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625 lines
31 KiB
Babylon 5 posts on GEnie by JMS for September, 1992
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This file includes a compilation of posts on GEnie by J. Michael
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Straczynski in the Babylon 5 topic. The posts are copyright by JMS
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(and compilation copyright is by GEnie).
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Category 18, Topic 22
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Message 65 Tue Sep 01, 1992
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:57 EDT
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One nifty thing in today's dailies...I have to say that Patricia Tallman
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makes one heck of a telepath. Wonderful. One thing I've never liked much
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about most treatments of telepaths on TV is that they've never really SOLD the
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idea...meaning, made it visual and dynamic, it's usually someone putting their
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hands to their head and muttering about images or feelings. Sort of your dime
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-
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store psychic stuff.
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In the script, I came up with a way of making the process dynamic and
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mysterious and visual, but without breaking the reality (if one could call it
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that) of how the process would or should work. Didn't know for sure if it
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would work until I saw the dailies today. Oh, man....it's lovely. And
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powerful as hell.
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Some very nice scenes today with Sinclair and his love interest, Carolyn
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Sykes. Nice grown-up adult relationship stuff.
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______
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Category 18, Topic 22
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Message 95 Thu Sep 03, 1992
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:07 EDT
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Hello? Is there really a world out there? Haven't had a chance to log
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on until now. Lots of interviews as well as production to worry about.
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Broadcasting Magazine again for a follow-up, then CNN/Showbiz Today this
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afternoon, on and on. Don't know yet when some of this will be hitting the
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stands or the airwaves (respectively), but will advise when I do.
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There's a lot of good stuff coming down the road, some exciting news
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brewing...but as with the time when this was That Which Could Not Be Named, I
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can't say anything. Let's just say that the disparitites between the coverage
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between B5 and the other series (and the reason for same) should evaporate
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very soon. In addition, promos are now being shot to air on all the TV
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stations set to carry B5 which will include scenes from the movie. These may
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begin airing as soon as a month or two from now.
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Just two more days of filming left. It's sometimes hard to believe; it
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took us five years to get here, and now this part of it will be over in just
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two more days. But as is so often said in television, boys and girls, there
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is more to come....
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The footage continues to look spectacular. David Gerrold came by this
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evening to pick up a few things for the Worldcon auction, and saw some of the
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footage (efx and dailies). His comment: "Every so often, the science fiction
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media world undergoes a paradigm shift. There was one with Star Trek, another
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with Star Wars...and what I just saw amounts to a major paradigm shift."
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Newsletter is coming together, most of the interviews are concluded, and
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I expect it to be out sometime around the end of the month, so those who've
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sent postcards, watch your mailboxes around the first part of October.
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jms
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______
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Category 18, Topic 22
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Message 117 Fri Sep 04, 1992
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:23 EDT
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The last two days, we've been shooting stuff in the observation dome,
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basically the B5 command and control room, which has a huge port that looks
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out into space. (The design is kinda, but not really, reminiscent of the
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Spirit window from the strip of the same name.) Saw the dailies today, and it
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looks great. And there's something nifty about standing there in the middle
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of this thing, looking out at space, black and white and the blue of a nearby
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nebula, rendered outside the port so we can do some of this in-camera. It
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feels very real when you're inside.
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Last day for the pilot shoot tomorrow. And probably one of our most
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lavish sets as well. Will log on after we've finished the last shot. Really
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tired, but we've got just about everything in the can now, and it's all 99.9%
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of what I originally saw in my head, or in many cases, better.
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jms
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______
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Category 18, Topic 22
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Message 188 Sun Sep 06, 1992
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 23:54 EDT
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Er, actually, any reposts of my messages should only be noted as
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copyright by me. Just a formality.
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Just returned from the San Francisco con, and about ready to drop, which
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sums up pretty well my status for the last few days.
