lurkers-guide/guide/118

<!-- TITLE Voices in the Dark -->

<h2><a name="OV">Overview</a></h2>

<blockquote><cite>
While travelling from Minbar to Babylon 5 to celebrate the 10th
anniversary of the Interstellar Alliance, Sheridan picks up an
unexpected guest with a dire warning. Meanwhile, Lochley summons a
priest to the station to help with a problem that may have
supernatural implications.
</cite>

</blockquote>

<pre>
Production number: 235024
 DVD release date: July 31, 2007

Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by J. Michael Straczynski
</pre>

<p>
<hr size=3>

<h1>Administrative Note</h1>

The Lurker's Guide's maintainer will be on vacation when this movie
hits the stores. Please send in your comments, but don't be alarmed if
this page stays sparse a little longer than you might expect.

<h2><a name="WF">Watch For</a></h2>
<ul>
<li>@@@1185879610 <a href="#leap">A leaping crewman</a>
</ul>

<h2><a name="BP">Plot Points</a></h2>
<ul>
<li>@@@1185878875 Lochley is still in command of B5 in 2271.
<li>@@@1185878875 Franklin has joined G'Kar in his travels around the cosmos.
<li>@@@1185878875 Emperor Cartagia's son is next in line for the throne after
	Vir's reign is over.
<li>@@@1185878875 Sheridan and Delenn's son David is nine years old in 2271.
<li>@@@1185878875 By 2271, the plague on Earth 
	(<a href="115.html">"A Call to Arms"</a>)
	appears to have been eliminated; people are able to travel to and
	from Earth freely.
</ul>

<h2><a name="UQ">Unanswered Questions</a></h2>
<ul>
<li>@@@1185878875 Who and what is Asmodeus? (See Analysis.)
<li>@@@1185878875 Will Sheridan be able to turn Prince Vintari away from his
	future path of destruction?
<li>@@@1186375358 What was the significance of the necklace Galen gave to
	Sheridan?
</ul>

<h2><a name="AN">Analysis</a></h2>
<ul>

<p>
<li>@@@1185878875 Asmodeus may, of course, be exactly what he claims. However, his
	abilities aren't unheard-of in the B5 universe.
	<p>
	Many of his powers seem consistent with psi abilities: making people
	see and feel things (abilities demonstrated, e.g., by Talia in
	<a href="030.html">"A Race Through Dark Places"</a>). However,
	Lochley also claimed that he was covered in blood at one point, and
	that the blood was analyzed and found to contain no DNA. Unless
	Asmodeus' powers of illusion extend to making lab technicians think
	they're reading imaginary test results, it's safe to assume he has
	some ability to influence the physical world.
	<p>
	Technomages also have the ability to make people see and hear things,
	as Galen does to Sheridan in the second half of the story. They also
	have the ability to create physical objects seemingly from nothing:
	Elric conjured an orange blossom for Sheridan in
	<a href="025.html">"The Geometry of Shadows."</a>

<p>
<li>@@@1185878875 Sheridan's imprisonment on Centauri Prime
	(<a href="061.html">"War Without End, part 2"</a>)
	takes place several years after the events of this story. Is Sheridan's
	education of Prince Vintari a secret, or does Londo know about it at
	that point? Obviously, not being the emperor, Vintari would not be in
	a good position to help Sheridan.

<p>
<li>@@@1185878875 Sheridan said "quantum space" was a discovery based on
	leftover Vorlon technology. Perhaps it is related to their ability
	to create folds in hyperspace
	(<a href="069.html">"The Summoning"</a>)
	or perhaps it is something totally different; in the latter case,
	though, it's not clear why their ships still travelled in regular
	hyperspace.
	<p>
	It's also not clear where the Alliance picked up that stray Vorlon
	technology. Perhaps from the Vorlon homeworld, or perhaps from some of
	the wreckage of Vorlon ships and bases left over from the Shadow War.

<p>
<li>@@@1185878875 How would a Centauri fleet be able to rain that level of
	destruction on one of the major planets of the Alliance? Presumably
	Earth is not undefended (especially after the Drakh attack.)
	A simple surprise attack, perhaps, but how would the Centauri get
	close to Earth undetected, given that it is possible to monitor
	hyperspace? Perhaps quantum space is not as easy to monitor, and the
	Centauri got that technology from the Alliance at some point.

