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								Babylon 5 posts by JMS for April, 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.)

								681 message(s) total.

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

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 388       Wed Apr 01, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 01:48 EST


								     Okay, two things: I put in the order today for the shirts (which, on

								seeing what was there, I decided at the last would look better on royal blue

								than black, with the emblem in white).  Those of you who need to hedar -- er,

								hear -- further details, will.  Watch your private mail in the next two weeks.

								(You know who you are.)


								     And now something very, very serious, folks, and I want you all to listen

								good.


								     I have a favor to ask.


								     I need those of you who have any real interest in seeing B5 hit the

								airwaves to check into this topic at least twice a day between now and Friday

								morning/early afternoon.  I may need something from you, in a big way.  This

								is *important*, people.  I can't go into detail at this time, and maybe the

								situation will fix itself...but for now let's just say that you may have a

								chance to influence a major situation.  I don't know how large the B5 group of

								shock-troops is, but there may be a major role for every single one of you to

								play.


								     I don't want to sound apocalyptic.  I *do* want to convey to you that

								there is something very important in the works and, as they say, to Watch This

								Space.  The call may never need to go out, but if it does, stay tuned.


								                                                              jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 421       Thu Apr 02, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:55 EST


								     Many thanks to all the volunteers.  All I can say is to stand by.   The

								next 24-36 hours are make-or-break.


								     The outpouring here is very much appreciated, and very warming.  Thank

								you.


								                                                                 jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 425       Thu Apr 02, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 02:02 EST


								     No reason to feel foolish.  The cause and situation is quite real, and

								believe me, I would not be doing this if there weren't sufficient cause.


								     And check-ins needn't be during prime-time, that's something I should

								have mentioned, but didn't.  And yes, I will very *definitely* note here when

								and if the crisis passes.


								     Please continue to bear with me.  This is, as someone noted, truly an

								extraordinary situation...and there may be a chance to take part in a

								democratization of the process of television that may be something of a

								benchmark.


								     Thanks again, and as soon as I can come out with the full story, I  will

								do so immediately.


								                                                                 jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 452       Thu Apr 02, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 23:56 EST


								     Several things...first, thanks to one and all, especially the lurkers (so

								where've you BEEN all this time?).


								     Second, it *looks* as if the deadline for the resolution for the current

								situation has been extended to Monday, which lets us all take a moment to

								breathe.  So you needn't check in on the twice-daily schedule for the next

								couple of days, though I strongly suggest a check-back on Monday.


								     In the interim, because there's some time, and because we've now gone

								through so much set-up, I think it is incumbent upon me to kind of explain a

								*little* of the situation.  Mind, I can't say a lot; I have to be circumspect

								because that's the nature of the business.  At least, I have to be circumspect

								at the moment...we'll see what Monday at the close of business day brings.


								     What I *can* say is this...that from the very first day, as those of you

								who've been around the longest know, everyone associated with B5 has dedicated

								him/herself to doing this one *right* in every possible sense of the word.

								Budget, effects, the deal, control, the script, you name it, we've been *very*

								careful, and very dedicated to that singular proposition.


								     In any situation like this, if you're worth your salt, you come to one

								pivotal moment when you have to be willing to put *everything* on the line, to

								risk it all on one throw of the dice.  In order to get the last elements we

								need, that's what I've had to do...we will either do this show right, on every

								level, or....


								     You get the idea.


								     I've put it all up to a roll of the dice...four years work, my team,

								everything.  In order to do it *right*, or not at all.  One of my prize

								possessions is a RAF wing-insignia from WW II.  The motto read only, "Who

								Dares, Wins."  And I believe that.


								     If I can mix my gambling metaphors for just a moment, in this little game

								of chance I have one card up my sleeve...and that's all of you.  If the

								balance begins to tip, those of you who believe in what we're trying to do

								will all have your part to play.  And it may be *extremely* instrumental.

								That's all I can say at the moment.  My decision to put everything up for

								grabs, winner-take-all, has been supported by all th ose involved with B5, and

								that's immensely gratifying.  It's a very, *very* dangerous game, but with a

								little luck, and with a sudden possible ride by the cavalry over the hill,

								it's *just* possible thatt we'll pull it off, and make a little history in the

								process.


								     So stay watchful, though a little less often between now and Monday, and

								we'll see what happens.  And know that your support and your interest means

								more than I can possibly describe.


								     Thanks again, and as soon as I can explain further, or make an

								announcement one way or another, be assured that it'll be here within minutes.


								     (Oh...and before I forget...the t-shirts are being silk-screened even as

								I type this, and will be ready within about 10 days, at which time there will

								be a system whereby those whats wants 'em will be able to get them without

								charge.  This batch will be set aside only for use at and distribution at

								conventions, and to the 470/18/22 folks who've been here from the start.)


								                                                                 jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 495       Fri Apr 03, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 20:55 EST


								     Two marginally off-topic replies...DS9 will film in August for a early

								spring 93 airdate.  That's solid.  And no, there's no involvement here with

								Angela's other project, which at this time is dormant anyway.

								     That said...there's news.


								     What propelled this current situation was a confluence of things: the

								importance of getting some foot-draggers to move so we could still hit the

								November play-date and other details, but *most* important was the issue of

								the creative focus, the long-term plan for the show, and control over what we

								felt the show could become.  Without that, you've got nothing on a project

								like this.


								     I'm leaving a lot out, of necessity, but from the foregoing it should be

								clear that what was at stake was the creative and organizational *heart* of

								the show, as well as other things.


								     So at some point in the game, you've got to push all your chips onto the

								table and turn the game into winner-take-all.


								     This was then conveyed.  There was resistance.  At 11:45 this morning, a

								call came indicating that if this was indeed the stance, then it looked like

								the project was dead in the water.  My agents wondered if maybe there should

								be some flexibility.  My associates were willing to stand by our decision.


								     "Let it ride," I said.


								     If it has to die, then let it die here and now.


								     As the clock ticked on, I began to think about the people we'd involved

								in this project, the years of work, the dedication that so many have already

								shown B5 within the team of production staff we've brought aboard.  Had my

								inflexibility ruined something for all of them?


								     At 12:20, 35 minutes later, the phone rang again.


								     They blinked.


								     We're on...and all the provisos I'd held out for were accepted.


								     It's a terrible thing to look into the abyss...and thus a wonderful thing

								when you realize that you're not going to fall after all, that you've somehow

								skated past the precipice and come out alive at the other end.


								     The crisis is over, the situation fixed, and now at long last, we can

								settle down to the business of casting and building and rolling film.


								     The "we" who won in this situation is, I believe, everyone...thanks in

								large measure to people at Warners and at the Television Consortium who

								believe in this project, have believed in it from the beginning, and

								understood what it was that was at stake...and came through for us at the end.


								     And thanks as well to those here, who Quixotically volunteered to go

								forth and attack dragons in service of a place they had never even seen, which

								is, I suppose, the higest calling one can aspire to, to fight not for

								acquaintances, or the familiar, but for an *idea*.


								     So once again, my utmost appreciation.  That the goal was achieved

								without the necessity of firing a shot does not in any way diminish the thanks

								due the volunteers in this extraordinary company.  When next we assemble, I

								hope, it will be in the cause of celebration.


								      And today I have amended the B5 bible to include the following notation:

								"The Babylon 5 station is located in neutral territory, in grid epsilon, at

								coordinates 470/22/18."


								     Onward!


								                                                                  jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 531       Sat Apr 04, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 04:28 EST


								     Comalite...yeah, you're the first person to pick up on the Grid Epsilon

								reference.  Maybe I'm being too obscure for my own good....


								     Regarding sound...we've hooked up with a terrific studio out here that's

								been after us to get this show off the ground for about three years now so

								that they can try some new stuff they've been cooking up.  We're going to be

								looking at using sound in new ways in terms of EFX, such as weapons and

								equipment and other devices -- and acoustics.  I tend to lean toward sound

								that *feels* solid.  The opening sequence in ALIENS, for instance, when the

								laser starts cutting through the door, sizzling and crackling, and then the

								door falls to the floor with a CLANG! that says This Is Solid, This Is Real.


								     Because we're in a station, or sometimes in ships, we're going to have to

								adjust the acoustics to match, and probably layer in an assortment of

								environmental noises, from machinery to transports to background voices to

								pages to...um, some other stuff.  The sound should be as textured as our

								visuals, I think, which is why we'll be shooting and producing in surround

								sound, even though not all stations are equipped to broadcast same.  It still

								adds a better sound, even on plain stereo receivers, and increases the shelf

								life of the movie/series.


								     Music is probably the one area in which I'm chasing my own tail the most.

								It kinda bothers me that most TV SF in the last 10 years or so has utilized

								quasi-classical music almost exclusively...the sort of quasi-John Williams

								stuff you see on Battlestar, or TNG, or others.  I'd like to see a mix of

								musical motifes, and am not at *all* opposed to laying in a rock- or new-wave-

								style soundtrack over the opening credits of the series...the question is

								which way I want to go...a hard-driving theme like the one Copeland did for

								The Equalizer, or a softer theme of the sort you have in Hill Street.  My

								basic problem is that I like  ALL music, and trying to pick which will form

								the "theme" behind the opening credits is really tough.  (Correction: all

								music *except* country/Western.  Yuccch.)


								     Tomorrow, Ron (EFX Are My Life) Thornton will be coming by the house to

								show me the new video renderings of the redesigned B5 station.   Some others

								saw them today, and apparently their jaws just dropped straight to the floor.

								I'm reserving judgement until I see the thing with my own eyes.


								                                                                 jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 574       Sat Apr 04, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 23:08 EST


								     Whew...40 messages since yesterday...yipes!  (And to the question of my

								prior work, you might want to add 11 episodes of the new TWILIGHT ZONE, and my

								adaptation of "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," for Showtime,

								which got a bunch of nominations, including the WGA Award nomination.)  And on

								the question of music...yeah, that's something I've already been working on,

								picking an appropriate kind of music for the various species.  I'm going to

								have to sit down with some real sharp composer and just start trying things

								out.


