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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: 2 Oct 1993 00:19:46 -0400
Subject: Re: Filming Episodes Out of Or
There's one thing to remember in all of these discussions; this is
something that came up very early on, when I was almost exclusively on
GEnie, and has been shown to be true over the year-plus that this dialogue
has been going on. Granted that there may be some small publicity value
to my participation in all of this; from my perspective, the chief benefit
is the exchange of information, a demonstration of respect for those who
enjoy SF media, and the goal of providing a real behind-the-scenes look at
how a show is done, for whatever help this may be to others thinking of
working in television.
Consequently, this conversation can't be reduced to puff pieces. If
and when there is a problem, you won't HAVE to hear it on a rumor, you'll
hear it first right here, from me. This happened before, during and
after the pilot's production and broadcast. When there have been hassles,
complications or other troubles, I've tried to address them head-on, and
in so doing, illuminate the process a little for those looking on.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 2 Oct 1993 17:27:55 -0400
Subject: Re: Filming Episodes Out of Or
The reason you don't generally hear about shows shooting episode 22
at number 12 is that most series don't know where they're going for the
length of their season. They're individual stories, rather than an overall
vision for a whole season at a time. That is what makes B5 different, and
what makes what would otherwise be a huge and expensive SF series
manageable from a fiscal point of view.
Because we know what stories we'll be shooting for the whole season,
it lets us budget and adjust in ways no other show really can. If we can
only make a deal with X-actor for a limited period of time because he or
she has to go off and make a movie, but we WANT X-actor because he or she
is best for the part, we can push those episodes together and write and
shoot them together for production purposes, and then air them later in
the correct story sequence. If we know we're going to be using X set --
a very big and expensive set that takes up a lot of room -- in certain
episodes, but not in others, we make it a point to try and shoot them
back to back. We're able to look ahead and match a certain kind of
story with a certain kind of director, rather than being haphazard about
it. (I.e., even though it's not written yet, we know that story 11 will
be a big action piece, and X-director is *great* on action, so we'll slot
him in for that one, and use Y-director, who's good with smaller, more
intimate stories, for episode 10.)
If we're not doing things the way you're accustomed to...then as far
as I'm concerned, we're doing our job. We're trying hard to redefine how
you do a TV series, particularly in SF, if you approach it as a novel
rather than as a series of disconnected stories.
And if I seemed to come down hard, it was to squelch this asap. I've
been on systems long enough to know how this works: person A says, "Gee,
I'm worried, this could be a problem." Then person B reads it, and passes
onto another system, "Some guy over on Internet who knows this stuff says
this could be a problem," after which it turns up on Compuserve as "Word
going around says there's a problem." And suddenly you've got ten zillion
people asking you what the problem is, what you're going to do about it,
when there IS no problem. I've seen this happen again and again. So when
I see it, I figure the best way to handle it is to just come back with the
facts.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 3 Oct 1993 00:50:51 -0400
Subject: Little niggle with the pilot..
We've totally redesigned the breather units to cover the eyes and
face, and expanded the surgical scrubs to include the full body.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 3 Oct 1993 01:14:33 -0400
Subject: Re: Filming Episodes Out of Or
Immune from flaming? Hardly. I've been flamed so much, if I even so
much as *touch* a Jiffy-Pop Popcorn shaker it goes off....
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 3 Oct 1993 01:21:03 -0400
Subject: Re: Filming Episodes Out of Or
What you say is essentially correct...now that the actors can see
where they're going to be by season's end, it definitely colors their
performance, and adds layers of foreshadowing that aren't even scripted,
but which come out almost subliminally. It heightens things nicely, and
adds depth to the portrayals.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 6 Oct 1993 00:58:47 -0400
Subject: Re: Filming Episodes Out of Or
I honestly haven't yet heard the final PR plans for B5. The studio
was up until just a little bit ago mainly concentrating on promoting the
new fall season. They've just finished that, and are drawing a breath
before plunging into the January stuff. I hope to know more soon, though.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 6 Oct 1993 17:36:11 -0400
Subject: Money
Money works as in any large city. You come in with the money of your
place of origin (assuming you haven't made adjustments prior to arriving),
and exchange it for prevalent Earth value credits, as determined by the
current exchange rate. You are issued a credit chit that has your name,
ID, other information, including genetic information to prevent forgery,
and that has your available credits as stored in the B5 computer. As you
pay, as with any credit card, you whittle away at that amount until it's
gone, at which point you either cash in more of your money...or go broke.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 6 Oct 1993 17:36:11 -0400
Subject: Robots
It's no *cute* robots. Obviously, as in the pilot, there are
maintainance 'bots and the like, though humanoid-like robotics isn't
something we really plan to get into.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 6 Oct 1993 18:01:50 -0400
Subject: Re: Babylon 5 Frequently Asked
Yes, you're thinking of the same Richard Biggs.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 8 Oct 1993 16:01:18 -0400
Subject: * New season shot 16x9?
