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transmediaclub"Because as has been noted, the original plan was to have Delenn start out male and emerge from the chrysalis female; so we made the makeup in the pilot very male. Once we realized we couldn't make the voice work without having her dubbed completely, there was no need to retain it" Per a tweet from J. Michael Straczynski
This is a bit of a different post because it's about a scrapped trans storyline that still left and impression on the resulting project. JMS has confirmed it a number of times and points to technical issues, but since the same show had to keep cutting the lesbian storyline to dodge cancellation, it's possible there is more to he story or that the show would not have been greenlit with the original plot.
Also, this was a surprise to me because I was a serious Bab5 fan back in the day and super into both Delenn and their actress Mira Furlan. I could quote the show at length while discussing it and vividly remember getting into arguments about whether something gender was going on with Delenn. By 'arguments' I mean I'd say anything about it and get shouted down. I had totally forgotten all of this until I heard someone mention the whole 'Delenn was meant to be trans' thing the other day. Young me wandering around cons in a giant T shirt with Delenn's face on the front and a B5 logo on the back correcting people incorrectly quoting the show was onto something.
A lot of my searches for more info lead to dead links at a website called The Council of Zoom, but here is the Wayback Machine to the rescue.
Two notable things about this story:
* JMS has been pushing for a reboot of this show as it was a massive passion project of his. If it happens we may see that and other storylines restored.
* Sense8, seen as many as a landmark piece of trans rep in media, was co-created by JMS and the Wachowski sisters, and he was a writer on the show.
I haven't watched any B5 since shortly after the show ended. I know some people have had this as their main fandom all these years. If anyone has some info to add to this, let me know. Also, I may finally rewatch it after all these years (assuming I can get past TKO, season 1 has some rough spots)
This is a bit of a different post because it's about a scrapped trans storyline that still left and impression on the resulting project. JMS has confirmed it a number of times and points to technical issues, but since the same show had to keep cutting the lesbian storyline to dodge cancellation, it's possible there is more to he story or that the show would not have been greenlit with the original plot.
Also, this was a surprise to me because I was a serious Bab5 fan back in the day and super into both Delenn and their actress Mira Furlan. I could quote the show at length while discussing it and vividly remember getting into arguments about whether something gender was going on with Delenn. By 'arguments' I mean I'd say anything about it and get shouted down. I had totally forgotten all of this until I heard someone mention the whole 'Delenn was meant to be trans' thing the other day. Young me wandering around cons in a giant T shirt with Delenn's face on the front and a B5 logo on the back correcting people incorrectly quoting the show was onto something.
A lot of my searches for more info lead to dead links at a website called The Council of Zoom, but here is the Wayback Machine to the rescue.
Two notable things about this story:
* JMS has been pushing for a reboot of this show as it was a massive passion project of his. If it happens we may see that and other storylines restored.
* Sense8, seen as many as a landmark piece of trans rep in media, was co-created by JMS and the Wachowski sisters, and he was a writer on the show.
I haven't watched any B5 since shortly after the show ended. I know some people have had this as their main fandom all these years. If anyone has some info to add to this, let me know. Also, I may finally rewatch it after all these years (assuming I can get past TKO, season 1 has some rough spots)