								     Meanwhile....WOW!


								     Ron Thornton just left here a little while ago, having brought over the

								*NEW* and pretty much final version of B5...both in photos off thde video, and

								on tape.  If you've seen the B5 demo on the NewTek tape, you can forget

								it...this is *so* much better, so 3-dimensional, so real and detailed that

								it's absolutely astonishing.  It makes the earlier B5 look like a hand-puppet.

								We've worked out most of the tech on it, including a new way to handle the

								centrifugal force question...and yes, to whoever inquired 'WAY up-topic, there

								are heat dissipators and optical routing panels on the station to channel cool

								light inside...and we've dropped the solar panels, incorporating the idea of

								edges rising out of the sides with the heat dissipators.  It's also been

								created in such a way as to provide a) Earth normal gravity, b) various

								incrementally greater gravities, and c) a completely weightless environment

								not only at the center, but in one other area as well.  And we've worked out

								most of the problems inherent in docking with a moving object.


								     The point being...it looks really, really, *REALLY* cool.  This is the

								version that I'll be shlepping around to cons this Spring, though by then the

								footage will probably be a bit longer and more elaborate, with music and the

								series logo and ships and other spiffinesses layered in.


								     Anyway, I'm now even more confident that when you see this thing, it's

								not going to be like *anything* you've ever seen before.


								     Oh...and I also saw, while Ron was here, the cover of VIDEO TOASTER

								magazine, the issue that'll be out, I think, next week...and the whole cover

								is taken up by a shot of the earlier B5 shot.  It looks absolutely stunning

								there, and Ron is featured in the article, which will explain a lot more about

								how we're doing stuff.  (In other words, hard core neepery.)


								     The momentum is gathering as we move toward Day One of filming.


								     Which is about 2/3 months from now.  We're going to have a photog on

								stage every day to chronicle production, and may link up with someone to film

								a "making of" short.  During production, I'll try to log on here every couple

								of days (expect me to vanish a *lot* when we're filming) to provide updates

								direct from the stage.


								     Onward...and just *wait* until you see the new, Even Better Babylon 5.

								Yikes!


								                                                                jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 585       Sun Apr 05, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 04:35 EDT


								     Thanks for the thoughts, all.  One thing I forgot to ask Ron while he was

								here -- and perhaps some of you Amiga-types can supply the info -- is for a

								contact phone number for Video Toaster Magazine.  It occured to me after the

								fact that some folks here might want to order up a copy of that issue.  So if

								I can't dredge it up in the next few days, if someone who knows could post the

								info, it'd be much appreciated.


								     Something else I forgot to mention was that I saw the preliminary color

								designs on the Vorlon ship as well, though they haven't been set down on video

								yet.  Again, a *very* different sort of look....


								     I just sat here and tried to come up with some way to describe it without

								giving away the specifics of the design, and the closest I got was "If Close

								Encounters had been designed by H.R. Giger," but even *that* isn't it. Ah,

								well.  Y'all will see it soon enough.


								     As I've said before (repeatedly) about casting, that won't happen until

								early or mid-May, so hang loose on that one.  We have to do things in *order*.

								That means locking down some of the additional production positions this week

								and next week, finalizing production designs so we can begin transferring them

								to blueprints for construction purposes, and we're ALL going to have to sit

								down for as much as two very long days just starting our discussions on props

								and the look of the future...remember, we have to build a world from scratch

								and determine what it'll look like.


								     Cast is just about the last thing you worry about and deal with; first

								come a million and one other details that have to be designed well in advance.

								It takes time to build a set, and an actor generally comes pre-constructed.


								                                                               jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 596       Sun Apr 05, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 18:41 EDT


								     To whomever inquired uptopic (so many flash past I can't remember now who

								said what), I may have agreed to an interview for Synthesis, and if they say

								it, I probably did...this is one of the problems in having the basic memory

								capacity of a small kitchen appliance....


								     To Arne, if you're looking on...thanks!  And BTW, I'm rethinking some of

								our prior discussion, and maybe something can be worked out after all in terms

								of supplementary venues for the story.


								     On music, I'm frankly torn between Copeland, something like Ennya, or

								Brad Fiedel's work (T2).  I like the latter's use of "metal" sounds, of

								machinery in works, which would fit well in a station like this.


								     This week, we'll begin storyboarding the opening title sequence, and

								we've worked out a *really* nifty approach to, again, give it a very different

								look.  (I scrapped my prior notion in favor to something nifty that Ron

								thought up, something that the tech will allow us to do that I never

								realized.)


								                                                                 jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 607       Mon Apr 06, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:25 EDT


								     Thanks, all.  One note about a preceding message...I've indicated that

								I'm *not* looking for specific ideas from outside, for the very legal reasons

								you mention.  Rather, this is an area kind of used for airing ideas about

								technology, and music, and sound, and EFX, sort of a roundtable bull session.

								Once or twice someone has suggested a specific idea or story, and I've had to

								put on my Harsh Producer's Hat and step in fast.   And within that context,

								the discussions have proven *very* useful in airing what fans of the genre

								want, don't want, and what technical and scientific points require addressing.


								     Which is rather like a conversation I had this evening with the well

								known writer of SF and other forms who has agreed to work on the B5 series as

								Creative Consultant.  (Not the movie, the series, just to clarify.)   I

								outlined, over dinner, the broad strokes of the 5-year storyline, with some

								elements that *no* one has heard before, not even my associates on the show.

								And I got a but when, once discussed, were absolutely right and brilliant

								suggestions...and added a whole new layer to the project.


								     With luck, I'll be able to announce the identity of the Creative

								Consultant before year's end.  I just don't want to announce the name until we

								have money flowing and the series is in production and so on.  Suffice to say

								that those who know me may also know this writer as well.


								                                                                jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 621       Mon Apr 06, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 14:53 EDT


								     Not to get too off into this tangent, but there *is* 3-D sound, though it

								has mostly been used for radio dramas and other all-sound productions.


								     The foremost piece of tech used for this is the (and I *hope* I'm

								spelling this right) Kuntskopf Binaural Sound System...essentailly a plastic

								"head" with speakers in either ear, which is literally taken to locations in

								question and the actors or actions move around it, with the result that when

								you put on headphones, you can hear the sound moving on either side, in front,

								and *behind* you, passing clearly in a circle.


								     It can actually be a fairly unnerving experience the first time you

								experience it.  If you contact ZBS Media out on the East Coast, you *might*

								still be able to get their production of Stephen King's THE MIST, which used

								this technology.


								                                                                  jms

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

								*lot* out of the resulting conversation in terms of establishing

								the world, different layers of the world that I hadn't even *thought* about,

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 648       Tue Apr 07, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:37 EDT


								     Re: the details of the last go-around...once things have quieted down, it

								generally serves *no* good cause to start throwing the details all over the

								place.  All parties concerned must work together, and to do as you ask would

								be to throw a monkey wrench into that process.


								     As for new inside stuff on the project itself...will post some on the

								coming weekend.  You'll understand if things have been a bit hectic and I've

								been a tad distracted over the last few days....


								                                                                jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 653       Tue Apr 07, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 18:07 EDT


								     Trying to think of the next character bit I can lay out here...have I

								mentioned either Carolyn Sykes or Ambassador Jackarr here thus far?  I can't

								for the life of me remember....


								                                                                 jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 667       Wed Apr 08, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:02 EDT


								     Actually...no, the name of the rent-a-telepath is Lyta Kim, and we will

								be hearing more about her later.


								     Carolyn Sykes is Commander Sinclair's...darn, what's the right word these

								days?  Signifcant other?  Lady-friend?  Lover?  Main squeeze?  (I keep having

								this recurrent flash from "Young Frankenstein," as Frau  Blucher calls out,

								"He vas....my BOYFRIEND!")*


								     Carolyn has been romantically involved with Sinclair for a couple of

								years when we meet her.  She knows quite a bit about him, but there are some

								things he still hasn't told her.  They have a very adult, sexual relationship,

								and they are both independent and equal.  She is the owner, and pilot, of the

								trading vessel ULYSSES...a self-made woman who's an established and respected

								trader in a variety of goods.  She works mainly within the Earth Alliance

								colony worlds, though in the last few years she's added routes in the Centauri

								sector.


								     She's sophisticated, sharp, and no-nonsense...screw around with her too

								much, change the terms of your agreement in hopes of taking unfair advantage

								of her, and she'll jettison the cargo right into the sun.  She has a

								reputation to protect, and would rather lose the deal than be dealt with

								unfairly.  It sets a bad precedent...and on some of the worlds she has to deal

								with, the perception of strength is vital.


								     Her feelings about Sinclair's position are mixed.  On the one hand, she

								feels that he's the right man for the job, and he's doing a terrific job.  On

								the other hand, she knows that part of him longs to be back in the pilot's

								seat of a starship, and when things start to get bad, she offers him that

								chance...to tell them all to piss off, and the two of them will pool their

								resources, buy a bigger ship, and go off on their own.


								     Because of their schedule, she must find time together when they can,


								stolen hours before the next run to another world, another system.  They are

								both supportive of each other, though that doesn't remove the occasional

								conflict common to any relationship.  She isn't dark and driven, she's a

								strong female character who's *happy* in her work, she enjoys it -- the

								freedom, being responsible -- and wouldn't change it for the world.


								     They are very much involved with each other, but because of their

								different lives, both know that there's every chance that this might all end

								between them.  So they don't often deal with that question, though it's a

								thought that is sometimes expressed in the bedroom, at night, in soft tones.

								They might drift apart, find someone else, or something co uld happen to one

								or both of them; their jobs are not exactly conducive to longevity.  So they

								seize every moment and enjoy it as best they can.