Yes, the series is being shot in letterbox aspect ratio, but until
HDTV is more of a standard, it'll be broadcast using the conventional
ratio. For those of us who've invested in solid entertainment systems and
good-sized TVs, we forget sometimes that most sets in use out there are
18" or thereabouts, and letterbox just makes the picture too small for
most viewers to handle. Once HDTV becomes more the standard, then it'll
be broadcast in that aspect ratio. However, on the theory that those who
buy laserdisks are better set-up for that kind of picture, it's my
understanding that the laserdisks of B5 the series will be in letterbox
format.
Re: Tamlyn Tomita...several things you have to understand. You can
have 8 really great actors, who all perform wonderfully individually, but
sometimes the result is more than, or less than, the sum of its parts. In
an ensemble like B5, you have to look at what kind of synergy is generated
by your cast. We felt strongly that the result didn't really reflect the
individual talents of our cast. Tamlyn's a terrific performer...and she
wasn't entirely happy with her performance. It's not the kind of role she
is really used to playing. Which is not to say that at some point she
might not return to the show in a different capacity....
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 9 Oct 1993 20:19:29 -0400
Subject: Re: JMS: Music, Sky, etc.
Zocalo is a word of, I believe, South American origin for the Grand
Plaza, or central plaza...what in the States we'd call a mall, or a
shopping center. It's the area in B5 where you have shops, booths, some
food and drinks, that sort of thing. As I've said before, in the B5
universe, we're *all* going to the stars, and we've worked in stuff from
other cultures along the way to bolster that aspect. I look forward to
incorporating other elements from South American, Chinese, African and
other cultures as we go.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 12 Oct 1993 19:01:41 -0400
Subject: One more "NO" for B5
I *hate* evil twin stories, and have never let them near ANY series
I've ever worked on, let alone B5. Feh.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 12 Oct 1993 21:18:58 -0400
Subject: Question: Continuity between P
Where possible, we're trying to fold production changes into the
shows in terms of dialogue without getting bogged down in it. At some
point I'd like some character to comment that he wishes they'd stop
changing everything around here...bad as digging up the streets. My sense
has always been -- and this includes the pilot -- that B5 is still more or
less unfinished, there are sections still uninhabited, incomplete, so
they're still working to get it right. (They blew all their budget on B4,
so B5 is having to scrape by with less.) What happened in the pilot is
still canon; that we may or may not choose to use something in future,
such as the privacy mode, does not mean that it didn't exist, or that it
doesn't exist. Only that we may not need to use it. IF at some point in
time there was an absolute crying need for a privacy mode, we'd probably
use the block mode rather than the lights, but as of this time, there's
been no such need in any of our scenes for that.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 12 Oct 1993 23:24:00 -0400
Subject: Re: Replies to JMS
At one point in the series, to note the now-vanished Babylon 4, we're
going to have somebody just standing in deep background wearing a T-Shirt
that reads, "My Mother Visited Babylon 4 And All I Got Was This Crummy
T-Sh
We're a sick bunch, but we're fun.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 13 Oct 1993 03:58:39 -0400
Subject: Re: Replies to JMS
Let me just dive into this whole telepath thing, which you keep
bringing up as something that you feel doesn't belong in an SF series. I
strongly disagree (obviously, since it's in B5). The problem with most
uses of telepathy in TV SF is that it hasn't been done very well; it's
either couched in mysticism or used as a deus ex machina. Telepathy has
had a long and distinguished history as a subject of *quality* SF, right
up to and including Alfred Bester's "The Demolished Man," arguably the
best book ever written on the subject.
What no one has done in TV, and what I want to do, is to ask the
next question, which is what SF is all about. Because if, in reality, we
discovered tomorrow that there actually were provable telepaths among us,
you can bet your bottom dollar that there would be laws passed about it
the very next day, in every courthouse and congress around. Questions of
privacy, of criminal prosecution, of lifestyle, of regulation, all these
and more get raised by that particular spectre. And that is something I
very definitely want to explore in B5...it's not just a throwaway, it's
something that we will discover after a while is *central* to something
that's going on in the B5 universe.