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We wrapped Friday night at 2 a.m., and there wasn't a party (we were all
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too bushed) but a general well-wishing sort of thing. Didn't get home until
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nearly 3:30 a.m., or asleep until 5 a.m....and then could only grab two or so
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hours sleep before having to get up and nab the plane in time for the B5
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presentation in San Francisco.
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Emotions were really riding high Friday night as we got off the last shot
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of the pilot. No one really wanted to leave, despite the late hour. They're
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a good bunch.
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Anyway, I'm going to go and put my feet up, try to eat around my broken
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tooth, take some aspirin, and try to get better. It's as if my body were able
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to stand the strain just long enough to finish the job of the last four weeks,
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and then imploded....
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Later.
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jms
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______
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Category 18, Topic 22
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Message 277 Sat Sep 12, 1992
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:59 EDT
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It occured to me that I hadn't left a really *substantive* post since we
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finished filming last Friday. There's a certain burn-out that happens after
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you finish a major project like this; you just sort of shut down for a while
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and stare at the walls a lot. So between that and catching up on M,SW
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work...you understand.
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Most everyone is now taking a sorely needed rest from the grueling
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schedule; Michael O'Hare and Mire Furlan have headed back to New York, and the
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rest are out here, working on other stuff while we gear up for Phase Two on
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B5. The film is now being edited together, and the editor is now close to
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finishing the first rough assembly. (They've been doing some of this all
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along.) The assembly will be in-hand Tuesday, but that's for our director's
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eyes only. Right now, we're running a bit long, but the cuts, I hear, are
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*very* loose, and can be trimmed quite easily.
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The editor is quite astonished at what he's seeing; the scope of the
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thing, the look of it. I share that feeling. What happens when you make a
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project like this is that you spend a whole day on one set, doing X-number of
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scenes in that set. Then the next day, you watch the dailies from that set.
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And soon you lose track, a bit, of how it will all look when you cut it
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together, and you're in LOTS of sets, and scenes. It's like thinking of your
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house ONLY in terms of the kitchen, or the dining room, without putting it all
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together in your head into a dynamic system...a home.
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And that's what happens during editing. I spent the first part of the
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week going over ALL of the dailies, tape after tape, pulling out shots to be
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used in promos. And so for the first time saw the WHOLE movie, not
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necessarily in order, but all of the scenes, all of the sets, the whole look
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of the thing. And the overwhelming sense that I get is of the sheer,
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seductive feel involved, the sumptuous sets, the gritty darker stuff...thanks
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to Richard and John Iacovelli and so many others, it's really a feast for the
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eyes. I honestly, truly believe that it's going to leave a lot of people
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boggled.
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We're trying to continue the momentum now that we have film to show.
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Watch for a big photo layout in the next STARLOG SPECTACULAR, and a *huge*
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story, 20 pages or so, with lots of photos, in CINEFANTASTIQUE around
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December/January. (There'll be a smaller piece in, I believe, the next issue,
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with a photo or two from the set.) I'm pretty sure that BROADCASTING MAGAZINE
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will also have a story in next week or so.
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In a way, this is the really hard part...you've *made* the film, so by
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all rights this is where you should be able to relax and savor it, but there's
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a lot of ground to cover, a lot of work to get out the word about the show,
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lots of post-production to do...and we haven't even gotten to the sound for
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the show, audio mapping,any of that. (I hope to be able to announce a
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composer in the next week or so; I think you'll all be quite pleased by who we
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think we've got, pending the fine points in the deal being nailed down.)
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There's an *awful* lot of movement going on behind the scenes, all of it
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wonderful, but I can't say anything about it for the time being.
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Picked up the Don McLean CD collection today, and was surprised to hear
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his song "Babylon," which I'd practically forgotten. The song triggered off
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an image that just slammed into my head; it comes not from anything IN the
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song per se, but the tone, the mood, and I think I'm going to work an entire
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episde around that image, maybe year 3 or so.
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Meanwhile, as indicated, we're currently in the eye of the storm, the
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quiet between the end of filming and the delivery of the first real cut.
