in the day, I had some friends come over, whose opinion I trust,
>and who are very well versed in SF for television and film.  (These 
>included Marv Wolfman and Len Wein, known to the comics fans here, and 
>Craig (Mr. SF) Miller, who was involved with the first STAR WARS, and is not
>generally easily impressed.)  They knew of B5 only peripherally, and were 
>in NO way prepared for what they saw on the set.  Add to that the new EFX 
>that I showed them today...their eyes melted right out of their sockets.

Yaaaa.  Must have been painful.


Well, frankly, I'm afraid to watch Babylon 5 for fear of swooning for
Michael O'hare or having my eyeballs drilled out of my sockets by the
celestial special effects.  It might just be TOO EXCITING.

I wait with the same skepticism that I have for DS9 or any other TV SF
series.  Guess I got burned by Buck Rogers as a child.

I don't think that this continuing info update on B5 belongs on this
group, anyway.  This is not rec.arts.babylon5.current.  This is really a
shameless attempt to suck in the Trek crowd.  I'm sure that if the show
turns out to be that good, we'll all watch it based on the merits that
we find.  Consensus anyone?

-- 
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