Babylon 5 posts by JMS for September, 1993

Babylon 5 posts by JMS for September, 1993

This file includes a compilation of posts on GEnie by J. Michael
Straczynski in the Babylon 5 category. The posts are copyright by JMS
(and compilation copyright is by GEnie).

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Topic 1 Mon Oct 26, 1992
SF-MARSHALL [Dave ] at 18:50 EST
Sub: Babylon 5 - The Series (Non-Spoiler)

Welcome to the Babylon 5 category and main topic for the new series. Here is
the place for all general information on the series. Topic 2 is the location
for SPOILERS. And please, NO STORY IDEAS are to be posted either.
403 message(s) total.
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Category 18, Topic 1
Message 294 Thu Sep 16, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:33 EDT

The problem, of course, with DeVito or Lloyd or (as some suggested) Mel
Gibson or others it that their salaries would be, individually, equal to our
entire production budget for 3-4 episodes. Which means we'd have to shoot
only 18 rather than 22.

As for a production report...things are going swimmingly. Today we
started getting dailies on our first day of shooting on "And the Sky Full of
Stars," which deals with the Battle of the Line. This is not going to look
like your conventional episode of television. We've brought in equipment that
you don't normally see on a television set, certain kinds of cranes and lenses
and lighting packages that will give this particular episode a very strange,
almost surreal look. It's quite remarkable.

And Ron's pushing the envelope on the CGI...compositing some live action
stuff with CGI that'll blow your TV out.

It's going *well*.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
Message 301 Sat Sep 18, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:09 EDT

The details of the budget per episide are classified...but you could
easily take DS9's budget, cut it in half, and you'd still have more than we've
got.

Which is, again, part of the overall plan...if we can prove that you can
do quality SF on a budget comparable to non-SF series, it'll open the gates
for more shows down the road.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
Message 303 Sat Sep 18, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:31 EDT

Now here's comedy...we're fielding a Babylon 5 softball as one of the
showbiz leagues. (Many shows in town have softball teams, and th ey've
organized into something that has grown quite substantially into a Big Deal.)
We're making up jerseys for the team, and on the front there will be the B5
logo, and on the back, for the team player number, there will be 5. That's
all. The only number. Which will make calling the game a WONDERFUL
challenge..."And on shortstop we've got number five...out in center field is
number five...with number five pitching and catching."

Everything about this show is surreal.

BTW...our first game is against the SeaQuest team.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
Message 305 Sat Sep 18, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:13 EDT

If you like, sure.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
Message 317 Sun Sep 19, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:47 EDT

I'm afraid I wasn't much impressed with the SQ CGI. You really couldn't
SEE anything, there were no shadows, I still don't really know what the SQ
looks like...what Ron's doing is years beyond what you saw.

Speaking of which, I was with Ron and the Foundation crew tonight at the
technical Emmys presentation, where we picked up the visual EFX award for his
work on B5. (In this category, more than one show can win, so we got one,
Lucas' Indiana Jones series got one,and DS9 got one. Lucas was quite
intrigued by the B5 footage on the screens, as I noted from my table, which
was next to his.) It's quite rewarding, our first time out of the door, to be
in that company.

It's my *understanding* that the E! channel will show the technical emmys
on Monday, but that's not confirmed.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
Message 330 Mon Sep 20, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:58 EDT

And y'know...it's absolutely in keeping with the Straczynski luck, and
the history of this show, that the year B5 wins an Emmy is the first year that
they DON'T do the recap of last night's technical awards. Ah, well....

BTW, there were several odd JMS/B5 connections with other aspects of the
Emmys this year. Performers are nominated for the full season of their
work...and Angela Lansbury was nominated for the year in which I worked on the
show as writer/producer (ditto on the previous year during my tenure). Of
course, she's nominated every year, so a hamster could work as writer
producer, that hardly counts. One of the other technical Emmy nominations --
for music -- went to an episode of Murder, She Wrote entitled "The Wind Around
the Tower," which I wrote; set in Ireland, it was designed to open the way for
some different styles of music in the show. Also, John Copeland, line
producer on the B5 series, was nominated for his work on the Wild West
documentary miniseries, and B5 pilot costume designer Catherine Adair was the
designer for Angela's gowns tonight.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
Message 333 Tue Sep 21, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:38 EDT

How You Know You're Finally Going Bananas, by JMS.

So there I was, lying abed, at 3 a.m., unable to sleep, and I come up
with the Fart Classification System (FCS). Basically, they break down into
three categories: small farts are squibs, medium farts are crackers, and
really huge farts are zeppelins.

I desperately need to get a life....

jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
Message 357 Thu Sep 23, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:45 EDT

We are shooting in 16:9 aspect ratio, cutting it down to normal TV aspect
ratio for its initial broadcasts. When a) the laserdisks are in time
released, and b) when HDTV becomes more of a standard, the full letterboxed
aspect ratio will be available.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
Message 361 Thu Sep 23, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 16:59 EDT

Let me just stick my neck out a little here...though I know I won't be
sticking it out very far, having seen what I've just seen.

I've always been *very* careful in what I say, to avoid over-hyping
anything, or to make promises I can't fulfill. That's why I ask, when I go to
conventions, "Did I keep my promise?"

Here's a promise for you. Which I make without hesitation.

"And the Sky Full of Stars" is absolutely unlike anything ever produced
before for television. It is, so far, the high-water mark of the season.
Directorially, and in terms of the visual effects, the CGI, the performances,
(the writing, one hopes)...right across the board, it's a stunner. And
just...I can't convey this enough...*different*. It just takes TV science
fiction and yanks it to a whole other level of complexity.

Knowing that I'll eventually be hitting conventions after this show airs,
at which time I'll get reactions, I say that without hesitation. I think you
will find this promise kept.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
Message 364 Thu Sep 23, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 20:19 EDT

There will be merchandising, but we're just not going to let it be what
drives the show. And it really isn't set up to be a theatrical project. As
for being a show with integrity, there's plenty of them out there. "Picket
Fences" is probably the best example of that, just offhand. How we're doing
what we're doing...is a combination of things: the right technology at the
right time, the right people, the right stories, and the right environment.
Sometimes you catch lightning in a bottle, and sometimes you catch fireflies.
That this show proceeds from a definite, personal vision, and is not the
product of a committee, likely has a great deal to do with it.

Though the reaction to what we're doing within the studio and network
arenas has been very positive and extremely supportive, I don't think anyone --
even, to some degree, those of us doing the show -- *really* understood what
we had until we finished "Sky." This episode has sent ripples all OVER the
place. I can honestly say it's not like any other television episode you've
seen...people will be dissecting this one for a long, LONG time after it airs.

