Clive Revill - Trakkis - dies

[Springer]

Clive Revill, who played Trakkis in Born to the Purple, has died at the age of 94. Besides B5 he was in loads of shows from the 80s, from Magnum and Macgyver to Dynasty and Murder, She Wrote, and is well known for his voice-over work, including one of the Insecticons in Transformers, and famously was the Emperor in The Empire Strikes Back, and did loads of RSC stuff on the stage.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/m...-dead-empire-strikes-back-emperor-1236173505/

 

[Looney]

WOW 94. A good long life.
Side Note unrelated to B5
RiP Richard Chamberlain, 90 (about to be 91)
RiP Bruce Glover, 92

Okay actors living long lives aside, Trakkis is one guest star I would have loved to see return. Of course I believe you all know I would have loved to have seen all of the guest stars return with expanded stories. Babylon 5 had such a wonderful web of characters that any number of off shoot stories could have been told and I wish they had been.

BORN TO PURPLE: 1.3 The last thing we hear of Trakkis is that Sinclair convinced him to cancel Adira's contract. Are we to assume this is in exchange for dropping any criminal charges? Of course Londo wouldn't want to admit there was really any crime, but still seems like he got off very easy in comparison to the level of what he was attempting.

And of course there is the interesting Trivia that this is the episode featuring Mary Woronov's name in the main cast opening credits as Ko D'ath instead of JCB (or CB as credited) as Na'Toth.

 

[Looney]

Sorry I couldn't edit so I will just post again.

WOW was I wrong. WHO KNEW?! For those in the Patreon World I guess we know Chamberlain was tied to B5 in a round about way. WOW would he have been a fantastic guest star. That DEFINITELY would have inspired my mom to watch the show in the 90s.

 

[Springer]

Sorry I couldn't edit so I will just post again.

WOW was I wrong. WHO KNEW?! For those in the Patreon World I guess we know Chamberlain was tied to B5 in a round about way. WOW would he have been a fantastic guest star. That DEFINITELY would have inspired my mom to watch the show in the 90s.

Was he related to Ardwright Chamberlain?

Born to the Purple is a strange episode for me. I always think of it as one of the weaker episodes of season 1, and yet everytime I is watch it, I think, "this is much better than I remember". Loved Ko'Dath's introduction and there's some great lines – "I wasn't expecting you for several ye– er, days" and "don't give away the homeworld!" Seeing Londo and Sinclair go undercover is fun too. But in my mind there's just something about this episode that doesn't quite sit right. Maybe it's the Ivanova plot, which is a little bit maudlin?

 

[Looney]

No JMS just really liked something Richard Chamberlain did.

I love Born To Purple, but I love every episode. I will say that the Ivanova plot is the weaker side of the episode.

 

[Springer]

I love Born To Purple, but I love every episode. I

I think what I meant is I have a perception that Born to the Purple isn't that great, but then when I watch it I enjoy it much more. Then gradually that perception comes back. It's probably something illogical to do with my first impression back when if first aired that I can't shake for some reason.

It's an interesting question. I don't want to say that I 'love' every episode, just because I think that the very best episodes should be the ones to fit that criteria (I 'love' Severed Dreams, but I just 'like' Ceremonies of Light and Dark, if you see what I mean). But are there any episodes that I don't enjoy? TKO maybe, but even then I feel it has value in showing aspects of Jewish culture that aren't usually presented on TV, and I think things like that are important. Learning Curve is another that my perception of it is really bad, but watching it, it's not quite as bad as I remember. I find A Late Delivery from Avalon to be deadly dull, but by this stage the production is smooth enough that it makes the episode passable. No, I don't think there's any episodes that I would skip through lack of enjoyment in a re-watch. Even in the lesser episodes there's something to enjoy, and to bring it back on topic, sometimes that's the performance from a guest star, such as Clive Revill in this case.