</ul>

<h2><a name="NO">Notes</a></h2>
<ul>
<li>@@@1185879610 <a name="leap">When Father Cassidy arrives on the station,</a>
	there is a view
	of the docking bay. In the far distance, two crewmen can be seen.
	One of them walks away from the other, then turns back, at which
	point the first one appears to leap up into the air. The leap can be
	seen twice during the arrival sequence.

<li>@@@1185879610 Father Cassidy mentions there was a long line at the customs
	area, but at that point he's still in the docking bay. In
	previous episodes, the customs area wasn't in the docking bay;
	it was further inside the station.

<li>tvshowsondvd.com
	<a href="http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=7211">reports</a>
	that the DVD will be released in the US on July 31, 2007, will sell for
	$24.98, and is approximately 75 minutes long.

<li>JMS has posted some
	<a href="http://www.babylon5scripts.com/TLT-JMS-Photos.html">photos</a>
	from the set.
</ul>

<h2><a name="JS">jms speaks</a></h2>
<ul>
<li><b>September 5, 2007:</b> <em>Was the New York scene a tribute to
	"The Fifth Element?"</em>
	<p>
	No. It comes from visiting New York many times.

<li><b>September 5, 2007:</b> <em>Why didn't Warner Bros. give the project
	a bigger budget? Every B5 project has exceeded their sales forecasts
	but they continue to do "trial runs" of everything.</em>
	<p>
	The problem with any studio is that they're terrified of losing money
	on something, anything, so they hedge their bets...they don't give the
	ad money you want because they're afraid sales won't support it, and
	end p with a self-fulfilling prophecy more times than not.
	<p>
	Your appraisal of the situation with WB is spot on.
	<p>
	However, despite this, they are most pleased as sales have been
	several orders of magnitude beyond what they anticipated.
	<p>
	More on this when I know more about what this actually *means*.

<p>
<li><b>August 8, 2007:</b> <em>The CGI of Lochley's quarters look fake; for
	example, the lamps look cut-and-pasted. The hallways looked like
	illustrations in a magazine.</em>
	<p>
	Lochley's quarters were real, we shot against a real wall (you can see
	it in some of the behind-the-scenes footage where I point to it).
	<p>
	The lamps were also real.
	<p>
	The hallway she walks down is also real. Again, you can see it in the
	behind the scenes material.

<p>
<li><b>August 6, 2007:</b> <em>How did Galen know what was going to happen
	in the future? What did he really hope to achieve?</em>
	<p>
	Two quick things, since I'm still on deadline lockdown....
	<p>
	1) Let us remember that time travel is also a form of technology
	(which is all I'll say about this for now).
	<p>
	2) Galen would likely have been content with either solution, as
	noted, as long as one or the other was implemented. But this one is
	better.

<li><b>December 1, 2006:</b>
	As I write this, we have finished principal photography on "Babylon 5: The Lost Tales," coming in under budget and finishing a full day ahead of schedule.
<p>
	This first DVD, entitled "Voices in the Dark," covers the same 72 hour period of time as Sheridan travels on board a Presidential Cruiser en route to Babylon 5 from Minbar for a celebration marking the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Interstellar Alliance. One part of the story follows Sheridan as he picks up an unexpected visitor on the edge of Centauri space, Prince Regent Dius Vintari, and a warning about what will come afterward delivered by the techno-mage, Galen. The other part of the story is set aboard Babylon 5, as Colonel Lochley summons a priest from Earth space to deal with a problem that may have dark supernatural overtones. The two parts of the greater story intersect at certain key plot and thematic points, so that they overlap and complement each other while telling separate, but simultaneous, stories.
<p>
	The first DVD is going to require nearly 200 EFX shots, taking us all over Alliance space, and Babylon 5, which is being redesigned using the latest CGI technology. The same CGI is being used to create virtual sets a la Sin City, but on an even more detailed basis, in many cases integrating them with practical sets based on the original blueprint designs for Babylon 5.
<p>
	A number of behind-the-scenes pieces were shot for inclusion on the DVD, as well as a number of original short pieces that will be filmed in February which feature glimpses into the future of Babylon 5 and her characters.
<p>
	We have set-up a temporary webpage of photos from the shoot from my personal collection. These images mark the very first photos to emerge from production. [http://babylon5scripts.com/TLT-JMS-photos.html]
<p>
	For more information, keep an eye on www.babylon5.com as well as Babylon5scripts.com. WB will be integrating the internet as a key component for promoting B5:TLT and we are pleased to be a part of that effort.

