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Burning_Monk posted:She was most known at the time for her role in Night of the Living Dead (remake). Was she not the stunt double for the Pink Ranger as well?
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Jan 8, 2021 14:18
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Burning_Monk posted:She was most known at the time for her role in Night of the Living Dead (remake). If you didn't
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Jan 8, 2021 14:25
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Just hit the part in a 1992 mailing list where the initial casting announcements for Babylon 5 pilot episode came out. Does anyone want me to repost them here? The casting note of "The one thing we did NOT want, which we knew from the start, was one more pretty-boy TV actor...we wanted someone with character in his face,.." is pretty funny given the lead actor reset in season 2. quantumfoam fucked around with this message at 00:09 on Jan 10, 2021 |
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Jan 9, 2021 23:59
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quantumfoam posted:The casting note of "The one thing we did NOT want, which we knew from the start, was one more pretty-boy TV actor...we wanted someone with character in his face,.." is pretty funny given the lead actor reset in season 2. That's genuinely hilarious, considering that Boxleitner is basically GenericWhiteGuy.jpg. He's a poor man's poor man's Michael Douglas.
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Jan 10, 2021 00:04
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Reimagined Battlestar Galactica at least got that right.
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Jan 10, 2021 01:01
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quantumfoam posted:Just hit the part in a 1992 mailing list where the initial casting announcements for Babylon 5 pilot episode came out. By all means, we need stuff to talk about here.
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Jan 10, 2021 02:41
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Spotted in another thread:
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Jan 10, 2021 02:50
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Timby posted:That's genuinely hilarious, considering that Boxleitner is basically GenericWhiteGuy.jpg. He's a poor man's poor man's Michael Douglas. It was, at least according to the script book, intentional to throw the viewers off. Make people think this fresh faced guy that only cares about getting orange juice isn’t anything special and then have them grow to like him. Intentional,or no, it worked marvelously IMO.
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Jan 10, 2021 17:07
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I thought the intent with Boxleitner was that if they were gonna swap out the station commander, maybe the most prominent character in the show, they'd own the decision and make a lot of choices to differentiate him instead of just trying to pretend like he was basically the same guy.
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Jan 10, 2021 17:36
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Porque no los dos?
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Jan 10, 2021 19:59
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Doctor Zero posted:It was, at least according to the script book, intentional to throw the viewers off. Make people think this fresh faced guy that only cares about getting orange juice isn’t anything special and then have them grow to like him. Intentional,or no, it worked marvelously IMO. I think it also was a reflection of the kind of guy Fascists would put in power; an attractive white guy alien-killer. When he doesn't do what he's told it surprises Earth and the audience.
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Jan 11, 2021 00:29
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EarthGov, probably. Audience? Nah. Sheridan is never portrayed as anything besides likeable and well intentioned. He needed to be much more of an rear end in a top hat in his early appearances for it to be a surprise that he's really a good guy.
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Jan 11, 2021 01:13
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jng2058 posted:EarthGov, probably. Audience? Nah. Sheridan is never portrayed as anything besides likeable and well intentioned. He needed to be much more of an rear end in a top hat in his early appearances for it to be a surprise that he's really a good guy. He's clearly a good guy, but at the same time, he seems painful in his early episodes: obsessing about oranges, smiling all the time. Then it comes out he was effectively spying on the rest of the crew and isn't what he appears. But it's also true that he is portrayed as something besides likeable and well-intentioned. Most notably by "In the Shadow of Zha'ha'dum," where he has to be compelled to let Morden go. Boxleitner is a more subtle actor than people tend to give him credit for, and you can see him constantly slipping in signs that Sheridan isn't so clean-cut All-American all the time. That sets up for all kinds of S4 stuff.
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Jan 11, 2021 02:04
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Sheridans early arc is figuring out that b5 isn’t like his previous commands and all his normal tricks won’t do dick. It’s pretty cool to see him adapt and as those adaptations manifest they lead him down the path they ultimately travel resulting in his sacrifice. His time with lorien really cements that what he did was the right thing to do.
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Jan 11, 2021 02:16
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Sheridan coming back from death with Lorien was when I dropped Babylon 5, never seen the back half of season 4 or anything in season 5. ------------------------------ Date: 17 Jul 92 06:23:26 GMT From: Edward_Lee_Whiteside@cup.portal.com Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu Subject: Babylon 5 Cast info (first actor to be announced!) The man cast for Babylon 5 has been picked and will be announced shortly, once Warners is ready to release the info. One actor is known at this point, since he will be announcing his role at a convention somewhere this coming weekend. The actor who will portray Ambassador G'Kar of the Narn Regime is Andreas Katsulas (best known as the Romulan Tomolak on ST:TNG). His film work includes the latest Woody Allen film, Blake Edwards' "Sunset," as well as "Someone To Watch Over Me," "Communion," "Next of Kin" and many others. On television, he has appeared in ST:TNG, ALIEN NATION, THE EQUALIZER, MAX HEADROOM, THE HUMAN FACTOR and many more. Lee Whiteside Edward_Lee_Whiteside@cup.portal.com ------------------------------ Date: 18 Jul 92 05:57:20 GMT From: Edward_Lee_Whiteside@cup.portal.com Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu Subject: Re: Babylon 5 Cast info (Lead Actress) From J. Michael Straczynski on the Babylon 5 Topic on the Genie SFRT: Some of you here may have seen a WONDERFUL film entitled "Come See The Paradise," starring Dennis Quaid, with a fantastic performance by Tamlyn Tomita. (The story concerned a young Japanese woman and her husband, played by Quaid, and the internment camps of the second world war.) She received rave notices for that performance, and for her many other projects, including major roles in "Orange Curtain," "Hawaiian Dream," "The Karate Kid II," and such television projects as "Quantum Leap," "The Trials of Rosie O'Neil," "Tour of Duty," "Santa Barbara" (where she was a series regular), and such TV movies as "Hiroshima," and "To Heal A Nation." Tamlyn Tomita has come