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Expect to see a *lot* of activity when the eye passes and we're back in the
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thick of it.
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(Final aside...in looking at the scenes, there's one in which Londo is
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mourning the loss of the great Centauri empire, and talking about how they've
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gone from running everything to being just a few worlds, living on memories
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and stories, selling trinkets...and I found myself wanting to tag on that line
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from THE PRODUCER, "...AND I'M WEARING A CARDBOARD BELT!")
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Oh...and there *is* a blooper reel. I've seen the first part of it.
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Very funny stuff...sick and twisted, but funny.
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jms
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______
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Category 18, Topic 22
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Message 411 Sun Sep 20, 1992
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:57 EDT
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To the query above, yes, BABYLON 5 has a definite beginning, middle and
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end. I've always enjoyed shows like that, such as THE PRISONER, which has a
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beginning (he arrives at the village) and an end (he escapes from the
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village...sorta), and good stuff in between.
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All of this effort is so that we can tell A Story. A very long and
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involved story, about one person, mainly, but how that person's future can
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affect the course of history. A saga.
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The key is to do that without making it impossible for the viewers. I
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dearly loved TWIN PEAKS, but if you missed an episode, you were screwed.
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Similarly, you can't make the end of every episode a thematic or plot-
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cliffhanger, leading directly into the next episode. Each episode MUST stand
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on its own, and it should be structured so that you can come into it at any
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point, and be able to track what's going on, no matter what season it is.
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It's very much a writer's challenge, but I love challenges.
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(Now, of course, the saga continues in my own head long after the end of
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the five-year storyline, because they're real people to me, and their lives
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and the lives of those they touch continue, but at this point that's more than
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I even want to think about. Let's get this puppy on the air first, then we'll
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see if we even last two years, let alone five.)
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On Monday afternoon, I'll be seeing a good cut of the BABYLON 5 pilot.
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Will let you know if it lives up to expectations.
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jms
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______
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Category 18, Topic 22
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Message 430 Mon Sep 21, 1992
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:09 EDT
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What are you missing? The stuff about the story that only I know.
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Re: the 10 years and 1-4 Babylon stations. Remember, first, that they
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were not completed. In one case only the superstructure was completed, in
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another inferior materials were used (deliberately), and so on. So it's not
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like they built 5 fully operational stations. Only B4 actually made it to
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operational status. B5 was/is intended to be the last effort. If this one
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doesn't make it...screw it.
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Applying the resources from the full EA was deemed vital because, as
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stated, we as a race were almost wiped out in the Earth/Minbari War. We might
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BE wiped out by a technologically superior race next time it happens...IF we
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allow it to happen. B5 is the first line of self defense, and from our close
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call, everybody knows it.
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Re: shipping materials, I posted somewhere upline how the jump points
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work. In brief, large ships (cruiser and above) can generate their own entry
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points to hyperspace; gates are used mainly for smaller ships without their
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own field generators, and larger ships that want to conserve power. So all
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that was required was to drop 1 jump point when they started building B1, and
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that was it. There was no long supply line. (To clarify, the larger ships,
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Explorer class, leave behind 3 or 4 jump gates at pre-arranged points as they
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move through space.)
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As for Sinclair's status as both commander and ambassador...that is
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something we're going to deal with in the series. By all rights, he shouldn't
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even BE there. EA tried to stick an Admiral or some other high-ranking
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officer there. The first race to sign onto the station, the Minbari, had
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approval over who was sent to that post. They rejected everyone suggested,
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right down the line, until Sinclair. EA Officials are still wondering why HE
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was selected. (There is a reason.)
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That post was previously designed to either include representing Earth as
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an ambassador (to avoid in-station conflicts) or as an adjunct to one. And at
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one point, an ambassador will arrive, and they will hash this out once and for
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all.
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Your question proceeds from the assumption, "How can everyone agree that
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this is the right thing to do?", which is understandable, given how monolithic
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some shows make the future. But in the case of this show, there is constant
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disagreement, and there are a LOT of people in the Earth Alliance who think
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that this is NOT the right thing to do,and will try to take action to
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"correct" it....some for understandable reasons, some out of another agenda
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entirely.