<p>
<li><b>November 22, 2006:</b>
	Just a quick hello direct from the set of Babylon 5: The Lost Tales. It's 4:51 p.m. and we just finished lunch (crew call at 10 a.m. lunch at 4). Bruce Boxleitner just completed a series of shots in a Starfury, his first time back in the saddle. We're ahead of schedule and might actually wrap filming a day early. (It always goes faster if you don't actually put film in the camera.) We've introduced a new Centauri character -- Prince Regent Vintari, third from the throne -- a new ISN reporter played by Teryl Rothery, a priest played by Alan Scarfe, and a character who may have come too close to certain dark forces played by Bruce Ramsey. Part One of "Voices in the Dark" wrapped on Friday, and we should have part two done tomorrow, after a long sequence shooting in the hallway of a new Minbari Presidential Cruiser built for the Interstellar Alliance.

<p>
<li><b>November 15, 2006:</b>
	 This will be brief, because it's late and I have an early call tomorrow -- a longer update will be coming soon via the Babylon5scripts.com mailing list and elsewhere soon -- but I just wanted to let folks know that filming is going very well. We're three days in, and so far we're ahead of schedule, usually about an hour or two. We actually moved a couple of shots up from tomorrow's call sheet to today. It's just going really well.
<p>
	 The B5 we see here is similar to but somewhat more sophisticated or rethought in places. For instance, in B5 halls we used to have wooden strips painted green or blue or red to signal various sectors. Here we ran these really lovely light panels that can change colors and at the same time add a light source and warm up the halls. We also went back to the original B5 blueprints and found some elements that we wanted to do in the show but couldn't, and we've incorporated them into the new sets. We're also re-engineering the look of B5, the starfuries, various alien ships and the like.
<p>
	 Tonight there was a dinner with Doug, me, Tracy and Bruce, with Peter Woodward scheduled to fly in tomorrow so everybody's here for a couple of pivotal scenes that will cross the two segments. (One aside...Bruce was openly lamenting the small sub-section of british fans -- most of whom we all agreed couldn't be niftier -- who are determined to try and drive a wedge between him and me and the rest of the crew. No sooner was his involvement announced than this same "bunch of whackos" started the same rumors again, including the one where he supposedly burned his crew jacket after the end of B5. Determined to put that to rest, he pulled out all crew coats we made up for him that were personalized by the wardrobe department and -- minus the one that was auctioned for charity at a well publicized convention -- brought them ALL up here to dispel that myth once and for all. So tomorrow we're going to get a picture of him and me, with either all the coats, or at minimum the one the nutcases keep saying he burned, just to put THAT baldfaced lie to bed. The photo will be posted on the nets somewhere soon.)
<p>
	 Otherwise, all is good, and the scenes are cutting together well. Three days down, seven to go.

<p>
<li><b>October 26, 2006:</b>
Well, tomorrow I head back to LA for meetings on other projects for two days, then it's back to Vancouver again on Sunday to continue prep. So far everything's laying out very cleanly. We have an EFX house on board now, which was the last big step to be undertaken. It wasn't until the last day or so that we could really get into the CGI issues, which are huge on these stories.
<p>
And in regard to that...the initial goal was to try and do three big stories in one DVD. So I wrote three scripts, featuring Sheridan, Lochley, Galen and Garibaldi. (I wanted to focus on the human characters initially so we'd have more time for prosthetics R&D for the next one.) The stories, as noted previously, were huge...all over the map, from Minbar, to Earth, Mars, the future, the distant past, as well as B5 itself obviously. We're also going to be trying some new production technologies, again trying to stay ahead of the tech curve, the way B5 has always stayed ahead on these things.
<p>
And over the last few days, as we began to bring on crew and lay out the production, looking at just how complicated these mini-movies were going to be, the idea of making three of these monsters began to become a bit much for us to pull off on out first time out the gate, especially since I'm still kind of new as a director. So we decided to postpone one of the three to the next DVD, and lengthen the other two to make up the difference. GIven that the Garibaldi story was the most complicated visually and technically, also the most difficult from a CGi perspective, that's the one that got pushed until, potentially, next time.
<p>
And if the sales are anywhere near what WB expects, and I think they will be, there's no question that there will be more of these down the road. So we're gong to focus in on those two stories and knock them out of the park. Same length, same running time, and now even bigger than at first anticipated since the budget on number three will now be applied to the other two.
<p>
Part of what we're doing is to re-think the look of B5 to some degree. The show was created using 1993 technology, video toasters and amigas, and was to some extent limited by the paradigms and production methods we used in that. But it's now 13 years later, and while I will keep the feel of the show the same, and the silhouettes and designs, there's no reason to limit the look of the feel to what we could do six years ago (from when we stopped). So we're going to invest a lot of time, effort and money into really re-imagining some of the visuals at the present level -- looking at shows like Battlestar and the like -- and bringing those tools into B5 while still maintaining the feel of the show.
<p>
I also managed to work in a nice nod to Andreas and Richard in the two mini-movies.
<p>
So with that...the team is now in place, the last personnel have been hired, and as soon as I get back to Vancouver, I get to take off the producer's hat and put on the director's hat.