It's no more or less fantastic than jump gates and Vorlons, and there
is room to explore how we as a people would react to something like this.
And that is what SF is *for* at its best.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 14 Oct 1993 04:56:12 -0400
Subject: Re: One more "NO" for B5
No, we did *not* do the Evil Twin story in the pilot, unless you so
utterly narrow down your definitions to include comouflage. The classic
Evil Twin story comes in two forms: 1) The true twin brother/sister who
pops up, is considered nice by everyone, and then turns out to be evil, or
2) The Evil Twin who takes over the life of the Good Twin. Either way,
you have a very close relationship. So I simply don't buy your assertion.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 14 Oct 1993 04:58:42 -0400
Subject: Re: Replies to JMS
Actually, there's very little in the B5 telepathy issue that comes
anywhere near Bester's; I brought that up only as an example of how it
can be, and has been treated well in fiction. The notion of telepaths
banding together has shown up in *lots* of different books and stories,
though arguably Bester's is one of the best. (One difference, fo
instance, cited earlier, is that in Bester's book, psi's can't testify in
court...in the B5 universe they can, but only under *very* restrictive
conditions.)
As someone with degrees in clinical psychology and sociology, I've
been noodling around with the sociological impact of psi's for a long
time now, and figure this is the place to work it out. (And no, there
won't be any instances of magic qua magic on B5. It has to be somehow
explainable; even if it's extremely high tech that *looks* like magic,
one has to be able to come up with a possible rational explanation.)
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 14 Oct 1993 21:13:43 -0400
Subject: telepaths
To answer your questions in detail would be to give out major plot
points from the B5 series, and I'm loathe to do that. Thus, I'll only
answer some of the questions, and in no more than one sentence each.
Yes, a psi can go undetected, but generally not forever. Some say
the Psi Cops are witch-hunters, some think otherwise. Breeding is
generally arranged. It is possible to have a schizoid telepath. The
Psi Cops can function as lie detectors. Psi Cops are telepaths, rated
P12, the highest level admitted level of telepath. They are part of
a guild, with some government regulation, though that's fuzzy. They do
not have the same rights as other citizens -- most have fewer rights than
other citizens, a few have more -- and the different races handle their
telepaths in different ways.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 15 Oct 1993 00:05:49 -0400
Subject: Re: One more "NO" for B5
I did not work on that version of Twilight Zone except as a
freelance writer; thus I am not responsible for anything produced under
that regime. (I worked as story editor on the Zone mach 3, produced for
syndication.)
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 15 Oct 1993 21:53:04 -0400
Subject: a question for jms
Interesting that your tagline should be a line from Tennyson's
"Ulysses," which is a poem we often cite in the course of B5; both in the
pilot, and again in "The Parliament of Dreams."
There's a fairly detailed past history of the B5 universe, which we
are even now in the process of refining and putting into real order. When
we've done this, it'll be more available. But we're already working on
it, and most of it is already in place (of necessity, since we sometimes
have elements from the past catching up with us, and we need to be fairly
consistent in terms of what happened when, and where.)
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 16 Oct 1993 22:44:11 -0400
Subject: Casablanca In Space
I'd say that your analysis is just about 100% correct.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 17 Oct 1993 05:18:52 -0400
Subject: "The Gathering" Novel
Thanks. That a lot of people are looking forward to the series is
one reason I'm trying desperately *not* to over-hype this thing. What
happens in that case if you're not careful is that everyone starts to
overlay the show with what would be their dream SF series...and there's no
way it can be that to all people, at all times, in all places. All we can
really focus on is doing the best show we can...and I think that we've got
something very special.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 18 Oct 1993 00:19:04 -0400
Subject: Better than DSN?
Insofar as I know, the series will be marketed as SF. And that's
the show we're giving them.
Interestingly, it's come back around to me, through channels, that
some of the changes at those other shows are due at least in part to the
concern about B5. It's prodding them into doing stories that are more
active, and more character based. Which the writers have been asking for
for a long time now. Which is something I've felt from the start, that
this genre *needs* some competition to make it stay fresh, to force each
show to make better stories.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 18 Oct 1993 02:30:05 -0400
Subject: Re: About the series.....
Not to fear; KCOP is especially strongly dedicated to giving B5 a
fair shake. They've been very strong supporters of the show.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 19 Oct 1993 05:17:48 -0400
Subject: Things that make you go "The H
Laurel was not being altogether honest, and was helping to cover
the activities of the person who was doing the assassination attempt.