aboard BABYLON 5 as Lieutenant-Commander Laurel Takashima, who in concert with Commander Sinclair has primary responsibility for running B5. She is a phenomenal performer, vastly talented, with the strength of personality necessary for a job like the one Laurel handles...we're absolutely thrilled to have her aboard. Those of you who have seen her work will know how fortunate we are to have her, and what presence and intelligence she will bring to that role. She's just terrific. ------------------------------ Date: 26 Jul 92 18:37:04 GMT From: Edward_Lee_Whiteside@cup.portal.com Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu Subject: BABYLON 5: More Cast Details and other info Here's the latest info on the Babylon 5 casting along with some other news about the show. Text is most from J. Michael Straczynski, Babylon 5 creator/co-exec. producer from the GEnie Science Fiction Round Table, Category 18, Topic 22. More Casting Details: Peter Jurasik will be playing the Centauri ambassador, Londo Mollari, a role that calls for some degree of humor, but beneath that a layer of something potentially not-good. He knocked us all out during auditions. We locked him down instantly. Peter has appeared in films like Problem Child, Enemy Mine, Tron, Straight Time, Mr. Jones and others, and in TV shows such as Columbo, Hill Street Blues and Beverly Hills Buntz (as Sidney the Snitch), Civil Wars, Remington Steele, MacGyver and others. For Security Chief Michael Garibaldi, a series regular, we've tapped Jerry Doyle. Probably a number of you may not be familiar with that name, but he's been around a lot. He only got into the acting business about 2-3 years ago, but hit almost immediately, with major roles in such films as "Kidnapped" and "Being in Time," and on television in "Reasonable Doubts," "Homefront," appearing 27 times in "Bold and the Beautiful," and in "Moonlighting." He's not only a fine actor, but a *very* strong personality, well suited to work with the actor playing Commander Sinclair...about whom more later. We'd gone through a number of actors for the role of Garibaldi - something like 25 or 30 - many of whom were good, but he knocked us out. When someone comes into audition, you usually do a "slate," meaning you stick 'em against a wall and ask them their name, their height, and which part they're auditioning for. In this case, when asked "And which role are you auditioning for?" he answered, "The role I'm going to get...Michael Garibaldi." And he did. The Babylon 5 Manifest: For the first time today, another writer was hired to write some material for B5. This for the series down the road. Long before we can begin hiring writers on the series, we need...well, not a bible, because that's already written...and not a sample script, because that's already written as well...but for lack of a better term, and since we're sticking with such Biblical references as Babylon to start with, call it an Epistle. Something which will spell out, for writers, what you should and should not do in a science fiction television series...the dumbnesses to avoid, the overused plots, the goals to aspire toward. Call it a manifesto of our intentions. For something like this, I went to someone with the toughest standards around. So yes, Harlan Ellison has been commissioned to write it. And has accepted. And is starting posthaste. If *that* doesn't tell writers we mean business, and set the standard of what we intend to shoot for, I don't know what will. San Diego Comic Con: The Babylon 5 presentation at ComicCon will take place at 11:00 AM on that Saturday, in the main room (where Shatner will be making a presentation/appearance at 1:00). [That's August 15. Filming will begin on August 10th and JMS promises to show some film clips from the show). Starlog Article: The September issue of Starlog has an article on Babylon 5 written by Larry Conley (who wrote "Silicon Avatar" for ST:TNG). Due to some mixups between Starlog and Newtek, the photos used with the article are either outdated by several months or have nothing to do with Babylon 5. For a good picture of the Babylon 5 space station, take a look at the NewTek ad for the Video Toaster on the back of current Amiga and PC magazines. Lee Whiteside Edward_Lee_Whiteside@cup.portal.com Date: 4 Aug 92 06:25:04 GMT From: Edward_Lee_Whiteside@cup.portal.com Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu Subject: BABYLON 5: More Casting Info, Behind the Scenes Here's the latest word on the casting for Babylon 5, as posted by J. Michael Straczynski on the GEnie SFRT Babylon 5 topic. Lyta Alexander: Cast...hmm...well, here's a funny thing. See, I'd created the role of Lyta Alexander (the rent-a-telepath) along with every other character 'way back when. Between then and now, I saw the remake of "Night of the Living Dead," and was blown out of the room by one of the actors: Patricia Tallman. I'd always thought that Lyta should have eyes somehow bigger than they should be (no makeup, just the perception), should be a redhead, and should be physically capable of handling herself. So when time came to revise the script, update it and stuff, as I wrote Lyta's part, I kept thinking of Tallman (and expanding the part commensurately). As we began auditions, I kept an open mind...but always kind of hoped that Patricia would be the one that we all liked. And, sonuvagun, that's how it's worked out. So she's Lyta. (In addition to NOTLD, she's also appeared in "Knightriders," "Roadhouse," "Monsignore," in the upcoming "Army of Darkness," and in television on "Generations," "Tales from the Darkside, " "Texas" and "Guiding Light.") Dr. Benjamin Kyle: For the part of Dr. Benjamin Kyle we have Johnny Sekka, who has been featured in such films as THE FEVER, HANKY PANKY, ASHANTI, A WARM DECEMBER, THE SOUTHERN STAR, KHATROUM, WOMAN OF STRAW and others (working, along the way, with such folks as Ryan O'Neal, Sidney Poitier, Orson Welles, Lawrence Olivier and Sean Connery, to name but a few), and in such television projects as MASTER OF THE GAME, ROOTS: THE SECOND GENERATION, KINGSTON CONFIDENTIAL and PASSION IN PARADISSE...Johnny Sekka comes out of the Old Vic in London, the Royal Court theater, and the Strattford Theater, classically trained. He's a wonderful actor, with a great sense of elegance and style and power. Like so many others, when he came in the door, we knew instantly that this was the one for us. (And the kind of accent you wish every doctor had...you'd trust him immediately.) Carolyn Sykes: For Commander Sinclair's lady-friend, trader Carolyn Sykes, we have Blair Baron. If you've seen "League Of Their Own," she's in the opening sequence as the daughter who encourages her mother to go out and attend the Hall of Fame opening. She's done a LOT more than that, but her credits are at the office, and I'm at home. Announced so far: Laurel Takashima.............Tamlyn Tomita Ambassador Londo Mollari.....Peter Jurasik Michael Garibaldi............Jerry Doyle Ambassador Kosh..............Himself Lyta Alexander...............Patricia Tallman Ambassador G'Kar.............Andreas Katsulas Dr. Benjamin Kyle............Johnny Sekka Carolyn Sykes................Blair Baron [To add to the casting info, here's a couple of posts with behind-the- scenes info from JMS] Posted on Sunday, Aug 2: Well, as of tomorrow, Monday, we are exactly one week from filming. Our costume designer pointed out that making a project like this is a lot like making Thanksgiving dinner...you set a dozen different things going at different times, and hope they all come together at the right moment in the right way. So far, I think we're on track. Costumes are almost finished; we'll have all the command uniforms by Tuesday or so, and the rest by week's end. Most of the on-screen displays you'll see live on consoles in the observation dome and