Babylon 5: The Gathering - Changes Between Pilot and Series

Changes Between Pilot and Series

Many elements of the pilot were changed when the series began, giving the pilot a different feel than the rest of the series. This was most evident in the prosthetics, sets, music, and cast members. Patricia Tallman played Lyta Alexander — she was replaced by Andrea Thompson as Talia Winters — but Tallman would return later in the series, first as a recurring character and then as a regular. The medical officer was Dr. Benjamin Kyle (played by Johnny Sekka), rather than Richard Biggs as Stephen Franklin. The explanation used for these cast changes is that these two characters saw Kosh outside his encounter suit and thus had to be removed from duty — Kosh's secrecy is a running theme in the show.

The first officer was Laurel Takashima (played by Tamlyn Tomita), replaced for the series by Claudia Christian as Susan Ivanova. The alien characters — such as Delenn and G'Kar — appeared slightly different because the prosthetics were different for the pilot than the series. Also, Delenn was originally supposed to be a male character destined to become female at the end of season 1, but since they couldn't make Mira Furlan's voice male enough, they decided to play her as a pure female in the series.