lurkers-guide/ftp/GEnie/jms92-08

Babylon 5 posts by JMS for August, 1992

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

Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 511       Sat Aug 01, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:22 EDT

     Will try to get a revised list posted here ASAP.  And yes, there is now a
new name for the Consortium of stations, as noted in a few of the trades; it's
being called the Primetime Network.

     As for the dialogue...I come from a different place on that stuff.   My
sense is that whatever one comes up with for future-dialogue that' is
noticeably different than what we speak now, it's a) invariably not what's
going to happen, and b) sometimes interferes with the drama.  On one hand are
the cyberpunk types who think we'll speak in tech-talk, and then there's
everybody else.

     We're trying to tell a story *now* to be heard by people *now*.   When
Shakespeare wrote about folks long turned to dust, he didn't change the
language, he wrote his current language...look at "The Lion in Winter," by

ago...but it works.

     At the other end of the spectrum, you've got SF movies like "Just
Imagine," made in the 30s about people in the 80s, and the way they talked,
the artificialities and stilted nature of dialogue and names, is absolutely
wrong and out-of-date for today.  Had they just written it as they would any
other movie, it would sound fresher today.

     Ten days and counting....

                                                                 jms
 ______
Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 516       Sat Aug 01, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 01:48 EDT

     I'll be at Comic Con for a couple of days; I go for the shopping....

     Don't know yet about the other cons...as for the military, we're trying
to keep it correct.  As it happens, my Spousal Overunit is a military
historian (a *major* one, able to recite considerable information about every
major battle of the Civil War and discuss strategy in the Carthaginian battle,
you name it).  She's been very detailed in nagging me to stay correct when it
comes to this stuff.

                                                            jms
 ______
Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 532       Sun Aug 02, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 02:20 EDT

     Just curious...did you see the old white station, or the new blue station
in motion?

                                                               jms
 ______
Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 544       Sun Aug 02, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 23:43 EDT

     In space there is no up and down (though I *think* the station was, from
our perspective, right-side up...haven't looked at it in a while).

     Well, as of tomorrow, Monday, we are exactly one week from filming.   Our
costume designer pointed out that making a project like this is a lot like
making Thanksgiving dinner...you set a dozen different things going at
different times, and hope they all come together at the right moment in the
right way.  So far, I think we're on track.

     Costumes are almost finished; we'll have all the command uniforms by
Tuesday or so, and the rest by week's end.  Most of the on-screen displays
you'll see live on consoles in the observation dome and suchlike are finished
(and are really amazing in their detail)...there's one shot where they do a
navigational location on Kosh's ship that's really quite lovely.

     One thing that I haven't mentioned to date is the lighting, because we
were looking at our options; everything else in the show is state of the art,
and we wanted to find something equally innovative.  It took a while, but we
found a company that does very different sorts of lighting, and will give the
show a unique look and texture in most every shot.

     Construction is finished on most of our primary sets, and now they're
being painted and dressed.  We've spent a lot of this past week going over
props...guns and glasses, displays and dice, you name it.  There are a number
of things that can actually transfer pretty well to the future without
modification, but a lot more that have to be redesigned or modified.

     Prosthetics are in place.  The full cast assembles either tomorrow or
Tuesday and we begin rehearsals.  The shots have already been blocked out by
the director, A.D. and cinematographer.  We were getting a little cramped for
space on the sets, so we've co-opted another soundstage, and now there's a
real spacious feel to some of this stuff.

     The miniature of the Garden (with its infamous Death Pizza cap) is about
finished, and most of the other physical items are done.

     I'm going through the script tonight, and tomorrow, one last time to
adjust lines, make them stronger, scratch for every possible inch of
characterization.  Then we'll lock it down Wednesday, so from that moment on,
there shouldn't be any further changes of substance.  Which is great for the
cast, since they don't have to constantly be learning new lines.

     Monday is our last major production meeting before filming starts.
After that, it's simply a matter of holding on and hoping for the best... even
under the best of conditinos, something can screw up at the lasat _ last _
moment, and I live in dread of that.  And as a writer, you can never be 100%
sure that what works on the page will work on the stage until you get there.
(Just glanced up; contitinos could be conditions four lines up.  Sorry for the
typos, long day.)

     I try to get very zen about these things.  It's like firing the arrow;
you do all you can to line it up, but once you let go of the arrow, you have
to also let go mentally.  You've done all you can, now live with it.  Our
director has indicated that he's going to spend most of the Sunday before we
begin filming sleeping...on a project of this size, that means a lot of short
night and long days, so that's important.   Me, I'll probably spend the whole
night staring up at the ceiling, eyes like poached eyes, looking like a still
from the Ren and Stimpy show or a Tex Avery cartoon.

     I'll close with a funny story told to me by one of our crew.  He was
working on a project in New York with a producer, and in the producer's office
was this elaborate grid of vertical and horizontal boxes, laid out on a large
sheet of paper.  He asked the producer what it was, but the producer only
shrugged, adding that he'd find out in time.

     About two weeks later (he *swears* to me that this is true), he was in
the other room when the producer yelled for him to get inside.  The producer
was standing at the window, which overlooked a hotel right across the street,
and was very close to this office.  Now it became clear...the paperwork grid
corresponded to the rooms in the hotel across the street.  "Three up, two
across," the producer said.  The guy checked the grid, found the room, and
looked across the streeet at the corresponding room.