								                                                                  jms


								                                           * (whinnnnnnny!)

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 682       Wed Apr 08, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 19:18 EDT


								     Re: CP, yes, the base in question was built on the ruins of Detroit

								(which makes a lot of sense, if you stop and think about it), and Power's HQ

								was indeed in the rockies...though I don't think we ever specifically picked

								which one, just beneath one of the mountains.


								                                                                jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 392       Thu Apr 09, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 14:08 EDT


								     What do the ships look like?


								     They look like this (he said, holding up a sheet of paper with a Vorlon

								ship on it in all its glorious color).


								     What?  You can't see it through the monitor?  Oh.


								     Although there are very few areas that I'm keeping mum about, that's one

								of them.  See, what happened is, one afternoon, I was sitting across the table

								from Ron Thornton, who sat slumped forward, hands cupping either side of his

								face, elbows on table, glowering out at me from partially opened eyes.  In

								other words, he was in Mad Genius mode.  We could tell he was percolating, and

								adopted a courteous silence.  Did I mention that Ron is English?


								     Anyway, finally he leans forward and says, "You know what every damn

								bloody show on Star Trek *doesn't* have that we can do?"


								     "What?" we said.


								     "It would be really cool."


								     "What?" we said again.


								     "I mean, they can't even come close, they've never even *thought* of it,

								but it's so bloody simple."


								     "WHAT IS IT?"


								     So he told us.  And one by one, a light bulb went on over each of our

								heads (except for Doug Netter, the other exec producer on the project; a

								candle went on over his head....why, we still don't know).


								     One thing, though...Ron was right.  It *was* really cool.  So cool that

								if we tell *anyone*, they'll think it's cool, too.  Lots of people, all

								*kinds* of people would think it's cool.


								     So *this* we're keeping to ourselves.


								     Suffice to say for now that we're astonished that no one else has thought

								of this yet, and that it's going to look absolutely unlike what you've seen

								before.


								     Oh, yeah...and it's *really* cool.


								                                                                   jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 393       Thu Apr 09, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 14:10 EDT


								     Stupid Joe...what you *meant* to type was Ron saying "You know what every

								damn bloody *ship* doesn't have on Star Trek that we can do," not every

								*show*.  We're discussing ships.  That's what I meant to type.


								                                                                 jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 418       Fri Apr 10, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 01:42 EDT


								     Whew...okay, let's see....


								     That we're going to see the bathroom on B5 is not news, I've mentioned

								that before.  Insofar as the ships are concerned, what I'm referring to,

								however vaguely, is the *look* of the ships, design elements and the like.

								Once Ron said it, it was so absolutely obvious an omission that we knew it was

								perfect.


								     As for clothes...you have to divide those into two different areas:

								clothes for the B5 human regulars, and those on everybody else.


								     Yes, there will be an assortment of clothes for the former, and some for

								the latter as well.  I'm leaning in the direction of really kickass uniforms,

								punctuated by more casual, almost civilian clothing.


								     As for the alien stuff...we're looking now at a costume designer who has

								come up with some *astonishing* new techniques not just for design, but for

								the fabrics used.  There's one fabric she's developed that -- how do I

								describe this? -- it's not any color you recognize.  It's very much affected

								by lighting, and folding, but it's *not* that very reflective, shimmery crap

								you tend to see...it's very subtle and subdued and your eye just sorta slides

								right off it.  It's really the most alien looking stuff I've ever seen...as if

								someone said, "We've just discovered a new color," and somebody asked you to

								describe it after looking at it.


								     It's fairly expensive, and difficult to produce in quantity, so it'll

								probably be used sparingly, as highlights in most cases, and occasionally in

								larger sections or whole costumes.  There will be, overall, a good use of

								color and design, in some cases taking our cue from the protective coloration

								nature gives out freely (but which we'll have to pay for).


								     I should be getting some preliminary costume sketches around the end of

								the month, and should be able to discuss this in more detail at that time.

								(At least, as much detail as I can chance.)


								                                                                jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 421       Fri Apr 10, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 05:11 EDT


								     I don't think you're anywhere close, Ken...so what's this cool idea (or

								both of them) that you've been struck by?


								                                                                   jms


								     P.S.  Oh, I forgot to mention...the New And Improved video demo of the

								New And Improved Babylon 5 station has now been seen by the execs in charge,

								and the result is *fantastic*.  They're absolutely blown-out by it.  The PR

								folks are bringing in top-flight illustrators to do detailed renderings of the

								new station for all their outgoing artwork, and the whole place is abuzz about

								it.  The most amazing thing about it, I think, is the incredible *detail* on

								the thing, the subtle use of colors, and the rigorous attempts that Ron and

								our tech folks are going through to try and build what something like this

								would actually look like...working out the crucial points involved in creating

								varying areas of rotation and gravity, counter-weights, balance points, zero-g

								sections inside and outside, heat dissipation and light conservation, energy

								resources, storage questions, everything.


								     I asked an associate at JPL to examine the video, and after studying it

								for the better part of an hour, and discussing how it would work, he finally

								concluded that yes, if we had the technology to get all the parts and pieces

								there, this is *exactly* how it would be built (or at least one

								version...there are plenty of possibilities).  But this was absolutely solidly

								grounded.

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 435       Sat Apr 11, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 01:11 EDT


								     Will: yes, that sounds kinda close to the effect...now imagine it used in

								a fabric, and you'll be at least a little close to the effect.


								     Good ideas on the non-gravity ships, though that's not what we'll be

								doing.  (Nicely composed.)  Apparently the one person who *does* know Ron's

								work has a good idea of where we're going, though....


								     To answer Peter's question, and expand a bit on it, check out the current

								issue of Video Toaster Magazine, which just hit this week.  (I haven't seen

								the issue yet, but it arrived at the office.)  The cover story on B5 gives

								good info on how we'll be using the Toaster (and efx that are literally months

								old in terms of their technology) for the show.  Those into neepery will find

								plenty there to draw your interest.  Again, when you see the cover, remember

								that this is the Prior version of B5, not the new Improved version (though

								it's *still* way cool).  To get what we needed for this show, we literally had

								programmers rewriting codes customized to our needs, which go beyond what this

								stuff has ever been used for before.


								     If anyone here reads the piece (which is 3+ pages long, in addition to

								the cover), lemme know what you think.


								                                                            jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 441       Sat Apr 11, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 05:07 EDT


								     Actually, David, you're closer than you know...but I can't go any further

								than that.  We have to keep some stuff quiet until we hit the air.  Which is,

								frankly, my only other concern here...that as a result of this much

								communication, one of two things can happen: 1) no matter HOW good it is,

								expectations will be raised to a point that it's not up to the perceived hype,

								or 2) the surprises are gone.


								     So other issues aside, that's why some things have to be held back.


								     I'm very cognizant of how these things tend to work...fans are fed the

								usual line of how this is going to be New and Different and Spiffy, and what

								you end up with is the same-old same-old, or nothing *near* the actual

								product.  I'd like to try and walk that line a little more closely, so that we

								deliver *more* than we promise, but promise enough to get folks interested

								while not giving away any surprises.


								     Yikes!


								     There are no plans to change this line of communication, but please try

								to understand that that is the conundrum I constantly face when here.


								     That said....


								     A few days ago, I sat down with our line producer, John Copeland, and

								production designer John Iacovelli, and we were talking about the need to move

								quickly on some stuff, and how painful the process is to have the whole story

								in your head, already told, really, and then have to make it all over again so

								we can put it on film.  "You think you've got it bad," I noted, "I've already

								worked out the last scene in the last episode of the last season (#5)...and

								I've still got to make Movie #1."  They called me on it and asked what that

								scene was.


								     Just to see their reaction, I told them.


								     They looked at me as if I'd suddenly sprouted three heads and feathers.

								It was worth it.  (Happily, they're sworn to secrecy.)  It was also good

								because I think that, even without filling in the beats in between, it gave

								them a good sense of where the series was going to go.


								     Meanwhile...as I type this, I'm wearing this spiffy new shirt, royal

								blue, with this funny triangular symbol on it...can't read it upside down like

								this...it says something like BABYL-- something.  I hear there are only a few

								hundred others like this.  Hmm.  I wonder where it came from...and what on

								earth I'll do with them....hmmmmmm.....


								     Because of the need to parcel them out carefully, a certain number will

								initially go out to randomly selected Old Timers here first.  To those

								individuals...keep an eye on your e-mailboxes for instructions.


								     They look really, really, REALLY boss.


								                                                             jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 462       Sun Apr 12, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:17 EDT


								     Something a submarine doesn't have also...hmm...what doesnt' a submarine

								have...well, feathers, big floppy clown shoes, a merry go round....


								     This is actually rather amusing.  It's going to be *so* obvious when you

								see it.


								     Yes, there will be a botanical area...actually, this is going to be a

								*very* special and integral part of the show.  It's the Garden, and it is at

								the center, lengthwise, of B5.  If you've seen the O'Neil station concepts,

								you can look straight up to the other side of the rotating section.  Lining

								the circular wall are fields and trees and greenery and artificial lakes and

								the rest.  (A shuttle runs through the center of the garden, in the zero-g

								section where there is no rotation.)  It's going to be an amazing setpiece for

								the show.


								     Funny thing...as with other shows, when you start creating a show in the

								future, you have to Create The Future, down to the last detail.  I was

								thinking about silverware, and utility, everyday items...and we were out at a

								store and I saw a *very* unusual set of tumblers/glasses that are almost

								freeform sculptures, just gorgeous and very strange looking.  I picked one up

								immediately, and I suspect that these will be used in the show.  Absolutely

								utilitarian, but just very different looking.


								     Spent yesterday sketching out a cool piece of communications hardware for

								personal use on the show.  Again, trying to think out what might actually be

								useful that far down the road, which took me in some directions very different

								from the communicators we're used to seeing.  I definitely plan on

								commissioning the prop guys to make one extra of these gadgets just so I can

								have it (one of the perks of running a show).