suchlike are finished (and are really amazing in their detail)...there's one shot where they do a navigational location on Kosh's ship that's really quite lovely. One thing that I haven't mentioned to date is the lighting, because we were looking at our options; everything else in the show is state of the art, and we wanted to find something equally innovative. It took a while, but we found a company that does very different sorts of lighting, and will give the show a unique look and texture in most every shot. Construction is finished on most of our primary sets, and now they're being painted and dressed. We've spent a lot of this past week going over props...guns and glasses, displays and dice, you name it. There are a number of things that can actually transfer pretty well to the future without modification, but a lot more that have to be redesigned or modified. Prosthetics are in place. The full cast assembles either tomorrow or Tuesday and we begin rehearsals. The shots have already been blocked out by the director, A.D. and cinematographer. We were getting a little cramped for space on the sets, so we've co-opted another soundstage, and now there's a real spacious feel to some of this stuff. I'm going through the script tonight, and tomorrow, one last time to adjust lines, make them stronger, scratch for every possible inch of characterization. Then we'll lock it down Wednesday, so from that moment on, there shouldn't be any further changes of substance. Which is great for the cast, since they don't have to constantly be learning new lines. Monday is our last major production meeting before filming starts. After that, it's simply a matter of holding on and hoping for the best... even under the best of conditions, something can screw up at the last moment, and I live in dread of that. And as a writer, you can never be 100% sure that what works on the page will work on the stage until you get there. I try to get very zen about these things. It's like firing the arrow; you do all you can to line it up, but once you let go of the arrow, you have to also let go mentally. You've done all you can, now live with it. Our director has indicated that he's going to spend most of the Sunday before we begin filming sleeping...on a project of this size, that means a lot of short night and long days, so that's important. Me, I'll probably spend the whole night staring up at the ceiling, eyes like poached eyes, looking like a still from the Ren and Stimpy show or a Tex Avery cartoon. Posted Monday, Aug 3rd: Those of you into films may know the work of John Stiers, who's done most of the physical SFX for the James Bond films, for Outland and other films. He's an academy award winner who *never* works in television, out of choice. Turns out, he heard of what we were doing with B5, and asked to see a copy of the script, not believing what he'd heard, that anyone would even TRY something like this for television. Read the script...and he's aboard B5 in that capacity. Turned down a film job that would have paid 3 times as much. At the production meeting today, he commented that he hasn't seen a group of people, or an operation, or an attitude like this in television EVER...and that the last time he ran into something like this in film was on the first James Bond movie, where everyone knew they were creating something special. It really is astonishing, the calibre of people we're attracting, and have attracted. We've got academy and emmy award winners working right alongside what are practially kids, pulling together to create something special. Funny stuff, btw...over the weekend, a bunch of the guys (Ron, our director Richard Compton, the prosthetics team, and some guys from our crew, including UPM Bob Brown, who came to us from Lucasfilm) shot some, well, for lack of a better term...commercials. They'll run on monitors in some of the corridors and business areas. If you have a VCR and tape this show, you may want to run it back and pay closer attention to some of what's going on in the background. It's *very* funny stuff, and only occasionally sick and twisted. The other two major characters, Commander Jeffrey Sinclair and Minbari Ambassador Delenn, will not be announced by JMS until filming starts on August 10th. They have been cast, Joe is just being secretive about it. Ambassador Kosh will not be played by an actor, but by someone in a suit. He won't have any lines in the opening movie, so no voice actor has been cast as of yet. A few other tidbits: J. Michael Straczynski will be at the San Diego Comic Con on Saturday, August 15th, at 11 a.m. He plans to show film from the first days of filming in addition to the effects footage he has been showing. Compiled by Lee Whiteside Edward_Lee_Whiteside@cup.portal.com P14942@email.mot.com ------------------------------ Date: 12 Aug 92 05:35:16 GMT From: Edward_Lee_Whiteside@cup.portal.com Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu Subject: BABYLON 5: Rest of the Casting, First day of filming Following is the last two actors to be announced for Babylon 5, along with a report on the first day of filming by the show's creator and writer J. Michael Straczynski. Commander Jeffrey Sinclair: One other casting piece now to announce...the role of Commander Jeffrey Sinclair. The actor cast in that role is Michael O'Hare, who we discovered while casting out of New York, and who we have flown out to L.A. for this role. He's a classically trained actor, a graduate of Juliard, who just knocked us out when he came in to audition. He has a tremendous presence, and a voice vaguely reminiscent of Clint Eastwood at times. His face has a curiously haunted look, but at the same time is (I'm told by the women who go "yum" whenever he enters the room) quite appealing. Michael has appeared in such films as "By a Thread," "Short Term Bonds," "Into Thin Air," "Pursuit," "The Promise," and others, as well as on television in "Blue Revolution," "Case of Deadly Force," "Rage of Angels," "The Adams Chronicles," and in such episodic television shows as "The Equalizer," "L.A. Law," "Kate and Allie" and others. He is also a VERY accomplished stage actor, having appeared on Broadway to tremendous reviews in "A Few Good Men," "Players," "Man and Superman" and "Galileo," among many, many others. The one thing we did NOT want, which we knew from the start, was one more pretty-boy TV actor...we wanted someone with character in his face, with a broad dramatic range. And we got all of it in Michael O'Hare. Minbari Ambassador Delenn: And then there's Ambassador Delenn. He, as you know, is the Minbari ambassador assigned to B5. His makeup/prosthetics has taken the longest to work out, but now we're happy with his look. And the performer who will play Ambassador Delenn is Mira Furlan, whose work is extremely well known in Europe. A native Yuglosavian who has appeared in such highly regarded films as "When Father Was Away On Business" (which received the Palme D'Or at Cannes, as well as an Oscar nomination), "Three For Happiness" (which took the Grand Prix at the Valencia Film Festival), "Dear Video," "Southbound," "The Condemned," "The Beauty of Sin," and nearly a dozen others, ALL of them starring roles. There have also been starring roles in major European productions and half a dozen major film awards. BABYLON 5 will be Mira Furlan's entry into American television. The first day of filming, August 10th, 1992: I'm sure that at some time in the past, I have been more tired than I am right now, but I'm darned if I can think of it. Got zip sleep last night. Would wake up almost every ten minutes, my brain chewing on something or other, wondering if everything's in place, worrying over the hair on one of the characters (honest), if it was too extreme...constant bedspins. Dragged my butt out early this morning and down to