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What you have picked up on are not flaws, but story points in the
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making...areas that will be explored down the road. These questions WILL be
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answered. It would have been very easy to make him Admiral or Ambassador
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Sinclair. He was given this lower rank for a reason...and there are an awful
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lot of people who look at this, and wonder if Sinclair isn't just a *tad* too
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cozy with their former enemies in the war, and just where ARE his loyalties,
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*really*?
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I've always taken pride in the fact that my stories are generally
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airtight. I hate loose ends and unanswered questions and inconsistencies. So
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feel free to poke and prod. It'll either be something I've deliberately built
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into the show, or something that I should attend to.
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As for the question above about how long this access will continue, only
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time will tell.
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jms
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______
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Category 18, Topic 22
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Message 451 Tue Sep 22, 1992
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:23 EDT
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Well, I saw the first cut today. Overall...not bad. The one drawback to
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doing a screening like this is that you can't just sit back and enjoy/watch
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the show. You have to look for problems, have to keep reminding yourself not
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to get sucked into it and lose objectivity. You don't go to have a good time,
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you go to find ways to give yourself grief.
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Fortunately, it all seems to hang together nicely. There were a few
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scenes and partial scenes that need to be cut, that're fun but don't advance
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the plot. (It's a tad long, so we could use the cuts.) And a few shots need
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to be restructured for clarity. But overall...it's good. (It's also one of
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those situations where you've now seen something 15 or 20 times, and you lose
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all sense of perspective.)
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I imagine we'll have the revised cut in by week's end. Tomorrow our
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tentative composer views the cut. Will advise as soon as I know how this
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finally works out.
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In the interim, some scenes were dubbed with bits of music, whatever they
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had on hand...and it's amazing how much music adds to a scene. Just makes the
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whole thing come alive.
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Once we have the next cut in hand, I think I'm going to show it to a few
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selective people, all of whom are very critical of my work, and invite them to
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beat the crap out of it. The tougher we make it, the better the odds of
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survival out in the world....
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______
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Category 18, Topic 22
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Message 475 Wed Sep 23, 1992
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 19:21 EDT
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I am trying very, very, *very* hard not to lose it at this moment.
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Someone put the copy of the current ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY in my hands,
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with the DS9 cover story, and said "I think you should see this." And I saw
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some full-head makeup prosthetics that look an *awful* lot like ours. But
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worse yet...the sets. The Promenade looks amazingly like our bazaar; their
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casino/bar looks a lot like our casino/bar, on and on and on....
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This is getting just a *little* out of hand. The visual aspect comes on
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top of the story aspect...that both shows are about a space station that
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functions as a port of call for businessmen, smugglers, diplomats and others,
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located near a jump-point/worm-hole, has an open marketplace, a casino, a bar,
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hookers, original draft screenplays in which a shape changer played a
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substantial role, a female second in command, a head of the station with the
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same initials (J.S.) both with the rank of Commander, and an attack scene near
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the end with the female second in command being in charge of the defense...oh,
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yeah, and both commanders carrying a trauma from a recent war or battle.
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And there are more points of similarity, those are just the ones that
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spring immediately to mind. And now they will even have much the same look,
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similar sets, similar makeups....
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I'm calm. I'm quiet and collected. How that desk got tossed out the
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window is anybody's guess.
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Well, at least there's some good news. We screened the rough cut of B5
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for the composer we'd like to work with, and he seemed to go for it.
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Now we just have to see how our mutual schedules mesh. (This is a very
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special composer, and so there's a fair amount of courtship going on.)
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jms
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______
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Category 18, Topic 22
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Message 478 Wed Sep 23, 1992
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 19:42 EDT
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(Entering calm, philosophic mood....)