								     I begin to see now the process whereby, to quote history, a pair of salt

								shakers can become medical scanners....creating the future out of the present.


								                                                                  jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 486       Sun Apr 12, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 18:36 EDT


								     Hmm...I suddenly get the sense that I've lost control of our merry little

								group....


								     No point in further speculation, though again one or two of you came

								close.  Nothing will be confirmed or denied in any event.


								     One thing, though...yes, we *will* be able to go in through the windows

								of ships and B5 itself.  And to see what's inside.


								     Mark...will get that file and take a look.  I keep wondering what a "B5

								uniform" will look like since we haven't made *our* version yet.  On that

								point, I have some ideas, mostly in the area of practicality of use and that

								they should look fairly tough.  And stylish.


								     BTW...saw the Lawnmower Man yesterday, and now I finally understand what

								the heck Ron Thornton was trying to communicate to me about some of the things

								that we can do with the new technologies we'll be bringing to bear.  It

								totally turned around my thinking to new possibilities.  And as Ron pointed

								out, much of the tech used in L.M. is now a couple  years out of date.

								Apparently, he thinks we can do equal to or better than L.M.


								     I must go away and think now...this could be most interesting....


								                                                                jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 495       Sun Apr 12, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 23:30 EDT


								     The Grid Epsilon graphic is neat.  Good work on that.  Re: the final B5

								logo, it's done, and has been for a while, but I haven't yet moved the scanner

								card into my new system so I can scan it over into a PCX file.


								     One of the first things we'll be doing soon is working out all of the

								"environmental" stuff, meaning insignia, rank, government, and other symbols

								so we can use them in costume and background stuff.  When I have all that

								collected, and my scanner back on line, I may put together a file containing

								it all, or most of it.


								                                                                 jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 511       Mon Apr 13, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 14:46 EDT


								     (tapping a ball-bat against the palm of one hand...don't make me come up

								there...just wait until your father gets home...one more peep and we'll turn

								this car RIGHT around and go home....)


								     Now where was I?


								     Corridors...yes, all kinds corridors, different shapes and areas and

								atmospheres...some small, one or two REALLY BIG ones.  Don't know about fast

								food joints, but we have something that I think you'll like just about as

								much.


								     By the way...can SOMEBODY here tell me how the heck to send more than one

								carbon copy in EMAIL at a time?  I'm trying to send out, umm, certain

								*instructions*, and it's taking me forever to do it one CC at a time.


								     Thanks.


								                                                               jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 525       Mon Apr 13, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 23:37 EDT


								     I don't know about the syndex situation, but suspect it's probably

								something well out of my control.  As to how many people live on B5 at any

								given point...jeez, *lots*, given that there's always folks coming and going.

								It's about 5 miles long, and frequently crowded, so you're talking about a

								goodly-sized community.


								     Have pretty much nailed down the SF writer who'll do the novelization of

								the B5 movie.  I'd wanted to do it myself, but time constraints just don't

								allow that.  He agreed, we agreed, now we just have to let the business guys

								work out the details.  Given the venue, the need to emphasize humor, action

								and characterization at various times, I think it's a perfect choice.


								     And known to all and sundry.  Watch this space for the news over the next

								few weeks.


								                                                                  jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 526       Mon Apr 13, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 23:40 EDT


								     Oops, a cross-post...briefly, the B5 buttons and the B5 t-shirts are both

								limited pressings, just 500 of each, all made at my own personal expense,

								supervised by yrs truly, and thus separate from other Warners publicity or

								giveaways or Cool Stuff yet to come.  These are the only ones of their kind

								that will be made; subsequent shirts, for instance, will probably not have the

								Accept No Substitutes line on back, and the logo was changed after the silver

								buttons were made, so those also won't be duplicated as originally made.


								                                                                     jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 528       Tue Apr 14, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:13 EDT


								     BTW...I've tried hard to make sure that nearly everyone who's posted

								substantially in this topic is on the list.  After scanning a 500 message

								packet (eyes melting), I think I've got everyone.  If, after a few days, you

								find you haven't gotten a note...please try not to take it to heart; there are

								only so many to go around.  (And if you're a Constant Poster who's slipped

								through the net, drop me a private note.)


								     Info should go out tonight, system willing.


								                                                              jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 538       Tue Apr 14, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 02:49 EDT


								     Kath...tried using the cc function, but if I put it all on one line, it

								came back with Line Too Long, Try Again...and if I put it on separate lines,

								it ended as soon as it hit the carriage return.


								     Anyhow, I think I got it licked now....


								                                                                 jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 541       Tue Apr 14, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 04:10 EDT


								     A one-page summary, eh?  Hmm...okay, I'll see what I can do.  If I don't

								put the info up in the next day or two, drop a note here to remind me, you

								know how I am, one thing always pushing out another....


								     (And a genuine Marvel No-Prize to anyone who can figure out THAT

								reference.)


								     Oh, and Kath, since the folks at Rattlesnake know you, you can pick one

								up directly, if you prefer (use my name, and have John call if there's a

								problem, but there won't be, so why do I worry these things to death, never

								mind, it was a rhetorical question and I'm going to lay down for a while....).

								If you prevail upon John or Susan you can *maybe* get one of them to show you

								the new B5 demo, otherwise it'll wait until Christy gets here.


								     (Why am I having a private conversation here?  In public?  Surely these

								people have better things to do than watch all this scroll past.)


								     We expect to be setting up and moving into the new B5 offices in that

								same building in the next few weeks, as more staffers are hired.  We'll

								basically be taking over one-half or so of a floor in the TV Academy Building,

								so I'll actually be shuttling between *three* offices, my office at Universal

								(a spiffy new office they moved me into in the main producers  building), the

								B5 office in North Hollywood, and the office on the B5 stage, which is located

								at....


								     Oops.


								     State secret.


								     Until tomorrow, Comrades.  I'm now retiring for the night.


								                                                                 jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 556       Tue Apr 14, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 13:33 EDT


								     Good, all.  I know the stuff got out, so we're clear from here on.


								     Mark: Jeez, but that's fast!  Yes, you caught the reference.  (And here I

								thought it was *so* subtle.)  That's really amazing.


								     As for commercialism or future products...when we do use them, we're

								taking the approach that over 200 years, a lot of new companies have come up,

								and a lot of older ones have merged, sometimes in unlikely pairings.  So you

								might have Sony-Grumman (sp?) Starship Construction Company.


								                                                                   jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 581       Wed Apr 15, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:59 EDT


								     Oh, man...24 messages, and most of them questions.  Okay, I'll try to

								deal with this in some manageable fashion.


								     In no particular order: Evisc...I don't keep a mental log of who  posts

								what here, or when, or what the attitude is.  And because of that, when time

								came to make the list, I yanked out 500+ continuous messages and wrote down

								every name I saw.  I knew offhand there were a few names that I knew well and

								weren't in that batch, and inserted them on my own.   Other than that, that

								was it...I'm sorry, but I don't have the time to go through all 2,000 or so

								messages on this topic to find every single solitary person who's left a note

								at one time or another.  I *said* it was relatively random, and it was.  I'm

								sorry that you feel left out.  I logged on today to find 40 letters in my

								mailbox from lurkers who never posted, and THEY felt that it was unfair, that

								it should be publicly noted so that everyone could get one.


								     I just don't have that kind of money.  Yes, there *will* be stuff that

								one can purchase down the road.  And I hope this won't interfere with your

								feelings about the show...there had to be some sort of cut-off method, and the

								randomization seemed the best one I could think of, and the fairest.


								     As for the $1 checks or money orders...yes, Rattlesnake is the name to

								use.


								     That done...onward.


								     Ethnic Diversity: yes, most definitely.  Leaving the aliens aside for the

								time being where sexuality may not necessarily be as we know it, and ethnic

								background is a bit different, and since the question concerned itself with

								humans...our *main characters* consist of the following: a male caucasian

								commander; a female Japanese vice-commander; a male Italian security chief; a

								black Xenobiologist male; a female telepath whose ethnic background we haven't

								yet determined; a female caucasian trader (Sinclair's S.O.); and (for the

								series, later) a female environmental specialist (probably Hispanic).  My

								feeling here is that we have *all* gone to the stars, and I want there to be a

								good ethnic mix in both the main characters, and the guest-starring and cameo

								actors.  And I *especially* want to see a nearly 50/50 mix of men and women in

								equally significant jobs and responsibilities.


								     Relationships: My sense of the story is that things are a lot more

								relaxed in that respect.  Some folks get married.  Others don't.  There are

								open-ended relationships.  It's not a big deal one way or another; there are

								always going to be those who prefer monagomy, and those who tend to roam.


								     And bear in mind one *crucial* aspect to B5...there is a constant mix of

								not only ethnic groups, but alien races, religions, thought, standards, mores,

								and sexual practices.  This will present a constant opportunity to explore

								alternate ideas, and to mix-and-match.  By our exposure, humans may adopt some

								alien notions, and vice versa.  B5 is the ultimate melting pot, just as the

								early Ports of Call were a hodge-podge of dialects, backgrounds, beliefs and

								other elements, whose only real commonality was that their business or

								personal lives brought them to the same place at the same time.  Same with B5.


								     Re: action...a lot of the action will take place aboard B5, just as a lot

								of the action in a cop show or mainstream drama takes place in a city...and B5

								is exactly that, a self-contained city or world of its own.  There's *plenty*

								of opportunity for drama in that, when you stop to consider the staggering

								conflicts possible between people, races, and technologies.


								     But there will also be some action outside...there's a good amount of

								that in the pilot movie, and there will be potential for more as we go along.