     In the hotel room, a lone guy had come in, had taken off all of his
clothes, and taken a seat by the window where he was...er...wanking off.
Overlooking the street.  The producer gave it just a moment, then checked the
grid, found the room number, called the hotel's front desk, asked for room
311.  They could see the guy in the hotel room reach for the phone (with his
other hand).

     In his deepest voice, the producer said, into the phone, "THIS IS GOD!!!
CUT IT OUT!"  And hung up.

     This, apparently, was how he liked to spend his afternoons....

                                                                  jms
 ______
Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 566       Mon Aug 03, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 23:51 EDT

     Those of you into films may know the work of John Stiers, who's done most
of the physical SFX for the James Bond films, for Outland and other films.
He's an academy award winner who *never* works in television, out of choice.
Turns out, he heard of what we were doing with B5, and asked to see a copy of
the script, not believing what he'd heard, that anyone would even TRY
something like this for television.  Read the script...and he's aboard B5 in
that capacity.  Turned down a film job that would have paid 3 times as much.
At the production meeting today, he commented that he hasn't seen a group of
people, or an operation, or an attitude like this in television EVER...and
that the last time he ran into something like this in film was on the first
James Bond movie, where everyone knew they were creating something special.

     It really is astonishing, the calibre of people we're attracting, and
have attracted.  We've got academy and emmy award winners working right
alongside what are practially kids, pulling together to create something
special.

     Funny stuff, btw...over the weekend, a bunch of the guys (Ron, our
director Richard Compton, the prosthetics team, and some guys from our crew,
including UPM Bob Brown, who came to us from Lucasfilm) shot some, well, for
lack of a better term...commercials.  They'll run on monitors in some of the
corridors and business areas.  If you have a VCR and tape this show, you may
want to run it back and pay closer attention to some of what's going on in the
background.  It's *very* funny stuff, and only occasionally sick and twisted.

     (And again, that's indicative of our team...we didn't *have* to have this
sort of thing...it's a hassle, the prosthetics team out there en masse, doing
some location stuff out in the desert in 100+ degree heat, all on their own
time, giving up a weekend without pay, just to *do* it and make something
neat.  And only occasionally sick and twisted....)

     Nobody else would be crazy enough to DO this on television.  Some of the
stuff they filmed...oh, man.  Wait until you see it.

     But that, again, is part of the point...letting creative people like
these do stuff that nobody else will LET them do.  It's very nice.  And it
doesn't worry me a bit.  No, really.  Well, maybe the alien faith healer just
a *tad*...and...well, never mind.  Some things are too weird to even TRY and
describe.

     Tomorrow we start rehearsals in earnest.  I've turned in the last few
revisions for pink-pages, in some cases just changing one word on a page, if
that made it the *right* word.  And adding in one new scene.

     And for those who liked the other funny story, here's another, also true:
a prosthetics guy was running behind on another film, designing one of the
most crucial puppets of the piece.  Finally, in desperation, the producer went
down to the prosthetics guy, got right in his face, and bellowed, at the top
of his lungs, "EITHER THAT PUPPET'S READY BY TEN O'CLOCK TOMORROW MORNING, OR
I'M GOING TO COME TO YOUR HOUSE, PAINT YOU GREEN, STICK MY HAND UP YOUR ASS
AND **YOU'RE** THE PUPPET!"

     Needless to say, the puppet was ready.  At 9:59 a.m.

     I love this business....

                                                                 jms
 ______
Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 574       Tue Aug 04, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:00 EDT

     Make that two of us.

     Ah, well....

     BTW, if anyone would like to, oh, I dunno, get on a mailing list for the
Babylon 5 Newsletter (name to be announced soon), send a POSTCARD _ not a
letter, a postcard _ with your name and address to BABYLON 5 NEWSLETTER, c/o
Moonfire Productions, Box 2325, Oakhurst, CA  93644.

     Right now, we're shooting for mid-September for the first issue, around
the time we finish filming.

     It is now T-minus 6 and counting....

                                                                 jms
 ______
Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 577       Tue Aug 04, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:30 EDT

     No, if you were on the T-shirt list, you're already on the B5 newsletter
list.

     And while I'm thinking about it...Katherine...I've been running off at
the mouth here about how remarkable the EFX are that we're doing, but clearly
I have an agenda, and a stake involved, and there's no reason why anyone
should take my word for it (skepticism is a virtue).  Now, you've seen some of
the new FX...so as an objective voice, did you want to go into any detail
(without getting *too* specific) about what you saw, and what you feel is
different about it, or anything like that?

                                                                    jms
 ______
Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 582       Tue Aug 04, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 17:42 EDT

     And you didn't even mention the nifty screen displays....

     Okay, so it's a given: anything I say here has to be considered from the
point of view that I have an agenda.  And is thus suspect.  So with that out
of the way...I saw the pilot for "Space Rangers" the other day, a network star
cops type series.  ILM did some CGI space effects for the pilot, and I was
curious to see it.

     Oh, man...what a piece of...well, this is a public forum.  On a writing
level, it's one of those scripts that mistakes banter for dialogue, and
annoying, stupid people for characterization.  Just awful.  As for the CGI
stuf...there were only a handful of shots, they looked prosaic for the most
part, one or two were very nice, and one or two were dreadful.  (By
comparison, where they did 5-6 CGI shots for that one-hour show, we're doing
51 CGI shots for our two-hour show.  And it will cost half of what ILM
charged.  And look better.)