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Personal involvement aside, I'd say that B5 looks *better*. And I just
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got the news this afternoon, now that the final production report is in (minus
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what's set for post). We've come in UNDER budget.
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Hey, Paramount! Phthpfttttt!
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jms
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______
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Category 18, Topic 22
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Message 491 Thu Sep 24, 1992
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:36 EDT
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Television is like a train; once it leaves, you then know how long it
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will take to get from A to B. We could've still made the November airdate if
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we'd gotten the go when originally discussed. That didn't happen. Given when
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we started, it's simple math to determine when we can air. (And remember, we
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aren't all by ourselves here; Warners has to consider many factors, like the
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rest of the network, and where we fit in in that area.)
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We will have a pretty solid cut in about 2 weeks. A fine-cut by the end
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of October. We start spotting (looking for music cue locations) November 3rd.
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Scoring will take place around December 14th. We'll deliver shortly before
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Christmas. Nothing can happen then until January or February. And the Prime
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Time Network goes on line in February, and they want B5 to air during the
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February sweeps, where it will get the most attention and exposure.
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Sweeps also puts us up against the MOST deadly competition; that's when
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the networks, syndicators and cable outfits pull out their big guns in stunts
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and high-profile programs to kill off everything else in sight.
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So we're very much walking right into the lion's den, with everything in the
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world stacked up against us.
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Seems like fair odds to me....
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And it wouldn't be the first time.
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jms
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______
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Category 18, Topic 22
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Message 516 Fri Sep 25, 1992
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:30 EDT
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*** YES! ***
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The composer we've wanted, who we've been courting, has seen the rough
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assembly and likes what he sees! He wants to do it! Insofar as I know,
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there's only one deal point remaining to be resolved. Once that's done, and
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Warners has approved, I can probably make some sort of announcement, all
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things being equalized.
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jms
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______
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Category 18, Topic 22
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Message 539 Fri Sep 25, 1992
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 23:46 EDT
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As I write this, we are starting to come out of the lull between storms.
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First there was the production itself, then things quiet down while the
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editors and our director assemble their cut, which is now ongoing. The closer
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the cut comes to being finished, the more things begin to pick up speed.
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We're starting to pick up a *little* on the PR stuff. Gave some
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interviews to different magazines, and remember, the E! channel 30 minute
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Making Of documentary should be hitting the air in the next few weeks to a
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month. Now that we have something to show people, it's a bit easier to get
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their attention.
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On Tuesday I'll be seeing one of the four-minute promos for the show.
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The fellow handling that aspect over at Warners is *very* excited by the look
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|
of the thing, and commented today that the task we'd had was to make a TV
|
|
movie as a pilot. What we ended up with, in his view, is a Motion Picture
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|
that just happens to have been made for television. "The best I can describe
|
|
it is, imagine if someone had made STAR WARS just the way it was made, but for
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|
television," he said.
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|
That's one of the problems with working on a project for so long; after a
|
|
certain point, you're no longer capable of really viewing it or evaluating it
|
|
objectively. To some degree, you don't even SEE it anymore, there's no
|
|
surprise after you've seen each take 5-10 times at least. So we all kind of
|
|
take it for granted; it's only when someone sees the whole thing for the first
|
|
time that we can even begin to gauge the film.
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|
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We're getting absolutely amazing support from Warners, which is just in
|
|
love with the project and really smells something special. And that's nice.
|
|
They're still amazed that we came in under budget (the precise figure: $1,190
|
|
under), given that a certain OTHER show, with fewer sets, fewer EFX, a wealth
|
|
of standing sets (the ship-board stuff), established uniforms and some
|
|
prosthetic precedents, has apparently, as George Martin mentions above, gone
|
|
WAY over budget even at having been budgeted at something between $9-12
|
|
million, which is hideous even to start with.