								The one thing I want to *avoid* is the New Threat Of The Week story, in terms

								of somebody attacking B5.  I think that would get old REAL fast.  The best

								terrain for conflict is, as Fitzgerald said, the human (or alien) heart in

								conflict with itself.


								     Will there be zealots?  Oh, yes.  To be sure.  Keep an eye on the

								Minbari....


								     Great song, btw.  It's fun to see this sort of thing bouncing back from

								the other side of the screen...though the comment about a fandom for a show

								that doesn't exist yet is well taken.  I don't *want* people signing on to

								something they haven't seen yet, at least not to excess, because up until the

								*minute* that we hit the airwaves, this is all just balloon juice.  You

								shouldn't give this project too much support, just as you shouldn't start

								handing around blank checks that you've signed.


								     Let us *prove* what we can do.  SF fans are *constantly* being hustled by

								one person or company or another.  They/you are shilled at conventions, hyped

								on nonexistent projects, and get your hopes up only to have them dashed.


								     If what I write here is interesting, if it gives a sense of how a show

								like this comes together...terrific.  But the only thing that fundamentally

								matters is what's on the screen.  Until then, take everything here with a

								pound of salt.


								     Force us to prove the point.  If we are fortunate enough, once we hit the

								air, to find fans and others who appreciate the show, we want those who will

								challenge us and force us to put up or shut up.  Because talk is cheap.  Mine

								included.


								     End of sermon.


								     Yes, the Warners Television Consortium is the correct name for the beast.


								     Finally, on sets and the "look" of the place...again, there will be a

								mix.  Some places will be beautifully finished and neat, and other areas will

								be very rough and in-the-works.  (Remember, B5 only recently went operational,

								and thus there are still some parts being constructed.)


								     In talking with our production designer, John Iacovelli, the one term he

								kept using, over and over, was "travelogue."  We should get a real sense in

								this show of a world turned inside out...with varying textures, lighting,

								angles, and a mix of looks.  There will *not* be a  homogeneous look to this

								place, if I or Iacovelli have anything to say about it.  You can walk from the

								carefully and neatly appointed Council Chamber room, to the high-tech control

								room, to a section of the station under construction and exposing beams and

								wires, to the Garden, to....


								     You get the idea.


								     I *think* that covers the majority of the questions/comments.  If I've

								missed anything, let me know, and if I can answer it, I will.


								     Onward.


								                                                                jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 592       Wed Apr 15, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:20 EDT


								     Thanks for the kind words, folks.  Sometimes, writing for TeeVee, you

								start to think you're writing into a vacuum...you rarely ever get any sort of

								feedback (99.9% of all letters go to the stars, as, I suppose, is proper).

								Anyway, thanks.


								     To the questions:


								     The suggestion above about names was a good one.  Overall, I'd say don't

								worry about it too much, we'll figure it out.  Just send it as you would

								normally, we'll figure it out.


								     (The preceding paragraph, lacking a noun, rather using the pronoun "it"

								refers to money orders.)


								     Regarding the last scene/last episode note, and "is every single episode

								mapped out," I should explain.


								     I know where each season will end, and where the next season will begin.

								Those episodes are locks.  Within each season, I have set aside

								benchmarks...certain events that much happen at some point in that given

								season.  Assuming a 22 episode season, about half, or 11 out of each 22, will

								be benchmark episodes.  The other 11 will be up for grabs in terms of the

								general arc of the show.  I think you *have* to be open to what some

								freelancer hits you with unexpectedly, be open to surprises and things you

								never considered.


								     It's a very fine line.  The goal is that if you didn't know about the

								show, had no sense of history or any of the characters, you could tune in to

								Episode 18, Season 3, and be able to enjoy the show *immediately*.  The

								problem with a show like, say, TWIN PEAKS (which I enjoyed enormously, by the

								way), was that if you missed an episode or two, you were pretty much lost.

								Each and every episode of B5 ***must*** be able to stand completely on its

								own.


								     What happens is that you start laying down threads that, over time, as

								you watch more and more episodes, tells a much larger story.  The more you

								watch, the more you'll get out of it.  If you watch one, you'll be able to

								enjoy that one strictly on its own terms.


								     It's a trick I learned while writing/story editing, of all things, The

								Real Ghostbusters.  Those were written on two levels; one for younger viewers,

								one for older.  If you didn't get the older stuff, it didn't get in the way of

								enjoying the show.  If you *did* get the more sophisticated stuff, it added

								another *layer* to the experience.


								     Another comparison, out of my league as it might be, would be the

								Hieronymous Bosch painting, Garden of Earthly Delights.  You can go in to any

								panel or section of that triptych, and that could almost be a painting on its

								own terms, it's so detailed.  When you pull back, though, you begin to see a

								much larger story, a wider and more varied tapestry.


								     It's a challenge, from a writing point of view, but it's eminently do-

								able.  We started to do some of that in Power; that show changed dramatically

								at the end of season one, and we were starting to develop threads that, in

								toto, would tell a much different story.  There were clues all over the place.

								(Soaron saying, of his programming, "There is something in my program I do not

								understand...there is something in the dark," referring, as we would later

								discover, to a program that would force him to kill Dredd; the fate of Power's

								mother; the *real* agenda behind what was going on; wheels inside wheels

								inside wheels....)


								     Maybe it's my Eastern European heritage, but I *love* sagas, and B5 will

								present a chance to tell that kind of saga.  When I was assigned the V

								miniseries job, I took a similar approach, trying to create a whole and

								consistent world.


								     But this is hardly revelation; the world of SF print has been doing this

								now ever since the Lensman books.  The job now is translating that approach to

								television, and bring it up to, oh, at least where SF was 20 years ago....


								                                                                   jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 593       Wed Apr 15, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:26 EDT


								     Oh...one other thing...it might not be a bad idea for some erstwhile

								sysop or forum leader to, say, advise the friendly folks running GEnie about

								all of what's going on around here...the Grid Epsilon Irregulars, the Grid

								Epsilon/470-18-22 coordinates, that sort of thing.  Might be an article in

								this somewhere....


								                                                                    jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 610       Wed Apr 15, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 22:40 EDT


								     Re: WorldCon in Orlando...I don't have any plans at the moment, but I

								suppose they could always be added.  When does it take place?  If it's after

								the initial airdate, that could be why I flensed it from memory.


								     As far as Laurel is concerned, her job differs in that Sinclair's is more

								diplomatic/political, and is involved with the Big Picture of running B5,

								where Laurel is hands-on in terms of the day-to-day operations of actually

								managing the station.  If an ambassador has a problem with what the E.A. is

								doing, he'll go through Sinclair first; if that same ambassador is annoyed

								that his resupply ship isn't being allowed to dock because they won't comply

								with the silly request for a weapons scan, that tends to be Laurel's problem

								to deal with.


								     Naturally, there is some overlap and shifting of responsibility.  If the

								station is ever attacked, she is as qualified to sit in the command chair and

								organize/dictate the defense as Sinclair.  Having run Mars Colony Security for

								five years before coming to B5, she's quite capable of handling the tough

								stuff.


								     As for the earth/minbari war, yes, its repercussions will still be felt

								throughout the show, and in time will form a major plot point.  There are also

								some deep resentments remaining on both sides that we'll have to deal with.

								What we show of it will depend on many factors, but I wouldn't be surprised to

								see some scenes from it down the road...maybe late in the first season.


								                                                                  jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 623       Thu Apr 16, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 14:06 EDT


								     Two quickies:


								     1) I wanted the station to have a real kickass look, so if in the right

								light it looks forbidding, all the better.  Glad you like the new design.


								     2) A word about the t-shirts....


								          a) the XXL's won't be in until Monday, just FYI.  The others

								     are going out now.


								          b) Joe screwed up.


								     As I mentioned, I went through about 500 messages and pulled out names I

								saw of regulars, and just about everybody else.  In a separate file, I had the

								60 or so names that were in one message here during the Loud Period who had

								volunteered to help, and had been compiled.  In my mind, I kept cross-

								referencing between them, making sure that there was no duplication, and no

								one was missed.


								     My error was in doing this at 2 a.m.


								     There are about 4 or 5 people who *should* have been included, and were

								not...only through oversight.  (At least, 4 or 5 that I know of.)   Two were

								regular messagers whose name I'd seen so many times that I just assumed it was

								on one or the other of the lists.


								     Point being...if you've been here, posting, since the early days, and you

								haven't received the information...please leave me a private note.  There is

								no snubbing going on, it's just Yr Obedient Servant's own error and sloppiness

								in trying to get this stuff out fast.


								     My apologies to any of our regulars who might have been unintentionally

								omitted.


								                                                             jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 639       Fri Apr 17, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 01:19 EDT


								     Bubble-views (or real ports) ain't a bad idea at all.  And the points

								about fighters are well taken.  And there will definitely be strategy in some

								of what happens, if a series of ships should decide to engage a larger foe.


								     BTW, Larry, did Ron show you the rough on the Vorlon ship?  Just curious.


								                                                                 jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 642       Fri Apr 17, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:05 EDT


								     I think Dabney should get together with Bob Walker's aliens....


								     BTW, spoke today with the leading SF writer who I approached about doing

								the B5 novelization of "The Gathering."  It's a job I'd very much wanted to do

								myself, but the time factor won't allow for that.  So of all the writers I

								could think of, this was my first choice.  Was very curious to see his

								reaction, since this would be the first time anyone well known in the SF

								writing community has seen the thing.


								     Let's just say that he's agreed to do the novelization, and that he

								thinks it's terrific.  And that the novelization should be no tribble at all.


								                                                                  jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 645       Fri Apr 17, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:18 EDT


								     Boy, but messages fly thick and fast here...the Business Affairs people

								still have to set the terms of the deal, but tentatively the novel will have

								to come out probably late October.


