20

In season one of B5 Londo has his visions, he sees a number of events happen one of which is he and G'Kar killing each other.

In Season 3 we see the G'kar Death scene more fully as Delenn and Sheridan travel forward through time. Londo has a parasite attached to him and drinks to make it sleep and gets a one eyed G'kar to kill him in order to save Sheridan and Delenn as they escape.

Was this how JMS planned it all from the start (Season 1) or did he later flesh out the story to make this premonition come true?

6
  • 16
    Ray, when someone asks you if JMS planned it from the start, you say YES.
    – gowenfawr
    Feb 5, 2018 at 13:02
  • @gowenfawr Except for ending it at the end of season 4 and then not ending it and adding season 5. Feb 5, 2018 at 15:27
  • 9
    @ToddWilcox he planned everything from the start. Being able to salvage anything from the godawful mess that was the implosion of the PTEN network was improvisation, and if it wasn't as good as the rest of it, at least it was something.
    – gowenfawr
    Feb 5, 2018 at 15:58
  • 1
    @ToddWilcox Events in Season 5 were intended from the beginning, they were just supposed to be sprinkled among the main plot that got squashed into Season 4 (which itself was supposed to span both seasons).
    – Izkata
    Feb 5, 2018 at 19:19
  • 5
    @gowenfawr If you insist, but I really think you're overestimating how likely people are to consult me on this.
    – Ray
    Feb 6, 2018 at 2:44

1 Answer 1

29

Signs point to yes.

Creator JMS replied on Usenet and mentioned this regarding the first time this particular portion of the vision is shown (Londo talks about it earlier, but the audience first sees it in Season 2, Coming of Shadows). Quote lifted from the archive at the Lurker's Guide:

I ended up giving Peter info on "Signs" prior to shooting "Chrysalis" last season; that was the biggie there. For "CoS" in order for the scene to match what's going to happen several years down the road in the series, I had to kinda give him the context of the dream, and what was really happening in that scene, and what caused it, and how he got to that place with G'Kar's hands around his throat.
He seemed quite...astonished.

A later comment regarding the payoff from War Without End:

I seem to recall, after that Londo/G'Kar scene was shown the last time, posting somewhere that folks now knew what has happened, but they don't yet know the context. Very few picked up on that and thought to actually reverse what they thought they were seeing to what they might be seeing.

4
  • 12
    Should that be “Signs & Portents point to yes”? ;-) Feb 5, 2018 at 14:46
  • 1
    @Thunderforge Not enough caffeine or alcohol in my system this early to enjoy any pun, let alone the bad ones. >_<
    – Radhil
    Feb 5, 2018 at 14:49
  • 3
    I loved this about B5. JMS regularly came on to the Usenet forum and answered questions. From time to time he would tell fans things like pay attention to this scene in this week's episode - it will be important down the road
    – dwilliss
    Feb 5, 2018 at 17:28
  • 1
    @Radhil But that's a good pun.
    – jpmc26
    Feb 5, 2018 at 22:23

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.