     Really annoying.

     Anyway....

     Today we assembled all but one of the cast members of B5 for a *full*
read-through of the script for the first time.  We'd done scenes before, and
had an early run-through with generic actors doing the lines, but this was the
first time we went from FADE IN to FADE OUT with pretty much the entire cast.
When you do a rehearsal like that, invariably you make changes, there are
awkward moments as the cast settles into the roles.

     My pen hit the paper a total of five times, each just a word here or
there.  That's it.  And the wonderful part is that there was a chemistry among
the full cast right from the word Go.  It was as though they had been working
together for years already.  We cast *just* right.  And they're a nice,
professional bunch of people, not a prima donna ni the bunch.  (Make that *in*
the bunch.)

     It went so well that, even though we'd set aside Friday for further
rehearsal, our director thinks, and I agree, that they won't need it; they hit
everything _ dialogue, attitude, delivery, pacing _ just right.  (You always
block out and work through a scene before you shoot it, on the stage, this is
different.)  You always go into any situatoin with the expectation that no one
is going to really Get It.  Here, they all got it, and I don't think Richard
asked for more than three or four re-dos of scenes with different attitudes.
And on those where he did, they Got It immediately on the second try.

     This is *so* rare.  I can't tell you.

     T-minus 6 and counting.

                                                             jms
 ______
Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 597       Wed Aug 05, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 01:36 EDT

     CGI = Computer Generated Imagery.

     Re: bloopers and commercials...yes, there will be a Christmas reel for
crew with some of this stuff...don't imagine it'll get out...(Hah!   I've seen
how this stuff spreads!).

     If your address has changed, yes, send a new one to the address given
above.  And yes, it's okay to post that address elsewhere.

     I'm going to continue to try to post at least once every couple of days
during filming.  Can't guarantee it, but that's my target.

     Makeup, wardrobe and camera tests over the next 2 days.  The cast will
walk the sets for the first time.  After today's meeting, the atmosphere all
over the place is overwhelmingly positive...from every side...the cast, the
production team, Warners, people on the outside tracking the show for
magazines and elsewhere...comes the sense that we've really GOT something
here.

     What it really shows, I think, more than any one other single element, is
the fact that just about everyone on this show *loves* the science fiction
genre...these are people who grew up on Forbidden Planet and Lucas and
Spielberg and Zone and everything in-between, and that care is going into
every frame.  And they don't want to leave.  One fellow who's been doing some
of our computer displays found out his contract was about over.  He didn't
want to leave the show, even though there were other job prospects
elsewhere...he was willing to do anything, be a runner, a production
assistant, a gopher, anything, paid or otherwise, just to stay with it as long
as he could.  (And we found something for him, for pay; that kind of attitude
is worth ten times the financial value of the work itself.)

     If this show doesn't kick serious butt...I'm getting out of the business.

                                                                  jms
 ______
Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 604       Wed Aug 05, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 13:28 EDT

     For reasons I can't go into now (all of them good), I can't answer that
question just now.  But I will.  Soon.

                                                              jms
 ______
Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 608       Wed Aug 05, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 20:14 EDT

     Hurm...actually...a word about Magicon....

     We finish shooting on September 4th.  There's likely to be a wrap party
that night.  Which means I'd either have to take the red-eye to be in Florida
by the next morning...or get a 5 a.m. flight out, either way arriving a wreck
for the Saturday presentation.

     Meantime, something else has come up.

     I've been contacted (again) by Creation Entertainment, and there have
been a number of phone calls between us.  I've been very straightforward about
my concerns, the things that I've heard from fans, all the things that I've
stated here on this forum.  They have gone out of their way to be
accommodating, and to make clear that they are aware that there have been
problems in the past, but that they have been corrected.

     So I'm going to give it a shot _ my suspicions intact _ and see how it
works out.  If it does, terrific, everybody wins.  If not...then at least it
was given a fair shot, and I have always tried to be fair.

     Consequently, to those of you in the San Francisco area...I'll be doing a
B5 presentation at the Creation Con over the weekend of September 5th and 6th.
(A short hop up to San Francisco is a LOT more palatable than an excursion
cross-country.)  I'll be able to bring a lot of neat stuff with me to show at
the convention.

     Now I have to let Magicon know.  And my regrets to those who may have
been anticipating the presentation there; I'd planned on just gritting my
teeth and, on the last day of shooting, getting no sleep and just bulling my
way through it...but I know I'm gonna be absolutely dead by then, and it's
just too much to put what's left of my body through at that point.

     T-minus 5 and counting.

                                                                jms
 ______
Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 624       Thu Aug 06, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 02:28 EDT

     The main reason is strictly personal.  As I said, the Magic Con is on
Saturday, that's when my presentation was scheduled, around noon.  Now, we
finish shooting the day before, on Friday.  As it's scheduled now, we will
probably finish the actual shoot around 7 or 8 o'clock, longer if we need any
pickup shots.  Then will come the wrap party, which has to be that night
because the day after, everyone goes off in different directions until we get
moving on the series.

     Which gives me only two options: 1) Take the redeye out of LAX and arrive
in Orlando around 2 a.m. (assuming that I could even get it), or 2) get zero
sleep, catch a flight out of LAX at the crack of dawn, get to Orlando with
maybe an hour to spare, rush to the hotel, rush to the presentation, find the
room....

