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								Babylon 5 posts by JMS for November 1991 through Jan, 1992


								This file includes a compilation of posts on GEnie by J. Michael

								Straczynski in the Babylon 5 topic.  The posts are copyright by JMS

								(and compilation copyright is by GEnie).


								 ************

								Topic 22        Wed Nov 20, 1991

								SOARON [Bio-Dread]           at 19:41 EST

								Sub: Babylon 5


								TWCNBN has been been named!  J. Michael Straczynski has managed to bring a new

								quality to television and promises to do justice to TV and SF with a new

								action-adventure SF series of his own design.  (NO story suggestions, please.)

								447 message(s) total.

								 ************

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 1         Wed Nov 20, 1991

								SOARON [Bio-Dread]           at 19:41 EST


								  That Which Cannot Be Named has finally been named, and the name is BABYLON

								5.  An action-adventure SF series set in space.  To premiere sometime next

								year with a two-hour TV movie, soon followed by regualar episodes if ratings

								are good.  J. Michael Straczynski has said that people always complain about

								SF not being done right on TV, well now it has a chance.


								This series has a shot of making it if has the support of fandom.  So leave

								your comments here and perhaps JMS will leave news and info here as the series

								develops.


								Soaron


								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 2         Thu Nov 21, 1991

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 00:13 EST


								     Babylon 5 is the name of a particular place where our story takes place.


								     It is numbered 5 because 1 through 3 were sabotaged/destroyed, and 4

								mysteriously vanished within days of becoming operational.  No one knows what

								happened to it.  All of which makes those involved with #5 just a trifle

								uneasy.


								                                                                  jms


								     P.S.  It might be useful if one of the sysops could move the initial

								announcement message (or, rather, copy it) here for archival purposes.

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 3         Thu Nov 21, 1991

								SF-LAWRENCE [Katherine]      at 04:29 EST


								We live to serve.


								=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

								     Well, now that the official announcement has been made, here's the

								straight skinny on BABYLON 5.


								     For the last three years, this project has been in secret development

								with some of the Major Players at Warner Bros.  Because everyone realized the

								potential of what we had, we all played things VERY close to the vest.   Part

								of the reason for secrecy was that it was slated to be one of several projects

								that would spearhead what is, essentially, a new network formed between Warner

								Bros. and a consortium of TV stations, similar in some ways to Fox

								Broadcasting.  And that deal as well had to be kept secret.  It, too, was

								announced today at the conference.


								     I created the concept of BABYLON 5 somewhere in between working on

								CAPTAIN POWER and TWILIGHT ZONE.  I'd seen so many SF shows by then that

								backed into a budget, and thus went forever OVER budget, that I wanted to

								challenge myself to develop a show that met several important criteria:


								     1) It would have to be good science fiction.


								     2) It would have to be good TELEVISION, and rarely are SF shows both good

								SF *and* good TV; there're generally one or the other.


								     3) It would have to take an adult approach to SF, and attempt to do for

								television SF what HILL STREET BLUES did for cop shows.


								     4) It would have to be affordable, done on a reasonable budget.


								     5) It would have to look unlike anything ever seen before on TV, and

								present not just individual stories, but present those stories against a much

								broader canvas.


								     The result was BABYLON 5.


								     After creating the bible and writing a 2-hour script, I commissioned

								artwork for the series, knowing full well that it would be difficult for most

								execs to fully understand what I was trying to communicate unless they could

								see it with their own eyes.  I then linked up with my producer from POWER --

								who had previously run MGM studios -- and we formed a partnership to get the

								show produced.  He and I will both serve as Executive Producers on the

								project.


								     Our first thought was syndication, and took it to the head of one of the

								biggest consortium of stations around.  We didn't at that time know that this

								group was putting together the Warners project, and in short order they

								snapped up the material.  Because the fate of B-5 was linked to the new

								"network," of sorts, we had to wait for that deal to go through.  Which  has

								gone through various permutations, on-again, off-again, for three years.  They

								never gave up on us once, and we never gave up on them.  Our support came from

								the very top of both operations.


								     It was our initial thought to begin with either one or two television

								movies, and then proceed onto the series.  The reason for the movies had to do

								with 1) a desire to bring down the per-show budget by building the lion's

								share of our sets via the movie(s), and 2) because we wanted to hit the

								airwaves with a big story, more an event via a movie than the series pilot,

								which at one hour would probably get lost.


								     And after three years, this has finally come to pass.  Phase One of

								BABYLON 5 has been approved to production, and the financing is now in place,

								and we have an approximate airdate and production schedule.  We have assembled

								a REMARKABLE production team, some of whom are classified (on current projects

								that they will leave to come work on B-5), but they include some of the best

								EFX and art direction people around, including many responsible for HONEY, I

								SHRUNK THE KIDS and the Henson-shop-supplied DINOSAURS.  People are coming out

								of the woodwork to work on this show, threatening us with dire consequences if

								they aren't allowed to work on it.


								     As for the storyline and characters of BABYLON 5...I'm going to hold off

								just a little while longer, until I know how much I can say at this point.

								Some of it we're trying to keep fairly secret, but some other parts we can

								probably talk about.  I just want to be sure I stick to protocol.


								     I *will* say that it's set in the future, in space, that it isn't a

								battle-oriented show, though it has more than its share of action.  One person

								described it (for commercial purposes) as CASABLANCA in space, though that

								doesn't quite hit the mark.


								     More will be revealed as I am able to do so.


								     The only other thing I will say is that we are going to need as much

								support as we can get from the fan community.  By choosing to go the route of

								a movie first as a pilot, we basically have one shot at the ratings.   It's

								better than a single pilot, but still chancy, so we will need support and

								every ratings point we can get our hands on to guarantee the number of

								episodes ordered subsequent to the movie.


								     For years, at conventions, I have heard fans lament, and even sat in on

								panels entitled WHY CAN'T THEY GET IT RIGHT?  This, I firmly believe, is a

								chance to do exactly that...to Get It Right, to take SF seriously, to build

								characters for grown-ups (not a Wesley in the bunch), to incorporate real

								science but keep the characters at the center of the story.  Over the next 11

								months, they will have ample opportunity to voice their desire to finally Get

								It Right.  And I hope they will.


								                                                            jms


								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 4         Thu Nov 21, 1991

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 15:20 EST


								     Some other info that I've been cleared to state:


								     Phase One of BABYLON 5 -- the movie -- should air around October of  the

								coming year.


								     Phase Two -- the series -- is now slated for the following March.  We

								figured close to that, but now it's on the dockets.


								     Stations set to carry the project include: WWOR New York KCOP Los Angeles

								WPWR Chicago KBHK San Francisco WDCA Washington D.C. KTXA Dallas KTXH Houston

								WUAB Cleveland WTOG Tampa KMSP Minneapolis WDZL Miami KPLR St. Louis KRBK

								Sacramento KUTP Phoenix WNUV Baltimore WTXX Hartford KPTV Portland, OR WSTR

								Cincinnati KSMO Kansas City


								     More stations will be added as we go.


								                                                            jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 5         Fri Nov 22, 1991

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 01:52 EST


								     For those into computer stuff, you may want to check message 403 in my

								topic on Cat 8 for some info on what's being developed here in that area.


								     In brief, we're going to be taking a completely different approach to EFX

								than has ever been done before, using cutting-edge technology in creating the

								images.  We've received massive support from one of the computer EFX companies

								that's on the very edge of this stuff, one of the largest around.  We've

								assembled quite a brain-trust.


								     And here's a surprise for you: if you will find a copy of MILLIMETER

								magazine -- I think it's either this month or the one just preceding it -- you

								will find a computer-generated photograph that is described only as "a work in

								progress" for an SF series.


								     That is the first published photograph of BABYLON 5.


								     (You see how sneaky we've been?  How quietly this has been going on?)


								                                                              jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 6         Sat Nov 23, 1991

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 04:13 EST


								     There is going to be a VERY strong female character.  Although there is a

								male who operates as the titular head of BABYLON 5, and is more or less a de

								facto representative of...a certain group, BABYLON 5 itself is actually *run*

								on a day to day basis by (oh, what the heck, give her name) Vice-Commander

								Laurel Takashima.


								     Now, this may not mean much until you understand what BABYLON 5 the

								actual *place* is, and how it works.  Which will come soon enough.  If I were

								to look at that OTHER sf show, hers is a much more authoritatve and

								independent role than, say, that of Riker.  And there are other very strong

								female characters.


								     I have a tendency to gravitate toward female characters in stories.

								Those who might remember CAPTAIN POWER will recall that the lion's share of

								personal stories were about Jennifer Chase, and those were generally our best

								stories.


								     As for cast...we're not going to go for big names, in large part because

								we don't want to bring on people with a lot of baggage from other shows.  (No,

								no Gil Gerard.)  New faces to television, but with a background in classical

								training.  We want ACTORS, with CHARACTER in their faces, not models or

								"hunks."


								     See, by virtue of working on a number of SF shows, and knowing others

								who've been involved in still others, I've had the chance to find out what

								does, and doesn't work, and how to capitalize on that.  By talking to the

								fans, and appearing at cons, and using this and other systems, I've been able

								to find out what the fans want, and to combine that with my own personal

								vision.  So when I'm asked, "Will there be strong females?" I think of TNG,

								and "Why can't there be a female #2 or captain?"  And I remember the other

								concerns, from BOTH sides of the fence.