The other episodes we've made are all good..."Midnight," "Believers,"
"Soul Hunter"...there's not a dud in the bag so far. But with "Sky" we have
created something quite amazing. I still haven't seen a final cut on this
episode, but if it's in keeping with the way it's falling together so
far...when they add up the balance at the end of my life, I think that "Sky"
will be remembered. I know this sounds awfully overblown, and I'm not really
comfortable talking about anything like this, but jeezus....

Ladies and gentlemen, it's a corker. Honest to god, I think we've just
made a little history.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
Message 366 Thu Sep 23, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 22:24 EDT

"Sky" will air roughly around episode number nine.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
Message 373 Fri Sep 24, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:33 EDT

Just to clarify: we'll be delivering *finished* episodes as early as mid-
October. That's everything, music, EFX, everything. PTEN doesn't begin its
new "season" until January, so that's when they'll begin airing. But we'll
have nearly a dozen or so episodes in the can when we begin airing.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
Message 382 Fri Sep 24, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 22:30 EDT

Jon...I sympathize. I generally carried a pretty heavy load in college.
My next-to-last year, just to get the hell OUT of there, I managed to crash
courses and evade the university limits and ended up with 28 units in one
semester...and none of them basket weaving stuff, either...statistical
analysis (imagine ME in that one), physiological psychology, 6 units of
German, biology....

I was, shall we say, insane....

jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
Message 385 Sat Sep 25, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:47 EDT

As an aside...one of the things that's been great to watch over the last
few months is how the crew and cast have really come together. On a lot
(though certainly not all) of shows, once you finish the day, the crew goes
off in as many different directions as possible. Ditto with the cast.

But now, on top of the B5 softball team, now there's a B5 golf team, both
in-house for B5 tournaments, and to play others. Softball is on Saturday,
golf is on Sunday. Groups of the crew get together socially on the weekends,
have barbeques and dinners. When we wrap for the day, there is generally a
large contingent that heads down to a nearby restaurant to hang out together
and get coffee and something to eat. The other softball teams have been
astonished because we generally have lots of cast come out to play as well.
At the last game, Michael O'Hare, Jerry Doyle, Richard Biggs (pitching) and
Andrea Thompson all showed up and played. (Jerry hit a homer.)

There are always hassles, and last minute problems, and the occasional
bursts of crankiness that come with TV production, but for the most part it
seems that the cast and crew are genuinely having a good time on the show, and
that's always a good sign.

No special reason for mentioning it, except I was thinking about it, and
it's kinda nice....

jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
Message 397 Sat Sep 25, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 22:08 EDT

So far, the team's 1 for 2; their first game against SeaQuest (our team
came to play and have a good time, the other team came to WIN) went to the SQ
team. Our people spent the week practicing between setups and at lunch -- we
set up a milk carton for our new pitcher to practice his shot -- and this time
we won over "Dave's World." Though I wasn't there -- everyone ELSE gets to go
play, *I* have to stay chained to a keyboard -- apparently it was a repeat on
one level, in that there were maybe 8 from the "Dave's" side in the stands,
and we had something 50-60 people from our side show up to cheer on the team.
(Though we had a core bunch of players, anybody who wanted to play, played.)
Again Jerry, Andrea and Richard Biggs showed up; Michael was otherwise
engaged.

Just recently, btw, I gave Larry DiTillio a printout with just a little
of the coming 5 year arc...if he's going to story edit, he needs to know what
lines not to cross, and I can't ride herd on that all the time. He took it
home, read it. Called me. Didn't even say hello. Began the conversation
with, "You are out of your f'ing mind." I asked for some small clarification
of his position. He indicated that he thought it was absolutely great,
something that'll really go down in the rolls when the final tally is done,
"But you GOT to be out of your f'ing mind to try and pull something like this
off. It *can* be done...but it takes a lunatic to do it."

Sounds about right.

jms
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Topic 2 Wed Nov 20, 1991
STARR [Arne] at 19:41 EST
Sub: Babylon 5 -- The Series!! >>SPOILERS<<

May 28th, '93, Babylon 5 officially became a series. There will be 22 hours,
plus the 2 hours of the pilot, for season one. Airs Wednesday's at 8PM in most
places starting Jan. '94. This is the Spoiler topic where anything goes.

571 message(s) total.
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Category 18, Topic 2
Message 287 Tue Aug 31, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:11 EDT

Yes, there will be a Confrancisco presentation on B5..two, actually.
One will take place Friday at 2 p.m., with a follow up on Saturday at 4 p.m.
There will be new footage spread across both days, and there may be an extra
guest or two at the 4:00 panel. Can't promise that at this time, but it's a
possibility.

Thinking back on San Diego Comic Con, something comes to mind that I
wanted to mention. When I'm doing my number at a con, I kind of glaze over a
bit; I get mentally pointed toward performance, and things that would normally
be obvious get missed. Thus...if you're one of the regulart (regular) folk
around here, and you come up to me, *introduce yourselves*, because I rarely
read badges (at 6'4" it's tough sometimes), and even when I do I'm often too
stupid to put names and handles together.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 2
Message 290 Tue Aug 31, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:56 EDT

Not that I'm aware of at this time.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 2
Message 303 Wed Sep 01, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:00 EDT

Will: relax.

You have to understand the way this show is going to be structured.
There aren't going generally going to be a lot of loose threads hanging
around. Episodes will resolve themselves. It's just that, from time to time,
we'll carom off some point that seems tangential, but which will later become
significant. You don't have to watch every episode. Hell, if I do this right
-- and this is one hell of a hat trick, lemme tell you, when it comes to
structure -- you can even watch them out of ORDER, within a season, and still
follow what's going on. The trick is to make it so that if something slips
past, the viewer doesn't trip over it. And when you do an episode that you've
set up before, that set-up should in some subtle, non-heavy-expository way, be
re-established for those who might not have seen the episode.

Telling people "This is a five year arc" in a big way almost as a warning
is actually more destructive than constructive; it might lead people to think
that they need to commit five years of their lives to get the whole story, and
it's hard to get people to commit to even one ten-hour miniseries. You can
watch any part you want, and get a good, solid, independently enjoyable hour-
show out of it. You can come in at any point you want. The key is that the
more you watch, the more you will pick up on the nuances and the threads we're
going to be playing with. Generally, we're going to keep those threads a bit
light in the first season, then begin to draw in more of the general story arc
in the second and subsequent seasons. Let's use the first year to get the
audience comfortable with the B5 universe, and with our characters, and in a
handful of episodes, carefully begin leading everyone where we want them to
go, so that when we start to accellerate things in year two, those who've been
with us from the start can get right into it, and those who come to the show
late can play catch up without any problem.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 2
Message 310 Wed Sep 01, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 23:44 EDT

The 5 year arc is worked out in considerable detail; 200 single spaced
pages in a triple-encrypted file. I can't allow myself ever to even so much
as *consider* not hitting the full five years on this, so the rest of the
question I can't answer.