     Madness.  Especially knowing the shape I'm going to be in when we finish
shooting.  By contrast, San Francisco is a half-hour or so flight, I can take
it late in the morning on Saturday, and all will be well.

     It's simply a question of *time* and *distance*.  It's not a matter of,
"Why choose THIS convention over THAT convention," I'm not choosing EITHER
convention; I'm choosing a location, and not killing myself in the process.
If the Magic Con were in San Francisco, or even Phoenix, or Portland, that'd
be different.  It's just flying cross-country under those conditions that has
finally pushed me in this direction.  My spousal overunit has been nudging me
for weeks now on this, "You KNOW you're not going to be in any shape for a
cross-country flight the same night you finish filming," that kind of thing.
And, finally, I realized that she was right.  I have a tendency to try and
push myself beyond what I should, and I simply realized that this was what I
was doing.

     That is the entirety of my reasoning.  I'm going to be a wreck ANYway, no
matter where I am...since I'll probably get no sleep at all during the last
two days of filming...but at least it won't be *as* bad this way.

                                                                 jms
 ______
Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 625       Thu Aug 06, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:29 EDT

     Just an addendum...the concerns I raised with the Creation people were
not on my own behalf, but upon those who come to the cons, voicing what I've
heard here and elsewhere.  It's their determination that they have fixed these
concerns that prompted me to give them a chance.  (If I weren't doing that con
that weekend, frankly, I'd probably stay home and try to recover).  Anyway,
it's not been an easy decision, but it's the only one that makes any kind of
sense at this time.

                                                                 jms
 ______
Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 642       Fri Aug 07, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 01:37 EDT

     K.NOTO: Yes.

     Re: the Fox station mentioned...have them contact the Warner Bros.
Television Consortium via Warners Domestic Television.

     Currently am planning to be at Westercon.

     (I think that covers the main questions.)

     It has been a long, and very astonishing day, first with meetings, than
at the soundstage all day for makeup and wardrobe and camera tests.   First,
just to let y'all know, the E! channel will be doing a half-hour "Making of
Babylon 5" documentary (which will also air on the commercial stations
carrying B5 prior to broadcast).  We went over the territory today, decided
which days they'd be on-set to cover, and showed them some of the new EFX (and
they were amazed...commenting that it looks like a high-budget feature film).

     Went to the stage after that.  Oh, man...the place is really buzzing now,
this close to filming.  Carpenters and painters finishing up their work,
costume and makeup people running around, and for the first time that I've
seen it there (though it was there yesterday when I was busy at MURDER)...a
*camera*.  The green screen is up, the massive main corridor is almost
finished (and I do mean *massive*, almost 120 feet long), the council chambers
are virtually finished...and to try variations with the look of the lighting,
they pumped in a little haze to see what happened.   (Looks cool.)

     And today...I saw aliens.  An actor in full Narn wardrobe AND
prosthetics...the first time I'd seen it.  The narn is absolutely dynamite.
Major prosthetics work.  And the costume is *gorgeous*, rich and textured.
Also saw Delenn today, and at first, it wasn't quite right, and we had to try
some variations in coloration and texture before finally deciding on a look.
Now I think we're all happy with it.

     Kosh also came in today.  Peered out at us through his iris.  We liked
it.  He left.  Kosh doesn't say much.  Kosh doesn't have to.

     Also saw the wardrobe and make up test on Lyta  Alexander, and she looks
terrific.  Ditto for the tests (which were on dailies...our first dailies!) on
Garibaldi, Sinclair and Carolyn Sykes.   Looks great.

     One other casting piece now to announce...the role of Commander Jeffrey
Sinclair.  The actor cast in that role is Michael O'Hare, who we discovered
while casting out of New  York, and who we have flown out to L.A. for this
role.  He's a classically trained actor, a graduate of Juliard, who just
knocked us out when he came in to audition.  He has a tremendous presence, and
a voice vaguely reminiscent of Clint Eastwood at times.  His face has a
curiously haunted look, but at the same time is (I'm told by the women who go
"yum" whenever he enters the room) quite appealing.

     Michael has appeared in such films as "By a Thread," "Short Term Bonds,"
"Into Thin Air," "Pursuit," "The Promise," and others, as well as on
television in "Blue Revolution," "Case of Deadly Force," "Rage of Angels,"
"The Adams Chronicles," and in such episodic television shows as "The
Equalizer," "L.A. Law," "Kate and Allie" and others.

     He is also a VERY accomplished stage actor, having appeared on Broadway
to tremendous reviews in "A Few Good Men," "Players," "Man and Superman" and
"Galileo," among many, many others.

     The one thing we did NOT want, which we knew from the start, was one more
pretty-boy TV actor...we wanted someone with character in his face, with a
broad dramatic range.  And we got all of it in Michael O'Hare.

     Only one more piece of casting to announce _ Ambassador Delenn _  and
when that happens in a few days, I think you'll be most...intrigued.

                                                                jms
 ______
Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 649       Fri Aug 07, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:47 EDT

     Moving the date of the presentation seemed marginal at best...and
would've entailed catching a redeye BACK and screwing up Monday.  Bear in
mind, I'm working two shows simultaneously...both of them full time jobs....

     How many people are now involved with B5?  Jeez...I know it covers about
5-6 pages of crew, so that's at least 75-100 people minimum, probably
more...plus the main cast, which is about 15, plus day players, about another
20, plus anywhere from 35-50 extras for some scenes.  Then you have to add on
the people you DON'T see...those who aren't directly part of the crew, but are
hired out to work on costumes and the like.