								     Those who don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.  Life's too

								short for those kinds of mistakes.


								     Which is why, from the very beginning of this project, three years ago, I

								sought out and began laying the foundation for bringing on the best and the

								brightest, to give the project a look unlike anything ever seen before on

								television.


								     But frankly...talk is cheap.  Judge us by what we *do* now what we say.

								SF fans have heard this stuff before...and have been disappointed.   I'm

								determined not to go that route...but don't want ANYONE to take my word for

								it.


								                                                              jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 7         Sat Nov 23, 1991

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 19:52 EST


								     Agree re: female characters.  I very much want to see a woman in a

								position of power who is perfectly well-adjusged, has good relationships, the

								same basic number of character flaws as any other individual in the show...in

								other words, a Person, not a stereotype.


								     As for being "in the planning stage" above...incorrect.  We've been IN

								the planning stage for three years.  Now we have a Go order for production,

								which will commence in the spring on Phase One.


								     As for the location...no, it's not a saloon or anything of that nature.


								     And regarding the various characters...I *like* a mix of good and not-so-

								good characters as regulars, people who are flawed, who you might enjoy

								talking with, but you wouldn't necessarily turn your back on them.


								     In terms of explaining the show, I've decided that the best way to use

								this particular medium is to schedule out information.  We have about 10 or 11

								months before Phase One hits the airwaves (which is actually fairly short for

								a show of this scale).  Since there are 9 main characters in B-5, plus the

								location itself, I figure one big release of info per month will carry us

								through to broadcast.


								     So on or about December 1st, I'll post here the info about exactly what

								(and where) (and why) BABYLON 5 is.  Then one character description per month.

								I'll also post a revised list of TV stations some time prior to broadcast to

								handle the added locations.


								                                                               jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 8         Mon Nov 25, 1991

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 03:59 EST


								     For those who might be interested, I have just uploaded a file -- #3085 --

								into library 5.  It's a .PCX graphics file that contains the BABYLON 5 logo.

								I did the scanning myself, so it's a little rough around the edges, and it's

								based on the initial draft of the logo, which is now being cleaned up.  But

								this is fundamentally it.


								     One note: please understand that this logo is both trademarked and

								copyrighted, and is uploaded here ONLY for individual viewing.  Any other use

								is strictly prohibited.


								     Most graphics display programs like Compushow (CSHOW) will work just fine

								on the file, as will Microsoft Paintbrush.


								     For the show, the logo will be split at a diagonal, raggedly.  We will

								see the two parts in space, rotating toward one another.  The line where the

								two should join will begin to glow.  Music rises.  The two halves come

								together with a FLASH of light, and we get a metallic looking complete logo,

								looking like it's made out of heavy-gauge steel.  We then PAN OVER the logo to

								reveal Babylon 5 in all its glory.


								                                                                     jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 9         Tue Dec 03, 1991

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 00:42 EST


								     Thanks for the vote of confidence.  I don't think you'll be disappointed.


								     And now, at last, some hard info.


								     The date: 2257 A.D.


								     We have gone to the stars, and found that we are not alone.  We have

								moved quickly out, establishing relations with other civilizations that has

								let us leapfrog technologies via an information and cultural exchange with at

								least one other culture.  Many contacts have been friendly.  Some have not

								been quite so benign.


								     From 2250 through 2252, war raged between the Earth Alliance and the

								Minbari, an alien federation.  The EA was losing, badly.  As a last resort, a

								suicide perimeter was set up around Earth, known as the Line.  Every last ship

								we had was on the Line, in a desperate defense of Homeworld.


								     And on the brink of winning the war, just as they were breaking through

								the Line...the Minbari surrendered.  To this date, no one knows why.  They

								could have won, but chose not to.  The secret behind their surrender will

								gradually play a part in our story.


								     But that was now 5 years ago, in our story.  There is now an uneasy peace

								between the Earth Alliance and the four other alien federations.  To help

								cement that peace, the EA has constructed BABYLON 5.


								     BABYLON 5 is a five-kilometer-long space station in neutral space more or

								less central to all five of the different alliances, human or alien.  To get

								to one or the other, you have to pass through this sector of space.  Thus,

								Babylon 5 has been created as a sort of port-of-call for travelers, statesmen,

								emissaries, traders, refugees and other, less savory characters.  Five

								kilometers long and two kilometers wide, Babylon 5 is divided into separate,

								discreet sections that rotate at differing speeds to provide different

								gravities to accommodate those who come to the station.  There are also

								sections with alternate atmospheres.


								     The station boasts living quarters, customs areas, docking bays, meeting

								areas, a casino, several bars/nightclubs, command and control spheres fore and

								aft, and a decent defensive grid.  In addition, each of the various

								federations has one official representative aboard the station (with the

								station's commander representing the Earth Alliance), so that it also

								functions as a sort of mini-U.N.


								     It is home to humans and aliens in various roles, some arriving or

								departing every day, others working there full-time.  They live on the very

								edge of the frontier, in the sense that if they get into trouble, there's no

								one who can arrive in time to help them.  Because of the nature of the

								travelers, they bring their stories with them to Babylon 5 rather than having

								to seek them out.  The stories are of people in flight, seeking sanctuary;

								stories of smugglers, assassins, traders, mappers, dignitaries and others, all

								on urgent missions of one sort or another.


								     If STAR TREK was "Wagon Train to the Stars," then BABYLON 5 is Casablanca

								in space.


								     It is humanity's last hope for peace, a single hope in the middle of an

								uneasy, fragile peace.


								     And it *is* fragile, and dangerous.  It is called BABYLON 5 because the

								first three efforts to build the station were sabotaged and  destroyed.  The

								fourth one disappeared without a trace 24 hours after becoming operational.

								No one knows what happened to it.


								     And *that*...is only the beginning of our story.


								                                                               jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 10        Tue Dec 03, 1991

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 14:01 EST


								     Thanks.  As mentioned, I'll probably layer out one character or setup per

								month, rather than shoot it all out at once.  So for now, I'll be talking

								about the world of Babylon 5, the background, Earth history and the like.  For

								now, I'll say that there are basically five major Earth Alliance characters

								who run the station, and four representatives, each from the other alien

								confederations.


								     And for those who've been asking repeatedly on another show for a woman

								in a position of great responsibility, wait until you meet Laurel Takashima in

								a month or two.


								                                                                jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 11        Wed Dec 04, 1991

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 00:13 EST


								     Thanks to all for the good thoughts.  (And my Visual Consultant is

								already on me about making patches...sigh.)


								     There will be a novelization, though we haven't yet set a publisher.


								     Today the finalized artwork on the B-5 logo came in (what's uploaded here

								is a rough version).  It's absolutely *gorgeous*.  The Warner Bros. publicity

								guys are working like busy little beavers, putting together the hardcover

								presentation volume about the show for the stations, they're absolutely stoked

								about the show.


								     In a couple of weeks, right before the Christmas break, we're going to

								assemble the full production team, the First Team as we're calling it now, for

								an all-day meeting to go over the original 2-hour script and see what

								production suggestions there are.  Then the rewrite will be done over the

								Christmas break, which will lock down the draft until we actually  get close

								to production, which will necessitate some additional changes for set and

								other requirements.  We're starting to add on other production staff now --

								assistants and the like -- since things are starting to heat up a little.


								     Thus far, we've got two Executive Producers (me and Doug Netter, with

								whom I worked on CAPTAIN POWER, a man every bit as grumpy and curmudgeonly as

								me, and he's a hoot to work with...particularly since he tends to leave me

								alone story-wise), a Line Producer (John Copeland, also from C.P.), a

								Conceptual Artist/Visual Consultant (Peter Ledger, the artist who did the

								artwork now in hand), a computer effects wizard (Ron Thornton of NewTek,

								inventers of the Video Toaster, folks who are on the cutting edge of EFX

								technology), a Production/Set Designer (John Acavelli, from such movies as

								HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS) and about half a dozen others, mostly young, eager,

								bright folks with a chip on their shoulder in the sense that they want to show

								what this show, and they, can do.  It's not enough for ANY of us that the show

								succeed; we want it to kick ass.


								     We won't start casting until after the first of the year, when the script

								has been locked down.


								                                                                jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 12        Wed Dec 04, 1991

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 01:34 EST


								     I know what happened to B-4.  And to B-3, 2 and 1.


								     Bear in mind, this thing has been in secret development for three years.

								During that time, with the script and artwork and bible finished, all I COULD

								do was background the story to the Nth degree.  I now know far more than I

								ever thought I would about the universe of BABYLON 5.


								     And what happened to B-4 will at one point come back to, um, "haunt"] B-

								5.


								                                                                jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 13        Thu Dec 05, 1991

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 00:40 EST


								     Hmm...I'd appreciate any more info you may have about those patches (from

								computer or video).  Could be very handy.


								     As for the REAL GHOSTBUSTERS episode, yeah, that one -- "Janine, You've

								Changed" -- came out pretty well.  One of my personal favorites.


								     I don't think the collected CAPTAIN POWER episodes will *ever* be made

								available, sadly.  I don't think even *I* have a complete set; I have those I

								wrote, or co-authored, and maybe one or two others, but I'm missing a few here

								and there.