(This, again, is a thread that would've come clear had we kept that
character; nobody was supposed to figure it out going in, but rather put
it together over time.)
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 19 Oct 1993 19:58:03 -0400
Subject: Substance use in B5 universe?
We will be dealing with the drugs issue, but it's something that I
want to circle for a while and set up properly before dealing with. I
think certain elements would have changed by 2258, some more permissive,
others more restrictive, and to understand how they function within the
culture, I first think you have to set up how the culture works. So it's
definitely on our list of things to play with, but understand that like
everything else of note that we're dealing with in this show, we're not
going to do a "drugs are bad for you" story, or a "we should all get
along and play nice" episode, or "we're all equal under the skin" story.
My feeling is that if you haven't figured out that stuff by now, no TV
show is going to teach it to you. Those topics should be something we
bounce a story off of, rather than making it the entirety of a story, the
way you bank a cue ball off the edge of a pool table to come at your target
from a different angle. We don't generally come at *anything* dead on
around here.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 19 Oct 1993 20:05:20 -0400
Subject: Re: Scenes _we know_ we'll NEV
We are, from time to time, implementing some pretty scary or unusual
looking aliens. In "Infection" there's a full-body prosthetic that's
pretty impressive, and the insectoid character, n'grath, appears in many
of our episodes (also a full-body prosthetic with animatronics and radio
controlled stuff). Personally, even though (or possibly because) he's
fairly humanoid, I have found the 2nd soul hunter in the episode of the
same name to be the creepiest of our aliens to date. Very believable.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 20 Oct 1993 00:52:18 -0400
Subject: Re: Things that make you go "T
We'd originally planned to go for a more vague sexuality for Delenn;
a male physically and primarily in the voice, on top of the natural
female movements one gets from an actress. In post-production, however,
we couldn't get the voice to sound as good and male as we'd wanted. In
addition, a couple of convention showing of a rough cut saw people
responding VERY strongly to her voice as it was, so we finally decided to
let it stand and change the one reference to "he" to "she," and that was
the end of it.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 21 Oct 1993 19:49:07 -0400
Subject: Detective Work: Joe, can you c
We were going to have a CGI creature in the bar at one point, but
vetoed it at the last minute. So it's not there. However, a CGI
character/alien/critter does play a substantive on-camera role in one
episode this season entitled "Grail."
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 22 Oct 1993 14:29:40 -0400
Subject: Re: Substance use in B5 univer
Laurel was not standing upside down in relation to the station's
rotation. The docking bay, at the center of the station, for zero-g, was
above her head, her feet pointed down, toward the rim of the station, in
correct orientation. Just FYI.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 25 Oct 1993 15:44:05 -0400
Subject: Centauri
Our dealings with the Centauri prior to the Earth-Minbari War were
primarily economic and cultural, with some technological elements sold to
us as well. They have no interest in getting into a war, especiall on
behalf of someone else. They were primarily foot-draggers during the war,
selling some stuff to us as needed, but generally not doing anything the
Minbari would get annoyed by. In particular, they didn't sell us any
weaponry. It was, oddly enough, the Narns who sold us many of the weapons
technology we used in the war...stuff they'd captured from the Centauri
during their own revolution. The Narns needed the money, and need to
forge an alliance with the EA, however tentative.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 27 Oct 1993 21:47:25 -0400
Subject: Why Sinclair?
There are many people in the Earth Alliance who are asking the same
question: why Sinclair? Why a *commander*, below a Captain in rank, to
helm something as important as B5, rather than an Admiral, or someone of
higher position? Why Sinclair, who was on the fast-track up to the time of
the war, only to suddenly and abruptly fall off the promotions merry go
round?
They are all very good questions...and if I answered them here, I
might as well go ahead and can the whole first season....
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 27 Oct 1993 22:32:44 -0400
Subject: Re: Telepathy in B5
Regarding the Psi Corps news broadcast you noticed...yes, that is a
very small clue to something. You'll find out what in an episode titled
"Mind War."
I've said before that we're telling stories on two levels; there's a
third as well that slips in. These are things that you're not SUPPOSED to
really notice or even think about until some point down the road, if you
happen to have watched several more episodes, and you look at the early
ones again, suddenly (as with your noticing of the broadcast) some things
that you swear you never saw suddenly snap into focus, the way you can
look at a picture for a long time, and not see the design until you back
up a bit and, once you can see all of it, the details come clear.
