Shawn, excuse me if I'm just a tad curt here, but given that you have
not seen a single episode, have not read a single script for the series,
for you to say that in the B5 series, characters "have been forced to take
subordinate roles" is, frankly, more than a little nuts. In the message
from you just preceding that, you indicate that you don't think the show
may work on ANY level, all based on your assumptions which have nothing --
I repeat, nothing -- to do with the *reality* of what we're doing here.

If I might be so bold, may I suggest that you actually *see* an
episode or two before reviewing the series? One can review the pilot all
one wants, but we've changed a *lot* since that pilot, including some
elements of how we're going to approach the series and the overall arc of
the story.

Call me crazy, but I kinda like to *see* the painting before I decide
whether or not I like the brush strokes.

jms

"The pilot wasn't good. Face it!"

I'm at the head of the line to point out flaws in the pilot. Flaws
that we've dealt with. But a) it still holds up, and b) you are trying to
make your opinion into *fact*. It ain't. An awful lot of people liked
the pilot a lot. To them, it was good. Maybe to you, it wasn't, but
that's only true for you. That you may think persimmon yoghurt is the
best flavor ever created doesn't make it true for everybody else. Just a
moment for perspective here....

jms

"If JMS had not mentioned the hole in Sinclair's mind, what would
have been the reason for the assassin to try and kill Sinclair?"

Hello...did you see the same movie that I wrote? The assassin was
not there to kill Sinclair. He was there to kill Kosh. He tried to kill
Kosh. He tried to stay AWAY from Sinclair, did everything in his power
to avoid Sinclair, ran from
Sinclair, and only finally encountered Sinclair when Sinclair came after
HIM. Then it was nominal self-defense.

Had the "hole in the mind" reference never been made, it would have
been clear -- at least clear to every other carbon-based lifeform who saw
the movie -- that the assassin 1) came to try and kill Kosh, 2) in the
hope of disrupting the purpose of Babylon 5, with the added benefit of
3) if he failed in his mission, setting up Sinclair to take the rap for
his actions. At the very end, rather than be captured and interrogated,
the Minbari assassin killed himself with an implanted bomb. His comment
to Sinclair at that moment was more of an "Up yours" comment, designed to
shatter Sinclair with the knowledge that he knew something Sinclair
didn't.

You keep saying he was there to kill Sinclair. He wasn't. He didn't.
He didn't try. It makes it hard to have this conversation with you if
your comments don't touch reality at any two contiguous points.

jms

I never said that the commander's intent wasn't to set up Sinclair; I
only said that he wasn't there to *kill* Sinclair. That aspect of making
Sinclair the patsy was very much part of the thing.

(Oops, just realized that I mis-typed; that should be "I never said
that the ASSASSIN'S intent wasn't to set up Sinclair," not "the
commander's intent." Slip of the tongue.

jms