Rebecca Eschliman <76072.2345@compuserve.com> asks:
> My question is: given the fact that the overall plan for B5 and
> the themes involved were pre-organized, do you ever find themes
> that are there, but that you did not consciously plan, and, if
> so, do those "themes trouves" influence how you write future
> episodes?

To the two parts of this...yes, there's always been the
undercurrent in the series that says we are our brother's keeper, that
we have an obligation to look out for one another. If we're bound and
determined to seek our own destruction nothing can stop that...but
anything less, and a kind word in the right place, an action taken at
the right time, can bend history and help others. This is part of the
community sense that comes through so strongly in B5.

And yes, there are sometimes themes that come out without my
knowing it; sometimes I wear my heart on my sleeve more than I
intended, and stuff slips through, thematically and dialogue-wise, that
later I see and wish I'd left out. Sometimes it'll be much later when
I'll realize what a character was REALLY saying when s/he whispered a
line or two into my brain, and I'll perceive again that the characters
are smarter than I am sometimes...and take that thematic element and
run with it.

And no, I won't tell you which was which....

jms