the studio by an ungodly hour of the morning. Makeup and prosthetics took their usual time, and some time was taken up re-rigging some of the video in the set we were using today, adjusting some other stuff along the way. (Richard Compton, our director, picked one of the most visually difficult scenes to start with, figuring that if we could get past this one, the rest would be a piece of cake, except for the one big scene toward the end of the shoot.) We pulled the trigger and got off the first shot on-camera at about 9:30 a.m. I tried, where possible, to stay out of the line of fire, since by this time I was vibrating enough to slide into another dimension, and didn't want to infect anybody else. Went off perfectly. The main thing, for me, was that today the whole world came alive at the same time (the world of B5). Up until now, it's been pieces...we see the actors. We see the sets. We see the costumes. We see the actors in the sets but not in costume. We see the actors in costume but not on the sets. Finally, there it was at last...all of our characters, in full costume or uniform (and the uniforms look DYNAMITE!), on the sets. It was finally, fully, completely *real* at last. Andreas Katsulas took a great approach to Ambassador G'Kar, which is a VERY dynamic looking alien, very intimidating...giving him an educated, mellifluous voice, a wonderful counterpoint to his appearance. Peter Jurasik was terrific as Londo Mollari, playing even the Advisory Council scenes as though half in the bag and trying not to show it. Delenn was exotic and mysterious, Tamlyn Tomita was senSATIONAL as Laurel, great strength of character and presence...and I cannot begin to tell you what star material we've found in Michael O'Hare. He's got a voice and a presence that could give Sean Connery or Clint Eastwood a run for their money. Jerry Doyle was great as Garibaldi, as was Johnny Sekka as Dr. Kyle. (We've cast two strong leading men in Doyle and O'Hare, and they are dynamite together...and there's a *very* nice chemistry emerging between Sekka and O'Hare as well.) Our Warners liason came by today for the first time to the set, and he couldn't believe the sets, how much we've done, the details, the elaborate stuff we've pulled off. He was absolutely blown away. Long story short...it went *great*, better than I'd hoped. Richard Compton was magnificent behind the camera, coming up with some very difficult and challenging shots, great angles...it's going to look wonderful. Very cinematic, almost film-noir in its use of textures and shadows. Later in the day, I had some friends come over, whose opinion I trust, and who are very well versed in SF for television and film. (These included Marv Wolfman and Len Wein, known to the comics fans here, and Craig (Mr. SF) Miller, who was involved with the first STAR WARS, and is not generally easily impressed.) They knew of B5 only peripherally, and were in NO way prepared for what they saw on the set. Add to that the new EFX that I showed them today...their eyes melted right out of their sockets. Day One finished. On time, on schedule, on budget. And it looks spiffy. I am a happy man. Exhausted, right down to the marrow, but happy. jms A couple of reminders: J. Michael Straczynski will be at the San Diego Comic Con on Saturday, August 15th, at 11 a.m. He plans to show film from the first days of filming in addition to the effects footage he has been showing. The current issue of Starlog (Sept) has an article on Babylon 5, ignore the pictures since most ore way out of date or have nothing to do with the show. Lee Whiteside Edward_Lee_Whiteside@cup.portal.com P14942@email.mot.com ------------------------------ Pretty sure that Edward Lee Whiteside was a marketing shill/intern working for JMS"s production company, because Babylon 5 is the only thing they've ever posted about in the SFL Archives.
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Jan 11, 2021 02:59
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Man Hollywood-ese will never stop being weird to me. All that Variety jargon like "pic" and so on, and how insiders always, invariably refer to WB as "Warners" whereas nobody else in the world does
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Jan 11, 2021 03:28
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Data Graham posted:Man Hollywood-ese will never stop being weird to me. All that Variety jargon like "pic" and so on, and how insiders always, invariably refer to WB as "Warners" whereas nobody else in the world does Ringling Bros existing might be why Hollywood insiders always seem to call WB = Warners. Here's the Babylon 5 info file for THE GATHERING pilot episode. G'kar had a slightly different background versus the series, and the Laurel Takashima/Susan Ivanova roles are 99.99999% functionally identical ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: 26 Jul 92 20:49:26 GMT From: Edward_Lee_Whiteside@cup.portal.com Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu Subject: BABYLON 5: Babylon 5 Info File WHAT IS BABYLON 5? Babylon 5 is a new science fiction television series that will be part of a new Warner Bros. Television Consortium, much like the Fox network when it started. It is set on a Space Station in the mid 23rd Century. It will premiere on in February 1993 with a two hour movie, "The Gathering" with a weekly series to follow, provided the response is good to the movie. Also appearing on the Warners Consortium will be "Time Trax" and "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues". The show was created by J. Michael Straczynski (JMS), who will be co- executive producer on the show along with Doug Netter. It has been in development for over four years, the last few with Warner Bros. J. Michael Straczynski of Babylon 5 has a long and healthy relationship with SF and related genres. He has previously been the story editor and primary writer for the syndicated Twilight Zone series, and his recent adaptation of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for Showtime earned him both Ace and Writers Guild Award nominations. He has story edited such other series as Captain Power, the animated Real Ghostbusters, and such mainstream network programs as Jake and the Fatman and, concurrent with Babylon 5's development, producer on the highly rated Murder, She Wrote. He has also written many published short stories, a published anthology, and two published dark fantasy/horror novels. Richard Compton, Director: Richard is an *extremely* well-regarded director from both film and TV. For television, he's directed such TV movies as "Desperado", ST:TNG ("Haven"), many episodes of "The Equalizer" and "Hill Street Blues" and other shows and movies and TV movies. Heading up the effects and production elements are Ron Thornton (computer EFX) and John Iacovelli (production designer). Ron, one of the country's foremost experts in computer-generated graphics, will be working with NewTek - creators of the Video Toaster, a company on the cutting edge of computer EFX technology, to create images never before seen on television. John Iacovelli, from HONEY I SHRUNK THE KIDS, is bringing a range of innovative new techniques to give the everyday scenes of Babylon 5 in action a vastly different and futuristic look. WHAT IS BABYLON 5 - The Concept The year is 2257. Mankind has gone to the stars, and we have found that we are not alone. There are other governments and empires that are far older than ours, and some that are younger. Some we met in peace, and began an exchange of technology and information that substantially increased the pace of Terran space exploration and colonization. Some contacts were hostile. And some led to outright war. The Earth/Minbari war lasted for almost a decade, and led to one of the great mysteries of the time in which our story is