The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5
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  1. ===========================================================================
  2. | This text is compiled from posts by J. Michael Straczynski on the Usenet
  3. | group alt.tv.babylon-5. This document contains material Copyright 1993
  4. | J. Michael Straczynski. He has given permission for his words to be
  5. | redistributed online, as long as they are marked as being copyright JMS.
  6. | This document, as well as other Babylon-5 related material, is available
  7. | by anonymous FTP at ftp.hyperion.com.
  8. ===========================================================================
  9. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  10. Date: 3 Aug 1993 03:43:47 -0400
  11. Subject: characters
  12. You make some good points about the number of characters in the
  13. show; it *is* an ensemble in the truest sense. Not every character will
  14. appear in every show, only when they have something to *contribute* will
  15. they be there. Also, it's possible to bring out something interesting
  16. about a character without dedicating an entire episode to that character.
  17. It is, as you say, a very large cast: on the EA side, you've got
  18. Sinclair, Garibaldi, Ivanova and Franklin, with the telepath more or less
  19. on that same side. Then on the alien side, you've got G'Kar and his
  20. attache Ko'Dath, Londo and his attache Vir, Delenn and her attache Lennier,
  21. Kosh and...nobody, really, plus other recurring alien characters such as
  22. n'grath (a *very* non-humanoid and interesting character), and of course
  23. Sinclair's recurring love interest, Catherine Sakai. That's 14 characters
  24. right there. That's a lot of balls to keep up in the air at the same time,
  25. and you have to use them carefully, to advance a given story, but also to
  26. give them moments in which their personalities can really come through.
  27. This is, as stated, a *big* show.
  28. jms
  29. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  30. Date: 3 Aug 1993 03:45:48 -0400
  31. Subject: Re: Rerun the Pilot!
  32. The pilot will be rerun a couple more times between now and the
  33. series going on-line, definitely in November. (And those who'
  34. 've been asking for x-y-z axis movement will get it, btw.)
  35. The only hesitation I have about the pilot is that the series is
  36. going to be *much* improved, and the pilot really will no longer be a real
  37. indication of what we have in mind.
  38. jms
  39. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  40. Date: 4 Aug 1993 03:44:03 -0400
  41. Subject: is there anyone on who doesn't
  42. The situation you describe is essentially correct. One part of the
  43. problem comes from the fact that there have been so few even reasonably
  44. successful SF shows on television...and you can count the ones set in
  45. space on the fingers of one hand. So with so few shows in this area, it
  46. is inevitable that people will make comparisons. If SF space series were
  47. as common place, and had had as many variations, as the cop show, or
  48. the hospital show, I think you wouldn't really have this going on. (When
  49. a new cop show comes on, people don't go around trying to figure out how
  50. it compares to CANNON or POLICE STORY.)
  51. If B5 succeeds, proving you can do SF space series for a reasonable
  52. cost, I think you'll suddenly see a *lot* more of them. (Already people
  53. are talking about the B5 "model" in terms of how to produce a show in this
  54. genre without hitting hideous cost over-runs.)
  55. jms
  56. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  57. Date: 5 Aug 1993 02:44:37 -0400
  58. Subject: Re: JMS: Cast additions/change
  59. Harlan is currently consulting on the series, and is even now
  60. writing a script for us. So yes, he's definitely working away.
  61. jms
  62. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  63. Date: 5 Aug 1993 02:50:39 -0400
  64. Subject: Wanted: Hardend Characters
  65. We'll definitely be dealing with the aspects of how fighting in a war
  66. can affect you. And this isn't just a vague promise: watch the end of the
  67. third (currently) scheduled episode, "Infection," for a scene between
  68. Sinclair and Garibaldi that really deals very straightforwardly with this
  69. issue. It's a conversation you wouldn't expect to see in a show like this.
  70. jms
  71. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  72. Date: 7 Aug 1993 01:51:25 -0400
  73. Subject: Wanted: just a bit more reali
  74. The main line I've been stressing with our writers and others who
  75. we're working with is the goal of making our humans more human, and our
  76. aliens more alien. Much of our life is focused around things that don't
  77. generally show up in SF television...we cut ourselves shaving, we have to
  78. find a bathroom, our shoes don't fit...and these are the elements that
  79. help make a character more real somehow. So yes, we're very definitely
  80. going for that aspect.
  81. jms
  82. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  83. Date: 10 Aug 1993 01:14:59 -0400
  84. Subject: A thousand thanks.
  85. You have my promise on both counts. Frankly, if a common enemy came
  86. along...in the B5 universe they'd all probably fall over each other trying
  87. to sell each other out in hopes of being the one left standing when the
  88. dust clears.