So from time to time, I drop in little things, a phrase, an
unfinished sentence, a news item, stuff that people will assume is just
background or filler...until later. In a way, it's a little like being
an illusionist. It makes the writing just that much more challenging,
because at no time can you ever let that get in the way of a person's
enjoyment of one episode totally on its own. It's just flavoring; those
who've been paying attention will get it; those who haven't, it won't
bother in the least.
It's something Delenn says in "Soul Hunter," something in a headline
in Universe Today in "Sky," bits and pieces that just seem like wallpaper
-- for now.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 28 Oct 1993 03:33:54 -0400
Subject: Re: Why Sinclair?
As will be discussed to some degree in "Grail," B1-B3 were sabotaged
during construction, long before being completed. B4 was the only station
completed when it vanished. Various degrees of this will play a role in
the storyline.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 28 Oct 1993 06:40:55 -0400
Subject: Re: UFO
The two primary means of transport within B5 are the transport
tubes (like elevators, from level to level) and the core shuttle, which
runs the length of B5 through the garden/central core area.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 28 Oct 1993 16:58:13 -0400
Subject: Alien quarters a zoo on B5?
First, we decided that wasn't a right look for the alien sector, and
that's the corridor we blew up at the end. But the reason it was designed
that way is important. Your reaction -- don't the aliens have any
privacy? -- is a very human, and specifically a very *western* point of
view. Our feeling at the time was, why should alien quarters look at all
like human quarters? Shouldn't they have a different perspective than
typical Western-style hotels? (In some degree, the quarters were
patterned after Japanese mini-hotels, where you get basically a slightly
larger coffin-like setup, which you crawl into like a torpedo tube, with
a window at one end, which has a curtain, a TV over your head, and so on.
What we discovered is that many people ask for more alien aliens, but
when we delivered on that, were asked why these things weren't more like
what we expect, why aren't they like human quarters? It's really a
losing battle.)
The other point on this is that if you look closely, there are back
areas accessible to residents, which can in particular be seen in the
insectoid/antennae'd character's quarters. The idea was that it would be
sort of a front porch, where for lack of much else to do, you'd sit out
on the porch, watching the passing parade.
But the reaction was less than favorable, we had to keep explaining
that this proceeds from an alien POV, and so our alien quarters are more
like human quarters now, minus the alternate atmosphere stuff. I'm still
not quite sure what to think of this.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 29 Oct 1993 01:11:30 -0400
Subject: Re: JMS: Lots of good info. ;)
Actually, I'm rather abashed to say that I've never actually *read*
anything by C.J. Cherryh. Over the years I've found I have less and less
time for reading, and thus focus in generally on authors I've known for a
long time...if then. There was a time when I read a *minimum* of 20 books
per year, but I haven't read a full novel (though having started many)
in nearly all of the past year. Some nonfiction books, yes, sometimes for
research, sometimes just curiousity (just finished "Secret Ceremonies,"
one woman's adventures in mormonism), but no novels.
Anyway...also no plans at this time for any scripts from there. I'm
trying to focus in on hybrid SF writers, who've done both scripts and
books, to save the learning curve of teaching a prose writer script form.
It can be done, and I'd like to try it in the second season, but we have
to really hit the ground running in year one.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 30 Oct 1993 01:43:00 -0400
Subject: Re: SF/X in Space
We've found that what works best is to play primarily music as our
space action/sound bed, overlaying just a tad with tonalities that aren't
sound effects per se in most cases, but more sound cues that suggest a
particular effect.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 30 Oct 1993 03:51:18 -0400
Subject: Question about Laurel in pilot
Nothing's set yet regarding any of the original cast not currently in
recurring roles. And that was the assassin who met Kosh in the airlock,
not Laurel.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 30 Oct 1993 22:17:00 -0400
Subject: Various Short Subjects
Too much to really delve into -- 57 letters in my box right now -- but
to comment quickly: the techs in the observation dome tend to rotate in
and out, with only a couple repeating. They're meant to be fairly
anonymous. At some point we may decide to develop this a bit, but as of
now we have 14 regular and recurring characters, not counting the usual
roster of guest stars, and that's a lot to focus on for now.
The one thing that I dropped fairly completely due to the delay in
getting the series going was the Laurel thread, which has now mutated and
become something even more interesting, actually. It's something that's
enabled me to now build in a trap door that you won't see for a long time,
even though it's sitting there in plain sight.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 31 Oct 1993 01:44:45 -0500
Subject: Different aliens in B5?