CopperCon is apparently a couple weeks after ConFrancisco, and Larry
DiTillio will be there with a B5 presentation.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 2
Message 315 Thu Sep 02, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:37 EDT

If they can't figure out there's more than meets the eye...they don't
have an eye to meet. If the series doesn't stand on its own right from the
git-go, the hell with a five-year arc, it doesn't matter, because we'll never
get that far.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 2
Message 362 Wed Sep 08, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:12 EDT

At risk of rehashing this one more time, what's missing from the pilot is
25 minutes of additional material that further fleshed out the characters.

Each of the characters is being solidly rounded out in the series,
showing multiple sides to each character. All I can say is that I think
you'll like what we're doing. On the topic of music, I'll have more to say in
a few days or so.

Still bushed from the convention, and have leapt fully back into the
show, so this'll be brief. But it was a great time, and I'm glad that the
clips went over so well.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 2
Message 377 Thu Sep 09, 1993

Frankly, I can't imagine that other show *ever* doing a show about soul
stealing. Re: the "hard-SF" note, I noted earlier that there are some hard SF
aspects to the show, and some elements that could best be described as science
fantasy...but in those cases, as with "Soul Hunter," we leave it ambiguous: is
he actually doing what he says he's doing, or basically encoding a simulation
of someone's brain wave patterns to create a duplicate of someone's memories
and personality?

I have to say I'm a little dismayed at the *detail* of the spoilers
given; I'd imagined that there would be some description of what was seen, but
not in this exhaustive detail. Which is all I'll say about it; you pays your
money and you takes your chances.

I'm pretty much running on fumes right now, between running from editing
room to stage to keyboard to production meeting. I think I also picked up a
slight trace of the creeping crud, which I'm trying to fight, but with the
hectic schedule, that's hard.

I've now seen the completed CGI EFX from "Midnight," which has some
considerable space fight stuff, and it's simply the most amazing thing I've
ever seen done for television. Ron has so far exceeded what's in the pilot
that I can't even begin to describe it to you.

Late next week we begin shooting "And the Sky Full of Stars," which is
going to be a VERY surreal, unusual episode, not just story wise, but from a
directorial standpoint as well. Very stylistic. (Janet Greek, of Northern
Exposure, is directing.) It's really one of those "kick over the table"
episodes.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 2
Message 378 Thu Sep 09, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:35 EDT

BTW, apparently there's some silly fannish thing going on...someone
called someone I know and said that there's a bunch of people getting together
so that "when Babylon 5 fails miserably, as we all know it will, and Harlan
Ellison quits, we'll all send him telegrams saying 'You knew the job was
dangerous when you took it.'"

I look forward to disappointing them *terribly*.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 2
Message 387 Fri Sep 10, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:31 EDT

I always kinda figured that the shows would be synopsized *when they get
aired* in this kind of detail, not this far in advance.

Re: the pickup on the series, it's definitely 22 episodes.

Today David Gerrold came by the set to watch some of the shooting o9n
(on) his episode, "Believers." Unlike many shows, which basically throw the
writer off the set, our writers are welcome to hang around. It's not only
okay, it's *expected* that the writer will be there at some point, to be a
part of the process. David was quite ebullient about the whole thing; he
thinks that this is the best script he's ever written, and it's being filmed
exactly as he'd hoped, if not better. So there he was, getting autographs,
muttering something about somebody named "Hugo...."

What was interesting was one comment he made, which echoed almost
verbatim something D.C. Fontana said when she came by the stage: that the
atmosphere on set, with the crew, the cast, the production people is exactly
the same as it was on the first season of the original Star Trek.

We continue to chug along....

jms

(P.S. The clips that Larry's bringing to CopperCon include the montage,
and the same segments from "Midnight on the Firing Line," with one difference:
the clips shown at WorldCon were missing about 40% of the CGI shots. This
version lacks only one or two shots, and there's some very cool new stuff in
there.)
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Category 18, Topic 2
Message 399 Fri Sep 10, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 23:55 EDT

Agreed; I wouldn't expect to see anything significant in TV Guide for a
while yet; better that way, so it won't get lost in the fall preview.

Re: the pilot...I've hashed and rehashed this, and the bottom line is to
see what we do in the series and judge the series by the series. The DS9
pilot had to explain very little that wasn't specific to the plotline: you
already knew what a bajorran was, what a wormhole was, what the Federation
was, what the cardassians were, on and on and on. Because they didn't have to
introduce any of that, they could spend time on other character moments.

We didn't have that luxury in the pilot. We had to do what, in essence,
ST has done over 25 years: establish our universe, painting it in broad
strokes, as broad're done with that aspect. And now we can do our character-
based stories. Which is exactly what we're doing.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 2
Message 404 Sat Sep 11, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:27 EDT

Better now, having gotten a little sleep (albeit in the office, at
lunch). As for some people gleefully hoping for failure...I think in part
it's the Titanic syndrome of people loving big disasters. Also, if you look
at most SF shows produced in the U.S., there haven't been that many long-lived
success stories. And a LOT of bombs. So it comes down to a conditioned
reflex: it won't last, or it'll be a bomb, or both. They just naturally
assume this will be the case.

Having now seen final cuts on a number of episodes, I look forward to
disappointing them.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 2
Message 406 Sat Sep 11, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:50 EDT

Sorry, I keep missing it...correct, I don't yet know what the final
airdate/schedule is going to be. I'll probably know closer to December or
November.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 2
Message 412 Sat Sep 11, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 21:53 EDT

Rich...ah, there you are. Wondered when you'd show up.

Here's one of those interesting little things that happen sometimes
during production. We're shooting "Believers," David Gerrold's story. Now,
when we break for lunch, we all eat together -- crew, cast, writers,
producers, everybody -- in this little area behind the stage. I try to
encourage everybody to stick around for lunch rather than split so that we can
maintain that sense of being a real unit.

Anyway, I'm sitting across from someone I've seen on set a few times,
who's apparently the teacher for a young actor we're using (Jonathon Kaplan)
in "Believers." I don't make a big deal out of my position on the show, dress
like everybody else, so the guy sitting across from me at the table asks, "So,
who do you play in this?"

Unable to resist the temptation, I say, "I play the executive producer."

The fellow on the other side of the table was Rich, who has now seen
behind the scenes of one of our episodes...what I think will be a very
powerful and moving episode. So Rich, you're welcome to post your thoughts on
the week...with a few caveats: the location is secret, for obvious reasons,
and obviously the story is classified.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 2
Message 416 Sun Sep 12, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:35 EDT

Katherine: do tell more. How did the presentation go? How did the
audience react? Details, woman, details!

jms
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Category 18, Topic 2
Message 423 Sun Sep 12, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 05:42 EDT

Well, that's about 8 things Larry said that he shouldn't have said.

I'll definitely be waiting outside his door with a ball-bat upon his
arrival back in Los Angeles....

jms
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Category 18, Topic 2
Message 424 Sun Sep 12, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 05:49 EDT

Well, that's now also several not entirely correct things. (Larry should
come to more story meetings.)

