There is a certain degree of ageism and sexism going on here, I think.
Tamlyn is within striking distance of the ages of Shatner when he first
appeared as captain of the Enterprise, and of Frakes when he first appeared as
2nd on the NG Enterprise. No one seemed to think it was a problem with them,
since they were men...so why is it inappropriate for a woman?

This is probably the dopiest (my regrets, but that's my opinion) problem
I've come across regarding this whole thing. We cast for the role of Laurel
Takashima from across a wide age range, from 30s up through the late 40s and
up a bit. The BEST PERFORMER was Tamlyn Tomita. She just knocked us through
the back wall. Am I or any producer supposed to say, "No, we can't hire her,
she looks too good"? Are we supposed to buy the okeydoke _ proferred by a
sexist society _ that a woman can't look good and be smart? Certainly the
men in our show, if the "yum's" I heard from a lot of women are any
indication, are attractive. Should we cast only gnomes?

The stone cold fact, apart from opinions, is that it is absolutely valid
that a person in his or her 30s could command that task aboard Babylon 5.
Whether or not it doesn't fit with someone's political agenda is irrelevant.
I'm not here to reinforce ANYone's political agenda. My task is to find the
best stories, and the best performers to render that story.

I've made a concerted effort, and will continue to do so, to find as many
varied actors as possible for the show...ethnic backgrounds, a 50/50 mix of
sexes and ages. One character which will recur in the series will be a Latin
American woman in her late 40s or early 50s, who is in charge of the
environment aboard Babylon 5, a monumentally vital task.

There were some concerns that casting Johnny Sekka as Dr. Benjamin Kyle
would be problematic; born in Africa, educated in England, he has a very
pronounced accent, and we already have other accents in the show. We heard
the concern that he might not be accepted. I ignored that because he was the
best person for the role. Period. I got hit with the "make him more
streetwise" notion from some people (not at Warners), since that's what one
tends to see these days. But it's important, I think, to show a variety of
approaches to black (and white and asian and latino) characters. You tend to
see few black actors in dramatic roles in television, and I think that's
scandalous.

That was why I wanted to make the second in command Japanese, to try and
counter the Japan-bashing, to make it clear that we're one world. And now the
same old stereotypes and divisiveness rears its ugly head.

There are only two kinds of actor in the world: good actors and bad
actors. To take fault in someone's performance is absolutely the right thing;
to look at someone's genetics or sex or age and say "She's too old" or "She's
too pretty" or "He's too old"...nonsense. How old was Amelia Earhart when she
made solo transatlantic flight? 33. And she was 30 when she risked being a
passenger on such a flight. There are women the same age as Lt. Cmdr. Laurel
Takashima training and working now in ops on the space shuttle.

Politics and prejudice make poor partners when linked with drama. And I
can't even believe I'm spending time responding to this.

jms*

(*who had his first stage play produced while still in high school, had
written _ on contract _ his first TV script at 18, his first movie script
under contract by 21, and was working for the Times and TIME, Inc. by middle
twenties. Or, as Tom Servo says in MST3K, "Deal with it, pink boy!")