								     Interestingly enough, at one time our Xenobiologist was Indian, named

								Chakri Mendak.  It was only after careful deliberation that I decided to

								change the character to an african-american, which was done for several

								reasons, not the least of which being that it would let me bring in some

								Indian characters in other roles that could be quite interesting.   And yes,

								overall I want to draw from a number of different ethnic groups and heritages,

								because they each add something new to the mix.  And the context throws into

								relief the fact that those OTHER guys are all aliens, but we -- whatever the

								ethnic background -- are all equally human, and I think that will do a lot to

								ease or even eliminate racism.


								     At least, within the human species.


								                                                                jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 666       Fri Apr 17, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 23:28 EDT


								     And spoil the thrill of self-discovery?


								     Regarding Warners...yes, they're all part of the overall package of

								shows.  Just as when you sign onto a network, you carry all of their shows as

								a package.  As for the Paramount presentation...haven't seen it, and thus

								can't comment (and probably wouldn't in any event).


								     BTW...and before I forget again...I finally got my hands on the issue of

								Video Toaster with the B5 cover story.  Anyone who'd like to get a copy should

								contact that magazine at 21611 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino, CA 95014.  It's

								the April/May issue.  The cover price is $4.00, but I don't know what they

								might require for postage and handling on a single-issue order.  (Note: the

								b&w photos inside are *not* at this time part of B5, but rather other examples

								of related work.)  The colors are a bit off in repro as well, but not

								seriously so.  (Mainly the ship, which is a bright orange/red, which is

								different from the demo, from which the photos were composited.)


								                                                                     jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 673       Sat Apr 18, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 02:54 EDT


								     I will tell you a true thing: in Hollywood, the one thing you hear over

								and over again is the wish to direct.  Camera-men want to direct, writers want

								to direct, actors want to direct, producers want to direct, cinematographers

								want to direct....


								     Me, I *don't* wanna direct.


								     No interest in it, no aptitude for it.


								     I'm a *writer*, period.  As it is, the only reasons I decided to move up

								the ladder and become a producer are:


								     1) So nobody rewrites my stuff.


								     2) To create the kinds of shows that I would want to write for.


								     3) To acquire control over the physical production of my writing by being

								the one who HIRES the director.


								     That's the totality of it...I became a producer simply as an act of self-

								defense and to protect the material.  I *hate* dealing with numbers, and

								dollars, and haggling with business affairs guys, and worrying about budgets

								and hirings and corporate structures and completion bonds and film stock costs

								and how many Teamsters we're gonna need...but it's the only way to get the

								control of my writing that I really want.


								     The one thing I hate more than almost anything in the world is taking

								Stupid Notes from somebody.  The solution?  Become a producer.  That way you

								get to GIVE the stupid notes....


								                                                                 jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 679       Sat Apr 18, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 14:56 EDT


								     Well, excitement galore...and I may be off-line a bit because of it.  Big

								winds in the valley last night, and at 3 a.m. the sun came up in the form of a

								power cable that came down in my back yard, sparking and arcing and spitting

								blue-red-white light.  Right now, the whole house is dead, and has been since

								last night.  I'm logging on now via my notebook, but I don't know how long the

								batteries will last.  (Jeez, sounds like a distress capsule ejected from a

								ship, doesn't it?)  Anyway, will be on again when the power returns.  Expect

								me when you see me.


								                                                                jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 687       Sat Apr 18, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 18:58 EDT


								     Ah, Luis, it arrived.  Good.  Sufficiently neat?


								     Have got the ol' 486 back on line, power's back, at least for the time

								being.  We'll see.


								     So now it's back to work...too bad, I supposse, I was *finally* getting

								around to reading the latest Lewis Thomas book on language.  Ah, well...later

								for that, I guess.


								                                                                 jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 693       Sat Apr 18, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 21:45 EDT


								     Yes, I was referring to Etc/Etc...a wonderful piece of work.  Who else

								can make the history of the word "sew" absolutely entrancing?


								     We've selected a studio for audio post production, but can't release the

								name at this time.  Soon.


								     I suspect -- Mojo willing and the crick don't rise -- I'll be able to

								release a *lot* of production information by the end of this coming week.


								                                                                 jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 696       Sat Apr 18, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 23:55 EDT


								     Mt. Joe, thanks for the info.  We'll see what now becomes of it all.


								     I don't have Memphis or Little Rock on the list in front of me, but I

								know they've added some stations in recent weeks.  Will bug the guys at

								Warners for a more complete list.  The only super-station that I know of

								currently signed to carry B5 is WOR New York.


								                                                                  jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 700       Sun Apr 19, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 01:25 EDT


								     Understood.  Well, we'll stay on top of this, I'm confident it'll work

								out one way or another.


								     BTW...along with some of the things that have been discussed here that we

								*are* going to be doing, I thought I'd pass along one thing that we will NOT

								be doing.


								     We've been slotted in on a number of conventions, and as things pick up

								speed, others will be coming.  But one convention that I've decided we will

								*not* be a part of is any of the Creation Conventions.


								     Granted, they've covered other shows beyond TREK, including the

								Terminator, Quantum Leap and others...but frankly, I've heard *so* many horror

								stories from fans about them, they're *so* commercially oriented, treating

								people like cattle, just to separate them from their money, and having had

								some less than salutory experiences with them myself simply as One Of Many

								Congoers, I feel that in all good conscience, I can't lend my support to that

								organization.


								     Fans are not sheep awaiting shearing.  And that, I feel, is the Creation

								Con mentality.


								     Keep it.  We'll go elsewhere.


								                                                               jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 66        Sun Apr 19, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 18:55 EDT


								     Thanks for the support re: the con decision.  It does seem the right

								thing to do.


								     On the Wild West...no, I'm not involved with that, the only connection is

								that it's being done by the same company with whom I'm doing B5.


								     Finally, regarding the illustration in the double-page ad...I should

								clarify.  B5 has gone through *several* stages of visualization.  The very

								first thing done to help sell the show was a painting of the B5 station done

								by Peter Ledger, a leading graphic artist/illustrator.  THAT is the

								illustration you saw, NOT what's being done now.  (That drawing is about four-

								five years old.)  Stage 2 of the B5 station development was the video demo on

								the NewTek tape, which many here have seen (and which bears little resemblance

								to the original illustration).  Stage 3 was the new and pretty much final

								version that Lawrence Conley and I and a very few others have seen.


								     Now that video slides have been made of Stage 3, *that* is the only

								version that will be used in illustrations and ads henceforth, either through

								the slide itself, or an artist's rendering of that slide/image.   The

								publicity people at Warners went bonkers when they saw the final version, just

								loved it and have located a top-flight illustrator to do various renderings of

								that image.


								                                                               jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 75        Sun Apr 19, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 22:36 EDT


								     Yes, I definitely intend to hit a number of other cons in the course of

								this year, some large, some medium-sized...it's a question of time, market

								(whether or not the area will be covering B5), resources, and the usual

								scheduling conflicts...there are several conflicts that I have to  choose

								between.  And much as I want to hit them all, it's a) expensive, and b) I

								suspect that CBS would occasionally like me to WRITE on a weekend (I know,

								what an inconvenience...).


								     I hope to finalize travel plans for the summer/fall in a few weeks, and

								will post that info as soon as it's availaable.


								                                                               jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 80        Mon Apr 20, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 01:58 EDT


								     Jay: damn...I *told* them that the xxl's were coming in this week.   If

								you want to send it back, I'll have them send you a new one.


								     Oh, man, hope they haven't sent others like this...damn....


								                                                                  jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 90        Mon Apr 20, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 13:28 EDT


								     Just a quick response to one point above...the only reason I haven't said

								who's doing the illustrations for PR purposes is 1) I don't know the name, and

								2) it's not anyone who'd be known to the SF world anyway, as far as I know.

								Just a top-flight graphics illustrator.


								                                                                  jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 92        Mon Apr 20, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 16:48 EDT


								     Okay.  For the rest...only 3 XLs went out instead of XXL's, so we pretty

								much caught it in time.  If you got one and it ain't right, send it back.


								     (I've got to put some B5 info up soon, lest this turn into the All T-

								Shirt Channel....)


								                                                                jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 101       Tue Apr 21, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 01:58 EDT


								     Always interested in letters for the Suits.  Today alone we got in 25,

								which we'll hold on file for an opportune moment.


								     On other matters, and not to go into specifics (which are boring and

								irrelevant to any viewer), while most of the time the process of getting a

								show on the air is fun and exciting and interesting...at other times, I tell

								you in all honesty, it's like trying to stack marbles in a corner or nail

								Jello to a wall...man oh man....


								                                                                       jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 110       Tue Apr 21, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 16:00 EDT


								     About the details...there's just a lot of backing-and-forthing with

								business affairs and contracts and paper work and the like...I wasn't so much

								bringing it up as just sort of thinking out loud...which I probably shouldn't

								do unless I intend to be more specific.


								     As for the B5 photo on the magazine...what you're looking at is a shot of

								the docking bay in the front of B5 Phase Two.  The independent sections you

								see in a sort of grid behind it are the rotating sections that create gravity.

								At the sort of right-bottom corner, that corner of blue you see is part of a

								system of solar panels which have subsequently been dropped from the design.

								The ship (orange, which is actually sort of brown-silver in the video demo) in

								front is just sorta there, taken from another shot (which kinda throws off the

								perspective a little).


								                                                                jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 126       Wed Apr 22, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:55 EDT


								     Boy, a lot to cover in just a few hours...before which, a quick

								disclaimer...if you've sent a private note to me in the last few days, it may

								take me a while to respond (assuming I don't just forget, in which case, if

								it's a timely matter, re-message me) since I'm generally logging 15 or so

								letters per day in mail.


								     To the questions, in no particular order....


								     Do I believe there's life out there?  I dunno...it would seem to me

								unlikely that there would NOT be some sort of life elsewhere.  Intelligent?

								  Well, that's the $64,000 question, isn't it?  The question I hear a lot is,

								"If they're intelligent, why haven't they contacted us?"


