- The one I'm most looking forward to writing just now, though, is
"Babylon Squared," in which we finally show what happened to Babylon
4, and in the process ask more questions than we answer (though at
least we DO answer the questions we asked about the fate of that
station in general...you'll know what happened to it, just not yet
what it means). The end of this episode will cause more speculation
and consternation and astonishment than anything you've seen on TV in
a long, long, very long time.
- What a weird day...filming "Babylon Squared," and one minute I'm
standing in the anteroom/hallway of a Minbari cruiser that leads into
the Great Hall and the chambers of the Grey Council...a few minutes
later I'm standing in a section of Babylon 4, and the whole atmosphere
of the crew is *very* different, the whole sensibility is strange...
very strange.
"Babylon Squared" has a *very* different look to it, and a very eerie
and foreboding feel about it, which I like a lot. Jim Johnston, who
directed "Soul Hunter" and several others is doing it. Very moody.
- Yesterday, I got the final air-check versions of "Babylon Squared"
and "Chrysalis" to QC before delivering them to PTEN. Watched both
of them three times in the same day. They're just stunning.
Probably the two best episodes of the entire season.
- Yes, you will see the Major Conflict that leads to the situation with
Babylon 4. We're building toward a massive conflagration here.
- Yes, you will definitely, at some point, see the flip side of the
B2 episode.
- No, actually, B2 was structured for maximum jarring effect, thus the
sudden cuts back and forth, the sickly green light in B4...makes the
person watching feel unexplainably anxious, which was a subliminal
but definite intent. So no, nothing much was cut. And yes,
eventually we will see the flip-side of the B4 story.
- In B-squared, we saw the present
events in the vanishment of B4; in a future episode, we'll actually see
our characters make the decision to go back in time and yank B4 forward,
what went wrong, and so on.
- @@@877971397 The One's suit was very similar to the suits in
"2001."
Re: the suit...that wasn't an intentional 2001 nod...we went to
Modern Props to get a space suit for Babylon Squared, and the only one
they had on hand that would work for us was one left-over from 2010,
which I asked the folks in costume to change as much as
possible...though it was pretty much what it was regardless. So that
one wasn't intentional.
- Nope; Zathras is one of his race, which aren't offspring of any
other two groups.
- When Zathras shows up in time, it'll definitely be recognizeable as
Zathras.
- B5 is smaller than B4 because they sunk most of
their budget into B4; on B5 they had to get outside
funding, and scrimped.
- B1-B4 were located in roughly the same sector, with B4 using some of
the materials from 1-3 leftover. B5 was constructed about 3 hours
(traveling time in real-space) from the location of B4.
- No commander had yet been assigned to Babylon 4. One Major Krantz
had been assigned to oversee the final stages of construction, and
was on board -- along with about 1300 others in the construction
crew -- when the station vanished. The station had only been on-
line 24 hours, and the discussions of a commanding officer had just
begun when it disappeared.
- Major Krantz wasn't so much in charge of B4 as he was (as noted in
dialogue) assigned to oversee the final stages of construction. His
job was to get the station finished, then turn it over to someone
else to run.
- Why no triangles on the Council's
heads?
While the triangle is one element of the Grey Council
symbology, it is not present and visible at all times and
under all circumstances; it has a particular purpose or
meaning.
- The triangle only manifests itself for specific reasons, at specific
times, neither of which were appropriate to that moment. And yes,
the Triluminary is much cooler...and does something quite interesting.
- Valen was the one who brought Minbari
civilization together, he is their Christ-figure. And yes, the
heavyset Grey Council member is the same one as in "Sky."
- @@@840129143 Does the Grey Council live permanently on that
ship?
They stay on the cruiser almost entirely during their tenure in
the council, only leaving for personal family crisis/situations and the
like.
- Garibaldi's closing lines in Sinclair's flashforward are
reminiscent of "Aliens."
When you're shooting a show, invariably you get to the stage and
find that you have, for instance, three lines, one per character in the
room...and you're trying to get them out the door, and it moves better
if you give one line to one character and the other two to the other
character. That sometimes happens. But rarely. In the Garibaldi's
yell case, it was written as a quick shot, he yells and we're out. The
director wanted to extend the shot a bit, visually. I wasn't in the
studio at the time, so Jerry improvised a series of yells.