     This doesn't even include the sound crews, the editing people, the
composer, others...man, we're talking here several hundred people when all the
bills come in, though the *core* would be, I'd say, maybe a bit over 100.  It
amazes me sometimes to think that something I came up with one afternoon could
now, almost five years later, so directly and significantly affect the lives
of so *many* people.

                                                             jms
 ______
Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 663       Sat Aug 08, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 01:17 EDT

     I think the E! documentary will air about a month after they do the
filming...so figure about 6-8 weeks.  Then again on commercial stations
shortly before the B5 airing.

     You don't have to buy Comic Con tickets in advance, they can easily be
purchased the day you arrive, for all or part of the con.

     Height: roughly 6'4", maybe a smidge over.

     On music...as I've mentioned here before (really, Stephen, all you'd have
to do is download the previous 3000 messages, and you'd know all this
stuff...), the LAST thing I want is one more self-indulgent, bloated, pseudo-
classical pompous John Williams ripoff.  I enjoy all forms of music (except
country/western, a man's got to have SOME standards)...soft rock hard rock,
SOME heavy metal (but not a lot), classical, Japanese, Eastern European,
(some) New Age, folk rock, Gilbert and Sullivan...I'm very eclectic in my
tastes.  So I'm really open to just about anything.

     I *do* know that I want something that's really kickass, driving, with a
strong percussive backbeat.  I loved the Stewart Copeland theme for "The
Equalizer," and Brad Fiedel's score for T2, and those would certainly be
appropriate for our show as well in terms of the type of music.  I wouldn't be
averse to making it slightly rock-oriented, PROVIDED that we could avoid
dating ourselves in the process.  (Or go for something driving yet
traditional, like the "Glory" or "Red October" soundtracks.)  I just think
it's time for science fiction television to admit that there's been some good
music composed after the 18th century.

     (If we could afford it, I would LOVE to have, playing in the background
in the casino, something alien...and then segue into a Beatles song or some
Buddy Holly or some Motown...that stuff will be with us forever, and will go
with us into space.)

     (Sudden thought...I wonder if Ennya is available to do soundtracks?)

     Busy day today.  We're on the Friday before the Monday morning on which
we begin rolling film, and there's a LOT yet to be done.  Did the final hair,
makeup and prosthetics tests on Londo...and I have to say, when I first saw
the complete effect, I was...startled, to say the least.  And I really wasn't
sure, even though the actor *loved* it, and everyone else was just going nuts
for the thing.  But after a while, the longer I looked at it, the more I began
to like it.  It's extreme, but it fits the character.

     More camera and lighting tests, the construction crews hurrying to get
everything done in time.  Even though it's busy, more than one person
mentioned how surprisingly calm everyone is...it's all going as it should be,
there aren't any major crises, it's just *busy*.

     Saw dailies on the makup/wardrobe/prosthetics tests we ran the other day
on Delenn, G'Kar, Lyta and Laurel Takashima.  Very nice stuff.  G'Kar is just
astonishing.  Of all the wardrobe/makeup we're doing, it's the most colorful,
the most elaborately detailed, and probably the one that will start showing up
first in convention masquerades.

     By late this evening, I was exhausted, and went up into the B5 central
corridor, climbed up the steps to the second level, and sat there for a while,
watching as they moved the lights up and down and sideways, casting filtered
beams of light through catwalks and grids to form curious shadows on the
floor...amid the sound of hammers banging and saws shearing through wood, and
the constant drum of footsteps on the set below...sitting in the Babylon 5
station, having now seen all of the major aliens and characters in the flesh,
on screen, in full regalia, thinking that all of this _ and all that it
represents for those who are now involved with the Babylon 5 project _ began
with one sentence:

FADE IN:

EXT. BABYLON 5

     People on the set keep coming up to me and asking, "Is this exciting for
you?"  And I don't know what to say in response.  More than anything else
(when I'm not being tired and wishing I was asleep somewhere), I'm quite
simply *stunned*.  It all has a vague air of unreality about it.   I imagine
that I'll be excited when it's done, when I can actually hold a cassette of
the show in my hand, and see the reaction it gets in front of an audience.

     What usually happens during the day is that I go into the production
offices at the studio, sit in my room in the back, and play Godfather: people
come to me and ask questions.  I give them answers.  And then t hey go
away...and I turn into this statue.  Just stunned.  Until someone else comes
in with a question.  Then I go out onto the soundstage.  And sit.   Stunned.
Then I go home.  Stunned.

     Every so often, though, when I can force myself out of the haze, I find
myself thinking, "This is really going to be SOMETHING.  I mean, really,
really, SOMETHING."

     T-minus 3 and counting.

                                                               jms
 ______
Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 695       Sun Aug 09, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:19 EDT

     Yikes, 28 messages since last I logged on.  This is going to get
consistently tougher as more time is taken by production.

     To try and answer some of the preceding messages....

     Yes to the idea of trying an article, go for it.

     On the article about B5 now in the ST newsletter...I'd love to hear more
specifics about it.

     I imagine we'll have a first, rough cut of "The Gathering" by the end of
September.  What's interesting is that Ron will have ALL of the computer EFX
finished within the next 10 days.  So we don't have to wait around for EFX to
be delivered, slowing the editing process, we'll have them well in advance of
our completion of principal photography.  (Which is also good for the actors,
since they can know EXACTLY what it is they're reacting to, rather than having
to look at a blank screen and react to a guess.)