set. On the very edge of victory over the Earth Alliance, when everything Earth tried had failed and their destruction seemed imminent...the Minbari surrendered. It is now five years later, and the dark secret behind the Minbari surrender will finally begin slowly to emerge. And over the course of the series, that secret will have a direct and substantial impact on Babylon 5. As for Babylon 5 itself...it is a space station roughly three miles in length, with docking bays fore and aft. It is made up of sections that rotate at varying speeds to create alternate gravities to accommodate various lifeforms. Different atmospheres are also used in different sections. Babylon 5 is located at a key jump-point; to get from any one of the five major confederations (four alien, one human), you almost always have to pass through this sector of space. Thus, the area surrounding Babylon 5 has been designated Neutral Territory. Babylon 5 itself, therefore, functions as a sort of futuristic free-port, a space-borne Casablanca open to travelers from anywhere, going anywhere; people fleeing from something or escaping to something, on missions of urgency...smugglers, diplomats, scientists, mappers, traders, soldiers, refugees...sooner or later, they all come to Babylon 5. The station boasts substantial facilities, including the docking bays, customs areas, nightclubs, casinos, meeting rooms, a Rent-A-Telepath service for use by businessmen, living quarters and other facilities. Because the station creates its gravity by rotation, like an O'Neill sphere, the very center of Babylon 5 is a null-gravity area. On the fringes of that round section, where gravity returns, hydroponic and other forms of gardens and crops have been planted. In that respect, Babylon 5 is a self-enclosed planet turned inside-out. It is self-sustaning in most regards. Though run under the nominal jurisdiction of the Earth Alliance, the station also has an advisory council consisting of one ambassador from each of the four major alien confederations, with the station commander forming the fifth, tie-breaking vote. In that sense, the station serves as a sort of min-U.N., the first time all five groups have ever gathered together before under one roof. As such, Babylon 5 represents the best chance for peace that's come along in a very long time. But there are also those who profit by trying to sabotage that peace. And they, too, come to Babylon 5. The station is called Babylon 5 because it is not the first such attempt. Babylons 1 through 3 were sabotaged and destroyed. Babylon 4 disappeared mysteriously, without a trace, 24 hours after becoming operational. Which makes life aboard Babylon 5 tenuous at best. They are very literally on the fringe, on their own. If something should happen, no one could reach there in time to help. Commander Jeffrey Sinclair: Jeffrey Sinclair is the Commander in charge of the Babylon 5 space station. His concerns, though, tend to be more broad in scope...acting as the informal representative of the Earth Alliance, dealing with questions of policy and procedure, and keeping an eye on the Ambassadors. Vice-Commander Laurel Takashima: The day-to-day operations of the station are handled by Vice- Commander Laurel Takashima. (In case Sinclair is incapicated or off- station, Laurel is also empowered to take his place on the Council and speak for the E.A.) Laurel can usually be found in the B5 Command and Control Room (also referred to as the Observation Dome), where ships are coming and going, keeping an eye on who's going where. All departments report directly to her, and she is answerable only to Sinclair and Earth Central. Laurel is one of the few command crew actually born on Earth, she is consistently on top of things and is Sinclair's buffer between his diplomatic responsibilities and the physical running of the station. She has considerable interaction with the ambassadors and others coming aboard the station. She's tough, and smart, and resourceful and she can also take care of herself physically QUITE well. Ambassador Londo Mollari of the Centauri Republic: Londo is the most human of all the various ambassadors, and there's some speculation that we might be a long forgotten outpost of the Republic. Of course, the only ones MAKING that assertion are Londo's people, who have much to gain in trying to convince others of that. They are governed by an emperor, and the government works mainly through personal and family influence. It's a very indulgent society, and Londo reflects that. Overweight, prone to gambling constantly (null-pool is his favorite), and fond of women and drinks, he understands his role and doesn't try to push it. Like his Republic, he subsists on old stories and tales of former glory, remarking - one night, when drunk, "my god, we've become a tourist attraction. See the Great Fallen Centauri Republic, open nine to five...Earth Time." He is, by turns, a comic figure, and a tragic figure. Narn Ambaddasor G'Kar: The Narns once were very much under Centauri control, and they received in many ways the most brutal treatment of any "protectorate" in Centauri jurisdiction. A little under a hundred years ago, as the power of the Centauri Republic was fading, the Narns broke their chains in open revolution and expelled the occupying army, achieving independence. Which brings us to Ambassador G'Kar (pronounced JAH-karr), of the Narn Regime, married to a female war hero, whose fathers on both sides were also distinguihed veterans of a hundred campaigns. In the main, his task is to use the facilities of B5 wherever possible to Narn advantage, from arranging tech-smuggling to military objectives and so on, while doing all possible to interfere with the basic purpose of the station, to create the peace. Peace is not in their best interests, though they give the opposite impression. They want to keep all sides divided and at each other's throats so that they're occupied while the Narns grow and expand quietly in the background. The last thing they want is an alliance aimed against them before they're ready. Carolyn Sykes: Carolyn Sykes has been romantically involved with Commander Sinclair for a couple of years when we meet her. She knows quite a bit about him, but there are some things he still hasn't told her. They have a very adult, sexual relationship, and they are both independent and equal. She is the owner, and pilot, of the trading vessel Ulysses...a self-made woman who's an established and respected trader in a variety of goods. She works mainly within the Earth Alliance colony worlds, though in the last few years she's added routes in the Centauri sector. She's sophisticated, sharp, and no-nonsense...screw around with her too much, change the terms of your agreement in hopes of taking unfair advantage of her, and she'll jettison the cargo right into the sun. She has a reputation to protect, and would rather lose the deal than be dealt with unfairly. It sets a bad precedent...and on some of the worlds she has to deal with, the perception of strength is vital. Dr. Benjamin Kyle: Ben Kyle is Babylon 5's resident xenobiologist. He's in his late forties or early fifties, black, very thoughtful, very dignified...with a sly sense of humor (not sarcasm) that tends to catch one off guard. He began as a physician on Earth, and was a leading researcher into xenobiology there, gaining a quick grasp of the ins and outs of the few alien cultures that we (then) were in contact with. Naturally inquisitive, early on as a much younger man he began to "hitch-hike" onto deep-space ships, always hungery for new information that could be used by humans and outworlders alike. (His deal was that he would act as ship's physician without charge, in exchange for a bit of freedom whenever they made planetfall somewhere.) He has seen, catalogued and operated