The deal with Stewart isn't about money. That part of the deal was fine.
The problem is that he also a) wants to do an album or two, and b) wants to do
some touring, which means he can't take a long-term assignment, which a
sereis represents. If we wanted to pay what an album and tour would bring,
that's possible, but no show can afford that.

I hope to have an announcement on this later this week. It's pretty much
nailed down now, but (unlike certain story editors I could name) I tend to
wait until things are official before talking about them. Suffice to say,
it's someone whose name you may recognize from a rock and roll background.

The "Demon" story is on the schedule. I don't know what Larry was
talking about in that regard, unless he was dealing with the question of
Harlan's health.

We will reveal what Kosh is a LOT sooner than year 5. Closer to the end
of year 2.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 2
Message 429 Sun Sep 12, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 16:55 EDT

Re: Abbott...I suspect Larry was pulling your collective legs.

This is why we don't let Larry out of his cage very often.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 2
Message 435 Sun Sep 12, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 19:14 EDT

Brett: this isn't a case of jack-of-all-trades. Garibaldi *has* to be a
qualified fighter pilot as head of security of a *space station* where
problems can come up in the space surrounding the station. Also, as mentioned
here before (I think) and certainly in one of our scripts, during the period
between Garibaldi's last security job, and now, when eh (he) couldn't get a
job as security chief, he was a pilot, running transport shuttles on a couple
of ice mining operations. (It was not a good period for him.) Nothing is
done arbitrarily with these characters. All three of our main EA characters -
- Sinclair, Garibaldi and Ivanova -- are qualified fighter and transport
pilots. Having Talia suddenly going off in one of these would be absolutely
wrong, and a case of what you describe.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 2
Message 439 Sun Sep 12, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 20:07 EDT

Actually, that was another error on Larry's part. We'd gone after
McGoohan for the role of Knight One in "And the Sky Full of Stars," after we
had to reschedule Walter. He read the script, loved the script, and wanted to
do the episode. (Which is *very* hard, he's very choosy about what scripts he
does, and we were delighted.) Alas, we learned that at the time we would be
shooting, he was slated to be out of the country on a gig that couldn't be
changed. So that, as they say, is that.

At this point, we've signed Christopher Neame for that role, with Judson
Scott as the other Knight character in the episode.

(Btw, at this point, McGoohan's main work is as a director on the Columbo
movies.)

jms
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Category 18, Topic 2
Message 444 Mon Sep 13, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:49 EDT

Quick sketch of Ivanova: Russian, pessimistic, wry, very sharp. She
isn't in "Believers" because there was a one-week overlap with a prior
committment on a film project, which we accommodated.

jms
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Category 18, Topic 2
Message 464 Tue Sep 14, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:09 EDT

Brett: the fighter craft release mechanism does use the rotational
gravity aspect to shoot the fighters away from the station, yes. In a really
neato looking fashion.

Re: fighters...it would make sense that any command personnel in a
situation like this would be thoroughly checked out and qualified to fly *the
fighters which the ship carries*. So even if they flew other kinds of
fighters, logically they would be trained on these as well prior to
assignment. (Though for most purposes, the EA fighters are all very similar
in most respects.)

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 2
Message 476 Wed Sep 15, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:17 EDT

Of course, these aren't shuttle mission specialists.

Carlos: it's hard to get McGoohan. The script has to be just *so*.
"Sky" was that way, probably one of the most unusual scripts I've ever
written, and one I knew would get him. Later...we'll see. But we'll
definitely keep trying.

Re: the end of the 5th year...I've noted before that there is a thread
raised during the B5 run that could be extended into its own series. But it
wouldn't be B5. The story of Babylon 5 ends at the end of the fifth year,
regardless.

BTW, since as mentioned Stewart Copeland is going to be off touring and
doing an album and other stuff, we've had to lock down someone else as our
resident composer. Someone suggested here numerous times has now been
confirmed: Christopher Franke, of Tangerine Dream, who has done the
soundtracks for such projects as Thief, Angel Falls, Universal Soldier,
Tommyknockers and others. In addition to being a solid percussion man and a
great musician, he's a real techie, up on the latest technologies involving
music and sound, and will be able to give B5 a VERY unique sound.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 2
Message 480 Wed Sep 15, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:43 EDT

What Ron points out is something that I very much want from the B5
series: to start arguments (or at least discussions).

It's the difference between an episode with a Moral at the end that says
"We're all people and we should get along better and play nice," and is gone a
moment later...or something that provokes a real discussion marked primarily
by greys. (And if someone hasn't figured out the prior moral by now, a quick
TV show ain't gonna do it.) The two sides to the question Ron raises are both
right, both correct. At least in their own minds, and one can make a case
that they're right on a much larger scale.
It's all dependent upon what actually happens to the soul...and on THAT one
you can weigh in on all kinds of sides.

Many of our stories are like that. We raise an issue within a dramatic
context, and we deal with that dramatic context. There isn't a loose thread
hanging. But we open some questions that can be, and we hope will be
continued after the show is over. David Gerrold's "Believers" definitely
falls in this category.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 2
Message 493 Thu Sep 16, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:40 EDT

In no particular order:

Who's right, the soul hunter or the minbari? Yes.

It was the discussion early on here about composers, in which Chris
Franke's name was mentioned, that bumped him to the top of our list and helped
motivate us to take a look. One more way the interaction has been positive.

And yes, he will be doing the entire season. And composing a new B5
theme. (I keep suggesting something along the lines of "Bali High" from
"South Pacific." They keep hitting me with week old halibut. "Babylonnnnnnn
FiiiiiiIIIIve.....")

January 24, eh? Good. Glad to hear it. (Producers are always the last
to know.)

Finally...yes, there are leftover clothes. Why not? There are in real
life. What you'll often see Sinclair wearing, when he's off duty in his
quarters, is an old scruffy sweatshirt/sweater from the EA flight school.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 2
Message 516 Sat Sep 18, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:18 EDT

Rich, you worked with Meatloaf, eh? Cool. I've always enjoyed his work,
on camera and on records, and am only dismayed that there's so little of it
generally available. (I found more of it in London than I've seen here in the
states.) His songs have a very sharp wit to them that's lacking in a lot of
other stuff. ("I want you...I need you...but there ain't no way I'm ever
gonna love you...But don't feel sad...'cause two out of three ain't bad.")

I have very weird, very eccentric and eclectic tastes in music. In
addition to Meatloaf, I'm big on Leon Redbone, Indigo Girls, Enya, I'm
starting to like Digable Planets...classical, jazz, big band, hard rock,
celtic, blues, just about anything *except* country, which I couldn't warm up
to even if I were cremated in a crate of Garth Brooks albums.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 2
Message 546 Wed Sep 22, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:42 EDT

One thing about having a career that's as eclectic as mine has been --
dark fantasy/horror novels to mystery series to SF stories to comedy -- is
that you learn a lot of techniques that you don't normally encounter. So
yes, I definitely carried over a few lessons I learned from that experience.
My theory is that if you're doing any sort of mystery for TV, once the full
story is laid out, you should be able to go back and watch the show again, and
suddenly all the pieces lay out, they make sense. The trick is to get the
viewer to interpret the clues one way, then tilt the mirror slightly to show
what they *really* mean.