								     As for actors...we will be using standard channels.  We will have a

								casting director chosen by the first part of the year, and that person will be

								available to agents same as any actor or casting director.  The drill is well

								known.  As co-exec producer on the show, I will have quite a bit of input into

								casting, based on what's recommended to me.  I would mainly concentrate on

								classically-trained actors with a lot of stage work behind them, some film/tv

								work, but who aren't yet over-exposed.


								     The only role that I've cast in my head is that of the station's resident

								telepath (NOT an empath, a telepath, who is available to sit in on business

								negotiations, sort of a "Rent-A-Telepath," to make sure that the man on the

								other side of the table isn't lying to you).  There's an actress I've seen

								who's *perfect* for the role, and has some genre experience, though she isn't

								over-exposed yet.  (Memo to myself: I have to call her agent tomorrow and see

								if I can set up a meeting.)  Beyond that, the field's wide open.


								                                                               jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 14        Thu Dec 05, 1991

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 03:22 EST


								     Well, lemme comment on that.  One of the reasons -- and there are many

								others -- for coming out here like this and, as you say, putting myself and

								the work on the line is my belief that this is right, and this is the kind of

								show that the fans have been looking for.


								     And I'm willing to stand behind that, and be open about it, without

								giving away the real surprises in the project.


								     For the better part of a decade, I've been on panel after panel, and gone

								to convention after convention, and listened to the fans talk about what

								they'd like to see in an SF series.  How they want solid characters,

								imaginative stories, no kids or cute robots, using science the way it should

								be used, not talking down to the audience.  That desire has been noted.


								     I think there is a certain frustration among a large percentage of media

								fandom that they aren't listened to.  This is my way of saying that you HAVE

								been listened to, somebody HAS been paying attention.  What forms the stories

								and the characters must, perforce, come from one voice, you can't create

								anything worthwhile with a committee...but in terms of tone and sophistication

								and attitude and range, that's where you can be open to giving the fans what

								they want, and what they have been asking for now for a long time.


								     This is simply one more effort undertaken to make the fan community a

								part of the process.  One noteworthy thing about the creative and production

								team that we've assembled is that they're ALL fans of the SF genre.  They've

								grown up on it, and they want to give something back to it, to stand on the

								shoulders of the giants that preceded us and try and do something *different*.


								     I stand foursquare for communication.


								     For this series to be special, it helps for the communication to be just

								as special, and open.  This is a part of that process.


								                                                                  jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 15        Sat Dec 07, 1991

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 20:17 EST


								     Well, the other day I got to see the official Warner Bros. -- well, I

								don't know what to call it, exactly, it's a lot more than a brochure, but not

								a book, and not a flyer...it's what they've made to send to the various TV

								stations (allied and non-allied), and for the Warner Bros. salesmen to take

								around with them to the stations, and for the overseas market.


								     It's a three-part foldover on slick, card stock, photographic grade

								stock.  The front piece has the main B-5 artwork of the station in space, a

								binary sun in BG, a planet, and several surrounding ships coming in to dock,

								beneath the final version (for now) of the B-5 logo.  It's reproduced in

								stunning color.  You open that up, and you find text on the inside of the

								flap, and continuing down inside are character descriptions and the artwork on

								each of the main characters.  The second flap (folded beneath the first) is a

								cut-out all along on side, the cut-out conforming to the profile of the B-5

								station.  Open up that flap, and you find the artwork of the interior of B-5.


								     It's absolutely *gorgeous*, full color, and everyone who's seen it has

								gone nuts for it.  The overseas folks, normally reserved, are already asking

								for dibs.  We're getting a terrific response.  What was also fun for me,

								personally, was turning the whole thing over and seeing, there by the Warner

								Bros. logo, "Rattlesnake Productions in Association with Synthetic Worlds,

								Ltd."  (The latter is my production company.)  Cool.


								     Having worked on this for so long, it's taking a while for it to come

								through to me that this is finally REAL, that every day more and more people

								are getting involved with something that came out of my head one day, that

								folks in England and Italy and Japan and other countries are getting into the

								picture, that layout and graphics guys are putting together whole campaigns

								around the program...jesus, it's amazing.


								     Also received a preliminary copy of the final budget, and it looks good.

								Now we're looking at real money, and the responsibility starts to really come

								through.  Now we have to DO IT, and do it the way we've been planning all

								these years.


								     I think I'll go lie down for a while....


								                                                               jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 16        Wed Dec 11, 1991

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 23:57 EST


								     Two responses: on the input side, we don't have a strong network hand to

								worry about on the material.  Thus far, they've had zero creative notes.  One

								individual had one suggestion, which made sense, and has been implemented.

								That's it.  Nothing from Warners at all.  My associate on the project, Doug

								Netter, also tends not to get involved in story.  "I'm not the writer, you're

								the writer, you figure out what you want to do with this" is his usual

								comment.  When we worked together on CAPTAIN POWER, he said he would never

								give me a creative note because he wasn't a writer, and he held to that

								promise.


								     So to all intents and purposes...it looks like I'm going to be pretty

								much left alone.  If we succeed, great, if we fail, this time I'll have no one

								to blame but myself.


								     As for alien-aliens vs. humans with bumps...bear in mind that as much as

								we'd like to use REAL aliens, thus far we haven't encountered any.  So all of

								the roles will have to be portrayed by humans, and we'll do as much as we can

								to make them look as alien as possible.  And in some cases, as mentioned, we

								won't ever SEE them because they'll be concealed inside atmosphere-controlled

								encounter suits.  In the background, and where we can, we'll pepper really

								unusual looking aliens into the show, but bear in mind that if we're going to

								relate to these characters, and have our main cast relating to them, they have

								to be understandable (to varying degrees), and because they'll have to emote

								to one degree or another, we will have to leave some facial aspects free.


								     But within those parameters, we're going to try some interesting stuff.

								None of us much likes the "humans with head bumps" look, and we are all

								dedicated to doing as much as we can to change that and come up with something

								new.


								                                                                 jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 17        Fri Dec 13, 1991

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 03:00 EST


								     Yeah, we're trying to come up with new ways of doing stuff.  Makes it

								more interesting.


								     Quite a day today for B-5...exhausting.  First in come the color

								portfolios at last, then we have THE FOCUS GROUP!


								     I know, I know...you're wondering what a focus group is.


								     The studio pays lotsa bucks to engage a research group to bring in two

								groups, one group of women, one group of men.  They are then given synopses of

								the movie, the series episodes, the characters, all the stuff that for now

								can't be posted here.  And they get to react, giving us some parameters in

								terms of marketing and, to a smaller extent, the story and presentation.


								     Going in, we were told how it would probably break down: "The women will

								love the character stuff, the relationships, and hate the action, and the men

								will love the action, but hate the character stuff and the relationships as

								'soap opera.'"


								     Sonuvagun, but that's how it turned out.  And after having worked for so

								long to convince studio heads that SF fans want other than EFX, there were

								these guys saying, "Oh, yeah, special effects is the most important thing to

								me...and action, heck, science fiction MEANS action, fights and stuff."  I'm

								surprised they couldn't hear me banging my head against the wall through the 2-

								way observation mirror.


								     That stuff aside, though, we tested VERY positively, and even got some

								good ideas out of it.  It was strange, as the person who created all this, to

								look out through a 2-way mirror and see, for the first time, "civilians"

								discussing the characters and situations of Babylon 5.


								     One more step on the long road set before us....


								                                                                  jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 18        Fri Dec 13, 1991

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 20:51 EST


								     Believe me, I have no patience with or interest in focus groups or

								research or anything of that nature.  My feeling is quite simple: in the early

								stages of a project, you should be willing to at least *listen* to anyone.

								Because sometimes good ideas come from the damndest places.   But you can't

								WRITE that way.  You take all the input, but finally you as the writer have to

								sit down and use what makes SENSE in the story.   The day I abdicte that

								responsibility is the day I get out of the business.

								 I've never seen a project that was Made by research or studio suits.  If it

								works, it's because the project stems from one clear vision, and one clear

								voice.


								     Just as one example...while I didn't agree with many reactions of the

								"civilians" -- especially since they were working off a summary, not the

								complete script -- the one point that *did* strike home was that it takes a

								while to get going.  We set up suspense, and a lot of time introducing the

								characters.  But a nice little hook at the beginning, I realized, just a

								little fillip, would be a good idea to goose things a bit.  Now, I may change

								my mind when I get behind the keyboard to revise the script over the Christmas

								break (mainly for myself, and my own desire to strengthen the script, which

								has been around, after all, for quite some time, and I've learned a lot since

								that initial draft), I may decide to jettison that notion, I don't know.  But

								it's worth considering at the very least.


								     Fundamentally, if you're going to create a series, write and produce it,

								you've got to follow your instincts.  Besides, the whole POINT of the exercise

								is so that you won't have anyone making decisions for you  anymore, you do

								what YOU want to do with it, and let the chips fall as they may.  To do

								otherwise, given the angst involved in getting a series this far, is dirt-

								stone-stick stupid.


								                                                                jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 19        Thu Dec 19, 1991

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 13:49 EST


								     Btw...for those who might be interested, apparently -- and I haven't seen

								it, I can only relay what I've been told -- there will be an article on

								NewTek, our computer guys on B-5, in the next STARLOG SPECTACULAR, and the

								article will contain a half-page or so photo of Babylon 5.  (This is probably

								one of the early, rough versions of the station, so I don't know exactly the

								configuration.