								     Frankly, if they were intelligent, they probably *wouldn't*.  Keeping in

								mind that we're beaming Wally George and Howard Stern and World Federation

								Wrestling into the general ether at the speed of starlight, I wouldn't be

								surprised if sooner or later Pioneer came across a series of floating orange

								cones with yellow tape strung between them reading DO NOT CROSS -- THESE FOLKS

								ARE NUTS.


								     Will we eventually go to the stars?


								     Do we have a choice?


								     In another few hundred years, we will outstrip the earth.  We must move

								on or die.  To ask "Will we go to the stars?" is to ask "Will the eagle crack

								out of its shell?"  Yes...or it will die.


								     On other topics: yes, I do plan to be at Media*West, though what sorts of

								freebies I'll be bringing, if any, is still an open issue.  Our first and

								foremost concern now is getting the show on the air; most of the goodies will

								come later.  But I will be giving a B5 presentation there, and maybe appearing

								on a couple of panels as well, depending on schedule.


								     I've had WishCon mentioned to me today; any further information, let me

								know and I'll look into it.


								     Do I get the Warner Bros. Catalog?  DO I GET THE WARNER BROS. CATALOG?

								  Here...look at these cel reproductions lining my hall!  Here!  Look at this

								Flash mug, this Bugs Aviator Flight Jacket, these shirts with the Looney Tunes

								characters stitched in...this Acme Products T-Shirt, these pins,

								this......YAAAAAGGGHHHHH!


								     When it comes to the Warners catalog, I'm a doomed man.


								     Finally, to the education issue...yes, that's something that has

								attracted me to this medium and this topic from the beginning.  Although

								creative *decisions* have to be internal, what this technology allows is the

								chance to bring others in and see how that process functions, to make SF fans

								a part of that process through the interchange of ideas, by seeing How Things

								Work (minus the dull business/contracts/negotiations stuff).


								     Whether it's been in my writing book, the WD column, or here, I've always

								worked from an agenda that says, in essence, Let's be open, and let's get the

								process out where people can see it, and thus de-mystify it.  When I started

								out as a writer, absolutely unaware of the processes involved, I would have

								KILLED for this kind of information...and thus figured it could be of value to

								others.  I think that those who get through the barbed wire and the mine

								fields and the machine gun turrets have a rough obligation to at minimum

								*inform* those who follow about the traps and hurdles ahead.


								     If all one gets out of this topic is entertainment, and diversion, that

								is sufficient (and more than sufficient).  If it actually ends up helping one

								or two people down the road, all the better.


								     So believe me, I will continue to report in here throughout the

								process...from set construction through casting, pre-production, shooting,

								editing, scoring, dubbing, publicity and finally preparations for broadcast.

								The result, I hope, will be a step-by-step documentation, or manual, on how a

								show is assembled, from concept to final product.


								     Which is why the questions here have been so very helpful.  Often, when

								you're working in a fishbowl, you can't SEE the fishbowl anymore; in this

								case, I often don't know what information is most useful to anyone.  Also,

								some of the questions have been challenging, and have made me think about

								things I might not otherwise have considered, so let me assure you that this

								has been as helpful to me as to anyone else.  Look back and you'll see

								discussions of telepathy, biology, religion, fashion, social structure,

								language, music, weaponry, on and on...and by putting my feet to the fire on

								some of these issues, a great good has been done, and I've come up with

								answers I didn't know I had...answers that will now go into the B5 mix.  (For

								instance, I hadn't given that much thought to how a beam-weapon would sound

								until the question was asked here, and I had to sit down and talk to some high-

								IQ types, whose background and skills helped me refine a good answer to that

								question.)


								     Anyway, the point being that the process will continue until y'all get

								bored with it.  For me, it's part of the democratization of  television...and

								an enjoyable process, at that.


								     It's tough...as I write this, it's 1 a.m., and I'm exhausted from a long

								day of haggling and reading and scriptwriting and meetings and everything

								else, but I figure it's probably every bit as tiring at your end of the modem,

								and I'm game for as long as you are.


								                                                                jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 129       Wed Apr 22, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 15:13 EDT


								     The gesture is appreciated, but the problem with electronic

								communications is that there's no way to verify that the person typing on

								screen under a given name is actually that person, absent actual hardcopy

								signed by the person at hand (and even THERE it's oen to -- make that open to -

								- challenge).


								     Technology...Our Friend.


								                                                                  jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 141       Thu Apr 23, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:18 EDT


								     The point about (for lack of a better term, clumsy as this is) role

								models is well taken.  And too detailed for a quick answer.  Let me just try

								to answer by saying this...I have always believed that televison must be used

								*responsibly*.  (Note: individuals determine what is responsible; as soon as a

								committee decides it, I'm out of the business.)


								     Mark Twain said, "If you would have your work last forever -- forever

								usually being considered to be fifty years -- it must neither overtly preach

								nor overtly teach...but if MUST CO-vertly preach and CO-vertly teach."  This

								is a thread that has *always* run through my work.  It's there in almost

								everything.


								     It was never my intent that B5 should be just an action show.  It should

								be a metaphor, and a goal, and a mirror...an instrument to challenge as well

								as to entertain.  Otherwise, quite frankly, what the hell's the point?


								     Having come out of New Jersey myself -- Newark, to be precise -- I got

								out by having role models and examples of people who strove to become more

								than their environment promised they could become.  First it was guys in the

								Boys Club who kept me off the streets and out of trouble; then teachers; then -

								- when I began to feel the words -- certain writers, Harlan first among them.

								I fully understand what those individual inspirations can mean...how they can

								be the flashpoint that ignites another vision.


								     Having also come out of a fractured family life, you can be sure that

								that aspect will also come into play at times.


								     The point being...wait.  Watch.  And over time, as the stories continue,

								I think that your concerns will be addressed.


								                                                               jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 145       Thu Apr 23, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 20:12 EDT


								     Dave, if you ordered an XXL, then it'll be a while longer; there's been a

								delay, and those won't be arriving or going out until Friday.  So it may not

								be the P.O. system.


								                                                                jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 170       Sat Apr 25, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 05:31 EDT


								     There are definitely a lot of areas to consider regarding medicine, and

								it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to run some of this stuff past a medical

								advisor...and I probably will.


								     Insofar as crew relations are concerned...bear in mind that on any show,

								a *lot* of that comes about as you introduce the characters, and the actors

								get to know each other.  Chemistry can't be predicted.  What we  do have, for

								now, is that Laurel Takashima met Cmdr. Sinclair when she was working Mars

								Colony security, and because she refused to go along with kickbacks to some

								corrupt E.A. officials, was being held back.  He was transferred there in an

								advisory capacity, saw her potential, and pulled her back from some

								potentially dangerous (and self-destructive) stuff she was getting into out of

								frustration at being passed over repeatedly for promotion.


								     He's also known Garibaldi, the B5 security chief, for some time, but has

								never actually worked with him for any prolonged period of time.  He has

								elected, over the objections of Earth Central, to give Garibaldi this

								position, and it's his last chance to make good.  But from time to time, the

								requirements of a security chief don't reconcile with the needs of the

								commander.  He's only recently begun working with the resident xenobiologist

								and the newly-arrived station telepath.


								     Is there conflict between them?  Yes, at times severe.  They all deeply

								respect one another, but conflict arises as it must given the situation, and

								the close proximity, and the problems they encounter.  The basic requirement

								of ANY good drama is interpersonal conflict.


								                                                             jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 171       Sat Apr 25, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 05:32 EDT


								     To the cross-post...yes, Laurel will be very close to her roots; she' s

								the most earth-oriented of all those at our core.


								                                                               jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 184       Sun Apr 26, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:03 EDT


								     On continuity: you bet.  I'm as big a stickler for that as anyone.   You

								get inconsistency when you're casting about in every possible direction,

								without a clear vision.  If you're telling a continuous story, the odds of

								being consistent are better.


								     As far as Suits are concerned...I've always divided it up into two areas.

								There are Studio Execs Who Care, people like Dick Robertson at Warners, and

								Evan Thompson at Chris-Craft TV, whose unflagging support of B5 has made it

								possible to get this far.  They are our patron saints.


								     And they are NOT "suits."


								     A "suit" is basically that...a suit of clothes with nothing inside, no

								personality, no judgment, no creativity.  It's not what's worn, it's what's

								*inside*.  Every studio has suits...people who are frightened of making any

								judgment, who obfuscate and don't give an opinion, who are roadblocks on the

								journey to getting ANYthing done, who are cynical and  interested only in not

								making waves.  An empty suit.


								     Two very different classes.


								                                                              jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 193       Sun Apr 26, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 17:12 EDT


								     There's a fair amount of the backstory behind B5 that will make it into

								the pilot, but not near as much as later.  The problem with ANY pilot for ANY

								television show is that you're going to have breadth, but not depth.  After

								you subtract the commercials, you have well under two hours in which to: 1)

								Establish 9 major, recurring characters; 2) Establish four minor characters;

								3) Establish the history of the Earth/Minbari war; 4) Establish the

								relationships between the various ambassadors, 5) Establish exactly what B5 is

								and how it works, 6) Establish the physical operations of a station like this

								who don't know from SF (gravities, atmospheres, technology and the like); 7)

								Establish the main plot for this particular movie; 9) Set aside some amount of

								time for action as well as the exposition needed to establish 1-8; 10) Set up

								the series to follow.


								     That's an *awful* lot to establish in about 100 or so minutes.

								  Especially when you're dealing with a story as potentially complex as

								Babylon 5.


								     It also has to be done in a fairly accessible fashion, so that non-SF

								fans can Get It, and then slowly be led into the more esoteric stuff in the

								series.


								     Which is why I've always tried to maintain here that you should hold

								diminished expectations for the movie, and build up from there.  It ain't

								gonna have ALL this stuff in it (being the context and content discussed here

								over the last several months) simply because there isn't time to do all that

								AND establish our characters, situations, etc.