In the series, G'Kar won't be hitting on the station's resident telepath,
but he will try a few more times via other means to get his hands on a
telepath.

We're going to be doing a lot on the Psi Corps toward the middle of the
series, btw. There's quite a bit in D.C. Fontana's new story, "Legacies," and
in a script I just finished, "Mind War." The more I play around with the
notion of legalized, licensed telepaths, the more room there is for all kinds
of intrigue.

Today, incidentally, I finished the outline for "Chrysalis," which will
be the last episode of this season, though we'll be shooting it much earlier,
about 2/3rds through the run. It's a real corker in which we absolutely kick
over the table and all hell breaks loose *bigtime*. This one I'm *really*
looking forward to writing.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 2
Message 547 Wed Sep 22, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:52 EDT

Crossed with Brett. Yes, there's a reason. There are always reasons for
what I write, and I try to make them good ones. In the case of "Soul Hunter,"
there's a First Contact protocol at work here, and for something like that
Sinclair moves in. (He also loves flying these things, and will seize on any
opporunity to get in one.) He also takes off in "Midnight," but again there's
a specific reason that he has to be there rather than someone else.
Otherwise, it's someone else who goes. (In "Midnight," when there's word of
another kind of problem, which may affect station security, it's Garibaldi who
goes out.)

We will also, from time to time, put Ivanova in the cockpit as head of a
fighter wing. They're all qualified.

Glad you liked the CGI. We are, as you note, working *very* hard to get
the science right...and discovering that what I assumed from the start is
correct: that if you take the time to do it accurately, it doesn't limit your
possibilities, it gives you MORE possibilities, and it looks better.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 2
Message 556 Thu Sep 23, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:52 EDT

We're doing some stuff with newscasts, but it's more directly related to
each show than connective material.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 2
Message 563 Fri Sep 24, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:45 EDT

The various characters take their own stands,which vary. Franklin only
considers the possibility of cloning someone's personality matrix, for
instance. And again, it depends on how you *define* soul. The Soul Hunter
defines it not as something supernatural, but as the collection of thoughts,
personality, feelings and the very essence of the person that dies with the
body. That definition is broad enough to encompass just about anything. Then
you get into the more specific ideas of what a soul is.

One person at a post production house we've used has indicated that he
has "theological problems" with working on that episode; not because it's
*against* what he believes -- he's worked on horror movies and stuff with
devils and the like -- but because it takes a point of view he doesn't much
like...in that he has to sit and defend the whole *context* of his
ideas...meaning, it's making him think. He can just poo-poo the stuff against
what he believes, support what he does believe in...but he isn't quite sure
where this show comes down, or where it makes *him* come down. I've had any
number of problems with people on a show before, but this is the first time
I've run into a theological problem.

jms
------------
************
Topic 3 Tue Nov 03, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:09 EST
Sub: Babylon 5 - Computer SFX Tech-Talk

Some of the new computer EFX used in BABYLON 5 will be revolutionary, a new
approach never seen before on this scale. It's all new tech, and this topic
will try and address the new technologies involved.
430 message(s) total.
************
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Category 18, Topic 3
Message 366 Thu Sep 09, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:45 EDT

No progress. We'll see what happens.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 3
Message 370 Sun Sep 12, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 16:59 EDT

If you liked that sequence, wait until you see what comes up later in
that episode...imagine 9 B5 fighters vs. about a dozen raider ships, all in
pure x-y-z axis movement, in accurate flight patterns for a zero gravity/zero
atmosphere environment. It's dizzying to watch, but very cool. Absolutely
unlike anything ever done for television before.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 3
Message 374 Sun Sep 12, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 20:11 EDT

The fighters are built on a cross-wing structure (four wings), but very
different from either X-wing or tie fighters. The four wings have fore, aft,
top, bottom and side thrusters, so that they can move in any direction...they
can fly left to right, turn backwards, and continue to fly left to right,
flying backwards, and thus fire right to left. They're perfectly designed for
zero-g environments.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 3
Message 382 Tue Sep 14, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:11 EDT

What's also funny is that in the scripts, the hologram in the tube is
referred to as "Mentor." Anyone out there who remembers CP might get a kick
out of that one....

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 3
Message 403 Sat Sep 18, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:21 EDT

There's one new thing you'll be seeing in the B5 series that you didn't
see much in the pilot, and that's compositing digital CGI with live action.
There was the observation dome shot in the pilot, where you push in and see
the Lt. Cmdr, but that was about it. We're doing a lot more in the series,
and some of it looks absolutely *stunning*.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 3
Message 406 Sun Sep 19, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:43 EDT

Brett: some surprises I don't want to spoil.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 3
Message 409 Sun Sep 19, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 23:09 EDT

They can put out pretty much the same amount of thrust in any direction.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 3
Message 411 Mon Sep 20, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:00 EDT

Yes and no and sometimes...all I can say is that there's a Black Project
hidden somewhere in this conversation, and Ron will skin me alive if I so much
as *hint* to what it is, so don't even ask.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 3
Message 414 Tue Sep 21, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:34 EDT

Boy, you go nuts trying to do good EFX, and then people get worried about
"effects for effects sake." (Said complaint on my end being only half
hearted, and with some humor.) (I'm sorry, but I'm constitutionally incapable
of doing those little smiley glyphs.)

Trust me, the story *always* comes first. The EFX are always and only in
the service of the story.

Yes, the ship was a soul hunter vessel (damaged), and the pilot was
Sinclair. About the starfield...the funny thing is, the other day I was
watching CNN and they showed a starfield shot from aboard the shuttle, looking
out at only what the eye can see. And y'know what? It looked EXACTLY like
the line-of-sight rendering Ron did for our starfield, and what it looksout
the observation dome window.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 3
Message 417 Tue Sep 21, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:09 EDT

Ah, yes, if that says creative arts, then yes, it's probably the same
thing.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 3
Message 426 Thu Sep 23, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 15:48 EDT

They were teensy, weensy examples of compositing. Now...pfffft.

jms
------------
************
Topic 12 Wed Nov 18, 1992
B.WIST [Brad] at 18:12 EST
Sub: Babylon 5 Sightings

Post here when you've spotted Babylon 5, whether it be on Television,
Magazine, or somewhere else. Let us know where we can find it/see it, too.
352 message(s) total.
************
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Category 18, Topic 12
Message 348 Sun Sep 19, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 21:34 EDT

It probably won't be, unless it's quickly referenced in the quick
overview of last night's awards. (Apparently the E! broadcast of the
technical awards is slated for 4:00 p.m. Monday here on the West Coast, so
that means it'll either be on at 1 or 4 on the East Coast. FYI, the award to
Ron went out very early on; it was the second category, and he was the third
up in that category. So figure about 20 minutes in. It would've been faster,
except the DS9 crew didn't pay attention to the request to appoint one
spokesperson, and everybody on the stage took their turn. Natch, Ron and the
rest abided by the rules.)