								                                                           jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 20        Thu Dec 19, 1991

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 19:51 EST


								     Yes, at this stage, we're going to use computer-generated images for the

								exterior of Babylon 5.  Done right, you won't notice the difference between

								that and a model.  (In fact, some of the SFX guys to whom we've shown a later

								version of the demo tape were absolutely unaware that they were looking at

								computer EFX; they thought it was a model...and these guys are experts.  They

								also thought it must've been one hell of a miniature, given the detailing and

								depth of the thing.)


								     The cost is *slightly* less than with a model...but what it gives us is

								truly ASTONISHING options.  For instance...we have a ship waiting outside B-5,

								awaiting the word to proceed into the docking bay.  We can go from the POV of

								the ship to B-5, out of the ship, approach the station, go up to a viewing

								port, through which we see our characters in a live, filmed scene, and push

								THROUGH the port RIGHT INTO THE SCENE, all in ONE CONTINUOUS CUT.  And what's

								cool is to see them from the space side of the "glass" first, and we can't

								hear what's being said, since there's no sound in space.  Then just as we push

								through into the room, THEN we suddenly hear the dialogue, as if we've

								penetrated a membrane.


								     There are some really amazing things that we can do that, again, have

								never been seen before, using the technology that's come along in the last few

								years.


								                                                               jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 21        Wed Jan 01, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 06:13 EST


								     Since it is now January 1st, time for another piece of information about

								the B-5 storyline, which as mentioned will be parceled out one per month (and,

								again, I'm talking about the *major* points, each of the main characters and

								the backstory, though the plot of the movie will be kept confidential).


								     Here's an interesting bit of backstory.


								     The story of BABYLON 5 takes place in 2257.  In 2236 or thereabouts, the

								Earth Alliance made First Contact with a race known as the Minbari.   They

								were, at that time, only the second major civilization we'd encountered,

								though we had certainly come across a number of non-aligned worlds and smaller

								governments, one or two worlds each.  The Minbari represent a *major* force on

								every level, resources, technology, sheer number of worlds involved, on and

								on.


								     The Minbari are the oldest of the different alien civilizations, and

								largely kept to themselves.  Their interests were (and are) in attaining

								perfection: physical, mental, spiritual, emotional.  They answer to a Council

								of Elders, whose pronouncements are considered law in an almost biblical

								sense.  Though deeply religious in their way, they have also pursued the ways

								of technology, and as such they are easily the most advanced of the various

								alliances.  But they view technology as transitory, a means to an end rather

								than an end in itself.  Like Tom Bombadil in LORD OF THE RINGS, they can hold

								the Ring of Technology but it has no hold over them.


								     And from 2236 until about 2247, we were at war with them.


								     The Earth/Minbari war began as a misunderstanding.  The first time a

								Terran ship encountered a Minbari starship, they studied each other closely.

								The Minbari ship made a move that they thought would be considered non-

								threatening.  It wasn't.  Even in the present of our story, no one is quite

								sure who fired first.  The Minbari ship was greater in power, but taken by

								surprise, was destroyed, and the Earth ship limped back to base with tales of

								a terrible new enemy.  Minbari ships, arriving to investigate, were

								interpreted to be the first wing of an invasion force by the base commander,

								and ships were launched in response before receiving formal authorization from

								Earth Central.


								     The war put a great strain on the Minbari, who have always been strongly

								divided between the religious caste, and the military caste, who were now

								forced to work together.  The religious caste were quietly opposed to the war,

								but were generally vague about their reasons when asked.


								     The climax of the war was the Battle of the Line.  Earth had all but lost

								the war.  In a last-ditch attempt to save Homeworld, every available ship left

								in the armada was positioned around Earth itself.  It was, everyone knew, a

								suicide mission.  And that's, indeed, how the Battle of the Line started out

								to be.


								     In the course of that battle, a lone ship -- a one-man fighter with very

								little in the way of armaments -- took several heavy hits.   His instruments

								failing, other ships blowing up all around him, he aimed his ship at the

								nearest Minbari cruiser, deciding to ram it in the hopes of destroying at

								least that one ship.  He kept his ship on course for as long as he could hold

								out.  Then, abruptly, he blacked out.


								     When he awoke, he was still in his ship.  Drifting.  He fired up the

								engines, ready to continue, only to discover two things: first, that he had

								been out of it for a full 24 hours.


								     Second...the war was over.


								     And, incredibly, the Minbari had surrendered.  On the very verge of

								success in the war, they had rolled over and sued for peace.  No one in the

								Earth Alliance quite knew why, but they weren't about to debate the issue, and

								accepted minimal compensation for the war.


								     Now, ten years later, the Earth Alliance is no closer to figuring out why

								the Minbari surrendered.  It is, in fact, one of the great puzzles of that

								era, debated on a hundred different worlds.  Only a few strange clues have

								slipped out.  One is that the military genius who led the Minbari into the war

								committed suicide the day of the surrender, though it is unclear if his death

								took place before or after the surrender.  And the rift between the military

								and religious castes apparently came to some sort of climax, with the

								religious caste taking complete control.   There are rumors of some sort of

								religious vision, of a prophecy of great things, and a prophecy of complete

								doom.  But since almost nothing is known of Minbari religion, what this might

								be, no one knows.


								     At the conclusion of the war, those Terrans who fought in the Battle of

								the Line were proclaimed heroes.  One of these men was Captain Jeffrey

								Sinclair...the pilot who still cannot account for the 24 hours he was out of

								contact with Earth Central.


								     Commander Jeffrey Sinclair has come far in the 10 years since the war.

								He's had some rough times, but overall he's progressed.  And he has at last

								been given a major assignment, perhaps the most important job of his life,

								concomitant with his promotion to Commander.


								     Jeffrey Sinclair is the Commander in charge of the Babylon 5  space

								station.


								     Although the station (and its prededessors, Babylons 1 through 4, which

								were either destroyed (1, 2 and 3) or mysteriously vanished (4)) was always

								intended as a sort of mini-U.N. as well as a free-port, with an Ambassador

								from each different alien alliance present, the Minbari refused to name an

								ambassador until the station commander was named first.

								 Shortly after Sinclair was named Commander, the Minbari assigned their first

								ambassador to the station.


								     His name is Delenn.  And he stays very close to Commander Sinclair.


								     Some say he is keeping a close eye on Sinclair.


								     Some say he is Sinclair's friend.  And some say there may well be

								something very lethal behind those unreadable Minbari eyes.


								     And there are quite a few others, including a shadow-group in the Earth

								Alliance, who would very much like to know what happened during the 24 hours

								that disappeared from Commander Sinclair's life.


								                                                                jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 22        Wed Jan 01, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 06:19 EST


								     Small typo in the preceding: it should read that the Earth/Minbari war

								lasted from 2236 to 2247, not 1147.


								     This, by the way, represents only one small segment in the overall

								history of the world of Babylon 5.  I've literally worked out a couple hundred

								pages of condensed notes.


								     So...whadaya think?


								                                                                  jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 23        Wed Jan 01, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 19:54 EST


								     I would very much like to go for a soundless explosion...though logically

								the shock wave from any near-proximity explosion would cause some disruption

								in anything nearby, I would think.  So if, for instance, something exploded

								near B-5, the ext. space shot of the blast would be soundless, but if we cut

								to the int. of B-5, there would be some sort of vibration or similar

								disruption, I should think.  (Hmm, I'd better look into that further,

								since...well, never mind why.)


								     Yes, some of this will be in the 2-hour movie, just enough to set the

								stage.  As for Delenn, yes, he is of a somewhat philosophical bent, but he

								takes great pleasure in his emotions, which is another difference.  And he

								will look quite different.


								     I've been trying to come up with a very off-beat plot turn to pull in

								seasons 3 or 4 (assuming we ever GET that far, again, I'm working all this out

								in advance and hoping for the best), and this morning I came up with something

								SO neat, SO unusual, I practically slipped in the shower.  It's something that

								has never, EVER been done in an SF series involving a major character.  And

								boy, will this have major ramifications!  Too bad I have to wait so long to

								pull it off.


								     Oh...I forgot to mention one other thing about (then) Captain  Sinclair's

								curious incident above (and yes, this will come up peripherally in the movie).

								When he lost consciousness, he had 16 hours of oxygen left in his ship.  When

								he awoke 24 hours later...he had 12 hours of oxygen left in his ship.


								     Funny, ain't it...?


								                                                                   jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 24        Sat Jan 04, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 04:48 EST


								     There are, in fact, a number of splinter groups in the world (or the

								universe, I suppose) of B-5.  There are individuals who claim residency in no

								particular group or government, they're free-traders of the purest sort.

								Within the Earth Alliance, things are structured more or less along the lines

								of the Commonwealth of Independent States we're seeing now, with one

								monolithic voice that speaks in tersm of foreign policy, but within the

								framework of everything else -- domestic policy, economics and the like -- the

								independent state makes its own rules.


								     So their are colonies and fringe areas that consider themselves  by and

								large independent.  And, from time to time, there will be sparks of secession

								and the like.  I've never much liked the Gleaming Steel Of A Perfect

								Federation approach; I like things a little more tentative, less sure.  And

								for that matter, even WITHIN the E.A., there are factions and problems and

								power struggles and the like.  Wheels within wheels.