  89. jms
  90. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  91. Date: 11 Aug 1993 01:03:49 -0400
  92. Subject: Re: Wanted: less cheese, more
  93. I wasn't gonna jump in here, but I have to at least answer your
  94. question: "Where's the rest?" The rest is in the series. You haven't
  95. seen the series yet. You're comparing it against 7 years of TNG; rather
  96. consider if the ONLY thing you had EVER seen was "Farpoint." We had a
  97. massive burden: to build an entire universe, based around a political
  98. drama, in basically 90+ minutes not counting commercials. That meant that
  99. more time went into exposition and backstory than I'd like.
  100. In my view, we've now done that, we've laid the foundation, and now
  101. we can sit back and tell stories...*character* based stories. That's what
  102. I'm best at, and that's what the writers I've chosen to use on the series
  103. are best at.
  104. The "rest" you ask for is there..in the series. But I'm not asking
  105. you to take my word for it. Check out the show. Maybe you'll like it.
  106. And maybe you won't. That's showbiz. You don' like it, you don' gotta
  107. watch. But I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
  108. The miracle of the B5 pilot is that it got done at *all*, given the
  109. odds against us, given a team working together for the first time, without
  110. the benefit of an established universe, and actors who had never worked
  111. together before who had zero chance for rehearsal. I'm not apologizing
  112. for the pilot; it had flaws, but I'm very proud of a lot that's in there.
  113. Do the math. You have a little over 90 minutes. You have to
  114. introduce 9 major characters in the course of that story. That gives you
  115. ten minutes of attention for any one character. Now you've also got to
  116. tell the backstory. You've got to establish who the various players are.
  117. You've got to put the present-tense story into motion, with beginning,
  118. middle and end. And now you're left with maybe 3-4 minutes of "quality
  119. time" with any one character. If we only had 2 or 3 characters, then
  120. it's a very different story...but that isn't the universe we have to work
  121. in.
  122. Now that the series is going ahead, we can spend an entire *episode*
  123. dealing primarily with one character. And do the same for others. We
  124. have the time. And that's what's important.
  125. One last observation: you repeat the notion that it's all a "reaction"
  126. to TNG. The treatment and screenply were complete and making the rounds
  127. in Hollywood in Spring 1987. The basic material was written in 1986, at
  128. a point in some cases when TNG hadn't even *aired* yet. So it could
  129. hardly have been written as a reaction to something that hadn't been seen
  130. yet, could it?
  131. jms
  132. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  133. Date: 12 Aug 1993 02:57:23 -0400
  134. Subject: Re: Wanted: less cheese, more
  135. You repeat several times your insistence that I study TNG to see
  136. what they did right, use them as a roadmap.
  137. Sorry. I have no desire to study TNG. I'm telling a different sort
  138. of story, in a different universe. What TNG does right or wrong is more
  139. or less irrelevant to that universe. That's like saying that (just to
  140. pick two names at random) Orson Scott Card should study Poul Anderson as
  141. a roadmap in his own novels. This is utter nonsense.
  142. A while ago, I got an email from someone who didn't like the pilot
  143. (and it may have been on internet, btw) mainly because of the communication
  144. devices. He said, and I'm paraphrasing from memory, that every time
  145. someone used the wrist-links, it broke the illusion for him, since we all
  146. KNOW that by then the REALITY is that we'll be using the chest
  147. communicators that TNG uses, and I should be sure to include that in
  148. future episodes as a capitulation to that reality.
  149. Sorry...TNG is a roadmap for TNG. Not B5.
  150. jms
  151. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  152. Date: 13 Aug 1993 00:58:02 -0400
  153. Subject: Various Topics
  154. 1) Language. We don't have a universal translator. You either have
  155. to speak English, Interlac, or Centauri, the three dominant languages. If
  156. not, then you have to use a mechanical translator, which isn't set up for
  157. every brand new language they encounter. I'd like to showcase at least
  158. one episode in which communication is really a problem.
  159. 2) Yes, for the most part, we're looking at humanoids...but not in
  160. all cases. Look for one character in particular, n'grath, who will make
  161. his/its first appearance in the second episode. This thing definately
  162. ain't human.
  163. 3) We have some interesting ideas for what can happen to the energy
  164. question.
  165. 4) Our crew members do what they're assigned to do, what their rank
  166. and designation specifies they should do.
