In brief...yes, it was we who initiated the conversation with
Michael, not vice versa.

Re: "sudden insight," it's no different than the insight a novelist
(he said, having written two published novels to date) gets around the
time he gets to page 200 and has a minor revelation about the story and
the characters. Why didn't he have that at page 1? Or page 199? Whop
(Who) knows? Part of it, I suppose, may have to do with the fact that
while you're actully *making* the show, there's very little time for
reflection...only panic and terror (to quote an earlier episode).

When we finished shooting season one, we -- ALL of us on the B5
production team -- went away, and then came back again to do a post moretm
(or mortem) (or morden) on the first season. What did we do wrong, what
did we do right, what can be improved? My job was to think about the
writing, the story...was it fine as tracked, or could it be modified and
clarified and made better? And the answer (as it usually is) was yes, it
could. This quiet contemplation could only really take place after we'd
finished year one.

Re: point three, I really see no point in speculating; who knows?

On A, I pointed out that we *do* have all of our cast on options.

On B, to what I owe the audience...well, yes and no. My sequence of
what I owe, and to whom, runs as follows: I'm true first to the story,
then to myself, then to the audience, then to the studio. I think that if
you EVER rearrange that list of priorities, you're doomed as a writer and
should get the hell out of the business. (While the latter two may be
obvious, to illustrate the first two...yes, I'm an atheist, but if the
story requires advancing a religious notion in order to do the story
right, I'll set aside my beliefs and do it).

jms