<p>
<li><b>October 14, 2006:</b>
Fast follow-up....
<p>
Just got back tonight from Vancouver, and we've now nailed down/hired
nearly all of our key department heads and the Director of Photography
who I'll be working with closely during production. We spent today in
the first informal production meeting going over how we're going to
shoot this, reviewing the storyboards, determining what's going to be
green screen and what's going to be practical set...this should be a
pretty cool looking project, with some sights we haven't really seen
before as well as some more familiar sights.
<p>
What I can say about the three episodes is that we go to Mars, Minbar
and of course B5, we introduce a new kind of Minbari cruiser, and
there's a rather startling sequence on Earth. I've decided to shoot
each segment a little differently from each other, so they each have
their own visual style that complements that particular story. On
Monday the B5 team up north will be checking out the stages, and about
a week or so from now the actual B5 offices will open up and folks will
start moving in.
<p>
It's starting to feel a lot like fun.
<p>
We'll also be working with WB to put together a special reel from the
shoot that we can bring to debut at San Diego Comic Con next year.

<p>
<li><b>October 12, 2006:</b>
Just a quick follow-up...I'm in Vancouver (coming back in 24 hours)
finishing up a round of final staff interviews for B5:TLT. Thus far,
we've hired two other producers, a script supervisor, a post
supervisor, the editor, a production manager, a conceptual
artist/storyboard guy, an art director/production designer, a first
assistant director, and closed several cast deals, with the rest
probably to be closed next week, at which time I may be able to say who
they are. Pending final negotiations, Chris Franke has agreed to come
on board to do the music. We're interviewing CGI houses up here to
decide which to go with. The three scripts have been completed, and
are now being storyboarded. We've narrowed down the director of
photography options to just a few last guys, and should have that
decided by week's end. We've also locked down the stage and have
started putting together our package (camera, lights, grip and
electrics).
<p>
By this time next week, about 80% of our crew will be in hand, the rest
coming aboard during the start of prep.

<p>
<li><b>October 3, 2006:</b>
<i>Will TLT be shot on film or digital HD?</i>
The latter. I figure if I'm gonna learn this stuff, I may as well dive
in at the deep end.
<p>
In for a penny, in for a pounding, I say....

<p>
<li><b>October 3, 2006:</b>
I'm kind of up against it right now on an assortment of deadlines, so
this'll be quick, but I did want to address some of the questions that
have been asked.
<p>
Yes, we're shooting this HD, so this is going to be quite a learning
curve for me as a director, since I've never shot HD before. There's
also a HUGE amount of green-screen involved, so again, lots of learning
to be done.
<p>
For those who are getting the B5 scripts books -- and eventually the
B5:TLT scripts will be released -- you'll notice a substantial
difference between them and these scripts in that I decided to kind of
direct them on the page more than usual: calling out specific angles
and camera directions, locations and setups more than in any prior B5
script. It probably resembles an animation script more than a standard
TV script, because it incorporates my directorial notes, shot for shot,
as we go.
<p>
The first three-segment DVD is called "Voices in the Dark." We've
narrowed down the cast, and hope to have their deals closed this week.
There are already ten crew members working on this thing up in
Vancouver, pulling together stages, offices and other prep work. The
first day of shooting will likely be either November 13th or 14th (due
to a Canadian holiday). The last twiddlings to the script should be
done by this coming Monday. Storyboarding starts the end of this week.
<p>
It's balls-to-the-wall right now, but it should be fun in the end.

<p>
<li><b>September 27, 2006:</b>
We had to push shooting to mid-November in order to accommodate
availabilities of different people, because this had all come up in
kind of short notice...but we'll be in the new stages by the end of
October, and a few key members of the crew have already been hired. So
we're good to go.

<p>
<li><b>September 5, 2006:</b>
<i>Will you do an on-camera intro to each segment?</i>
I think the next thing you'd see would be DVD sales plummeting....

</ul>