on more alien lifeforms than just about any other Earther in this time. And had his share of close scrapes, as well. Some races consider is sacrilege for any other race to "enter" their bodies through surgery...Ben will take the risk if it means saving a life. Security Chief Michael Garibaldi: Michael Garibaldi has a long and not terribly salutory history. He's been bounced from one job to another for years, always getting into trouble with someone or other, usually because he won't back down from a fight, and won't obey orders that involve hidden criminalities. He's also been framed on occasion...all of which drove him into serious problems with alcohol. He's largely overcome those problems...at least, so he now believes. He's in his late thirties or early forties, with a face lined by the troubles he's survived. He was brought to B5 by Commander Sinclair, over EA objections, because Sinclair wanted someone who would do what was required, even if it involved him. Someone with allegiance only to the truth. He got it. Now he has to figure out if that's really such a good idea or not... Minbari Ambassoder Delenn: Although the station was always intended as a sort of mini-U.N. as well as a free-port, with an Ambassador from each different alien alliance present, the Minbari refused to name an ambassador until the station commander was named first. Shortly after Sinclair was named Commander, the Minbari assigned their first ambassador to the station. His name is Delenn. And he stays very close to Commander Sinclair. Some say he is keeping a close eye on Sinclair. Some say he is Sinclair's friend. And some say there may well be something very lethal behind those unreadable Minbari eyes. Lyta Alexander: The station's resident rent-a-telepath is Lyta Alexander. She works for Babylon 5, but she is available for businessmen who need to make sure that the person across the table can really deliver what's promised. (Note: she is not the only one, they're pretty common in business at this time in the future.) Not an empath, by the way, but a proper, licensed (Psi-Corps, Level 5) Telepath. Bound by all the regs of the P-C. No random scanning, no access to the gaming tables, no unauthorized dipping, all deals must be on record. A telepath peeping into someone's mind or emotions without that person's permission (or that of the next of kin) can likely have his or her license revoked. She's in her early 30s or late 20s. Vorlon Ambassador Kosh Naranek: Last, but not least, are the Vorlons. There isn't much we can SAY about the Vorlons...because nobody KNOWS anything about them. In the opening movie, everyone's awaiting the arrival of the fifth and final ambassador (four if you don't count Sinclair) from the primary alien governments. He is a Vorlon, a race we have tried, without much success, to learn about ever since we first picked up their transmissions. Several scout ships were sent on First Contact missions. All of them met with unfortunate "accidents" upon entering Vorlon space. The Vorlons tendered their most *sincere* apologies. And suggested no further expeditions. Now, at last, with Babylon 5 becoming functional, and all of the other ambassadors in place, it no longer makes strategic sense to continue in their isolation. So the arrival of the Vorlon is a Big Deal. No human has ever even SEEN a Vorlon. And they play it right up to the hilt. The ambassador, Kosh Naranek, maintains only audio contact with Babylon 5 as his ship makes the long voyage, citing "problems" with audio. He clearly doesn't want to broadcast the Vorlon face all over the quadrant. So no problem, after all, he has to arrive eventually, and they'll see him then. Not quite. The ship arrives. The Vorlon ambassador emerges from his ship...and well, you see, he comes from a very different environment. Lots of methane and CO2. Our atmosphere is poisonous to Vorlons. So he emerges wearing an Encounter Suit...which covers every square inch of his body except for his hands, assuming those ARE his hands, with a dark faceplate in the front. The only place he can remove all of that is in his quarters, and there are no vids in his quarters, no way to observe him or see his true face. So...even now, no human has STILL ever seen a Vorlon. The primary goal behind Babylon 5 is to do a show that is both good sicence fiction and good televison. An SF series without cute robots or kids. An SF series that is thoughtful, but which has action. An SF series for grownups, with the same level of characterization and storytelling found in such shows as Hill Street Blues or St. Elsewhere or L.A. Law. In preparing Babylon 5 for production, a comprensive five year arc has been created. Though stories will stand on their own in each episode, the series overall will gradually tell a story on a much grander scale, a tapestry of falling and rising empires in which one or two individuals may mean the difference between a new dark ages on one side and a future of hope on the other. In that respect, Babylon 5 will be treated as a five-year miniseries, with a definite beginning, middle, and end, with each year equalling one "chapter" or book in the saga. In that respect, it has been likened by some to going for the broad tapestry of a Lensman or Foundation series of books. For more info about Babylon 5: a) On the GEnie Science Fiction Roundtable, there is a Babylon 5 topic where JMS talks with the fans about the show, both production and story info. Most of the information in this FAQ came from this topic. It is located at Page 470, Category 18, Topic 22. Archives of past messages are availabe in the GEnie SFRT files areas. b) Available on GEnie and Compuserve, in their respective science fiction file areas, are GIF files of the Babylon 5 logo, and two pictures from the computer animation. c) Starlog: The September 1992 issue of Starlog has an article on Babylon 5. Note that the pictures used in the article either are very outdated or have nothing to do with the show. ------------------------------
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Jan 11, 2021 05:56
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quantumfoam posted:Sheridan coming back from death with Lorien was when I dropped Babylon 5, never seen the back half of season 4 or anything in season 5. I would definitely read a well-written fanfic where Sheridan just dies at Z'ha'dum and it's up to Ivanova and the rest to pick up the pieces and go from there. Though, I feel like if you're going to go down that path, you might as well really go hard on it; like, Marcus gets killed in the final Shadow battle, Garibaldi gets iced on Mars, Ivanova dies ramming the last killer sat above Earth, and it's left to a shattered Franklin to tell their story to Earth before hitching a ride and going on permanent walkabout throughout the cosmos.
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Jan 11, 2021 07:53
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quantumfoam posted:Sheridan coming back from death with Lorien was when I dropped Babylon 5, never seen the back half of season 4 or anything in season 5. So that's either one episode of series 4 or episode four of series 4, not sure the remainder qualifies as just "the back half"
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Jan 11, 2021 11:57
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Mira Furlan seemed established enough in the Delenn role to carry the lead role of the show awhile along with Ivanova, G'Kar, Londo, Garibaldi, etc in supporting roles Whatever episode Sheridan (& his PrecursorPal) physically returned to Babylon 5 the space station is the last full episode of B5 I ended up watching. There was a multi-month gap before the next episode aired, and I just never managed to find the right WB/UPN channel to watch Babylon 5 when it came back on.