								     As for locations inside B-5...we've designed a number of very different

								looks and locations to give it a non-claustrophobic feel.  By virtue of being

								patterned physically after the work of such scientists as Gerard K. O'Neil,

								the absolute center of the elongated station (which revolves to provide

								gravity) is a sort of hollow-world look, with fields and hydroponic gardens

								along the 386-degree circular section (which is about a half-mile, or a mile

								across)...and as you get closer to the absolute center, where a transport tube

								cuts from one end of the station to the other, naturally you get less and less

								gravity until you can literally hang suspended.


								     And there are living areas designed to accommodate different

								environments and atmospheres and conditions.  The alien sectors are off-limits

								to humans without protection (breathing gear and other measures).  Similarly,

								a heavy CO2 breather or methane breather would have to wear an encounter suit

								to travel among the humans on the station.  In addition, the B-5 station is

								actually made up of several independent (though connected) sections, each

								revolving at a different speed in order to create alternative areas of

								gravity.


								     Parts of the station are still under construction, and parts are

								finished.  Some sections are in daylight, some in night, alternating by level

								and sector.  On the very outer ring, the viewports are in panels ON THE FLOOR,

								so you're looking down and out into space, revolving beneath your feet.


								     BTW...the Babylon 5 station isn't just floating there.  It's at the L-5

								point in a binary star system between a moon and a barren, lifeless planet.


								     Well, a *theoretically* barren and lifeless planet, anyway....


								     But that's Year Two....


								                                                              jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 25        Sat Jan 04, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 19:28 EST


								    Cam: yes, exactly.


								    Psion: whoof!  What a bunch of questions!  Some of the areas you hit are

								areas we're still discussing.  We *will* have jump-drive technology using

								hyperspace.  About 5 klicks away from B-5 is a...well, I haven't yet decided

								WHAT to call it...it's a jump-point through which most ships enter normal

								space to approach B-5 from hyperspace.  There are two constructs, about a half-

								mile long each, paralleling each other, and both fairly thin, which produce a

								dampening field that helps ships decelerate as they come out of hyperdrive.

								The effect as the ships come through the jump point should be quite

								spectacular.


								     We do plan to touch on some of the medical/biological issues you raise,

								though that'll have to wait for the series, naturally.  I thnk that's a VERY

								fertile area for not only scientific and story exploration, but sets some

								profound moral and human questions as well.


								     The technology on ships and weaponry will not be consistent.  I think

								this is very important.  In ST, the technology levels are all pretty

								standard...phasers/disrupters, and warp drives and transporters...except for

								the packaging they could all be buying from the same K-Mart.


								     We're devising as many new technologies as we can, and dividing them up

								between the different species/groups.  Each group is constantly trying to

								upgrade to the next level, and get the other group's technology.  We even have

								tech-runners, smugglers who trade primarily in data.


								     As for the look of things...I like things bulky and functional.  I want a

								gun that looks like it WORKS.  I want uniforms with POCKETS.  A too-clean

								future doesn't interest me.


								     How's that for a start?


								                                                                  jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 26        Sun Jan 05, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 04:58 EST


								     If we didn't think we could do the show up right for the money we've got,

								we wouldn't be doing it.


								     Given that I can log on here even in the midst of production on the show

								I'm currently doing, MURDER, SHE WROTE, I figure I can keep on showing up

								throughout the B-5 production.


								     To the question of vision...yes, this is entirely my baby in that

								respect.  There has to be direction, firm and complete, from the top for ANY

								show to be successful, I think.  But what you then have to do is get people

								you trust involved AND LISTEN TO THEM.  You tell your tech guys, "Okay, what I

								want to do in this scene is X, how can we do that?" and they give you options.

								Let them run with it.  Then take whatever works best visually and for the

								story.  By giving every person the freedom to be creative, the show works

								better, the attitude is better, and it all accrues to the benefit of the

								person running things.


								     We don't at this time have a science advisor per se, though that's

								something we're considering when we get to series.  There's certainly a solid

								brain-trust available at JPL, which is practically down the street.  (Curious

								thought...we don't normally expect SF writers to hire science advisors, they

								tend to do their OWN work...and I think that as much as possible, I'd like to

								try and hew to that standard.  I'm not a major science guy, but I know enough

								to hold a conversation, and by going to writers who ALREADY ARE SF WRITERS, I

								think that will go a long way toward taking care of the problem.  But one way

								or another, we're still thinking about it.  We already have a visual

								consultant, and we'll have a creative consultant when we get to series to make

								sure we don't accidentally duplicate any stories already in the SF

								literature.)


								     One last note re: the B-5 logo.  Again, that's an early version.  The

								finished (for now at least) version is in, and it's being used on all of our

								mailings and the like.  It's the same basic design, but it's in burnished

								copper and gold against jet black, and it looks like it's been carved out of

								solid steel, with a slightly 3-D look.  That symbol, btw, will also be used IN

								the show.  The upper, pyramidal section will be incorporated into rank

								insignia, with a separate bar below finishing off the symbol.  The symbol will

								be altered to fit various professions and status.  That, at least, is the plan

								for now.


								     Almost 2/3rds finished revising the movie script.  I hope to have the

								darned thing finished soon.  We can't do SQUAT until it's in hand.  So here I

								am, an exec producer, waiting impatiently for the damned writer to finish his

								rewrite...and it's me.


								                                                             jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 27        Sun Jan 05, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 19:18 EST


								     Mayhap it was the parrot that threw them off....


								     As for language...most times, since other groups know that they're going

								to a station run by the Earth Alliance, they'll take time to get the basic

								language down.  But, of course, there are always equivilants of the Ugly

								American who doesn't have the time.  In those cases, there will be a

								computerized translator, under which we will faintly hear their actual

								language.  And, from time to time, it could be fun to have two different

								species at an impasse because neither understands the other.


								     One of our regular characters will normally use the second method of the

								computerized translator because we will never see his....


								     Oops.  Too soon.

								     Never mind.


								                                                               jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 28        Sat Jan 11, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 00:08 EST


								     Here, after many consultations with Wise Men Who Weild Great Power, is

								where things stand for now, I think.


								     1) Apparently, B-5 met with a *very* positive reception at the INTV

								conference in San Francisco.


								     2) Our contract with WB and the independents stations guarantees our

								production as a movie, with the series still very solid.


								     3) The B-5 movie is going to air this year, in the fall/winter.  There is

								no conceivable way that anyone else can beat us to the punch on that.  It WILL

								be made, and it WILL be aired on schedule.


								     4) Given that there is going to be a lot of PR attendent upon the airing

								of B-5, it would seem counter-productive for any other studio to watch a well-

								publicized movie being aired in 1992, and then come out with a similar concept

								in 1993.  There would be no question as to who was there first, and the

								newcomer would, I think, be viewed as less than original.


								     So for now, we're hanging fire and waiting.  In two weeks is NATPE the

								*main* marketing gathering for independent TV stations.  And stations will

								have to decide whether they want a show that's ready to go NOW, or something

								very tenuous that will take another year.  And, again, we are LOCKED IN to the

								stations that form the consortium, and they include many of the top stations

								and top markets in the country.


								     So we'll see.


								                                                                   jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 29        Sun Jan 12, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 05:14 EST


								     Haven't heard of POINT CENTRAL, and I think I'll avoid it for the time

								being, for obvious reasons.


								     In terms of "literary or visual influences," frankly...well, I thunk it

								up.  Somebody has to start SOMEwhere.


								     Where it began, really, was an Einsteinian thought-experiment.  I'd seen

								SO many SF shows ruined by backing into a budget that ended up always being 2-

								3 times what they'd said it would be, that I sat down, very deliberately, and

								said, "Okay, let's see if we can come up with a show that's SF, that isn't one

								of the TV Generics (Man On The Run, Man In  Search Of New Worlds, Man Trying

								To Find His Way Home), and that can be contained."


								     The major source of expense on a show is creating new worlds every week.

								So I figured, this should be stationary.  I thought about the sorts of shows I

								liked in TONE...Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, even M*A*S*H, and in each

								case, there was created a center of operations and YOUR STORIES CAME TO YOU.

								Look at L.A. LAW (which I can't abide)...you set up a law office, and people

								with problems come to you.


								     So: a stationary locale, where people in trouble come to you.  This led

								me to also think of post WW II Germany, where American, French and British

								forces (and, I think, some Russian) patroled equally to make sure that no one

								side got the upper hand.  It also put me in mind of the early free-ports of

								the 19th century, which were noted for some pretty rough characters, for

								adventure, for intrigue and smuggling.


								     Put those various elements together...and you've got BABYLON 5.


								     That's where it came from.


								                                                                 jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 30        Sun Jan 12, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 18:00 EST


								     J.LAHUE....clearly you haven't been getting NEARLY enough sleep.   Does

								your mom know you're doing this?


								     Regarding the WW II stuff...bear in mind that was the feathering of my

								mind in the early stages.  That does not represent where the show is NOW, only

								what process took me to this.  While I don't like any sort of analogy to what

								went before -- only because it creates images and expectations that may not be

								exactly the same, and for that matter should not be exactly the same -- the

								"Casablanca In Space" log-line is the most accurate.


								     As for SF influences in more general terms...I don't want to leave the

								wrong impression.  I LIKE SF, and grew up reading it.  I don't have any

								particular school (Analog vs. F&SF) that I belong to, I just find what I like

								and read it.  I suppose you could find the scope of the show in my

								appreciation from youth of such books as the LENSMEN and FOUNDATION books, and

								the CHILDHOOD'S END material.  That is the KIND of saga that I'd like to

								present.  Too-hard, meaning too technical SF doesn't terribly interest me.