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 12
Message 351 Mon Sep 20, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:52 EDT

We'll see where it ends up next year. After Ron picked up the Emmy and
returned to the table, amidst much oohing and aahing of the prize, he leaned
over to me and quoted an old English saying: "Start the way you mean to carry
on." We'd gotten one; now we have to carry on at the same level.

I've seen Ron's surprises for the series, and I can virtually guarantee
that he'll pick up another nomination next year, and very likely the Emmy as
well. I'd be very much surprised if we didn't get nominations in costuming,
makeup, art direction and cinematography (especially for "And the Sky Full of
Stars," which is just remarkable looking on every level). Series, writing,
acting, directing...nobody bets on those unless he wants to look like a fool.
I have hopes, but we'll see.

jms
------------
************
Topic 13 Mon Nov 23, 1992
T.ORTH [Mr. Rico] at 21:00 EST
Sub: Babylon 5 - Science & Technology

Jump gates, nanotech, high-tech weapons, starship drives, sound in space, and
other subjects of science and technology in Babylon 5.
390 message(s) total.
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Category 18, Topic 13
Message 349 Sun Sep 12, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 22:26 EDT

In the teaser scene you refer to in "Midnight," you've got a couple dozen
fighters coming in alongside about 3-4 motherships (or capital ships, either
term will suffice). We've always said that big ships can punch through and
form their own jump points. That's how the jump gates get there in the first
place: a big ship comes through, on its own, and leaves behind a jump gate.
There's no contradiction. One (or more) of the big ships was creating the
point of entry as it went.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 13
Message 355 Wed Sep 15, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:44 EDT

Both...but more energy-hungry than anything else.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 13
Message 358 Thu Sep 16, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:42 EDT

It costs a pretty fair amount. Which is one of the concepts behind the
Lurkers on B5. Folks who save their earnings for years to come to B5 in
search of new lives...new opportunities...and when they don't find the dream
(and not everyone does), they've expended their funds, and don't have the
money for a ticket back. So they basically work their way down into
DownBelow, sort of the homeless area. Space travel costs MONEY.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 13
Message 369 Wed Sep 22, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:46 EDT

Okay, let me throw the question back at you: what DO you do about it?
Shipping them off somewhere costs a LOT of money. Does the station pay for
that? Do Earth voters object to paying for free tickets for lurkers? Do you
shove them out the airlock and casually murder the whole lot of them? Do you
dragoon them into a slave labor deal to pay off their debts or buy their way
off the station? Do you isolate them and keep them as much to themselves as
you can, and hope they eventually find gigs or move on? It's a moral dilemma
based on technologies and limited budgets and resources.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 13
Message 376 Thu Sep 23, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 21:49 EDT

Of course, your solution omits two factors: 1) not all lurkers are human,
and 2) not all human lurkers are from Earth. Do you pay to send hundreds of
people or more back, one at a time, on various high-priced transports which
are already backed up on reservations, to a dozen or more different
worlds...some of which may not WANT them back? Do you divert limited B5
resources to track each lurker, find out his/her/its homeworld, make
arrangements with people who may not WANT to make arrangements (at home, and
the people lurking)...the paperwork and details would be simply immense.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 13
Message 385 Sat Sep 25, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:15 EDT

Scenario Number One: sending the Lurkers back to Earth. Comes a call
from Earth Central: "Hell, no, you're NOT shipping them back here, we're
overcrowded enough as it is, we will NOT give you permission to send them back
here."

Scenario Number Two: turning them over to their representatives on B5.
G'Kar: "Thank you very much for bringing this to my attention, Commander, I'll
have him sent back at once." Beat. The commander leaves.

G'Kar: "Get OUT of here and don't come back! I don't have time to deal
with the likes of you, we're NOT paying to send you back to Homeworld, just
get out!"

jms
------------
************
Topic 15 Thu Dec 31, 1992
J.ROY18 [Jonathan] at 21:29 EST
Sub: Babylon 5 - Alien Races

Aliens races in Babylon 5... their politics, abilties, technology, history,
and any other discussion specificly about non-humans.

398 message(s) total.
************
------------
Category 18, Topic 15
Message 346 Tue Aug 31, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:13 EDT

I believe n'grath qualifies for a non-humanoid lifeform with an
exoskeleton of sorts....

jms
------------
************
Topic 17 Tue Jan 19, 1993
C.STOBBE [Colin] at 21:02 EST
Sub: Babylon 5 - Merchandising

A place to discuss all the neat Babylon 5 merchandising coming out (hopefully)
soon
373 message(s) total.
************
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Category 18, Topic 17
Message 370 Fri Sep 10, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:33 EDT

There won't be any major merchandising stuff until about the time the
series hits air.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 17
Message 373 Sat Sep 11, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 21:54 EDT

No firm info on this yet.

jms
------------
************
Topic 21 Wed Feb 10, 1993
SF-MARSHALL [Dave ] at 17:32 EST
Sub: "The Gathering" - B5 pilot movie

BABYLON 5 premieres with "The Gathering," a 2-hour made-for-tv movie written
by series creator J. Michael Straczynski. Come, join the discussion of this
pilot!

490 message(s) total.
************
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Category 18, Topic 21
Message 407 Wed Sep 01, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 23:46 EDT

My favorite shot so far is the new shot of the Starliner Asimov parked
next to Babylon 5 and sending over a shuttle....

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 21
Message 417 Fri Sep 03, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:08 EDT

Farming out ship design makes for massive legal headaches, in that B5 has
to own what it shows, and the multiple contracts and legalities and payment
disbursements and all the rest add up to far more trouble than it is worth.

Yes, someone said fighter.

Re: the future of CGI...I'm *fairly* sure that the Emmy for B5's EFX is
the first time one has been given for CGI. That by itself is a very strong
validation of CGI within the industry. It's definitely here to stay.