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Jan 11, 2021 16:25
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Data Graham posted:Man Hollywood-ese will never stop being weird to me. All that Variety jargon like "pic" and so on, and how insiders always, invariably refer to WB as "Warners" whereas nobody else in the world does I don't know if you are making a joke or not, but until they decided to get all edgy and hip with "the double you bee", everyone called it Warners.
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Jan 11, 2021 16:40
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I never know whether I'm making a joke or not
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Jan 11, 2021 16:49
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quantumfoam posted:Whatever episode Sheridan (& his PrecursorPal) physically returned to Babylon 5 the space station is the last full episode of B5 I ended up watching. There was a multi-month gap before the next episode aired, and I just never managed to find the right WB/UPN channel to watch Babylon 5 when it came back on. You should watch it, the Civil War arc is one of the highlights of the show.
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Jan 11, 2021 16:58
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quantumfoam posted:Mira Furlan seemed established enough in the Delenn role to carry the lead role of the show awhile along with Ivanova, G'Kar, Londo, Garibaldi, etc in supporting roles There's a few new inventions you might be interested in, that could help you with this.
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Jan 11, 2021 18:34
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I can unreservedly recommend watching what you haven't seen of Season 4. Season 5 is kind of a mixed bag, but 4 is solid.
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Jan 11, 2021 18:47
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Yeah seriously. I think the majority of 5 is also good, but 4 is unequivocally as good as 3, if not better.
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Jan 11, 2021 18:50
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Grand Fromage posted:Yeah seriously. I think the majority of 5 is also good, but 4 is unequivocally as good as 3, if not better. I don't think it holds up quite as well, because going all-but full serialised was not without its teething troubles.
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Jan 11, 2021 20:41
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Season 5 would've been a lot better if Claudia Christian had stayed on.
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Jan 11, 2021 20:44
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ultrafilter posted:Season 5 would've been a lot better if Claudia Christian had stayed on. I always forget about this until the end of season 4 and then I get sad again.
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Jan 11, 2021 21:10
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When rewatching 5 I'm always surprised how little Byron is actually in it, compared to how much gently caress Byron my memory always has. There's like... two episodes? where he's the main story and six or seven others where he is in it for ~10 minutes, and that's it. The rest of the season is pretty good. I also don't think the Byron stuff is that bad. It's the weakest part of the season, it doesn't really work at all, but it doesn't ruin the show or anything. Grand Fromage fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Jan 11, 2021 |
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Jan 11, 2021 21:15
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quantumfoam posted:And then there's Ambassador Delenn. He, as you know, is the Minbari It's surprising how noticeable it is when someone's tap-dancing around using any pronouns whatsoever. I'd heard about the original idea for Delenn, but seeing this is still neat.
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Jan 11, 2021 22:02
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I'm just mad they gutted lyta for the byron stuff, she's a good character and they zombified her. It's badly written.
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Jan 11, 2021 23:13
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sebmojo posted:I'm just mad they gutted lyta for the byron stuff, she's a good character and they zombified her. It's badly written. Byron is indeed terribly written, there are no two ways around that, but the character isn't helped by Robin Atkin Downes being like 21 when he was playing the part, and that being essentially his first major live-action role ever. He was completely out of his element and it shows, painfully, on the screen; when you're a really raw actor in a show full of mediocre actors, you're going to stick out like a sore thumb. Timby fucked around with this message at 23:29 on Jan 11, 2021 |
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Jan 11, 2021 23:25
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Timby posted:Byron is indeed terribly written, there are no two ways around that, but the character isn't helped by Robin Atkin Downes being like 21 when he was playing the part, and that being essentially his first major live-action role ever. He was completely out of his element and it shows, painfully, on the screen; when you're a really raw actor in a show full of mediocre actors, you're going to stick out like a sore thumb. I still think they should have brought back Jeffrey combs
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Jan 13, 2021 02:40
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Grand Fromage posted:When rewatching 5 I'm always surprised how little Byron is actually in it, compared to how much gently caress Byron my memory always has. There's like... two episodes? where he's the main story and six or seven others where he is in it for ~10 minutes, and that's it. The rest of the season is pretty good. Agreed, I think that after the consistent quality of the two previous season and the way season 4 ends, the small drop in quality at the start of season 5 feels way worse than it actually is and you tend to remember that much more as a result.
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Jan 13, 2021 15:25
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More compiled posts from JMS about Babylon 5 incoming. tldr summary: Delenn's transformation was plotted out from the beginning, Sheridan didn't exist yet. ------------------------------ Date: 1 Feb 93 06:11:16 GMT From: Edward_Lee_Whiteside@cup.portal.com Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu Subject: BABYLON 5: Compiled Posts from J. Michael Straczynski (35K) Following are selected posts by J. Michael Straczynski from GEnie from the last month in the Babylon 5 Category. These posts are copyright 1993 by J. Michael Straczynski with compilation copyright by GEnie. They deal with the final days of production and the buildup to the airing of the pilot movie "The Gathering". An updated B5 FAQL will be posted soon to the net. J. Michael Straczynski is the creator/writer/executive producer of the Babylon 5 movie and proposed series. WARNING: these posts may contain spoilers about the movie and future shows. Category 18, Topic 1 Message 180 Tue Jan 05, 1993 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 22:35 EST RE: cliffhangers...not between episodes, certainly. Between seasons, it's...hard to explain. There are, or will be *changes* that happen from one season to another (as planned), specific events that take place that should bring one up short...but "cliffhanger" in the sense of leaving some guy hanging from a string over a lake of fire...no, no plans for such at this time. RE: kids...boy, that one sure hit a nerve on both sides, didn't it? That's good. An argument like this is what a show or story should do, get people discussing the issues. Meanwhile, on other areas.... ****WOW**** I was in the editing bay today during the pre-dub of B5 (which I'll explain more , which btw has a nifty huge projection screen, twelve or fifteen feet across, so I got to see some of the show as if at a theater...plays pretty well. Anyway...what a pre-dub is, is this: those who saw the earlier version of the pilot will remember, for instance, the scenes in the main corridor of the station (well, one of them, anyway). You have Sinclair and Garibaldi talking. It's an un-mixed scene...just as filmed, there are just two guys talking. All the rest of the set is silent. But now...NOW...you're in the editing bay, and now you add in the background voices, human and alien...mechanical sounds nearby...an intercom voice advertising