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|
|
|
The key to that, frankly, is something where we have a definite edge:
|
|
planning. We weren't rushed, we had the script a long time in advance, and
|
|
were able to schedule our set construction and other areas to control the
|
|
costs. And this will apply to the series as well; we know roughly what half
|
|
the stories will be about, so we can spread out the construction, start in on
|
|
the required EFX well in advance, so that they look good, and aren't
|
|
rushed...simple, basic planning.
|
|
|
|
At the core of that is something that occured to me today, the one thing
|
|
that no one can take from us, and which no one can touch: the other show is
|
|
about a space station at which stories take place; ours is a show about one
|
|
particular story, one saga, which happens to take place on a space station.
|
|
If there is any one thing that distinguishes B5 from everything else, that's
|
|
probably it.
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|
jms
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______
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Category 18, Topic 22
|
|
Message 600 Mon Sep 28, 1992
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:26 EDT
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|
|
|
|
An aside, hopefully the last one for a while on the Other Show, only
|
|
because I know it's being discussed elsewhere, along with the question of why
|
|
it SHOULD be discussed...so I thought I'd take a moment to deal with it here.
|
|
Some of it appeared in the now-deleted message, but presented here in calmer
|
|
terms.
|
|
|
|
There's always disagreement between genre fans regarding shows; some like
|
|
TNG over TOS, some vice-versa, some like STAR WARS but not TREK...and there
|
|
will doubtless be that same discussion between B5 and DS9. Which is all fine
|
|
and good, and had nothing much to do with the topic at hand.
|
|
|
|
What it comes down to, really, is history and context.
|
|
|
|
BABYLON 5 is the culmination of five years of work, five years of my
|
|
life, and that of many others. Five years of meetings, of pitches, of return
|
|
meetings, of second pitches, of raised hopes and bitter disappointments. It
|
|
would have been very easy, at any point, to just pack it in. I cannot even
|
|
begin to convey to you the grief and hte heartbreak when the deal seemed
|
|
absolutely solid...only to fall apart at the very last second. The long
|
|
nights of frustration, of people (wiser than I) saying, "Look, let it go, it's
|
|
not going to happen, it's consumed four years of your life, you could probably
|
|
sell another show a lot easier...give it up."
|
|
|
|
But we refused. I refused. And in between pitches and meetings and
|
|
deals in the offing, I stole hours from other work, from desperately needed
|
|
sleep, to write out character descriptions, to write down the five year story
|
|
arc, the history of the BABYLON 5 universe, two hundred single spaced pages
|
|
and more, because I *believed* in this project, because I had a story to tell.
|
|
|
|
To see that five years of work jeapordized or threatened....
|
|
|
|
Let me put it in terms that might clarify the situation.
|
|
|
|
Let's say that, the same month that the original STAR TREK went on the
|
|
air, some other network debuted SPACE TREK, about a starship on a five year
|
|
mission...a starship with a tubular hull connected to a saucer section at one
|
|
end, and two nacelles at the other...commanded by a Captain Clerque, and his
|
|
alien first officer Smock....
|
|
|
|
How would you have felt? Perhaps more to the point, how would
|
|
Roddenberry have felt?
|
|
|
|
And that, really, is the context in which this discussion has to be
|
|
framed. It's not competition, it's not sniping, it's a serious issue that has
|
|
to be confronted. With one last aspect to be considered:
|
|
|
|
One of the reasons that this show was so hard to get going was that it
|
|
was so unique, so challenging to television, so different in many ways, some
|
|
of which you will only begin to see in the series. And I know full well that
|
|
even if the Warners PR machine got working 24 hours a day on this, half of all
|
|
viewers will see this show, coming out after DS9, and think it's just a last-
|
|
minute knockoff or ripoff of DS9.
|
|
|
|
And for a *writer*, any writer, especially if you take any degree of
|
|
pride in the originality of your work, that appearance is hurtful in the
|
|
extreme.
|
|
|
|
Anyway, that's really all I have to say about this whole issue at this
|
|
time. There's much going on (the hints to which the previously referenced
|
|
sysopatrix alluded to), and there's all kinds of news coming down the pike.
|
|
All of it good.
|
|
|
|
As stated before, the post-production lull is just about over....