This sort of thing is *extremely* rare on the show; the actors and
directors know they *cannot* change dialogue on the set without approval
from me or Larry. On any given script, no more than about 3-6 lines get
modified for staging purposes once we get to the set. And always with
approval required. This is an absolute, hard and fast rule. The only
reason the Garibaldi thing happened is that they figured it was just a
yell, so nothing could get messed up story-wise (which is the primary
reason this is so strict; change one word in a line and it could screw
up plot points three episodes down the road) by having him yell a few
specific lines. If I'd been there for that scene, I would've written
him something a little less reminiscent of "Aliens."
- The script called for Garibaldi to take up the Big Massive Gun and
fire, with a primal YELL that went on forever. Any dialogue at that
point which replaced the yell came from the actor. The "you're
already dead" was only relevant to the scene, not T2.
- Re: Garibaldi in the flash-forward scene...no, it wasn't any kind of
"homage" to Aliens. (And for the most part, I try and stay clear of
any kind of homage unless it's primarily a throwaway; I want my story
to be MY story, not a bunch of homages.)
The single most moving kind of story for me is the "last man on the
bridge"...the last defender who has to hold the line while others get
away, knowing he will probably not survive it. This has great power
for me, and for many others, which is why it shows up again and again
in films, literature, TV and other venues. The Garibaldi scene has
NOTHING to do with Aliens, and everything to do with that figure.
Re: *why* it is that humans are special...has nothing to do with
sacrifice, or dedication (well, that's not quite true, it has
something to do with it), but that's not the totality of it. There's
one more element you don't know about yet, that won't be revealed
until season two, episode one, "Points of Departure." Once you see
that episode, you'll fully understand that there is one very
particular thing about humans that is very special indeed.
- I kinda *have* to play fair with the story; if you hear Delenn's
voice, then you can be sure it's Delenn.
In one form or another.
- "So who IS the One? Some of the evidence points to Sinclair, but
other bits seem to indicate Delenn. Yet neither seems to fit all the
facts above."
Exactly.
What you have here in your message are two pieces of the puzzle.
You're confounded by the fact that somehow they don't quite seem to fit
into one another. That's because there's one last piece missing in this
part of the picture, which fits in between them. The intent is to put
this piece into clear view in year three, probably between episodes 8
and 11 approximately. At that point, the question of the One will be
fully answered.
- Re: Sinclair as the One...funny how all this time very few folks have
really commented much on how it was that Zathras could look right into
Sinclair's face and say, "NOT the One."
- Garibaldi's eyes glow for one frame in the flashforward scene.
(sigh) Our rotoscope EFX guy was waiting for a bunch of PPG EFX to
finish rendering in that battle scene, and was bored, and like many
such EFX types, filled in the eyes of Garibaldi with weird stuff
while waiting around. When the other scene finished rendering, he
got out, believing that he had not saved that one frame. Unknowingly,
he had.
Nobody caught it until after broadcast.
We talked.
- "It has been divulged that Sinclair is coexisting in a parallel
dimension Babylon 4."
Actually, this has *not* been divulged...what it is is a speculation
based on an offhand comment by Michael at a convention. I jump in
here only because, well, that ain't it. B4 is not in an alternate
dimension, neither is there an alternate Sinclair. Just a course
correction to the discussion.
- With only one exception, you won't see time travel anywhere in the
five-year run of the B5 story.
- Which do you do first?
Fasten, button.
Levi's Jeans forever!
- Why wasn't Franklin delivering the autopsy report?
Garibaldi is head of security, and Franklin would likely give him the
report, which Garibaldi then relays. In such things there is a chain
of command. And as you say, it seemed pointless to bring in the actor
just for one half-page scene.
- Credits for two Gray Council members?
Mark Henrickson was the...rounder of the two Minbari. The one with
the staff wanted to go uncredited.
No real reason, he just felt it would be better for the character
to remain mysterious; and since it really wasn't a big part, it
wouldn't make a real difference one way or another in his credits and
resume. (I know that sounds weird, but as near as I can determine,
that's the reason. He did a great job, and we're looking forward to
having him again.)
- Does the triluminary have anything to do with the sculpture in
Delenn's quarters?
Yes, the Triluminary does have a function in the
device she's been making.