"Susan always gets the best lines, doesn't she?"

Yup. Ah LIKES writing for Ivanova. She's a hoot.

jms

See, for me, the best part about all of this isn't determining WHAT
is a favorite line, but just that there ARE favorite lines....

jms

Everything that the character says is the writing; everything the
character does while saying it is the actor.

It's a funny kind of perception; I've now been at a number of cons
with the cast members, and invariably they get the questions of "How do
you create your character, how do you determine who the character is?", and
I get the overall story-arc questions...almost as if these characters had
existed outside, or were in the actors, and I stumbled upon them and put
them into this arc.

When asked this question at LosCon, Peter Jurasik gave his usual
answer, "I just say what they write for me to say." Which obviously is
a modest understatement; Peter breathes life into Londo and makes the
lines work. It's all synergy, I suppose....

jms

Though Caitlin left B5 to pursue offers to star in romantic lead
parts, nothing to do with typeasting...your general concern is correct.
We've tried to help avoid that on behalf of the actors. For instance,
visually, you can hardly recognize Peter Jurasik in makeup; ditto for
Andreas and the rest of our alien cast. This shouldn't inhibit their
work in other areas (as opposed to seeing someone very recognizeable, but
with pointy ears, which caused Nimoy great trouble for a long time).

In terms of the human characters, I've tried not to wrap any of them
around one specific character trait. They range from serious to comic,
and do different things.

Typecasting is a real concern, and it has to be addressed by those
who make the show.

jms

Timov's "WHO IS THIS?!" in that high-pitched voice would also be a
great one for an answering machine.

jms

One of my favorite exchanges, which never seems to show up, is from
PoD v.1, when G'Kar says to Tu'Pari, who has come looking for Ambassador
G'Kar, "This is Ambassador G'Kar's quarters. This is Ambassador G'Kar's
table. This is Ambassador G'Kar's dinner. What part of this progression
escapes you?"

Favorite line in the next new episode, from Sheridan: "I'm not saying
what I'm saying. I'm not saying what I'm *thinking*. For that matter,
I'm not even *thinking* what I'm thinking."

jms