     How would I describe it in a TV Guide log-line?  At this stage, I don't
know that I could.  I'm just too close to it right now.

     Will get a station list up soonest; I know some stations have been added
to the list, so there's some hope.

     The credits sequence is still being storyboarded, will advise when we
have it finalized.

     Meanwhile....

     It is now just a tick over T-minus one and counting.  We'll hit that as
soon as the second hand clicks past midnight.  Spent all day today at the
soundstage, checking, trying not to get in the way, watching and giving
suggestions when asked.  (Funny sight...a newly painted set outside which
someone had posted a sign, "Wipe Your Feet Before Entering!   (Especially
Aliens!)")  They're doing lighting checks, finishing painting some of the
sets, setting up dolly tracks and doing camera checks for angles and lighting.
Not really that much for me to do anymore; it has now reached terminal
velocity, having gathered its own momentum over time, and there's a certain
point where you just have to stand back or impede the process.  So I spent a
little time with the wardrobe guys, making the logical progression of rank
insignia we'll be using.

     (For those who know of "Captain Power," Sven Thorson, who played Tank in
that show, came by the stage to say hello and inquire about where the babes
were, and to ask where the hell his part is...he'll play an alien, a fern,
whatever...as long as the part calls for a Danish accent.)

     On Monday, we (in directorial terminology) "pull the trigger."  I won't
be at the studio Sunday...at that point I know I'm going to be just a little
twitchy, and better to take that time to rest, knowing what's ahead of
us...lots of long days and longer nights.

     What's nice is that, where you normally get a still photographer for only
a few days out of a shoot, at most half, we're going to have one on set for
every day of the shoot, to chronicle the whole thing for the archives.
Warners, as with us, has come to the realization that this is going to be
something different, and they want to record it.

     The actors are gearing up, reading lines together, getting ready for the
first scenes to be filmed (two meetings of the Babylon 5 Advisory Council, at
which someone's fate is decided, and a bunch of stuff in the central corridor
set).  They're primed and ready to go.

     The kind of lighting we're using, by the way, has never before been used
to this extent on any other television series.  It's going to look  quite
dramatic.

     And then there's Ambassador Delenn.  He, as you know, is the Minbari
ambassador assigned to B5.  His makeup/prosthetics has taken the longest to
work out, but now we're happy with his look.  And the performer who will play
Ambassador Delenn is Mira Furlan, whose work is extremely well known in
Europe.  A native Yuglosavian who has appeared in such highly regarded films
as "When Father Was Away On Business" (which received the Palme D'Or at
Cannes, as well as an Oscar nomination), "Three For Happiness" (which took the
Grand Prix at the Valencia Film Festival), "Dear Video," "Southbound," "The
Condemned," "The Beauty of Sin," and nearly a dozen others, ALL of them
starring roles.  There have also been starring roles in major European
productions and half a dozen major film awards.  BABYLON 5 will be Mira
Furlan's entry into American television.

     (pausing, waiting as the brain cells work....)

     T-minus one and counting.

                                                                 jms
 ______
Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 710       Sun Aug 09, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 20:27 EDT

     Well, I was wondering who'd come close to picking up on this, and Tal
comes closest.  Yes, if you look at the message in which I introduce the actor
playing Delenn, there are no pronouns used except as they describe the
character.

     Ideally, what you want to do when you create an alien character is to go
for a look that's, well, *alien*, something that's not quite right about it.
You can do this from the outside in, with really weird makeup, or from the
inside out.  We have some of the former, and Delenn is one of the latter.

     What we have, basically, is a female actor playing a male character.
Women simply *move* differently than men do; the gestures, the tilt of the
head, the smile, it's just a shade different.  So you now take that, and wrap
it inside a male character, aided by prosthetics to make the face and body
more masculine.  Now, when you look at the finished product, you are looking
at a male, but there's something wrong about it somewhere, and it makes you a
little uncertain.  The first time I saw Mira in full makeup, it looked great.
And there was something very unusual about it, that sense that your eyes and
your brain are in conflict somewhere about what you're seeing.

     That was a decision made early on, and that's what's different about
Delenn (to respond to Tal's comment).

                                                               jms
 ______
Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 711       Sun Aug 09, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 20:36 EDT

     P.S.  Nearly forgot...got the galleys in yesterday for my new short
story, "Say Hello, Mister Quigley," which will be appearing in Pulphouse in
September.  (This was not a plug, it was an incredible simulation.)

                                                                   jms
 ______
Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 736       Mon Aug 10, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 02:59 EDT

     The series question is taking care of itself at this point.  Will advise
as this develops.

     Meanwhile, I am sitting here going quietly bananas.  I expected that the
night before I'd be in quite a state, but man...I wish I could describe it for
those looking on, but it's not any one thing.  Yes, there's a certain amount
of excitement mixed with anticipation, terror, fear, uncertainty...it's like
going out on a first date, and you go back to her place, and you suddenly
realize that you're going to be going to bed for the first time together, and
you're wondering if your mouthwash is still holding up, if she's protected, if
you're protected, if those handcuffs beside her bed are really just for
show...and whether or not you forgot to lock the car door downstairs....