We couldn't show the Starliner Asimov to Isaac because we named it after
him following his passing. Seemed an appropriate nod in that direction, given
his body of work.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 21
Message 450 Fri Sep 10, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:35 EDT

We've made some minor modifications to the jumpgate effect, in the
texture and color of the warp EFX. It looks a little less computer-y, and
some science guys suggested that there should be red-shift built into the
thing. So now when objects come *out* of hyperspace, and we're looking into
the jumpgate, the warp effect is blue; when you enter the jumpgate, it shifts
toward orange/red.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 21
Message 483 Sat Sep 18, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:25 EDT

The newscast was about a crashed starship and the controversy over the
Pinto Personal Cruiser's tendency to blow up on impact....

jms
------------
************
Topic 23 Fri Feb 12, 1993
V.VAIDY1 [Vijay] at 23:00 EST
Sub: "OtherWorks" by JMS

Before there was "B5" and when "JMS" was just another Plain Joe, there was
OtherSyde
[A discussion of the other works of J. Michael Straczynski]
137 message(s) total.
************
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Category 18, Topic 23
Message 119 Thu Sep 02, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:39 EDT

I confess, I slipped in a "Babylon 5" reference in that episode of CP.
Which was 1986/87. I do that sometimes....

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 23
Message 121 Fri Sep 03, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:09 EDT

The Babylon 5 Genetic Engineering colony.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 23
Message 125 Sat Sep 11, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 21:57 EDT

You watched B5 from a *motel room*? How the hell did THAT happen?

I should probably make up a credits list one of these days, it just seems
so tedious, and I dunno, uninteresting to anyone, from my POV. If there's
really a demand for this, I'll do it, but to recite one's credits ad
infinitum....I dunno. I'll leave it to your preference.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 23
Message 127 Sun Sep 12, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:44 EDT

Okay, because they've been requested (I got another couple of
notes in email asking for this), here's a quick rundown on my prior
work. This isn't everything...this is about half of the body of
work...but this is probably the more interesting stuff.

...BOOKS

THE COMPLETE BOOK OF SCRIPTWRITING, Writer's Digest Books (now out
of print, mainly because I'm about 2 years behind delivering the
new edition, THE (EVEN MORE!) COMPLETE BOOK OF SCRIPTWRITING.

DEMON NIGHT, horror/dark fantasy novel, hardcover, E. P. Dutton.
Nominated for Bram Stoker Award, Horror Writers of America.

OTHERSYDE, dark fantasy novel, hardcover, Dutton.

TALES FROM THE NEW TWILIGHT ZONE, softcover, anthology of my
adaptation of my TZ3 episodes. Bantam.

...SHORT STORIES

"Your Move," Amazing Stories Magazine.
"A Last Testament for Nick and the Trooper" Shadows 6 anthology.
"Say Hello, Mister Quigley," Pulphouse Magazine, and the Midnight
Grafitti anthology.
(There are others, but those are the good ones.)

...ARTICLES/JOURNALISM

500+ published articles -- ranging from feature articles, to reviews,
investigative articles and others -- appearing in PENTHOUSE, VIDEO
REVIEW, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES (for which I was a regular Special
Correspondent), THE LOS ANGELES HERALD EXAMINER (ditto), TIME, INC.
(where I was on staff at various points), SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE, THE
SAN DIEGO and LOS ANGELES READER(s), WRITER'S DIGEST (10 years worth
of columns and articles as a Contributing Editor), and others that
I've forgotten and am too lazy to dig out.

...RADIO

On-air reviewer and entertainment editor for KSDO Newsradio, San
Diego, for about 2-3 years.

Host, HOUR 25, a weekly SF talk show in L.A. for 5 years.

Radio drama writer for ALIEN WORLDS, MUTUAL RADIO THEATER, and
writer/producer/director on other radiodrama projects.

...THEATER

A dozen produced plays, including "The Apprenticeship," a full-
length play which played at the Marquis Public Theater in San
Diego for 20 weeks. Includes many one-act plays. One play
published in book form by Baker's Plays. (No, I'm not telling
you what it is.)

...COMICS

Wrote issue of TEEN TITANS SPOTLIGHT: Two Face vs. Cyborg, "Face
to Face Two Face."

Wrote issue of STAR TREK comic for DC: "Worldsinger." (Cover of
"Worldsinger" is now Star Trek trading card.)

Wrote issue of NOW's TWILIGHT ZONE comic, "Blind Alley."

...TELEVISION

Animation:

Writer/story editor, Filmation Studios, HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF
THE UNIVERSE, then subsequently, SHE-RA. Wrote about 20-25 episodes.

Writer, JAYCE AND THE WHEELED WARRIORS, about 11-12 episodes.

Writer/story editor, THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS, writing about 15-20
episodes or more. (I actually have no idea how many, really.)

Live Action:

Story editor, CAPTAIN POWER, writing or co-writing about 16 episodes.
Nominated for a Gemini Award for Best Writing in a Dramatic Series
(the Gemini is Canada's version of the Emmy).

Story editor, THE TWILIGHT ZONE, writing about 12 episodes. (1 for
the network Zone, 11 for the syndicated Zone.)

Writer, NIGHTMARE CLASSICS: THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR.
HYDE, for Showtime. Nominated for Writers Guild and Ace Awards.

Story Editor, JAKE AND THE FATMAN, writing 4-5 episodes and one
TV movie.

Co-producer/Producer, MURDER, SHE WROTE, writing about 9 episodes.

Supervising Producer, WALKER, TEXAS RANGER, writing 1 episode.

UNPRODUCED CREDITS:

Developed (with Larry DiTillio) ELFQUEST animated series for CBS.
Wrote MR. FREEZE, SF/comedy motion picture for Ivan Reitman.
Wrote 4-hour "V" miniseries, "V: The Next Chapter" for Warners.
Wrote series development on a dozen different projects.
Wrote other feature film screenplays for DIC and London Films.

Anyway, those are the highlights. I've left out a lot of stuff, and
subsets of stuff (like the prime-time TRGB's special, for which I cowrote
a couple of songs with Brian O'Neal of the Busboys, and other song
related stuff...I've had about half a dozen songs get out there, plus one
on record), but those are the main items.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 23
Message 131 Sun Sep 12, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 17:07 EDT

Not at this time, no. It was a very nifty idea, but it's taken so long
to get off the ground that in the interim, somebody ate our lunch. A similar-
concept movie is now in production. (Here's a difference when it comes to
this particular problem. The other studio developing this other movie had no
access to our material, which was developed quietly in house with Ivan. It's
a pure example of simultaneous creation. From time to time, these things
happen.)

Anyway, the concept was this: a present-day cop is accidentally quick
frozen in a cryogenics lab during a shoot out. He remains in suspended
animation for a hundred years and change. He's revived in a world in which
crime is virtually non-existent, because it's been programmed out of people
through genetic alterations and early conditioning. There's still a police
force, of sorts, but mainly serve tickets for safety violations and other non-
criminal offenses.

Just one problem: along comes one man on whom the programming has
glitched, failed. And he's been committing murders. They've hushed it up,
but gradually our character finds out, and goes after the guy, who is totally
deranged, sees it as his mission to keep the darkness alive. He commits his
murders in the same style as the famous murderers of the past (a la Jack the
Ripper, for instance). It comes down to a face-off between these two
characters.

