So I was reading volumes 1 and 2 of "Echoes of All Our Conversations"   
   and it was mentioned that there were several stylistic changes between   
   Season One and Season Two.   
      
   It also mentioned comments in Season One about "Stillness" in some   
   scenes, and with one of the show's developers being a veteran of   
   "Miami Vice" as a director it got me to thinking about that.   
      
   I was a fan of "Vice" growing up and even today the show stands out   
   for the "tableau" feel it had in several scenes, conversations, people   
   sitting around, which was often combined with scene blocking and the   
   use of space and color to create the unique "feel" of that show.   
      
   In all the ways people have tried to create a sense of enhanced   
   reality, Michael Mann's work in "Vice" is one of the most unique. In   
   traditional black and white Film Noir, staging, light and shadow were   
   used to maximize effect on screen of an enhanced reality. In "Vice"   
   the question of how to deal with the different type of shadow effects   
   in color television as opposed to black and white were addressed by   
   using a pastel set of shades and focusing mostly on "cool" colors,   
   something that is actually mentioned in the B5 interviews, although B5   
   had a different palette than Vice, including lots of organic browns   
   and olive tones, and red and orange, colors that weren't common in   
   "Vice."   
      
   For people wondering about how the style was set in Season One, and   
   the changes going into Season Two, I found it pretty interesting. It   
   wasn't a connection I had known about and in rewatching a couple First   
   Season episodes recently it did strike me when I was thinking about   
   it.   
      
   Another possible influence of Miami Vice is in the character of   
   Commander Jeffrey Sinclair. Him being reserved and taciturn in his   
   conversations during some scenes might well have been influenced by   
   the Castillo character on Miami Vice, the Precinct Lieutenant, who was   
   played in a very taciturn way by Edward James Olmos. If the people   
   directing Mr. O'Hare as Sinclair had worked on "Vice" it is definitely   
   a possibility.   
      
   While "cool colors" like blues made their way to uniforms and the   
   exhaust jets of Station Starfuries, I wonder if that was just how it   
   wound up or if there was any Vice influence in the color blocking   
   which would have endured throughout the show, even after JMS decided   
   to go in a different direction in other areas of style and "feel"   
   heading into Season Two.   
      
   Of course, it also got me to thinking of how cool it would be to see   
   Garibaldi and Dr. Franklin go out on a mission together, rolling out   
   in their shuttle to some Phil Collins wearing 80s style threads and   
   Ray Bans :)   
      
   David   
      
   And I can feel it, coming, in the air tonight.... ;)   
   --- SBBSecho 2.13-Win32   
    * Origin: Time Warp of the Future BBS - Home of League 10 (1:340/400)