     I keep playing every scene, every line, over and over in my head, making
sure it's all there...worrying about the makeup, the prosthetics, if the
actors are comfortable with it all, if the sets will register properly on
film, if I made the right decision on one of the costumes...

     Argh.

     I really hate this part of it.  It's great, don't misunderstand me, it's
just...you understand.  I was sitting earlier, trying to read, and my spousal
overunit announced that if my foot were shaking any faster, it would vibrate
right off my leg and smash out a window across the room.

     I'm fine.  I'm cool.  It doesn't bother me.

     If you need me, I'll be up on the roof....

     T-minus 9 hours and counting.

                                                               jms
 ______
Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 770       Tue Aug 11, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 02:25 EDT

     I'm sure that at some time in the past, I have been more tired than I am
right now, but I'm darned if I can think of it.

     Got zip sleep last night.  Would wake up almost every ten minutes, my
brain chewing on something or other, wondering if everything's in place,
worrying over the hair on one of the characters (honest), if it was too
extreme...constant bedspins.

     Dragged my butt out early this morning and down to the studio by an
ungodly hour of the morning.  Makeup and prosthetics took their usual time,
and some time was taken up re-rigging some of the video in the set we were
using today, adjusting some other stuff along the way.  (Richard Compton, our
director, picked one of the most visually difficult scenes to start with,
figuring that if we could get past this one, the rest would be a piece of
cake, except for the one big scene toward the end of the shoot.)

     We pulled the trigger and got off the first shot on-camera at about 9:30
a.m.  I tried, where possible, to stay out of the line of fire, since by this
time I was vibrating enough to slide into another dimension, and didn't want
to infect anybody else.  Went off perfectly.

     The main thing, for me, was that today the whole world came alive at the
same time (the world of B5).  Up until now, it's been pieces...we see the
actors.  We see the sets.  We see the costumes.  We see the actors in the sets
but not in costume.  We see the actors in costume but not on the sets.
Finally, there it was at last...all of our characters, in full  costume or
uniform (and the uniforms look DYNAMITE!), on the sets.  It was finally,
fully, completely *real* at last.

     Andreas Katsulas took a great approach to Ambassador G'Kar, which is a
VERY dynamic looking alien, very intimidating...giving him an educated,
mellifluous voice, a wonderful counterpoint to his appearance.  Peter Jurasik
was terrific as Londo Mollari, playing even the Advisory Council scenes as
though half in the bag and trying not to show it.  Delenn was exotic and
mysterious, Tamlyn Tomita was senSATIONAL at Laurel, great strength of
character and presence...and I cannot begin to tell you what star material
we've found in Michael O'Hare.  He's got a voice and a presence that could
give Sean Connery or Clint Eastwood a run for their money.  Jerry Doyle was
great as Garibaldi, as was Johnny Sekka as Dr. Kyle.  (We've cast two strong
leading men in Doyle and O'Hare, and they are dynamite together...and there's
a *very* nice chemistry emerging between Sekka and O'Hare as well.)

     Our Warners liaison came by today for the first time to the set, and he
couldn't believe the sets, how much we've done, the details, the elaborate
stuff we've pulled off.  He was absolutely blown away.

     Long story short...it went *great*, better than I'd hoped.  Richard was
magnificent behind the camera, coming up with some very difficult and
challenging shots, great angles...it's going to look wonderful.  Very
cinematic, almost film-noir in its use of textures and shadows.

     Later in the day, I had some friends come over, whose opinion I trust,
and who are very well versed in SF for television and film.  (These included
Marv Wolfman and Len Wein, known to the comics fans here, and Craig (Mr. SF)
Miller, who was involved with the first STAR WARS, and is not generally easily
impressed.)  They knew of B5 only peripherally, and were in NO way prepared
for what they saw on the set.  Add to that the new EFX that I showed them
today...their eyes melted right out of their sockets.

     Got back just a little while ago (it's now about 11:30 p.m. as I type
this).  Got some M,SW work to do before I can crash for the night, and begin
the whole thing again tomorrow (where I'll finally see the dailies from
today's filming).

     Day One finished.  On time, on schedule, on budget.  And it looks spiffy.

     I am a happy man.  Exhausted, right down to the marrow, but happy.

                                                               jms
 ______
Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 772       Tue Aug 11, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 02:29 EDT

     P.S.  Boy, oh boy, have I got something wonderful to show at the Comic
Con...a little something Ron handed me today...heh, heh...you say talk is
cheap?  Well, wait until you see what *I've* got this Saturday....

                                                                jms
 ______
Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 803       Wed Aug 12, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:11 EDT

     Some interesting things are happening re: the broadcast debut of the B5
pilot.  Good things.  Will advise.

     As to how Richard directs...pretty much like most directors, he walks
through the scene with the actor(s), having already a fairly clear idea in
mind how he wants to play the scene.  Blocks out each of hte _ the _ moves,
rehearses them a few times, and then shoots it.  Then goes in for coverage
(overs and unders, close-ups and mediums, that sort of thing).

     Day Two went quite well, after a slow start.  (A people mover we planned
to use _ nicknamed the  Being Mover, since it's used by others than humans _
didn't work out as well as planned, so rather than go with something less than
perfect, we scrapped it and yanked it...which took an hour or so, and then we
were able to get down to filming.)