  167. jms
  168. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  169. Date: 13 Aug 1993 01:12:35 -0400
  170. Subject: Upcoming Conventions?
  171. I'll be at both WorldCon in San Francisco the first part of
  172. September, and at Comic Con in a week or so. I'll be bringing the same
  173. basic material to both places, so you don't have to do both. But I can
  174. promise you'll find it interesting. At this point, in addition, it looks
  175. like Michael O'Hare, Jerry Doyle, and Harlan Ellison will also be doing
  176. the SDCC B5 presentation as well.
  177. jms
  178. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  179. Date: 14 Aug 1993 03:26:10 -0400
  180. Subject: One more *small* request of jm
  181. I hate scripts that end with, "And they all laugh." Even when I was
  182. working in animation, I avoided them. Thus far, all of our episodes are
  183. slated to end with a tag, but in many cases -- and this is almost becoming
  184. a theme or a setpiece for us -- there's a questioning element to the tag,
  185. something unusual or offbeat that adds one other layer to what we've just
  186. seen.
  187. jms
  188. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  189. Date: 14 Aug 1993 03:26:38 -0400
  190. Subject: Popularity of this group
  191. It's all extrapolation, trying to keep an eye on what seems now to
  192. be a realistic expectation of the future. The wild card, of course, is
  193. the assumption in the B5 universe that we've also integrated a fair
  194. amount of alien technology, which sort of jump-started our own space
  195. exploration efforts. It vastly changes the whole equation....
  196. jms
  197. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  198. Date: 14 Aug 1993 03:26:42 -0400
  199. Subject: ftp.hyperion.com
  200. With regrets, I can't provide gif images without PTEN (justifiably)
  201. yelling on me. I'm working to try and change their opinion, but so far,
  202. that's the policy.
  203. jms
  204. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  205. Date: 14 Aug 1993 03:42:32 -0400
  206. Subject: Re: A thousand thanks.
  207. Somebody said that what they liked about the show was the sense that
  208. it was altogether possible that you could turn on the show one day and
  209. find that the whole station had vanished, with the word "Crotoan"
  210. lasered onto a nearby asteroid. Anything can happen.
  211. And as much as possible, I'm going to try to keep playing to that
  212. aspect. Anyone is fair game. Characters should turn around, and become
  213. something other than what they seem to be. And there can be even larger
  214. changes wrought on the whole tapestry of the show, some of which will show
  215. up in a *very* major way late in the third season. I like pulling the
  216. rug out from under people.
  217. jms
  218. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  219. Date: 15 Aug 1993 00:14:42 -0400
  220. Subject: The Known Galaxy -- How much i
  221. I'm still mapping that aspect out. We do make a distinction in the
  222. series between space in general and "known space." In "Infection," one
  223. character comments that he's come "halfway across known space" to see
  224. someone. But the details of that are still being worked out.
  225. jms
  226. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  227. Date: 15 Aug 1993 00:14:54 -0400
  228. Subject: So who's Catherine Sakai?
  229. Catherine Sakai is played by Julie Nickson Soul, an asian-american
  230. actor who's done quite a bit of work in high-profile films. Her
  231. character is never Cathy, only Catherine (occasionally Cath to Sinclair,
  232. but *only* occasionally). She's a planetary surveyer, working for one
  233. of the Earth corporations, looking for uninhabited worlds and asteroids
  234. for exploitation.
  235. jms
  236. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  237. Date: 16 Aug 1993 00:27:02 -0400
  238. Subject: Re: Aspirin (Was Re: One more
  239. "But it still doesn't change the FACT that in a few hundred years,
  240. aspirin WILL BE obsolete."
  241. Don't suppose you'd be willing to produce the Journal of the American
  242. Medical Association for Spring 2257 to back up your statement of *fact*
  243. in this matter, would you?
  244. The *fact* is that even now, we're re-discovering medicines and means
  245. of healing that go back centuries. You may state clearly and with great
  246. confidence your opinion...but that is all that it is, it is not "fact," as
  247. you state.
  248. jms
  249. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  250. Date: 17 Aug 1993 01:44:34 -0400
  251. Subject: Where can I find ???????
  252. Beats me, but if you find an uncut version of B5, lemme know, because
  253. I'D like one.
  254. The problem is that, unlike a motion picture, where you produce a
  255. cut on film, which you then trim down, we're editing on computerized image
  256. files. We don't get around to finally cutting the film until we've made
  257. our final edits. So no complete version ever existed on film. The most
  258. that could be done is get those 25 minutes and *build* a new version with
  259. that footage...which would require additional scoring, editing, and other
  260. stuff.