There were no asymmetrical aliens in the pilot, but there's a real
dandy coming your way in the B5 episode "Grail." You want nonhumanoid
aliens, you *got* non-humanoid aliens....
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 31 Oct 1993 04:36:30 -0500
Subject: JMS! How is Chris' work progr
Chris Franke's work has been wonderful. (Got the magazine finally,
btw.) Stylistically, it's all over the place, which is what we wanted;
synth, orchestral, multi-cultural, experimental, you name it, at some
point we've got it. Because it's a multi-cultural show, with non-human
points of view, we've freed up Chris to do pretty much anything he wants,
and go as far as he wants. We should have a clearer idea on the main
title theme in the next week or so.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 31 Oct 1993 04:39:24 -0500
Subject: promo for season one in rebroa
I haven't seen the promo footage, so actually have no idea who you're
referring to in the extra alien shot. My guess is it's just one of our
many supporting aliens; we have the B5 Advisory Council (Earth, Minbari,
Narns, Centauri and Vorlons), and the League of Non-
Aligned Worlds, representing the rest, and there are about a dozen or so
of those, so it may be one of those.
Don't know when fighter models will come out; so far there's no deal
set that I'm aware of. And that's not really something I see as a
priority; there's too much emphasis on merchandising in SF-TV and not
nearly enough on telling a story. That's where I want to keep my focus.
jms
From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 31 Oct 1993 21:01:57 -0500
Subject: Re: Trek vs. B5
Let me just, against my better wishes, dive in here for just a
moment on this discussion. Especially as it relates to your slam against
the characters and characterizations on B5.
People keep comparing the B5 pilot to either the DS9 pilot or the
TNG pilot, often favorably, sometimes less so, but the reality is that the
B5 pilot had to suffer under a burden shared by neither of those two other
shows: establishing a whole new universe, especially given that the B5
story is more of a political/action piece in which you really have to
understand where everyone's coming from. By the time they got around to
making the TNG pilot, just about everyone knew what a Klingon was, what
the Federation was, what phasers and teleporters were...this was all
established cultural coin. When Jay Leno would make jokes about Klingons
on the Carson show (which it still was back then), he didn't have to
explain it to anyone. There's 25 years of shared history informing the
story. Same in DS9Thus in neither pilot was that much
really or substantially *new* introduced, they didn't have to create the
universe from scratch.
But that was exactly what was necessary for B5; the relationship
between the five various governments is important to understanding the
characters, and the show...as is the recent Earth/Minbari war, which isn't
just backstory, it's something that will grow to play an increasingly
important role in the series as time passes. So there had to be time
spent establishing each of those relationships, the political backstory,
on and on. In addition, we had 9 major characters to introduce along with
the minor players. AND we had to tell a fairly complex story within that
framework.
After you allocate tthe history of the B5 universe, for the
establishment of the plot, for the establishment of who our various
players are in relation to one another, you've got -- at MOST -- 3 minutes
left per character out of a 92 minute movie. You can't establish a lot of
character in 3 minutes.
Which is what strikes me as unfair in this conversation. You're
trying to compare 25-30 years of ST in its various incarnations, with its
delivery of characterization over A WEEKLY SERIES to a single introductory
TV movie of 92 minutes.
Plus, the pilot was never meant to be a stand-alone; it was meant to
get all the pieces moving, introduce us, and follow up the very next week
with *character-oriented stories*. That was always the plan. Had I known
that it would be aired by itself, with a long delay until the series, I
would have totally restructured it to make it more of a character story,
and held off on the heavy background stuff until later. And in addition
to THAT, I again point to the 25 minutes of good character stuff that ended
up on the cutting room floor because we were over, some of which has been
shown to people at conventions. Some of them also felt as you do. They
saw the extra footage. And their reaction: "Oh, so THAT'S who that is!"
And their opinions of the characters did a fast turnaround.
So what I'm saying here, fundamentally, is this: let's compare apples
to apples and not apples to oranges. You can't compare B5 to either TNG's
or DS9's pilots, because they operated in pre-existing universes. You
can't compare the level of character you get in a series to a TV movie,
because one is 92 minutes long, the other is 22 hours long times the number
of seasons run.
If you want to compare things, and that's certainly your right, may I
suggest a moratorium on this entire discussion until the series comes on
the air? That will allow you to compare series to series, which seems just
a tad fairer to me. Any seconds?
jms