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
______
|
|
Category 18, Topic 22
|
|
Message 607 Mon Sep 28, 1992
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 16:39 EDT
|
|
|
|
One can but hope.
|
|
|
|
Incidentally, and not entirely as an aside, I spoke to Michael O'Hare
|
|
today, who's in New York at the moment. (Michael, you'll all remember, is our
|
|
lead, Commander Jeffrey Sinclair.) Basically called to bring him up to speed
|
|
on a few things, and we got to talking about heroes. And how much he wants to
|
|
bring out that aspect, for his own kid, and for others. One thing that
|
|
Michael and I have in common is that we both resolutely and stubbornly
|
|
continue to believe in heroes, and the need for same. Not bluff-and-bluster
|
|
heroes, but ordinary people who are placed in extraordinary circumstances, and
|
|
rise above what they believe are the limits of their endurance.
|
|
|
|
Someone said recently of HILL STREET something rather profound, I thought
|
|
at the time. That it was about the redefinition of heroes; the hero as
|
|
bureaucrat (Furillo), the hero as ordinary man (Hill and Renko), the hero as
|
|
psycho (Belker), the hero as sleazebag (Buntz), and that genuinely struck me
|
|
as the core of that show...that heroes aren't always what we think they're
|
|
supposed to be, and that there is that spark that can be found in the
|
|
unlikeliest of places.
|
|
|
|
Anyway, just your Thought For Today....
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
______
|
|
Category 18, Topic 22
|
|
Message 661 Wed Sep 30, 1992
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:42 EDT
|
|
|
|
If it were only a matter of set design, you wouldn't hear
|
|
a peep from me. For what I hope will be the last time, here's
|
|
how it lays down:
|
|
|
|
BABYLON 5 DEEP SPACE 9
|
|
Commander Sinclair Commander Sisko
|
|
Casino Casino
|
|
Bar Bar
|
|
Female second in command Female second in command
|
|
Shapechanger in original script Shapechanger in pilot script
|
|
Located near a jump-point (warp) Located near wormhole (warp)
|
|
Number-designated space station Number-designated space station
|
|
Hookers Hookers
|
|
Similar prosthetics Similar prosthetics
|
|
Similar sets Similar sets
|
|
Female 2nd fending off attack at end Female 2nd fending off attack
|
|
Bazaar Promenade
|
|
Cmdr. haunted by recent war Cmdr. haunted by recent battle
|
|
Cmdr. is unmarried Cmdr. is (now) unmarried
|
|
Freeport/port of call Freeport/port of call
|
|
Travelers/diplomats/smugglers Travelers/diplomats/smugglers
|
|
|
|
Those are the highlights. There's more, but this point has
|
|
been belabored far more than is reasonable at this point. With
|
|
one bit of new information...I've heard that Majel Barrett-Roddenberry
|
|
has been quoted as saying that B5 has borrowed from DS9...now I
|
|
can't personally confirm this, I wasn't there, but if those who
|
|
sent me private mail testifying to this want to come forward, they're
|
|
welcome to do so (though no onus is attached if they don't).
|
|
|
|
Can such things happen by accident? That's more a question for
|
|
others.
|
|
|
|
Now, again, I don't want to go on about this in extremis. The
|
|
only reason I replied was because you asked, and seemed to think that
|
|
the only similarity was in the set design. As has been stated
|
|
(repeatedly), they will be very different shows, in many ways, in
|
|
terms of the stories and the characters and the fact that we just
|
|
operate in a completely different fictional universe.
|
|
|
|
So that said...let's move on. In future, if anyone wants to
|
|
get the details, they should be referred to this message. There's
|
|
going to be a lot to discuss, and a lot of new stuff coming down
|
|
the road in terms of B5, and I'd hate for this topic to end up
|
|
just a constant rehashing of point-by-point similarities. Best to
|
|
talk of B5 in terms of B5, not via comparison to others.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
______
|
|
|
|
|