  261. BTW...just to put the word out: someone stole a painstakingly painted
  262. plaster cast of G'Kar -- full-size, head and neck -- from the B5 offices.
  263. If *anyone* should offer this for sale anywhere, please be advised that
  264. this stolen merchandise and should be reported.
  265. jms
  266. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  267. Date: 19 Aug 1993 01:41:54 -0400
  268. Subject: Questions for JMS
  269. Insofar as I know, Walker is mainly features PR and some network PR;
  270. we fall under the PTEN jurisdiction, so I don't think he's involved. I
  271. don't yet know how much promotional material will be made available; it's
  272. a long ways until we go on the air, so there's time for that to get put
  273. together.
  274. For those who want to send mail to B5, best to use this address:
  275. 14431 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 260, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423. My name or
  276. B5 will suffice.
  277. jms
  278. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  279. Date: 20 Aug 1993 02:56:03 -0400
  280. Subject: Re: JMS: Last 2 weeks...
  281. Re: the skin tab/Kosh's hand/encounter suit question...one of the
  282. reasons I can't wait for the series to get on the air is so that we can
  283. make one thing clear, once and for all: it is NOT an error, not a plot
  284. hole, it is a plot POINT. It is a question that our *characters* will
  285. be asking each other. How can this be? This will come up more than once,
  286. starting with "The Parliament of Dreams" episode.
  287. jms
  288. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  289. Date: 20 Aug 1993 03:10:52 -0400
  290. Subject: Re: JMS: Last 2 weeks...
  291. The point you raise is absolutely accurate. When it comes to making
  292. up names for civilizations, or characters, one goes for the *sound* of the
  293. name or the sense of the name. "Minbar" is one of those terms whose
  294. meaning, unlike Yangs and Coms (Yanks and Commies) is NOT well known; ask
  295. any 100 people on the street, and it's *very* unlikely that ANY of them
  296. would know what a minbar is. Because the Minbari are very spiritual (well,
  297. half of them, anyway), and because I always liked the *sound* of the word
  298. "minbar," that became the name. It has no dead-on meaning, there is no
  299. translation, it doesn't describe what they are. I don't think it's as
  300. blunt as the examples cited, because it's a *very* obscure term; in all
  301. this time, only that ONE person recognized its origins.
  302. jms
  303. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  304. Date: 25 Aug 1993 23:35:30 -0400
  305. Subject: Re: pilot inconsistancy
  306. I'm going to try this again; for some reason, the last several notes
  307. I sent in reply to internet stuff hasn't gotten through.
  308. The station *is* still rotating in the Vorlon attack scene. The
  309. camera is more or less tracking with the rotation at that moment, but it
  310. is moving. I was there at the early wireframe tests.
  311. As for the Vorlon handshake (so to speak)...this will be dealt with
  312. in the series. You have to remember that the original plan was to air the
  313. pilot and go *immediately* into series, where we'd bring up some of these
  314. questions. There simply wasn't room to deal with EVERYTHING in that short
  315. pilot...and where we DID try and cover everything, we got gigged for being
  316. expositional.
  317. Now we have to re-establish a few things since there's been a gap in
  318. time...but the poison incident will be raised in "The Parliament of
  319. Dreams" script to start with, and move on from there.
  320. jms
  321. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  322. Date: 27 Aug 1993 01:27:56 -0400
  323. Subject: Re: A little scenario
  324. Excuse me for being blunt, but since you're being blunt, you
  325. shouldn't mind a blunt observation in return.
  326. You are an idiot.
  327. I have no problem with someone finding genuine faults with a show,
  328. mine or otherwise...but it's something else again to *manufacture* faults,
  329. and then make them into errors. I feel a little like Woody Allen in
  330. MANHATTAN, listening to the fellow behind him in line mouthing on and on
  331. about Marshall McCluhan's work, all of it absolutely wrong, until finally
  332. Allen drags Marshall out from behind the nearest wall to say to him, in
  333. essence, "You are an idiot."
  334. You say, taking this as your premise, "it's pretty clear that a
  335. Vorlon is the standard 'shimmering-electric-blue energy creature that just
  336. happens to be humanoid.'" No, it's not. I don't care what you think,
  337. that is most definitely NOT what Kosh is. So all of your error-finding
  338. based on that assumption is strictly nonsense. I'm just amazed that you
  339. can sit there and say, "Oh, yes, this is what it is," when it's not, and
  340. at this moment only three people in the WORLD know what a Vorlon is.