     We used our Big Impressive Set today, and suspect it'll look pretty cool.
Also saw dailies from yesterday's filming, and for the first time the cast got
to see themselves on film, and see how it was being filmed, and they're all
*very* jazzed.  It looks like a motion picture.  Rich textures, nice use of
shadows, good depth of field...very nice.  The uniforms and prosthetics come
out wonderfully on film, and the performances are sparkling.  Some good drama,
and some *very* funny stuff as well.

     Anyway, all continues to go well.  We remain on schedule.  The cast is
happy.  Warners is happy.  We're happy.

     Onward.

                                                                  jms
 ______
Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 824       Thu Aug 13, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 13:52 EDT

     Sorry I haven't been able to log on in over a day; things are going well,
and the main problem was that last night I came home to edit together some
Neat Stuff to show at Comic Con, and I'm not very good at it, and it took me
HOURS to pull it together, by which time it was all I could do just to fall
into bed.

     But there's gonna be some fun stuff seen at Comic Con....

     A few responses to the preceding:

     Not a few of the Warners reps are carrying around old or incorrect
information, as evidenced by the guy saying that the show would be on in
November (that got changed a LONG time ago).  The other information is also
incorrect.  We're aware of the problem, and it's being (shall we say) attended
to.  It's really a communications problem, which happens in the early stages
of a project as big as a new network.

     What makes the lighting different?  Well, the reason I'm not saying what
the *specifics* are is so that some other show won't find out about it and
start using it.  Suffice to say for the moment that no other show has used
this, certainly not to this extent.  (I'll comment more fully on the lights
in, say, a month.  So re-ask the question at that time.)

     There's actually a fair amount of rehearsal that goes on, first in full
read-throughs, and on the set.  First a walk-through, then a camera rehearsal,
so by the time we roll film, the actor has said the lines in that particular
scene (which could be as short as 30 seconds) five or six times, in addition
to reading through the scene backstage before we bring them out.  What's great
about this particular team of actors is that they are all *thorough* pros, and
they show up knowing every line, every word, there's virtually no coaching on
the lines, they just come out and NAIL it.

     Re: taping the Comic Con presentation...the answer to that is a big No,
*especially* during the film part of the presentation.  If I see a red light
anywhere in the audience, I'm going to stop the clip immediately and that'll
be it.

     What's interesting to me is watching the actors as they grow into their
parts.  The greatest degree of prosthetics are on Andreas Katsulas, and he's
commented that instead of being a burden, the "mask" of the headpiece has
freed him...and he's *wonderful*.  Every time he comes on set, he just
energizes everyone.

     And the actor's craft in action is fascinating to behold.  There is a
scene (well, two, actually) in which Londo Mollari (Peter Jurasik) has very
little to say.  But you always have to do a close-up for coverage.   And
despite the fact that he has nothing much to *say*...he totally and completely
and wonderfully steals the scene.  Subtle, small things that register
magnificently on the screen.

     I have a strong hunch that Londo and G'Kar are going to be real break-out
characters.

     So far, we've shot scenes in the main corridor, the outside of the
casino, the council room, various quarters, the conference center and a few
other places.  We're really steaming along nicely.

     I'll be down in Comic Con, and thus unavailable here for a few days, but
will log on when I'm next near a keyboard.

                                                               jms
 ______
Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 871       Sun Aug 16, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 22:41 EDT

     Just got in...absolutely bushed (it's 106 degrees outside, a real
killer).

     I've only skimmed the reactions here, will discuss more later, but in
brief...just a reminder that what was shown was culled from only the first 2
days of dailies.  The more exotic-looking aliens come in other scenes.

     And again, my apologies for the darkness of the dailies clip; these were
many generations down: from the film, to a 3/4" tape, to a VHS, to another VHS
onto which I made the edited cuts, and then onto a final VHS to add the music.
Four generations down.  (I'd wanted to do only 3 generations down, but I
couldn't find a way to totally knock out the soundtrack on the edited footage,
so had to transfer it again and mix in the music at that time.)

     Overall, I was fairly pleased with how the presentation went.  I'm always
hyper-critical of my own performance, wondering if I'd gotten out all the
important information.  I'd thought I'd have 90 minutes, but only had 60, and
that kinda closed things down a little bit.

     Anyway, too bushed now for much more, just a quick check-in.  Will sign
on again either later today or at the end of day tomorrow, after another day
of filming.

                                                                   jms
 ______
Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 878       Mon Aug 17, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 01:55 EDT

     The ship you refer to is known in the script as the spider transport,
though it looks a little more tick-ish than spider-ish.  (BTW, there wasn't a
problem with the lights, it turns out...some idiot thought it would be fun to
turn them on and off during the presentation.  Which is why it stopped when I
saw a shadow toward the back of the room at the controls and commented that if
someone was messing with the lights, I'd hurt him...bad.)

     As for the lens flare, yeah, it's just one of the extras Ron's cooked up
to make things more real, though we over-used it a bit at the start.  The
reasoning behind it was simply giving the sense of a camera out in space,
again replicating what a real lens would pick kup.
  (Or pick up.)

     You know you're tired when you're too tired to type....

                                                                 jms
 ______
Category 18,  Topic 22
Message 891       Mon Aug 17, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 22:24 EDT

     (sitting here, saying nothing, hands jammed over mouth, unable to say
what I know, just as I could say nothing when the Babylon 5 project was only
That Which Could Not Be Mentioned, but knowing what was coming down the road,
and the news was good, *is* good, but he can't say, not yet, not until he's
allowed to...but trust me, QC, all is well.)

                                                               jms
 ______