								The technology is a means into the story, and should not (in most cases)

								BECOME the story, unless you've got something really extraordinary on your

								hands.  The story is how it AFFECTS someone.  (Kurt Vonnegutt's "Report on the

								Barnhouse Effect" being a good comparison.)


								     I suspect, as the program progresses, you'll catch little influences of

								Bradbury, and Serling, and THE PRISONER (there's a certain surrealness in some

								later stories I've planned out), with a healthy dollop of Clarke and Asimov

								and Ellison.  But I don't think there's enough of any ONE to make a clear

								distinction.


								                                                                jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 31        Thu Jan 16, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 03:43 EST


								     Absolutely.  And to anyone else...feel free to transfer the material in

								this topic to any other system (kindly noting whence it came), and to give it

								to friends or whomever.  The only systems to which this permission is NOT

								given are the Idle Gossip BBS and the TFI BBS, which will only mean anything

								to those who know what it is/they are, and beyond that I won't elaborate.


								     Next week is NATPE, the main marketplace for selling shows to TV

								stations.  Anyone out there who wants to call their independent local TV

								stations (Fox is included in this), or ALL their independent stations, and

								suggest that they pick up B5 is more than welcome to do so.  It could be of

								help.


								                                                                jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 32        Fri Jan 17, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 00:18 EST


								     At this point, we're looking at same-diameter sections rotating at

								different speeds.  My feeling is...if you can buy hyperdrive, you can buy that

								we've got some spiffy new construction technologies.


								     Regarding the NewTek tape...did the video you saw feature a ship entering

								the docking bay of the station?  And were there huge solar collectors at one

								end?  Were sections rotating at different speeds?  If so, then yes, that was

								BABYLON 5.  (Though that must be an odd copy, or they've done some strange

								color correcting, because B5 is steel grey in color, augmented by black in

								some areas and the solar collectors are a metallic blue, though not garish.)

								My *suspicion* is that yes, that was BABYLON 5, especially since you mentioned

								the flickering stars, which are present in the rough test demo (was there also

								a ringed planet in the background)?


								     What I'm *pretty sure* you must've seen was the very first test demo of

								the Babylon 5 station.  Later, the length of the video was expanded, we

								layered in an early version of the B5 logo, music was added, plus the shot of

								a single ship docking.  (That was for perspective; for those who might see

								this, the ship at the beginning of the sequence is about the size of a Boeing

								727...and when we first see it from a distance approaching the station, it

								looks practically like a fly until you zoom in on the docking bay.)


								     So, based on what you saw, I gather you approve?


								     Regarding ads and publicity, yes, thus far I've been consulted, as was

								the case with the color brochure.  As we gear up more, I'll be further

								involved in all aspects of publicity, in order to control the image that goes

								out.  I'm not that involved in the NATPE stuff mainly because that's a

								specialization of the marketing guys, and they know that aspect more than I

								do.


								                                                                jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 33        Sat Jan 18, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 01:55 EST


								     I don't yet know which stations in Canada will be carrying B5.  Once I

								have a comprehensive list of stations, I'll post it.


								     Okay, folks, listen up:


								     You say you've been hearing about this Babylon 5 station.  You say you'd

								like to know what it's gonna look like.  You say you'd like to know how big it

								is.  Well, step right up, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, here's your

								chance to see just what the heck we're talking about.


								     Proceed immediately to your nearest magazine rack.  Pick up issue #4 of

								STARLOG SPECTACULAR, which just hit the stands.  Turn to page 54.  And there,

								in full color, is a half-page photo of the Babylon 5 space station from a

								frontal three-quarter angle shot.  The little ship about to pull into the

								docking bay is about the size of a 727, and the station is built to scale.

								You can see the main airlock starting to iris open, and the blue things right

								on the very edge of the picture are the solar collectors.


								     You'll notice the modular sections, for the varying gravities, as

								discussed.  And there are ports, an observation deck, and the like.


								     Now mind you, this is a *fairly* early version of the station, so it's a

								bit cleaner than what we'll see in the final version.  But this is pretty

								close.  (We'll also make the station a bit darker, closer to steel grey...the

								photo has it kind a bit lighter than that.)


								     Anyway, there is it.  Anyone who'd like to digitize it and upload it here

								as a GIF file is welcome to do so.


								     (Note: the photo doesn't identify the station as B5 because at the time

								the article was being prepared, B5 was still TWCBM, That Which Couldn't Be

								Mentioned.  Top-secret.  And we didn't yet know what the time-frame was.

								NewTek is permitted to use the material to show its capabilities, but at that

								time was not allowed to identify it.  In future, that proviso will not be in

								force.)


								     It's rough, and it's being revised, but it's there.


								                                                                  jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 37        Sun Jan 19, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 03:26 EST


								     Thanks for the info.  And yes, that spaceship-breaking-orbit shot is also

								from the B5 demo.


								                                                                   jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 39        Sun Jan 19, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 17:22 EST


								     I will pass this on to our tech guys, who can probably answer most of it

								better than I can.  Two things that I can comment on: the crops grown in the

								very center of B5 will be grown under artificial lighting conditions to

								replicate natural light.  Heck, we've already got lights that can be used

								underground and in nurseries for that purpose...and creating such an

								environment that way is easier than a complex system of mirrors and windows

								(and windows are at best problematic, now matter how strong they are).


								     Second it *does* take quite a bit of time to fully decelerate for

								docking.  One option you have to save time is the energy-dampers positioned

								quite a ways outside B5.  We're still working out the technology on that one,

								but it *seems* to hold up.


								     Oh...and yes, we're looking at a gravity range from 0 to 2Gs.  Anybody

								not content with that can bloody well deal with it.


								                                                                 jms


								     "Babylon 5: We're A Space Station, Not The Club Med In Space"

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 41        Sun Jan 19, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 18:50 EST


								     Why not?


								     Besides, don't forget that humans have to be able to at least GET into

								some of these areas if necessary, even though it may be extremely

								uncomfortable.  (So okay, maybe 3Gs.)  Otherwise you find yourself in a

								situation where an alien can do something destructive, escape to the high-G

								sections, and no human can follow.  Seems kind of impractical.


								                                                                 jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 45        Sun Jan 19, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 20:47 EST


								     Okay, for those interested, I now have a more specific schedule to work

								from, based on our latest discussions with all parties.


								     I finish my revisions on the 2-hour screenplay (entitled "The Gathering,"

								for those interested) by February 1, about two weeks, give or take.  Then two

								weeks to get in the notes from Warners.  Two more weeks to attend to whatever

								suggestions they may have.  The screenplay is then locked down by March 1st.


								     We go into design and casting March 1st.  Production design, art

								design/directing and tech teams begin work.  We begin checking out the

								director we're going to use.  First part of April we begin blueprinting of

								sets and construction.


								     We finalize cast and director by the end of May, and begin shooting June

								1.  We finish shooting June 26th.  We go into editing and post production, and

								come out with the finished film by early or middle October, and deliver to

								Warners and the stations.  (By the first part of October we also deliver a

								three-minute trailer to the stations for use in promoting B5.)


								     BABYLON 5: The Gathering then airs the third week in November, during

								sweeps.  Probably on a Tuesday night.


								                                                                    jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 48        Sun Jan 19, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 21:44 EST


								     Thanks, any publicity helps.


								     The NewTek scene being shown around is the early stage of the B5 concept.

								There won't be a full-scale model built, it will exist entirely within the

								computer EFX realm.  And the latest stuff I've seen is photo quality; you

								can't tell.  I showed the new material to SFX guys who know the field inside

								and out, and not ONE of them picked up on the fact that it was computer

								generated until I told them.  They all thought it was a model.


								                                                              jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 59        Tue Jan 21, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 00:36 EST


								     BABYLON 5 is a deep-space station located in a strategic sector of space

								that is heavily traveled, a jump point for journeys, with representatives from

								various civilizations on board.


								     DEEPSPACE 9 is a deep-space station located in a strategic sector of

								space that is heavily traveled, a jump point for  journeys, with

								representatives from various civilizations on board.


								     Funny...I don't see what's similar about them at ALL...even if there ARE

								some other points of comparison that I can't reveal for fear of compromising

								my OWN story.


								     As for the reason for rebuilding B5...it was an idea that was right, and

								those responsible refused to knuckle under to what was, in effect, terrorism.

								During WW II, someone asked Winston Churchill what he would do if a V-2 took

								out Big Ben.  "We shall rebuild it," he said.  And what if they knock THAT

								down?  "We shall rebuild it again, and again, as many times as is required.

								Because it is not theirs to destroy, it is OURS."


								     B5, at this crucial time, is the last, best hope for peace, and there are

								people dedicated to pursuing that peace, whatever the cost, however many times

								others may try to destroy it.  Those aboard B5 know the risk, but come because

								they believe in what it stands for, just as U.N. observers go into a country

								knowing fully that they may be killed.


								     Why rebuild the Enterprise?  Why make more shuttles after one blows up,

								even though you KNOW that the odds indicate that at least one more will go,

								sooner or later?  Why continue with the Gemini space program even after those

								astronauts died in that terrible fire?


								     Because the universe doesn't reward you for doing what's safe, and easy.