  341. You say that the Minbari "of course...should have had NO contact
  342. with them." That's your assumption. Your assumption is deadass wrong.
  343. Note how Delenn comes forth and bows to the Vorlon. There is some
  344. familiarity there. We will be finding out just HOW much familiarity there
  345. is down the road. That's what we have the series for. To develop these
  346. kinds of things.
  347. You complain about things you think are obvious (and by the way,
  348. you're wrong in THAT message as well), but things that are subtle seem to
  349. rocket over your head at something just short of lightspeed.
  350. And that background of familiarity DOES explain how the assassin would
  351. know how to hurt a Vorlon.
  352. You have to understand that, despite being on televison, this is a
  353. BOOK. It is a novel. You have seen only the prologue to the novel at
  354. this juncture. To conclude everything that will happen based strictly on
  355. that prologue is absurd. (And please don't throw "Well, that's all we've
  356. HAD for a year" at me...it wasn't designed that way. It was designed to
  357. go immediately into series, and begin both posing and answering some of
  358. the questions raised, so that at this moment, we wouldn't be HAVING this
  359. discussion. You can't blame us for a corporate decision.)
  360. So in any event, your entire 1-2-3 progression, based as it is on
  361. completely erroneous and presumptuous assumptions is totally wrong. You
  362. will simply have to wait and see how it ends, as with any story. If you
  363. don't, if this message has pissed you off, that's life.
  364. In future, comment on *actual aspects of the production* all you
  365. like...but try to refrain from cooking up some weird scenario in your own
  366. mind, slapping it as an overlay onto my show, and somehow twisting things
  367. around to make it look like we're doing something dumb, when in fact your
  368. message doesn't touch reality at any two contiguous points.
  369. How's THAT for a review?
  370. (Oh, and a P.S. to those who parroted the comments of Jeff Jarvis at
  371. TV Guide about the "cheesy" special effects/CGI in the B5 pilot: we just
  372. received word that we've won an Emmy for Best Special Effects in a TV
  373. Movie.)
  374. jms
  375. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  376. Date: 27 Aug 1993 01:28:36 -0400
  377. Subject: Re: Strange Things
  378. "I could swear I saw ships leaving B5 after Sinclair ordered it
  379. closed." To which you reply, "I agree, and I mentioned it before."
  380. Yes, you did. Just one problem. There ARE no such shots of any
  381. ships entering B5. You have some shots of ships in a holding pattern
  382. outside, waiting until all is cleared, or heading on to secondary bases.
  383. jms
  384. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  385. Date: 27 Aug 1993 01:42:49 -0400
  386. Subject: Confirmation requested... Koen
  387. Whoever posted the note re: Walter Koenig is baldfacedly lying.
  388. Walter was in my office just this afternoon, in fact. He's doing well,
  389. exercising, walking around, and looks great...a hell of a lot better than
  390. I would look under those conditions, that's for sure.
  391. jms
  392. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  393. Date: 27 Aug 1993 01:43:01 -0400
  394. Subject: Re: "Silence" in Babylon-5
  395. "Another one of those 'all alien men want Earth women' type things,
  396. if you'll disregard the psi-stuff for now."
  397. In other words, disregard what is going to be probably one of the
  398. most dominant themes that will emerge in the entire series. Disregard
  399. what you WANT to disregard in order to make a critical comment.
  400. I look forward to embarrassing the hell out of you by about this time
  401. next year....
  402. jms
  403. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  404. Date: 28 Aug 1993 01:13:48 -0400
  405. Subject: Re: inconsistancy in pilot
  406. There was a reason we gave Londo the pilot opening monologue, yes.
  407. And another reason why we're giving Sinclair the opening monologue over
  408. credits of the first season, though with some differences. We're also
  409. considering rotating any such opening between other cast members as well,
  410. but *always* in the past-tense, "Babylon 5 *was*...." We're dealing in
  411. future history here, and we plan to do some interesting things with that
  412. aspect.
  413. jms
  414. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  415. Date: 28 Aug 1993 01:16:00 -0400
  416. Subject: Re: A little scenario
  417. We're definitely populating the show with ethnic groups from all
  418. over the place, including some not generally found in futuristic SF, so
  419. yes, we plan to do that.
  420. jms
  421. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  422. Date: 28 Aug 1993 20:15:37 -0400
  423. Subject: Re: A little scenario
  424. Actually, it's Kosh's ship that comes out of the jump gate backward,
  425. engines forward to assist with deceleration. The fighters don't want to
  426. be slow-moving targets, so it stands to reason they wouldn't be
  427. configured for rapid deceleration. They want to get into position as fast
  428. as possible.
