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No Longer All Alone in the Night: Fingerprints of JMS

Reishe

By Reishe
in Sense8 [V]

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Reishe

Reishe

As a diehard fan of Babylon 5 and someone who has watched at least part of Jeremiah and Crusade, I thought it might be fun to start a discussion of elements of Sense8 that seem familiar from J. Michael Straczynski's earlier works. For example, in the concept of the sensates, and the way they virtually interact, I see an extension of his conception of telepaths in B5, as well as the idea that they are afraid of the way they're perceived by "normals" and their potential for being weaponized and used by nefarious forces.

I also see that he hasn't lost his fondness for characters speechifying. ?

Recognizing, of course, that JMS is part of a creative team, and not intending to downplay the Wachowskis' part in creating/running the show. 

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tennisgurl

tennisgurl

I can definitely see how the Sensates and their struggles are a variation on the telepaths and Psi Corps from Babylon 5. The Sensates are, more or less, telepaths with specific ranges and abilities, and BPO has some similarities with the government that created the Psi Corps as a way to control telepaths in the interest of security, but meaning that telepaths/Sensates are denied their basic rights due to their powers. You can see BPO as something of a less futuristic and less out in the open Psi Corps, using officially sponsored Sensates to track down rogue Sensates and hunting them down and using them as weapons. You also have the Sensates who think they're better than "normal" humans, as well as humans who hate and fear Sensates for their abilities, which also lines up pretty well with the Babylon 5 telepaths. I would like to see more members of BPO and other Clusters to explore this more, because its an interesting topic, and its clear that its something that JMS is interested in. Babylon 5 was mostly told from the perspective of the "normal" people interacting with telepaths, so it will be interesting to see more of this kind of story from the telepaths point of view here.

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Reishe

Reishe

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Thinking about the differences...I wonder if the sensate experience is a more...palatable form of telepathy? In B5, the positive part of being a telepath was the sense of connection, breaking down the wall that separates us as individuals. But sharing in someone's thoughts is a jarring, disorienting thing, particularly if that person's mind is wired differently (like scanning the mind of an alien, or that of a mentally unbalanced criminal, or simply someone who is consumed by an emotion like hate or fear). But the sensate experience seems to allow the connection while still retaining separate thoughts, creating a virtual space where the two--or however many--personalities can interact, but remain discrete. Even in those instances where we see someone step in to take over another's body to fight or say something particularly meaningful, it seems more like a body-sharing than a mind-sharing, less of a loss of self or boundaries. 

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loki567

loki567

I said on the Christmas Special thread that one of the major initial appeals of Sense8 for me was getting to see JMS have some security to tell a long-term story... and dammit if his show didn't get cancelled after two seasons again. He's cursed. Such a shame. I think you could see with season two, he's one of the better writers at planning out story arcs and world building. Sense8 felt like it was evolving into a very epic story that we unfortunately won't get to see. C'est la vie.

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ganesh

ganesh

On 5/30/2017 at 10:09 AM, Reishe said:

I also see that he hasn't lost his fondness for characters speechifying.

Late, but yeah, JMS likes him some monologues.

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