=========================================================================== | This text is compiled from posts by J. Michael Straczynski on the Usenet | group alt.tv.babylon-5. This document contains material Copyright 1993 | J. Michael Straczynski. He has given permission for his words to be | redistributed online, as long as they are marked as being copyright JMS. | This document, as well as other Babylon-5 related material, is available | by anonymous FTP at ftp.hyperion.com. =========================================================================== From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 1 Sep 1993 00:50:02 -0400 Subject: Mind over Matter There are a handful of level P10s who can go beyond simple telepathy into telekinetics, but they are rare...and often very unstable. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 1 Sep 1993 23:43:59 -0400 Subject: Re: JMS's "What To Expect" Trust me, Babylon 5 is *not* an illusion. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 8 Sep 1993 01:01:26 -0400 Subject: Re: "Silence" in Babylon-5 In the script, the privacy mode involved going from a standard looking open booth to what suddenly looked like a flat black cube, which you could neither hear nor see through. The director decided to try the lights. It didn't work. We're dropping it. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 8 Sep 1993 01:02:39 -0400 Subject: Scene I would like to see Please do not post story suggestions for my view here. Any time this is done jeapordizes my ability to do anything approaching that story because of the ever-present reality of plagiarism suits. What you just proposed cuts into a story that we're developing, and now we're going to have to modify that in order to avoid any problems. This kind of thing causes us great difficulty. You can reassure all you want, but that doesn't change the reality...you seem like a nice fellow, but I don't know you, don't know if you'll change your mind, don't know anything. So I've had to make a blanket policy regarding stories: you can come up with stories, or I can be present. It's one or the other. I don't mean to sound harsh, because I know your intentions are good, but if this occurs again, I'm going to have to bail out of Internet altogether. This has happened once already; three would be too much. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 8 Sep 1993 01:16:20 -0400 Subject: Re: diversity in actors We're casting people of every ethnicity, and every height. Including shorter actors. A guest starring character in "Believers" by David Gerrold is a Hispanic woman doctor, who's at *most* 5'2". We didn't go looking for height, or shortness, only who was the best actor. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 8 Sep 1993 01:16:48 -0400 Subject: Strange comments The scruffy person in the Varner files was the same homeless person who we just happen to see sitting right outside Varner's quarters, watching as he moves along. This was played by Ron Thornton, because we wouldn't be seeing him in a major role, we'd just have to know someone was there. Again, this ties into a specific story line that has been modified with a) the departure of Laurel, and b) the length of time since the pilot aired. Who was the homeless man really? It's no longer an issue, but it was related, yes. But only in a very small way. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 8 Sep 1993 01:17:11 -0400 Subject: images from the conventions? I would *love* to upload some graphic image stuff, but PTEN has a very strict policy about letting that kind of stuff float around. If that should change, though, I'll be sure to move on it. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 9 Sep 1993 02:17:27 -0400 Subject: Re: Scene I would like to see I think the alt.tv.babylon-5.creative might work. Frankly, all I see of Internet is what's fed to me through GEnie, and it's just this one thread. I'm not on it per se. So all I have to do is make sure I don't get this thread to be at least marginally protected. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 9 Sep 1993 02:17:53 -0400 Subject: Re: WorldCon presentation on F Your order is a bit off. The short clip I showed was from "Midnight on the Firing Line," episode 1. In order thereafter: "Soul Hunter," "Born to the Purple," "Believers," and then "Infection." jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 9 Sep 1993 02:21:18 -0400 Subject: Re: diversity in actors Nope. One generally refers to male and female performers as "actors." That's simply the standard terminology today. "Actress" has basically been releaged to the same dustbin as "stewardess." (relegated, that is) jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 9 Sep 1993 02:21:34 -0400 Subject: Re: Scene I would like to see Okay, expressing ignorance here: what is a "group" when one says a "creative group?" I kinda got the impression it was a private thread of some sort. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 9 Sep 1993 02:23:49 -0400 Subject: Re: WorldCon presentation on F We leave the question open. Is he actually taking souls, or simply encoding the personality matrix and, in essence, creating an artificial version of the individual's personality? jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 10 Sep 1993 00:21:25 -0400 Subject: Re: WorldCon presentation on F I didn't say they covered it up or ignored it. In any event, it might be best to wait until you've seen the full episode before we start talking reviews and concerns. Right now you're responding to what *might* be the point of the episode; best to wait until it's aired so that we can discuss what *is* there. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 10 Sep 1993 00:31:37 -0400 Subject: Babylon a poor name The most common term I hear around is "Fivers." Though someone came up with the notion of using the Roman numeral for 5, V, and decided that fans of Babylon 5 could properly be called "BVers." Pronounced "beavers." Naturally, we had him killed. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 10 Sep 1993 00:45:11 -0400 Subject: Religion in B5 Let me just lay the foundation here for a moment in the area of religion and Babylon 5. I'm an atheist, that simple. But that's me. If you look at the long history of human society, religion -- whether you describe that as organized, disorganized, or the various degrees of accepted superstition -- has always been present. And it will be present 200 years from now. That may not thrill me, but when one is a writer, one must deal with realities, and that's one of them. To totally ignore that part of the human equation would be as false and wrong-headed as ignoring the fact that people get mad, or passionate, or strive for better lives. So we do deal with the questions of religion, and spirituality, and their definitions, without being abusive. A couple of stories on this area, like David Gerrold's "Believers" may be very controversial. On the other hand, my script for "The Parliament of Dreams" is a straight-ahead showcase, in which every species on B5 is encouraged to demonstrate his or her dominant belief system, as practiced back home. So we learn more about Minbari religion, more about the Centauri's rather Bacchanallian form of religion, along with others. And Sinclair is put in the difficult position of being asked to show what Earth's dominant belief system is. The solution to which is, I think, kinda cool. In the Babylon 5 universe, all the things that make us human -- our obsessions, our interests, our language, our culture, our flaws and our wonderfulnesses -- are all still intact. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 10 Sep 1993 22:46:05 -0400 Subject: Problem with JMS viewing possi It's a valid possibility. All I know is that the only way I'm now getting Internet at all is because Ron Jarrell (as I recall) set up my account as an Internet gateway for this specific group. I don't see anything else because I'm not set up by him to see anything else. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 10 Sep 1993 23:50:35 -0400 Subject: Re: Physics of Babylon 5 On the issue of tryful in making our physics work, when I showed the material from B5 at ConFrancisco, one sequence is of a B5 fighter orienting itself and matching speed and rotation with an object it's trying to snare. At one point, someone in the audience called out, "F=MA." I thought he was heckling; turns out it was a mathematical compliment. Force = Mass x Accelleration, and the way we were handling the docking and retrieval sequence indicated that the math in how it was done was correct. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 11 Sep 1993 00:16:39 -0400 Subject: Re: Scene I would like to see In 1989, the bible, treatment, screenplay and artwork for Babylon 5 was brought to Paramount. This is documented. It was reviewed, in depth, by many of the development people there, meetings were taken, and at one point, it looked as if we might have a deal. Very abruptly this prospect evaporated, with Paramount passing on the grounds that it then had an SF series that had just gone on, and it would conflict. What a development person at a studio does, incidentally, is to work with writers and producers involved in studio projects. The development person guides the writers and producers in ways that the development person thinks that the project should go. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I do not believe that either Berman or Pillar ever saw the B5 material. Further, that if they were asked to rip anything off, I think that they would outright refuse to do so. These are honorable men. They would never knowingly do anything inappropriate. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 11 Sep 1993 04:56:06 -0400 Subject: Re: diversity in actors No, the dustbin contains expressions that are in common use by just about everybody in America...except those who get it *right*. I should think that those in the entertainment business might just have some latitude in deciding what they should be called, don't you? Or do you feel that others should define who and what you are? You sign your name "Stewart." Should we all instead call you "Sparky the Wonder Dog" because that's what we prefer calling you? Or do you have any voice at all in your name, your profession, your identity? You get a vote in what people call you. Dentists get a vote in what people call them. Gynecologists get a vote in what people call them (thus avoiding confusion with proctologists, even though both are doctors whose specializations are within inches of one another). And people in the entertainment industry get a vote in what people call THEM. Where in this is your problem? yr obdnt srvnt, Sparky From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 11 Sep 1993 21:57:18 -0400 Subject: Re: Trent/Demon with a Glass H The kyben are not necessarily part of the B5 universe. First, the events that propelled Trent into the past don't happen for about another 1500 years past B5's time. Second, it's still a *possible* future, not the ONLY future. So there's latitude here. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 12 Sep 1993 01:46:06 -0400 Subject: Trek vs. B5 - things NOT to do Some general thoughts and reactions. I can't really address the issues you raise vis a vis TNG, because frankly, I just don't watch it, or DS9. So all I can do is discuss those issues in relation to B5. 1) Conflict. There is a difference between being crabby, and having genuine conflict over something that MEANS something. In the worst of mainstream TV shows (and some films), you have the characters bitching and crabbing at each other over things that really don't matter, doesn't end up changing anything at the end, and once the episode is over, no longer matters. (Or is too easily resolved.) It's the difference between just arguing, and a lead-in to a pivotal moment. Sort of like crabbing about whether or not you want nuts with your chocolate sundae. When we have conflict in B5, we try to make it about something that MEANS something. We try not to use it for punctuation. Conflict is desperately important in television...but you have to be careful when you use it, lest you trivialize it in the process. And once the conflict becomes trivial, or simply redundent, you're dead. 2) Torturing characters. The basic problem here is that this is one of the very easiest things you can do to a character; a cheap way to get sympathy for a character, and create danger. You can take the notion of "Someone kidnaps Character A and terrorizes/abuses him/her, making the character confront something in his or her life, but the character comes through at the end" and drop it on *any* TV series. And it'll work. It's what's called a "moveable piece" in television jargon. As with conflict, if done to excess, it becomes trivial. We're doing one episode, "And The Sky Full of Stars," which puts one of our characters through real hell, partly physical, partly mental. But we're ONLY doing that one, and it's not for something that'll be forgotten next week. This episode, and what he encounters, will have significant consequences down the road. It's not a throwaway, it's a major plot element. 3) Continuity. Again, B5 is in essence a novel for TV, thus it has to have continuity. And it will, and it does. 4) Characterizations and capacities. This intersects with your concern about continuity. One must keep continuity in what your characters are and aren't capable of doing, and who they are. This we are also doing. We are, however, also showing the various *sides* to our characters. It doesn't change who they are, or what their skills are, it just showcases a different side of their personality. 5) Merchandising. This is something I don't have major control over. I'm consulted on deals once they're made, to make sure that the resultant product is up to B5 standards, but that's it. I just don't see B5 ever being big enough to have that problem in any event. It's not a 25 year franchise. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 13 Sep 1993 02:55:52 -0400 Subject: Centauri Physical Appearance Centauri males indicate status via hair. So there are gradations common to all Centauri. Centauri women are bald except for a long trail in the back. It's the peacock situation, if you get the comparison. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 14 Sep 1993 01:29:24 -0400 Subject: A look at the competition Frankly, I really don't see that DSV is in competition with B5, any more than, say, "Northern Exposure" is in competition with "Picket Fences." They're different shows, on at different times. Were they on on head-to-head, that'd be different. That said, my two cents worth, re: "Seaquest" and "Lois and Clark," hated it, loved them. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 14 Sep 1993 01:31:21 -0400 Subject: Centauri hair There will be both sex and romance on B5 (sometimes together, sometimes not). It's perversely appropriate that in the B5 series, it's not the Commander who gets laid first, or Garibaldi, or G'Kar...it's Londo. And it's a very funny, but very touching and moving episode. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 14 Sep 1993 01:45:49 -0400 Subject: Re: A look at the competition It's my understanding that B5 will be airing in most markets at 8:00 p.m. Wednesday nights, replacing Trax, starting around the second week of January. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 14 Sep 1993 01:55:58 -0400 Subject: Re: Trek vs. B5 - things NOT t My feeling here is, don't worry about the show, regarding your overcoming on the pilot. Pilots are good, bad or uneven. What matters in the analysis is the series. You can have a great pilot and a disappointing series. And vice-versa. The series will air. If it's good, people will watch, whatever they may have thought about the pilot. If it ain't good, people won't watch, and deservedly so. In other words, the ball's in our court now. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 15 Sep 1993 01:21:40 -0400 Subject: Re: Centauri Physical Appearan The Centauri aren't quite as human looking as one might presume, given what has been seen. Wait...wait.... jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 15 Sep 1993 11:10:35 -0400 Subject: Re: Problem with JMS viewing p Thanks. Production is going well. Bit of news: because of his desire to do a couple big movies, a new album, and some touring, Stewart Copeland won't be available for the series. So we've locked down Christopher Franke, of Tangerine Dream, who's done the soundtracks for Thief, Tommyknockers, Angel Falls, Universal Soldier and a bunch of other projects. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 15 Sep 1993 11:41:49 -0400 Subject: Re: Scene I would like to see Just because there seems to be some misapprehension going on here, a point of clarification. My initial "not here" message was not in response to some idle speculations about the show. There was a message which contained a *detailed* story suggestion. With luck, someone here who saw it can verify that. I do not react like that lightly; only when necessary. You may think that this "paranoia thing has gotten out of hand." That's as may be. You're not on the receiving end. I know many friends who have been at the receiving end of nuisance lawsuits, which consumes literally hundreds of thousands of dollars, and months to a *year* of someone's life. And that even though they win the case. It can kill a year of your life, exhaust your bank accounts (which are often not able to be recovered) in a lawsuit which may not even get to *court*. Sometimes its a lawyer-spouse, sometimes just another goddamned greedy ambulance chaser who doesn't know a thing about creative issues, who's only after it in the hopes of getting a big settlement rather than a prolonged court case. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 16 Sep 1993 02:47:27 -0400 Subject: After B5 (was Re: Trek vs. B5 ...novelizations...1999....ack! One crisis at a time. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 16 Sep 1993 02:47:54 -0400 Subject: Re: Trek vs. B5 - things NOT t At this point, the only other con I'll probably appear at is LosCon here in LA in November. (I say probably only because thus far no one has contacted me, and can only assume that sooner or later, someone will do so.) The main problem is just getting away from town for any prolonged period of time while we're shooting. I pretty much have to be at the stage all the time, since there are always a zillion questions to be answered, and another zillion meetings every day. Once we debut, and we've finished shooting our first season (around late March), I'll be freer to pop up here and there. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 18 Sep 1993 02:17:43 -0400 Subject: Claudia Christian on HBO You can also find Claudia Christian in "Hexed" and "The Hidden." jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 18 Sep 1993 02:17:46 -0400 Subject: Re: A look at the competition The issue of Teen Titans Spotlight was a *lot* of fun to write; I've always found the character of Two Face interesting, and realized that no one had ever put that character together with cyborg, who also has a similar face and resultant problem...except he took a very different path. I find that writing comics is *much* more difficult that writing TV, because you have to compensate for the fact that the pictures don't move. Frankly, some of the most imaginative scriptwriting I see these days in in comics, from Ostrander and Gaiman and Moore and Morrison and others. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 18 Sep 1993 04:26:29 -0400 Subject: Re: JMS on Gerrold, McGoohan Some other actors you'd recognize who've done B5 episodes so far include David McCalllum, Clive Revell, Judson Scott, Fabiana Udeno and W. Morgan Shepherd. We're getting a LOT of royal shakespeare company people in here, drawn by the material. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 19 Sep 1993 02:48:39 -0400 Subject: Babylon-5 I was at the Emmys tonight for the presentation of the B5 Emmy, and in the visual efx area, more than one shoe can get an Emmy. So we got one, DS9's pilot got one, and Lucas' Young Indy show got one. (We sat at the next table to Lucas and his bunch, in fact, and noted that he watched the B5 footage with considerable interest.) So when you come right down to it, here we were, our first shot out of the box, and we ended up on the same level of appreciation as Trek and Lucas. Not too dusty.... jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 19 Sep 1993 02:49:43 -0400 Subject: PoV I'm not sure I understand the question. Perhaps you could restate it, with an example of what you mean. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 19 Sep 1993 17:45:09 -0400 Subject: Re: PoV Ah, now I understand. Yes, we will be getting more into the culture of our aliens, specifically how they relate to one another within their own societies. We'll sort of sneak up on this, doing it gradually and increasing as we go. We want to focus in primarily on establishing our main characters and how they relate to one another,and then begin extending outward. The same applies to the general arc of the story. You don't want to shove too much down somebody's throat all at once (he said, applying yet another lesson from the pilot). So the first season, there will be roughly 4-5 stories that are heavily arc-oriented episodes, though we'll certainly drop tidbits in other episodes as well. In the second season, the plan is to do 7-10 that tie strongly into the arc. We'll stay pretty close to that figure for seasons 3 and 4, though 4 may have a few more, and 5 will have nearly every episode tied directly into the arc, because by that time most everybody will have twigged to what we're doing,and we can afford to do that. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 19 Sep 1993 21:48:45 -0400 Subject: Re: PoV Oh, I think it'll be pretty obvious which are and aren't part of the arc as soon as you see them.... jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 21 Sep 1993 00:57:52 -0400 Subject: Who exactly is JMS? To follow on Jonathan's note, and also give more info on what it is exactly I do...I created Babylon 5 in 1986/87, and have battled, along with Doug Netter, my business associate and fellow executive producer, to get this project to series for over six years. I wrote and co-exec produced the pilot movie, the series bible and treatment, and will be/am writing roughly half the series episodes as well as exec producing. (Th difference is that you just drop the co- from your title.) What do I do exactly? Aside from writing my own scripts, I assign stories to other writers, and select those writers to work with. (Because B5 is tied to a story arc, many of our freelance scripts are based upon assigned stories.) I'm also involved in every single stage of the series production: minus any notes from the studio (which are minimal, our last project got no notes at all, they're leaving us very much alone), Doug and I have final say over jevery aspect of the series. (Generally Doug is more the businessman and deal maker, leaving most of the creative details to me.) I do casting, work with the art directors on graphics, approve and work with the set designers, wardrobe people, prosthetics team, computer graphics team, visual effects, every single department. I get final say on the editing of the shows, mussound effects, you name it. One thing that distinguishes this show, I think, is that it's very much a *personal vision*. This is my show, the way I want it to look, and sound, and feel. And my feeling is that this is either going to work big-time...or we're going to go down in the biggest blast since Tunguska. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 21 Sep 1993 01:04:49 -0400 Subject: SeaQuest/live CGI [was Re: JM The way the CGI and live people will interact is currently highly classified. But I've seen it, and it's *way* cool. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 22 Sep 1993 00:53:57 -0400 Subject: Re: Babylon 5's Emmy award. Just to set your mind at ease, Sinclair does not routinely take out the fighter craft on routine reconnaisance missions. In one episode, "Midnight on the Firing Line," he goes for a very specific reason for which ONLY he can go, and in "Soul Hunter" he goes because of a First Contact protocol. Otherwise, others are sent. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 23 Sep 1993 04:58:19 GMT Subject: Re: Babylon 5's Emmy award. Generally speaking, the look of our show is more textured, and a little rougher around the edges. Perfection bores me. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 23 Sep 1993 22:02:57 -0400 Subject: Invoke Silence? As written in the script, the idea of invoking privacy consisted of sitting in a booth and, when privacy mode was invoked, the booth seems to become a solid, black block from the outside. The director thought the same effect could be gained via the lights. It wasn't. And there won't be any future instances of this. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 24 Sep 1993 22:49:49 -0400 Subject: A question for Joe My understanding of ANYthing to do with our CGI is limited and imperfect at best, but it's my understanding that we are indeed rendering it at 16:9. Re: the episodes...thus far we're coming in on time, and on budget, and our episodes are timing out about right, i.e., we're not having to cut scenes out altogether, as we did in the pilot. We're using just about everything we shoot, minus any snippets here and there to pick up the pace within a scene. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 24 Sep 1993 22:50:14 -0400 Subject: Re: B5 in production. Incorrect. PTEN is owned in a shared capacity by the station group (including Chris-Craft Television/UTN) and Warner Bros. Paramount has NOTHING to do with B5 or PTEN. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 25 Sep 1993 22:13:21 -0400 Subject: Re: JMS: "Sky" (Know fear!) "makes me wonder as to the wisdom of releasing shots of what could be some of the best CGI to come out of (B5)." Lemme give you a little hint about something. We didn't let out the best. We let out the *least*. For the very reasons you specify. And that was done at the very earliest stages of CGI work on the series. It gets far, far, FAR cooler than that. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 28 Sep 1993 18:48:16 -0400 Subject: Design flaws of the B5 station Y'know, the only thing that bothers me about these discussions is when something becomes a "flaw" because it's not how someone else might do it. I've gone over your message, and frankly, what you say is a flaw is NOT a flaw. It's the most logical approach we could come up with. You use the zero-G cargo bay for huge, heavy objects and crates and god knows what where you need weightlessness. People don't weigh very much. You also don't have to worry about pumping in air in most cases; you can leave it fairly open, let the ships dock nearby, shuttle in the cargo right into the top bay, and move on. You say that it's hard to dock in the center because it's moving, but I'd point out that in space, EVERYTHING is moving. Even to dock in or use the zero-G area, a ship has to stop and orient itself to that area. Everything in space is moving relative to everything else. There isn't much difference involved for the approaching ship. When a ship enters the regular bay, it moves further in and is in essence "grabbed" and lowered into any of a number of various docking and cargo bays. The deeper the cargo bay, the more gravity. So you can adjust as you go. Also, this way, instead of having what is in essence one big garage (the zero-G cargo bay), you can shunt ships off by their category (civilian vs. military, alien vs. human atmosphere) to the appropriate bays. You don't have to worry about shuttling people through zero-G once they leave their ships; they're in atmosphere, and on the "ground," where they can then get into a proper line to go through customs. It's a *controlled environment*, which is what you want in a customs area, not everybody floating around everywhichway. There are another half-dozen reasons why it's constructed this way, but those are the primary ones. So frankly, I have to disagree with you: it is most definitely NOT a design flaw. And not to be persnickety, but before classifying something a "flaw" in a message, you might consider next time asking why something is the way it is. If I can answer your question logically, then it's not a flaw. If I can't, then it is. (Ditto to just going on this as an assumption that it IS a flaw, and then asking for additional, as though this were simply a given. It isn't.) jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 28 Sep 1993 21:43:11 -0400 Subject: The Planet/Writer's guidelines Yes, the nearby planet will eventually figure into the storyline. No, I cannot currently tell you how. We're not sure when the writer's guidelines will become available. We still have to work out the dynamic on that to figure out how to avoid getting swamped. When I worked on the syndicated Twilight Zone, we got something in excess of 3,000 spec submissions...and my suspicion is that if we're successful, that would double. (And that 3,000 figure was just for one season.) We have to figure out how to create a situation that will create manageable numbers, or we'll be swamped, and nobody will get a fair shot because they'll be lost in the white noise. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 29 Sep 1993 03:53:35 -0400 Subject: Re: Design flaws of the B5 sta It's hard to get a sense of scale from that docking bay sometimes, which is something we'll be addressing, to give a better idea of it...but for purposes of scale, you could dock several aircraft carriers or about two Enterprises in the size of that docking bay entrance. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 30 Sep 1993 06:57:48 -0400 Subject: E! show question about ship ID The ship you see performing the rescue in the E! clips is one of the B5 fighters, located in their own docking bays in the station within the cobra-like arms you see on the sides of the forward part of the station (and hence nicknamed cobra bays). jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 30 Sep 1993 16:27:48 -0400 Subject: Filming Episodes Out of Order There's absolutely no problem with the actors in terms of continuity because of shooting the season finale midway through the run. First and foremost, again because this is a novel for television, the basic stories for the whole season are already written, and thus all of our actors know where they're going for this season. Much as this is a straight line, everything in TV is out of order. You generally don't shoot an episode in