It had a dramatic through-line, but a lot of humor as well, as the cop
tries to fit into this new world.

jms
------------
************
Topic 24 Fri Jun 04, 1993
J.ROY18 [Jonathan] at 21:11 EDT
Sub: Babylon 5 - Weapons and Warfare!

For discussion about the weapons, counter weapons, armor, shielding, tactics,
logistics, and so forth, of small combat and large scale war in the Babylon 5
universe.
262 message(s) total.
************
------------
Category 18, Topic 24
Message 229 Sun Sep 12, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 22:28 EDT

Don King's hair?

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 24
Message 239 Sun Sep 19, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 23:13 EDT

One idea for weaponry that we've temporarily shelved, but which we may
revive at some point, was using a kind of projectile weapon, which would
function more or less as follows: you throw up a line of shrapnel type devices
in the way of a ship before it can veer away (or surround it with same). It's
a veritable cloud of small debris, and when the ship hits it, the shrapnel
basically shreds the ship, rips the skin right off it. Some early tests look
pretty gruesome, so we're looking at some alternate avenues, or modifications.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 24
Message 243 Mon Sep 20, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:01 EDT

Brutal is another good word.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 24
Message 247 Thu Sep 23, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:49 EDT

The EA fighters get generally what any ship gets: serial numbers, the
colors or signature of its "flag," and so on. And yes, the pilot is in a more
or less standing position, though inside a chair that supports comfortably.
If you're going to be flying forward at that kind of speed, it seemed to us
that a standing mode was better for blood circulation and response than
sitting.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 24
Message 250 Thu Sep 23, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:55 EDT

There's variance in the fighters. What you saw was a general fighter
Sinclair grabbed. The actual fighter wings ARE personalized with -- for lack
of a better term -- nose art, a la WW II bombers. Some are abstract,
Sinclair's being tiger-stripes, basically, while others are more realistic,
with very elaborate paintings.

And there is some recline built into the seats, so they can be
comfortable (after all, we have to have actors in these things for hours at a
time, so they'd better be comfortable).

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 24
Message 252 Thu Sep 23, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 15:49 EDT

We built a full-size cockpit, inside and out. The rest is CGI.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 24
Message 255 Fri Sep 24, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:37 EDT

There's a line of sight display in front, joystick and foot controls, and
voice control of the ship's computerized navigation and firing controls as
well.

jms
------------
************
Topic 25 Fri Mar 12, 1993
S.SHELLENBAR [>> SHANE <<] at 08:47 EST
Sub: J. Michael Straczynski Speaks in Public

This is the place to find out where and when JMS will be appearing next. JMS
has honed his skills as a public speaker and is taking his act on the road.
311 message(s) total.
************
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Category 18, Topic 25
Message 260 Wed Sep 01, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:04 EDT

Yes, Friday and 2, and Saturday there's a follow-up presentation at 4.
One note, btw: Harlan will be at the con, and will be at the Saturday
presentation.

If you live in San Francisco, or are planning to be at the con as of
tomorrow, Wednesday, read on:

Harlan needs someone to wear a sandwich board announcing the signing
session for the limited edition of "Mefisto in Onyx." Apparently the ad
didn't make it into the program book. By way of repayment (other than simply
being part of an Ellison Event, and getting to hang with Mr. E. a bit),
there's some cash involved, and a free, autographed and personalized copy of
the "MiO" book. If you're interested, drop me a note in private mail.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 25
Message 284 Sat Sep 11, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 21:59 EDT

I'd rather not, frankly. I'm quite happy with television for B5.

I'm being very careful not to let B5 turn into a *franchise*. It's a
story, created in X-parts, for television. This thing will turn into an
industry over my dead body. The most that the framework will permit is a 2-
hour TV movie that caps year 5. That's it.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 25
Message 286 Sun Sep 12, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 05:42 EDT

Only at LosCon, which is in November, though thus far I haven't been
asked.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 25
Message 293 Tue Sep 14, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:23 EDT

For me, merchandising is one of those aftershocks of the creative
process, sort of an, "Oh, yeah, there's *that* part over there, too." I'm not
disdainful of it, it's just not something that I think about a lot, because
first and foremost it's a *distraction*. You start thinking about the
*P*R*O*D*U*C*T* and not about the story. Then you start bending the story to
work in the product.

And that's something I've fought against as long as I've *been* in TV.
When I was at Filmation, I fought tooth and nail against *any* interference in
content from the sponsor, Mattel. Especially when they started forcing in
characters simply so they could market them. That was the reason I resigned
from Captain Power after the first season; my sense was that too much
attention was being given to the merchandise aspect of the show, to the
detriment of the series.

If a deal is set, I want to be part of the process afterward to insure
the quality of the product, so it won't be a slapdash or cheap thing. And it
should be representative of the spirit of the show. But that, for me, is
about it.

Re: Sci-Fi Buzz...haven't spoken with them about any more pieces, but I
imagine there will be, closer to airdate. Trust me, as this thing cranks
closer to airdate, there will be plenty of coverage. I suspect that we will
*both* be absolutely sick to death of ads and coverage by the time this hits
air. Because we're pretty much tuned into it already; it's the remaining
portion of the population we also have to reach.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 25
Message 310 Sun Sep 26, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:24 EDT

BTW, those Hour 25 posters, of which there are only a limited number
left, are in a sense the first (and possibly most interesting) collectible for
B5 afficianados. The poster is of the logo for Hour 25, a radio show hosted
by Harlan, and then me. It was on H25 that the first mention was made of B5;
also, the poster was designed by Peter Ledger, who did the art for B5 that
helped get the project sold; and it's autographed by Peter, me, Harlan Ellison
(conceptual consultant) and Larry Ditillio (our S.E.). And of course it's set
in space.

jms
------------
************
Topic 26 Sun Jun 06, 1993
G.PLANA [Gary] at 01:51 EDT
Sub: Babylon 5 - Episode titles and info

This topic is for information about individual episodes -- their titles,
writers, and any other information JMS may leak!
101 message(s) total.
************
------------
Category 18, Topic 26
Message 89 Fri Sep 10, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:39 EDT

The name of the character is Maya Hernandez. The actor's name I'll post
after I can get the cast sheet from the office so I spell it correctly.

Catherine Sakai, played by Julie Nickson-Soul, will first appear in "The
Parliament of Dreams," which will be *around* episode 7.

There will be some time between episodes in the B5 universe; in some
cases it's about a week, in some cases much longer, as long as we end up
covering roughly a year.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 26
Message 93 Sun Sep 12, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 17:10 EDT

I don't think I said much of anything I wouldn't want to see repeated
(unlike Larry). And Harlan's first script is "Midnight in the Sunken
Cathedral," not chapel. I would of course urge no spoilers be placed in
public view. Let's have some measure of surprise when the show finally does
hit.

jms
------------
Category 18, Topic 26
Message 100 Thu Sep 16, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:44 EDT

Yes, we will.

jms
------------

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