								Because courage and persistence is what pulled us out of the seas and onto

								land and dragged us through millions of years of evolution.   What sets the

								human race apart from everything else is our persistence, the stubborn, noble

								dignity that propelled Washington's men, when offered the chance to stand down

								during the revolutionary war, when they were tired and bleeding and

								frostbitten, to refuse to knuckle under, and to go on.


								     During WW II, again, there were cases of planes sent in to bomb strategic

								sites...and when one batch was shot down, another wing went off.  And another.

								And another.  Until finally SOMEONE got through.   Because it had to be done.

								The consequences were too terrible otherwise.


								     We have come into an age when it seems passion is passe, when the very

								common coin of our shared humanity, the willingness to put our lives on the

								line for a cause or a belief, seems somehow suspect.  Why do people rebuild

								BABYLON 5 even though it's not safe?  Why do they go there when it's not safe?


								     Because the Earth/Minbari war ALONE almost wiped out humanity.  We can't

								afford NOT to be there.


								     And these people are willing to put their lives on the line to see' that

								that never happens again.  Because they damn near won the first time, and the

								next bunch might well finish the job.


								     One of my favorite pieces of verse is from Tennyson's ULYSSES.  And it is

								at the core of what BABYLON 5 is about.  It concerns the final voyage of

								Ulysses...older, tired, who has lost his family and most of his kingdom and

								most of his men, betrayed and saddened...and he gathers up those few surviving

								members from his earlier journey, and as they prepare to push off, he

								concludes with a final benediction: "Though we are not now that strength that

								in old days moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are: one equal

								temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate but strong in will, to

								strive, to seek, to find and not to yield."


								                                                                   jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 61        Tue Jan 21, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 03:07 EST


								     Because of Babylon 5's function as a free port, the laws are a bit dodgy.

								Outside B5 it's neutral territory, it's only when you set foot inside the

								station that you fall under Earth Alliance regs.  Even so, you have to tread

								carefully.  You raise some good points, and that is an issue that's going to

								have to be dealt with.  Some sort of preventive measure would seem to be in

								order...it's just a question of figuring out WHAT.


								     Thanks for the comments...and the opinion, which is one that a lot of

								others are coming to share re: the situation with That Other Show.


								                                                             jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 62        Tue Jan 21, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 03:10 EST


								     BTW...this Friday's HOUR 25 will be dedicated to the question of how one

								gets a show on the air, the rigors and traps involved therein, and will follow

								the long history of BABYLON 5 as an example.  (What a coincidence!)  Joining

								me and my co-host Larry DiTillio will be B5 line producer John Copeland, and

								EFX wiz from NewTek, Ron Thornton.


								   Anyone in the LA area, feel free to tune in.  And if anyone wants to comment

								on anything, the phones are open midway through the show....


								                                                               jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 70        Tue Jan 21, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 20:29 EST


								     For info on HOUR 25 -- the SF talk show I host, with others on

								alternating nights -- check out the topic in Cat 19.  Topic 3.


								                                                              jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 81        Wed Jan 22, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 01:29 EST


								     Yes, it was BABYLON 5 in the CNN Showbiz Today clip from Newtek.   For

								those who missed it (*I* didn't know it was on until I heard it on another

								system!), it'll be on again tonight at 2 a.m. Pacific, 5 a.m. Eastern time.


								     I *think* I know what you're referring to re: Jello aliens, and will

								check out the message.  If it is what I think, I may have another comment on

								all this.


								     Interestingly enough...originally the new TREK show was supposed to begin

								PRODUCTION in Spring 93 for a debut Fall '93.  When we announced that we were

								going to air the B5 movie in Fall '92, suddenly they moved the airdate for

								*their* show to January 1993.


								     This is, honestly, NOT a coincidence.  And I'm going to be amused to

								watch them try to catch up...we've got a screenplay, a production team, visual

								concepts, a bible, EVERYthing...and I *know* that they have only a

								treatment...no series bible, no screenplay, nothing.


								     This is getting more interesting by the moment....


								                                                           jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 82        Wed Jan 22, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 01:43 EST


								     Okay, I just read the pertinent notes on 21/21 regarding the new TNG

								spinoff, and the "Jell-O Man," clearly (as indicated in the prior messages

								there) a morph/shapechanger.


								     Guess what?


								     As I mentioned in 21/21, there was also a shapechanger on the B5 station

								in the screenplay that Paramount has had now for some time.


								     What *I* like is the fact that in the current version of the script, I'm

								omitting the shapechanger because that technology is, in my view, overexposed

								right now.  By the time it hits the air, morphing will be so common that it's

								old hat.  (It WASN'T old hat when I wrote the original screenplay several

								years back.  That was the goal with the current rewrite...to make the script

								as far in advance NOW as it was when I first wrote it.)


								     And the coincidences just keep on coming....


								                                                                 jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 85        Wed Jan 22, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 02:20 EST


								     We're keeping all of our options open at this time.


								                                                                jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 93        Wed Jan 22, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 13:29 EST


								     Regarding the NewTek B5 demo...no, that wasn't done with the Video

								Toaster.  In this case, NewTek is noted because it's the company that MADE the

								VT, but this isn't an aspect of that, insofar as I know.  They've come up with

								some startling new technologies for computer-generated EFX, and in fact Ron

								Thornton, our one-man brain trust, is completely REWRITING THE CODES

								specifically to accommodate B5.


								     When the opening sequence is completed, the trailer will be one

								continuous take of the starship pulling away from the planet, scooting across

								space, then we pan in from FIVE MILES OUT, join up with the ship as it enters

								the docking bay, and go THROUGH the docking bay...ending up right on a live-

								action face of one of our characters inside.


								     And yes, we'll be slowing down the animation a bit, partly for

								aesthetics, partly because real objects should have mass and weight and

								shouldn't move *quite* that fast.  Also, I have some additional ideas on how

								the B5 station should look, and we'll be incorporating those in as well.  The

								*basic* form and shape will, I suspect, stay pretty close to what you've seen.


								                                                                 jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 100       Thu Jan 23, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 00:05 EST


								     Yes, the ship arcing away from the planet, as you describe, is part of

								the B5 demo.  The sequence is reversed; first the ship leaves the planet, THEN

								it arrives at B5.  Look carefully at the front of B5 and you can see it

								pulling in.


								     I initially roughed out what I wanted in the station; basic shape and

								configuration, the use of rotating sections, docking bay at the front, that

								sort of thing.  Peter Ledger then did the preliminary artwork, and then Ron

								Thornton did the computer version.


								     I have to tell you, it was way cool to turn on the TV and see the Babylon

								5 station on CNN after all this time.  Even with the hassles, it was kinda

								nifty.


								                                                                   jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 103       Thu Jan 23, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 01:57 EST


								     B5 is a "hollow-tube" type station, similar in some ways to the  Gerard

								K. O'Neil stations.  And I don't know what platform is being used,

								unfortunately.  (Metal?  Wood?  Just kidding...)


								                                                         jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 133       Sat Jan 25, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 22:04 EST


								     Sorry for the absence; was up to my ears in alligators.  Just time for a

								quickie...the show has now been sold into a LOT more markets, and I should be

								able to post the new station list here in the next week or so.  It met with a

								VERY enthusiastic response.  Nothing but continued support.


								     Will bring in some new info in another week or so also regarding the show

								per se.  And while I'm not sure exactly what's meant by "expand" the idea, I

								*do* like a show that grows and changes a little from time to time.  Shifting

								relationships, the occasional character who goes off or gets croaked, changes

								in character that catch you by surprise, so that will definitely be the case.


								     My problem right now, in looking over the B5 screenplay, "The Gathering,"

								is one of personal overload.  There's so much that I want to get into this,

								but if you lay in *too* much backstory and exposition, you get dull REAL fast.

								So that points you in the direction of action.   Too much action undercuts the

								character/backstory/offbeat stuff that will make the project DIFFERENT.  It's

								got to be accessible enough for reg'lar folks, at least for the movie, but

								strange/SFish enough to let the fnas (or fans) of the genre now we mean

								business.  Agh!


								     I think I'll go lie down....


								                                                                 jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 143       Sun Jan 26, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 20:59 EST


								     Actually, Eric, you're right one one important count...the hydroponics

								will be at the center of the station, as you describe...and that section will

								indeed be known as The Garden.  Which has both resonance from the original

								Gardens of Babylon, to a certain Judaeo/Christian myth, both of which will

								gain more resonance as the story develops over the long term.


								     Found a way around the problem I'd mentioned, and now things seem to be

								back on track.  Also found out Friday that a really NIFTY effect I'd hoped for

								can, indeed, be done for the show.  I won't elaborate except to say that we

								can show a ship arriving like nobody's ever seen before.  It's gonna be nifty.


								     Also got some other good news on Friday from NATPE, but I'll have to wait

								a few days before I can announce anything about it.


								                                                                 jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 147       Mon Jan 27, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 00:44 EST


								     As stated, the picture of B5 in Starlog is from a VERY early stage of

								development.  The actual version, in later renditions, is darker and -- for

								lack of a better term -- more *massive* in its feel.  And there will be

								considerable polishing in terms of how it looks.