								     What the movie is designed to do is to build a platform or foundation

								upon which we then build the series.  So I'm in the position of a real estate

								developer who's been promising you this bright, gleaming, architecturally

								gorgeous art deco building, and I call you to tell you that Phase One has been

								completed, and you hurry down to the site to see what is, in essence, a great

								big hole in the ground.  Where's the art deco?  Where's the gleaming steel and

								glass?  Where's the elevators and murals and...and....


								     They will come.  But you've *got* to start with a solid foundation first.

								And often it ain't pretty.  But if it isn't there, your building is gonna fall

								over in the first good wind.


								     And if that prolonged reply doesn't metaphor all of us right into a coma,

								I don't know what will.


								                                                                jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 203       Sun Apr 26, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 22:50 EDT


								     Thought is going into the ships, and forms of propulsion, but that's

								still in flux as we determine the needs of the show, and the station, and get

								our tech people working on stuff that goes far beyond what I can ever hope to

								understand.


								     And yes, there's *definitely* an economy...both in terms of those coming

								to do business on B5, and the resources available.  B5 is a necessary element

								to preserving the peace, but that doesn't mean it's free from bureaucratic

								meddling and cost-cutting.


								     Remember, again, that unlike the Federation, this is not a monolithic,

								all-controlling entity (Earth Central).  There's a *lot* of factionalizing and

								splintering and wheels-within-wheels, so that leaves lots of room for

								conflict.


								                                                                  jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 208       Mon Apr 27, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:30 EDT


								     By the way, appropos of the Creation Con discussion earlier in this

								thread....


								     This past Friday, my guest on the SF radio show that I host, HOUR 25, was

								David Gerrold.  My co-host, Larry DiTillio, brought along his brother and a

								friend of his brother who he thought might be interesting to have on that

								night during the "nattering" part of the show (the first 15-20 minutes we put

								in on news and small-talk).  "He just came from Nimoy's place, where he

								directed a photo shoot to promote a traveling show Nimoy's doing with

								Shatner."


								     A shrug, I dunno if that's worth the time, any stories he might have.


								     "He's also one of the main guys running Creation Cons," Larry said.


								     Imagine, if you will, a pause vast as space.  "Oh really?" says I.

								"Sure, put him on."


								     So we go on the air, live, we natter, we bring in this guy, stick him in

								front of a mike, we chat a bit about this nine-city tour Nimoy and Shatner are

								going to be doing, then from left field: JMS - "So, would you like to comment

								on why Creation Con has such a crummy reputation among the fan community, the

								way it treats fans like cattle, the high prices, the rotten commercial

								attitude it takes toward its conventions?"


								     Let's just say, of the rest of the 10 minutes before we moved on to the

								heart of the show, was more fun than I've had on that show in a long time.


								     Are we having fun yet, or what?


								                                                                   jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 221       Mon Apr 27, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 05:02 EDT


								     Is it still fun?  There are moments when you shouldn't ask me that

								question.  On the topic of television, and trying to get ANYthing done, Eric

								Severeid once commented that the process is "like being nibbled to death by

								ducks."  So yeah, that plays a part from time to time.


								     But on balance, most of the time, yeah, it's fun.  The part of the

								process that I think I like the most is seeing what happens when you get other

								people involved with the project, and what they develop.  The first time I saw

								the sketch of a Vorlon ship by Ron Thornton, which absolutely surprised

								me...the reactions by the SF community...the media campaign put together for

								NATPE...it's the fun of creating a universe, and sending it spinning out into

								space for others to play in.


								     The rest...ehhh.  It's business.  You try not to let it get you down or

								make you crazy.


								     As for the Creation guy...not very many highlights, just a general sense

								of...fun.  When I brought up the first statement, he came back with, "I didn't

								know we were gonna talk about Creation Conventions."


								     "Of course not," I said, "that's half the fun."


								     There's much to be said, I'm learning, for ambush journalism.


								     Some of the complaints he tried to dismiss as "baseless."  I pointed out

								that I'd personally seen some of it.  He tried to get around it.  And I have

								to hand it to him, he comported himself real well.  And he openly acknowledged

								(after a bit) that yes, there *have* been problems...and ended by promising

								that they *will* do better in the future.


								     We'll see.


								     At the end of the show, after we all went out for a bite (to show him

								there were no hard feelings, and on the theory that you must administer the

								rod and the sugar cane in equal proportion if you're going to get anything

								done), he added, on parting, that the main job that now awaited him was

								"getting the barbecque sauce and fish-hooks" out of his ass.


								     There are moments I love this job.


								     Severeid's ducks notwithstanding.


								                                                                 jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 224       Mon Apr 27, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 17:02 EDT


								     Okay...since SOMEone here is monitoring this topic for Creation, and

								since SOMEone high up in Creation is such a weasel as to blame one of his

								employees for *my* bushwacking said unwitting employee on the air, when it was

								NOT his fault, let me make something perfectly clear:


								     The person who showed up on my show is not at fault.  He came in and I

								lit a firecracker under him NOT for anything that he had done, but for the

								problems that I and others have had with those running Creation; probably the

								same weasel who's now upset about all this.


								     Our last-minute guest that evening knew nothing of this, and did a

								commendable job defending what would be hard for ANYone to defend.  He

								defended Creation well, indicated that while there had been problems in the

								past, those were all now history, and spoke well of his bosses and indicated

								that all the problems had been dealt with and things would go swimmingly in

								future.


								     He did an admirable job for someone who didn't know he was going to get

								hit upside the head with a ball-bat.  I'm not sure *I* would have done as good

								a job under those circumstances.  (And I suppose it was less than mature of me

								to have gone on here at such length about it.)


								     Point being that our last-minute guest did a fine job, under very

								difficult circumstances, should NOT be penalized for it, and if certain

								weasels were to a) mind their own business, b) develop a sense of humor, and

								c) run a convention properly (as they will in future, I hear), these

								situations wouldn't arise in the first place.


								     And this ESPECIALLY goes for the weasel(s) monitoring this topic and

								running off to Creation with it.


								     Ain't like this topic contains anything top-secret...the radio show is

								heard from as far south as San Diego, and as far north as Bakersfield, so I

								fail to see the point.


								     (All of which just confirms the rightness of my decision not to take B5

								to Creation.)


								                                                                jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 243       Tue Apr 28, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 04:24 EDT


								     Yikes, that'll teach me not to log on for the balance of the day to get

								some work done....


								     Agreement with the sentiments above in the sense of letting the issue die

								down.  Point's been made, no sense in belaboring anything, at least not here.

								Any good that DOES come out of confrontation is, I've learned, lost if you

								dance in somebody's face for the next 24 hours.


								     Onward.


								                                                                 jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 254       Wed Apr 29, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 02:03 EDT


								     Just checking in to say...er...nothing much to say.  We're in what can

								best be described as the eye of the storm period...deal stuff and other issues

								have been taken care of, we're lining up various pieces, and the real Busy

								Stuff won't come for a little while yet.  I think we'll see the finished

								motion tests on B5 this week or next, and the storyboard for the opening

								sequence.


								     Exhausted otherwise, having turned in my first M,SW script for the coming

								season.  A real toughie to write, and ended up working non-stop the last 48-72

								hours or so to get it turned in before hiatus starts.  I figure, last season,

								my first really writing mysteries, I learned how to skate more or less in a

								straight line.  Now I'm trying to do some basic circles, see if I can write

								any better this season than last.


								     So this'll be brief...gotta go sack out.  Hope to have some interesting

								info by week's end, but I ain't promising at this point.


								     Onward.


								                                                                jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 260       Wed Apr 29, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 14:28 EDT


								     Note to myself: talk to some international economists, maybe raid a local

								university....yikes...nobody told me there was gonna be math involved....


								     GREAT looking gif file, Luis.  I like the color useage a lot, and it has

								given me much to consider.  (The current version has the triangular part in

								burnished/airbrushed copper, the 5 in gold...but there's much to be said for

								red and black.)  Hmmmmm.....


								     Insofar as I know, the overseas stuff is already taken care of, to a

								large degree.  I *do* know that it was well received in any number of

								countries, but don't have specifics.  Will try to remember to look into that.

								I suppose I should know where it's playing....


								                                                                 jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 263       Wed Apr 29, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 19:34 EDT


								     Actually, that's been a vital part of B5's design from the very start.

								The dead center of B5 is The Garden, similar to an O'Neill  station, with food

								and other crops grown on the 360-degree walls.  It runs through the center of

								B5, so the very VERY center is zero-G.  It's through this center that the

								shuttle runs.


								     A small joke in the script finds Delenn (the Minbari ambassador) in the

								Garden, and someone asks him about it.  He'd thought that Sinclair had named

								it after just what you suggest, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which he's

								read about...but it seems Sinclair named it after some other garden...a Square

								Garden of Madison, or something like that...and he's trying to find the

								cultural references and figure it out...probably thinks it's something to do

								with mythology....


								                                                                   jms

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

								Category 18,  Topic 22

								Message 274       Thu Apr 30, 1992

								STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:19 EDT


								     Getting mentions is very tough, we're discovering.  And we're still

								trying to figure out *why*.


								     As for "Time Trax," it's a Harve Bennet show for the same consortium of

								stations as B5.  It's about a guy from the future who comes into the present

								hunting down Bad Guys from the future.  TERMINATOR 1 and 2 meets Soldier meets

								Demon With a Glass Hand meets....well, you get the idea.


								     Oh, forgot one thing on the Madison Square Garden reference...it leaves

								Delenn doubly confused since this garden is *round*.


								     I *think* that's the first and so far only direct reference I've made to

								what happens specifically in the 2-hour script.  Have to remember to keep

								those down to a mild roar....


								                                                                  jms

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