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"The Gathering" Question

Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

Was it really that Delenn was going to be male and then change into female? Because I remember reading that the Minbari were all going to be an androgynous species and have neither male nor female sexes.
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This is one of JMS's posts about it:

From: STRACZYNSKI [Joe]
Subject: Well, hmm....I guess I can come...
To: GENIE
Date: 12/14/1992 9:57:00 AM
No Thread


Well, hmm....I guess I can come out with this now. As you know, it was
our plan to go for a very androgynous Delenn _ a male voice (which was to be
computer/electronically altered), female mannerisms, and a very ambiguous
makeup. We've now gone through about every possible electronic alteration,
and frankly, none of them sound as convincing as I'd like. Many of them
sound *okay*, but we've taken a hard and fast position on this show that
"okay" is simply not sufficient.

So we've decided to leave Delenn female, with the performer's original
voice intact and unaltered. Interestingly enough, when the performance was
shown at Wishcon and LosCon, the audience responded very positively to her
natural voice, urging that it be left alone. Which is now what we're going to
do.

jms
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So, yes, I guess androgynous is a good term. The script, though, refers to Delenn as 'him'.

Jan
 
Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

I remember it as: the Minbari were originally supposed to be androgynous looking to the human eye, but *not* that they didn't *have* male and female genders.

I think that was part of the design, in a fair measure, *because* of the planned change from male to female for Delenn; and the fact that no matter what they did in makeup, having him played by a female actor would create an androgynous appearance anyway.
 
Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

So, yes, I guess androgynous is a good term. The script, though, refers to Delenn as 'him'.
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The thing about that though is that the English language doesn't have an independent third person singular neutered pronoun other than it, which is deemed inappropriate to be used to refer to a person by most people. As such, English defaults the third person singular neutered pronoun to the same word used for the third person singular male pronoun when referencing people, and so he can be used to refer to someone who isn't male if it is refering to someone whom one does not know the sex of (or refering to someone who doesn't have a sex).
 
Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

Here's the first post I can find by JMS on the subject. In part, he says:

What we have, basically, is a female actor playing a male character.
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I can't find anything about his intending all the Minbari to be androgynous, though.

Jan
 
Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

Didn't Delinn once tell Sheridian Minbari did everything in threes. :devil: I don't recall offhand any Minbari romance/mating other than the ceremony in the first season. Perhaps Mimbari have three sexes? I know Delinn spoke of man and woman during her prenuptual rituals but she could have modified it as she was now human and humans only have two sexes. :D
 
Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

It would've been interesting to see if the Minbari also engaged in long-term romantic relationships in groups of three as well. That seemed to be the source of conflict between Sheridan, Deleen and Lennier in season 5.
 
Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

Well, Delenn did give Sheridan a "don't tread there" look in S5, so I doubt the Minbari believed in Romantic 3s.
 
Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

Although apparently the Minbari like having a whole flock of other Minbari hanging out in an adjacent room while a couple has sex.
 
Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

:confused: It's been awhile since I've seen the show, but weren't they there so that the "pleasure center finding" WOULDN'T turn into sex? :confused:
 
Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

Man that Sheridan sure got around- he had all 3 kinds of women: human, Minbari, and redhead.
 
Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

I think he meant Anna cause Melissa Gilbert who played her has reddish hair. :p :LOL:
 
Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

:confused: It's been awhile since I've seen the show, but weren't they there so that the "pleasure center finding" WOULDN'T turn into sex? :confused:
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Well, whatever happened there... :eek: he certainly seemed pleased.... :eek: :)
 
Re: \"The Gathering\" Question

While the Minbari knew the truth about the power of the Vorlons, I'm thinking they had no qualms about everyone ELSE thinking they were the most powerful / evolved of all the known races at the time. Why correct them when it keeps people out of your space? (so to say)

Even the Centauri tell the humans "do not bother the minbari and they will not bother you." Leave it up to the humans to wake the sleeping dragon.
 
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