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