  429. jms
  430. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  431. Date: 28 Aug 1993 20:15:43 -0400
  432. Subject: Re: A little scenario
  433. What you propose in your scenario is not it...but it does show that
  434. you're thinking along similar lines to what we're going to be doing. That
  435. kind of thing, and the inner workings you describe, are very close to the
  436. surface of our story, and what we have in mind. Or, said more succinctly:
  437. yes, you get it.
  438. jms
  439. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  440. Date: 28 Aug 1993 20:45:55 -0400
  441. Subject: Jeff Jarvis, ET. AL. :-(
  442. Paramount spends *vast* amounts of money advertising TNG and DS9.
  443. Also, from time to time, personal relationships between journalists and
  444. those they cover can influence their perceptions. Beyond that...your
  445. guess is as good as mine.
  446. jms
  447. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  448. Date: 29 Aug 1993 03:45:53 -0400
  449. Subject: Re: Babylon 5 Computer
  450. What Kyle suggests...is closer to the truth than might otherwise be
  451. suspected. We had filmed a scene -- which never made it into the finished
  452. pilot -- where Garibaldi, growing suspicious of his boss -- confronts
  453. Sinclair in the core shuttle. One of the alibis he checked out doesn't
  454. hold up: Sinclair's. The transport tube computer records don't indicate
  455. any delay. Sinclair suggests that there's either a problem with the
  456. system, or it's been deliberately altered to remove that information.
  457. It was, of course, the latter.
  458. Now...stop and think about this for a moment.
  459. The Observation Dome has equipment to detect approaching ships. The
  460. spider transport approaches without being noticed. The surface of the
  461. station would likely have sensors to detect something attaching itself to
  462. the hull. Somehow these were over-ridden. The only time that anyone
  463. notices, up in the Dome, is later, when Laurel isn't there, interestingly
  464. enough. Someone deliberately programmed the transport tube to delay
  465. Sinclair. The assassin would have to know this in advance.
  466. We saw Londo with the assassin. We also saw Garibaldi, Lyta,
  467. Dr. Kyle and -- later -- Sinclair with the assassin, each relating to him
  468. in different ways. Who was the one person we never saw with the assassin,
  469. whose reactions might have told us something? Who was the one put in
  470. charge of the station when Sinclair was pulled out of circulation?
  471. Laurel.
  472. We had some...interesting things in mind for this character. Now
  473. that another character has come in, some things will be modified, but
  474. other elements will come in to replace them.
  475. jms
  476. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  477. Date: 30 Aug 1993 00:45:50 -0400
  478. Subject: Re: Babylon 5 Computer
  479. I kept Tamlyn in the dark about a lot of this. She even mentioned
  480. this in an interview she gave somewhere. I didn't want that knowledge
  481. to make her play the role anything other than it should have been played:
  482. as if absolutely innocent and sincere. Sometimes you just gotta be
  483. sneaky....
  484. jms
  485. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  486. Date: 30 Aug 1993 01:43:14 -0400
  487. Subject: Takashima (was Re: Babylon 5 C
  488. There was an element of saving her own life...and another aspect of
  489. all this is that she may not have been acting entirely of her own
  490. free will during the first half. There may be some influences that will
  491. emerge later.
  492. jms
  493. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  494. Date: 30 Aug 1993 04:25:08 -0400
  495. Subject: Homosexuality in Space!
  496. My feeling is that the best way of handling this question is to have
  497. a character, someone we see more than once, who we eventually learn is
  498. bi or gay. This seems to me a much more intrinsically powerful statement
  499. than doing a "gay" story. So that's what we're going to do.
  500. jms
  501. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  502. Date: 31 Aug 1993 01:30:54 -0400
  503. Subject: Re: A little scenario
  504. This has already been answered; had the character stayed with the
  505. show, gradually it would have emerged that the assassin had access to
  506. Laurel's codes because she provided them to him.
  507. jms
  508. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  509. Date: 31 Aug 1993 01:32:18 -0400
  510. Subject: Kosh's reception
  511. And who else isn't at the reception?
  512. jms
  513. From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
  514. Date: 31 Aug 1993 04:24:38 -0400
  515. Subject: The Opening momnologue (was: i
  516. You're right; in my head, I was thinking "surviving characters,"
  517. but that does complicate the issue enormously. Perhaps it's best to stay
  518. with the one voice for now after all....
  519. jms