Mellissa Gilbert didn't state things exactly right, and was being
provoked by Stern to say something controversial. O'Hare already is
slated to appear later in season one, so that alone takes care of the
issue. I'd also suggest the current Starlog interview with Michael,
which also confirms stuff.

(Oops, typo above, I meant to type later in season *two*.)

jms

Michael O'Hare had *absolutely* no such "in-first-episode, so in for
all" clause in his contract. Not only that, but insofar as I know such
clauses don't *exist* in ANY SAG contract. This in particular is one of
the most astonishingly stupid things I've heard in ages. We gave some
serious thought to having Michael in the first episode, except as I got
into the story, it really slowed things down...and I'm kinda partial to
mysteries. I like *doing* something...and then a bit down the road you
find out what it's all about. (Like this is news to anyone here.)

And Sinclair *does* appear later on this season.

jms

"It wasn't JMS's call (re: O'Hare)."

Okay, I've sat on the sidelines through enough of this; I feel that
I have to dive in on this.

Frankly, I don't much care what "the Hollywood" word is about
Michael. The word from Hollywood also said that we had fired ALL the
cast, that we had fired Michael *and* Richard Biggs, that Michael had
quit, on and on and on. (The bit about firing Richard Biggs, btw, came
up at a Conadian panel by someone who *swore* up down and sideways that
it was true, and he'd heard it from someone at Warners. I've got the
tape of the panel.)

I don't know who you are. I *do* know that there were only four
people in the room when we broached this with Michael, and you're not
one of them. (Present: me, Michael, Doug Netter and John Copeland.) We
indicated that there were some new and interesting directions that the
story could take in season two, but it would mean Sinclair vanishing for
a prolonged period of time, and what were his feelings on that? He noted
that he'd been expecting this from where the scripts had been going, and
that there were some opportunities that he wanted to explore on his own.
It seemed like a good opportunity for both sides. It was made clear at
that meeting that Sinclair was *not* gone for good, that he *would* be
back at various points, but not in the same capacity...because we had some
nifty ideas about something we could do with that character outside of the
confining role of Commander. By the end of the meeting, it was decided
that that was, indeed, what we would do.

We knew that Michael would be returning to New York soon to pursue
some long-standing options, and since we knew we'd be needing him (and I
knew where and when), I scripted out material for when he is seen again,
and we filmed that prior to his jaunt so we wouldn't have to shlep him
clear across the country later, and in case he should indeed be busy at
the time.

I could frankly give a shit what anybody hears on the Hollywood
rumor mill. More nonsense goes out on those particular jungle drums than
anyone can even conceive of...and anyone who takes them to heart is more
than a little foolish.

jms