sequence, for instance...you often shoot the last scene first, the first scene in the middle, and the middle in the beginning. Actors have to be able do adjust to that sort of thing, and they do so. Also, in terms of being familiar with their characters...again, that is very much at their disposal. We don't have the luxury of taking a full season to start to establish our characters. We have to hit the ground running right from ground zero. We'll be expanding our characters as we go, but again, nearly all of that currently exists in the B5 season one bible, which goes into considerable background history on all of the characters, and spells out in broad strokes what will be happening to them in this first season. As a result of all this, our actors have been able to hit their stride almost from the first frame. It ain't no kind of problem. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 30 Sep 1993 16:28:14 -0400 Subject: Re: The Planet/Writer's guidel There's one other aspect to consider in all of this, though. In a way, Trek has created a false image of how a TV show operates. What I'm about to say should not be taken as a slam at Trek...it isn't. This is simply the truth, this is what they do. Sometimes it sounds less than politic to say it, though.... Trek is constantly scrounging for new stories...for new ideas because to some extent they've run out of ideas (at least, ideas that can be allowable within the ST universe...their exec, Jeri Taylor, is probably one of the very best writer/producers in town, and she could rip the lid off that show if they'd let her). They've embraced/encouraged spec scripts from anyone and everyone just to get stuff in the pipeline. Compounding this is the fact that they're operating in 25 years of history, meaning there's a lot they can't do for fear of repitition. You have to understand...we don't have that problem. At this juncture, if I so desired, I could close the front door to the office, and never hire a freelance writer because *this story is a NOVEL for television*. It's the story I want to tell. And each and every episode has been sketched out already for a full five year run. If you're putting together a collection of unrelated short stories, then you solicit stuff all over the place. But if you're writing a novel, do you ask people to submit ideas or stories? This show doesn't operate like Trek...or like just about any OTHER show, for that matter. It's very unique in that respect. What I'm doing, however, is making sure that we employ freelance writers for a minimum of 50% of our episodes. Most shows are almost entirely staff written, by contrast. So far, though, all but one of our freelance scripts work off stories I've developed and assigned to them, as part of the overall arc of Babylon 5. This gets the writer in tune with our show, so that they can then come up with their own stories and I can free up that slot in the novel, or replace a less strong story with a stronger one, thus strengthening the series overall. When we start looking at specs, it won't be to look for ideas. Many of those I've spoken to who've written spec Trek scripts don't really consider themselves scriptwriters; their hope is to sell the basic idea, get the credit, a little money, and so on. The only reason for looking at spec scripts would be to find the very best *SF scriptwriters*, new or established, who get our characters and the dialogue, to whom we could then assign a story. People shouldn't treat this show the same way as Trek; no other series operates like that show does. Whether that's good or bad is anybody's guess. All I can say is how *this* show works. We will continue to do as much as we can to be open to new writers...one of our writers this season has only written one other produced live-action episode, and another has no live-action credits...but there are limits to our resources, and our approach. We can't afford to field a huge reading staff, and don't need one. It's just not the same kind of show. Working this all out will require a solution of near Solomonic proportions...but it will be worked out somehow. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 30 Sep 1993 22:59:17 -0400 Subject: Re: Filming Episodes Out of Or It never ceases to astonish me how, when there's not a problem, people insist on fabricating them.... First and foremost, every series shoots its episodes out of order to varying degrees. Second, it is our decision to shoot 22 early because, as I stated originally, it's going to require some considerable post production/CGI, and the sooner that gets started, the better. Also, some of our actors will be briefly unavailable during the holiday period, so we're trying to shoot the episodes that use those actors earlier, so that we can shoot the episodes that don't need those actors when they're off on vacation, then pick up the last few that involve those actors upon their return. And it's not a "finale"...it's not designed to tie things up, but rather to open up a WHOLE lot of questions, kick over some tables, and make for one hell of a cliffhanger. Honestly...you people get worried by the damndest things sometimes.... jms