								     This is *strictly* my own opinion (though it's a pretty solid one, I

								think)...but frankly, I don't think it's even REMOTELY possible for the Other

								Show to begin filming in June.  At present, there's neither a bible nor a

								script for it.  If you're going to start filming in June, you need a script

								NOW.  Or at least by the first of February (which is when "The Gathering" is

								due).  You need to run your script past the studio, then start conceptual

								design (and in our case, we're ahead and it's STILL going to be tight),

								construction, casting...and none of that can happen until you've got a script.


								     I don't see that happening (filming) on the Other Show until the fall or

								VERY late summer.  Even at that late date, though, there's still every chance

								that they could hit air by February '93.


								     And bear one other thing in mind: if they could shoot in June, they could

								release in November, when B5 airs.  And they're not.


								     So phooey on them.


								     Just finished another act on the script.  Closing in on the end.  The fun

								part of this is trying to imagine the future, and trying to come up with ways

								in which things can be done differently for TV, ways no one has really dealt

								with in TV.  One of our recurring characters (not a regular, in that sense,

								but someone we'll see from time to time) is a woman who is, for lack of a

								better term, a Rent-A-Telepath.  She works for B5, but she is available for

								businessmen who need to make sure that the person across the table can really

								deliver what's promised.  (Note: she is not the only one, they're pretty

								common in business at this time in the future.)


								     Not an empath, by the way, but a proper, licensed (Psi-Corps, Level 5)

								TELEPATH.  Bound by all the regs of the P-C.  No random scanning, no access to

								the gaming tables, no unauthorized dipping, all deals must be on record.  And

								there's the privacy question that TNG has never really dealt with.  A telepath

								peeping into someone's mind or emotions without that person's permission (or

								that of the next of kin) can likely have his or her license revoked.  It's a

								basic right of privacy...whereas a Certain Other I can think of is constantly

								peeping into people's emotions and feelings without so much as a by-your-

								leave.  And, again, this will be the very exacting reading of thoughts, rather

								than a, "I sense discomfort" sort of thing.


								     In the focus group, that character elicited considerable interest from

								the subjects.  I suspect the idea of a Rent-A-Telepath is appealing for a LOT

								of reasons....


								                                                                 jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 150       Mon Jan 27, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 03:17 EST


								     Actually...we're using hand puppets.


								     I'll get the specs and try to put the info here as soon as I can get it

								in a form I can understand.


								                                                                 jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 161       Tue Jan 28, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 01:09 EST


								     Actually, I hadn't yet given the planets in the neighborhood of B5 names

								yet, only numerical designations.  Hmm.  I have to confess I rather like

								Tigris and Euphrates.


								     As for the jump-point...as it turns out, I moved it out QUITE a bit from

								the station after my original posting.  The more I thought about it, the more

								it seemed best to move it back.  (For one thing, I need to buy about five

								hours from the moment A Certain Ship arrives through the jump-point, until it

								decelerates enough to dock at B5, so that seems to indicate pushing it away a

								bit.)


								     Finally, as regards t-shirts...maybe.  Will advise.  How about this: the

								B5 logo (the FINISHED version, which is 'way cool) on the front, and ACCEPT NO

								IMITATIONS on the back...(smile, couldn't help myself).


								                                                               jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 166       Tue Jan 28, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 03:13 EST


								     I think someone else here might have the info on the GIF file.


								     As for characters and story...that remains the first concern.  The

								discussion here got a little EFX/tech heavy, but ain't nothing wrong with

								that.  Bear in mind, also, that I can only reveal so much here without

								compromising the movie.  There will already be, doubtless, folks who've seen

								so much here that what would ordinarily have been suprising when the movie

								airs will now seem expected...because they read it here.


								     I'll pass on what I can, as I can.  Be assured, as a writer, story is and

								will always be my first concern.


								                                                                jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 185       Wed Jan 29, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 03:09 EST


								     I'm trying to decide if I actually want to upload the final version or

								not.  Well, not so much if I *want* to...I do...but whether or not I should.

								The problem, basically, is one of control.  How can you tell if something -- a

								flyer, a release, a piece of art or a shirt -- is an authorized piece from B5

								Central, or something counterfeit?  That logo is a pretty good means of

								telling the difference.


								     Once the final image is uploaded, it becomes easily distributed, and that

								*may* open up difficulties.  It's something I'm going to have to think about a

								bit longer.  In the interim, take what's there and imagine it rendered in

								solid, stainless steel, with a silver trim running around the edge of the

								whole thing, giving it a 3-D look, and instead of solid colors, as it is now,

								the colors look airbrushed or reflectorized, as though made of coppor and gold

								catching the light and throwing it back.  THAT is the final (for now) version.

								If that undergoes further changes -- I'm giving thought to making the word

								BABYLON bigger, as though cut from a solid steel template -- then I will have

								no compunction about putting up Logo 2.0.


								     Does that make sense?


								                                                                  jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 195       Thu Jan 30, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 01:14 EST


								     YAAAAAGGGGHHHH!


								     Stop-stop-stop-stop-stop.


								     One hard-nosed Absolute Enforceable here: tech stuff is one thing, but

								the telepath discussion is ranging into concrete story ideas, and that opens a

								LOT of danger for me, particularly since a couple of things hit upon here are

								in the script as it stands now.  (Answer: yes, I *am* ahead of you, Correa.)


								     Please, that's the only request I have to make in this regard: NO STORY

								IDEAS OR SUGGESTIONS.  We are in deeply litigious times.  Just today I

								received a legal piece of paper from a pinhead in Georgia who thinks I swiped

								his idea for a ZONE, and that's probably going to involve lengthy legal stuff

								to prove that I didn't do it.  (The script, and the material on record BEFORE

								the script predates his material by a long, long, LONG time.  He knows this,

								but is going ahead anyway in hopes of harrassing the studio and me into making

								a settlement to dispense with this...which AIN'T gonna happen.)


								     Anyway, the point being this becomes very problematic.  So while we will

								let stand what's here, please, no more on this approach.  Thanks.


								                                                                jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 206       Thu Jan 30, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 13:44 EST


								     I'm not worried overly about anything here thus far, I only wanted to cut

								it a little short before it got too problematic.  (Especially since one of the

								points suggested is actually one of the main events in the movie.)  Don't mean

								to inhibit anything, just a reminder, that's all.  And the Tigris/Euphrates

								thing is something that's intriguing, and is still being considered, as is a

								great deal of the tech stuff.


								                                                                  jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 212       Fri Jan 31, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 00:04 EST


								     B5 doesn't use fusion.  It uses *nothing* but the very FINEST in fairy

								dust.  (Actually, I haven't stated, though it *does* have solar collectors,

								big ones.)


								     KL, please give me 24 hours notice before you archive this topic so's I

								can do a fast download me own self.


								                                                                   jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 215       Fri Jan 31, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 00:47 EST


								     Insofar as we can tell, the EFX work via computer will be easier and

								faster.  The B5 demo that's floating around was done literally in about a

								week, by one guy working part time.  Look at that and imagine what we can do

								once we get our full team working full-time.


								     I don't know if you'll see more or less such EFX on B5 as opposed to TNG

								because I haven't really counted.  We'll use them as required by the story.  I

								think the mix on "The Gathering" is a little light on EFX, because so much of

								this story is establishing the characters and the relationships.  So we'll

								take what efx we DO have in that episode and make them REALLY spiffy.


								     I'm *pretty* sure that Ron Thornton told me we can generate 5-8 NEW

								minutes of EFX every week once we get to series.  Bear in mind that many of

								the space EFX you see on a show like TNG are recycled or composited using a

								mix of old and new film.  We can do all that PLUS put out a very substantial

								amount of new EFX.  And we'll be using those EFX in interesting ways that I

								think will be fairly original in look and feel.


								     One thing that I'm planning toward now is a mid-season crisis, and we'll

								be squirreling away bits of EFX for that episode early on, since the script

								will be finished well in advance of the shooting.  What I want to do -- and

								again, this is the series part -- is have one episode where we just kick over

								the table and go for it: a major, armed conflict between dozens, maybe even

								HUNDREDS of individual ships.  Think some of the sequences in RETURN OF THE

								JEDI as a boilerplate.  And what will be cool, what the EFX guys have sketched

								out for me, is that we can begin from the POV of one ship, move away as it's

								blown up, move THROUGH AND BETWEEN the other ships, change direction, and pull

								back to the B5 POV, all in one continuous take.  It means preparing WELL in

								advance, but I suspect that the result is going to be worth it in spades.


								     Which is, again, one of the benefits to working things out on a show or

								film far in advance, as with a novel.  Instead of lurching from one script to

								another, never knowing what's coming next, we'll have a full time-line to work

								from...what approximate EFX will be required, what sort of sets we will need

								down the road, that sort of thing, which means we can make things look better

								overall.


								     I just wish we were PAST the movie already, and moving on.  But one

								crisis at a time....


								                                                          jms

								 ------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 220       Fri Jan 31, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 14:01 EST


								     Regarding jump-points and how they're used...I'm going to hold back on

								that for now.  In talking to our EFX people and the usual neepers, I've come

								up with a really cool technology and a visual to go with it, and given that

								there's another show, I shouldn't mention names, you should never speak ill of

								the...anyway, ANOTHER that will use a sort of transit point/wormhole effect,

								I'm sitting on that info for now.


								                                                                   jms

								------------

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 222       Fri Jan 31, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI                  at 23:52 EST


								     Also you're a day early.  February has 31 days.


								                                                        jms

								 ------------@