station services...then layer in the music, and suddenly it's a MOVIE! Someone said that sound is half of a movie, and you forget that until it hits you in the face. The pre-dub is where you layer in the voice tracks (original, from the production; adr (automatic dialogue replacement) for lines that were not sufficiently audible or need to be looped; incidental dialogue (computers, background characters) and walla (general crowd sounds). You decide how much of any of these is too much, how much more you need, what the balance is...if you need to use the surround capability to put this voice HERE or THERE.... Then we previewed some scenes with music, and did a little of the same there (we'll do more during the final mix Thursday through Tuesday). For instance...most music cues are anywhere from a few seconds long to maybe a minute or more. Ours tend to be longish...the longest is a cue that lasts 7.5 minutes, and goes inside the station, outside the station, to different *parts* of the station, and the music continues throughout. We figured that we needed to better differentiate the sound inside vs. outside the station...so in the music cue, we drop the electric guitar out of the mix for the inside scenes, and put it back in for the outside scenes, for instance. The result, basically, being that it becomes a *M*O*V*I*E* for the first time. And boy, it cooks, lemme tell you. There are moments of absolute and inutterable self-doubt in a project like this, especially when paired with the monumental press machine from elsewhere which is doing everything possible to bury us in the interests of preserving an economic monopoly and critics who figure we're a clone of another show. But then you turn around and see something like this, and you know it's going to work...and it really helps. jms [Moderator's Note: Due to the length of this article, it has been split into two parts. The second part will appear in issue #115.] ------------------------------ ------------------------------ Date: 1 Feb 93 06:11:16 GMT From: Edward_Lee_Whiteside@cup.portal.com Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu Subject: BABYLON 5: Compiled Posts from J. Michael Straczynski (35K) [Moderator's Note: This is the second part to the article that began in issue #114. Part three will appear in issue #116.] [JMS was asked if David Gerrold was doing the novelization] Category 18, Topic 2 Message 547 Tue Jan 12, 1993 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 23:15 EST Yes, I've asked David (and he's agreed) to write the novelization, which will probably commence within days of the series go being given. And there have been many screenplays published over the years, in script form/via paperback or hardcover; I have a rather extensive collection of same (including the aforementioned T2 book, which is extraordinarily good). It might be a good idea to do one for B5, with annotations, but not including the "how to write for tv" material mainly because that's a) covered in my writing book, which b) I intend one of these days to finish updating to Writers Digest Books can stop yelling on me. Some random observations and thoughts which might be of interest... We've pretty much finished the final mix, as stated, which we'll review tomorrow morning to be sure that it sounds okay on a small set. But for those of you out there with surround systems, and stations that will broadcast in surround...me boyos, have YOU got a treat coming your way. We did a *lot* of work on this thing to emphasize the surround. One act had over 100 passes to make the sound as layered as possible (an average show has maybe 30 per). The movement is quite distinct and compelling. The sound EFX are also quite good...the sound made by the weapons is also quite good. One thing we did with the weapons is to try, again, to be fairly logical. If it's a BIG weapon - rifle size or better - then you're going to have a quicker recharge time (if any) between firings, though you may have to change packs more often. At one point, you'll see a smaller, hand-sized gun being fired a few times. And each time, you'll hear a power whine as it builds up the required power to fire off another round. A gun that small simply wouldn't have the capability to fire off one after another after another without some power buildup that might not be present in a larger gun. (Smaller guns are generally things you'd want to smuggle on board, and might be as useful, in those ways, as a Derringer, which could only fire one or two shots, as opposed to a machinegun or gattling gun brought openly into battle, and which is intended to be used a lot.) Someone mentioned the positive aspects to building the maximum population of a space station around available supplies and other very real considerations. We're trying, consistently, to ask "How would this work in reality? What are the SCIENCE considerations in doing SF?" In general, we've found that if you Ask The Next Question and try to be logical, you get MORE options, and you get more INTERESTING options than if you just throw all that to the winds. (Often networks say, "Ah, screw the science on it, you'll just limit yourself." Not true.) During the final mix-down, a group of cub scouts came through the mixing facility on a tour. So we invited them in for the play-back on the next-to- the-last act...this is the one where we kick over the table and it's pretty much nonstop action. Wanted to see the reaction of kids to the show, because if there's a more relentlessly honest audience than kids that age, I don't know what it is. The fidget factor is enormous when they get bored. They didn't BUDGE. For some of the shots, they sat there, slack jawed, at what they were seeing. Which is also good to know, that the show can appeal to kids as well as adults WITHOUT making any dumb compromises (i.e., writing down, sticking in kids) to that audience. I heard them later talking about it among themselves, and though one kid was a bit unnerved by the whole thing, the rest just went on and on about it..."awesome"..."cool"..."that was great." So far, so good. Onward. In thinking a little about the discussion, and what role I've tried to play (and if I've seemed a bit brief or short of late, my apologies; the workload is immense just now), and I don't want anyone to think that I'm playing coy or just teasing about the series when questions about same come up, insofar as story possibilities or plot stuff is concerned. Obviously, I don't want to give out stuff that would constitute the Ultimate Spoiler. But there are generalities that I *can* talk about. When this topic first began, I was able to talk a little about what was hoped for in the movie...to let people know what we were talking about, and what to expect in exchange for the interest. (I've always believed that you have to put your money where your mouth is and earn loyalty by keeping promises and being straightforward in what you do.) So what *can* be said about the series, what would you have to look forward to? You will find out what happened to Sinclair, for starters, during the Earth/Minbari war. In that respect, the pilot movie is like the first chapter of a novel. For nearly 10 years, Sinclair has worked to convince himself that nothing happened to him on the Line other than what seems to be the case: that he blacked out for 24 hours. He's just managed to convince himself of this. Now, suddenly, someone comes into his life and with seven words - you'll know them when you hear them - completely unravels the self-deception. He knows then that something DID happen to him, that someone DID mess with his mind...and he is going to find out who, and why. This he will do. And the ramifications of that discovery will have a major influence on the series, on his relationships, and the future of not only his character but many others. You will see what a Vorlon is...and what it represents. And what it may have to do with our own saga, and a hidden relationship to some of our other characters (watch the reception scene carefully). We'll discover that there are MANY players in this game. One thing that separates this show from others is that on other shows, very often you do things to them to make for interesting drama...you take them prisoner, you make them kids, whatever...in this show, it's what's INSIDE the characters that will pose the greatest problems...and the greatest possibilities for drama. Most every major character is either running to, or away from something in their hearts, or their pasts, or their careers. Garibaldi's past will catch up with him in a very difficult way that will affect his role and make him a very different character for as much as a full season, and have lasting effects thereafter. Lyta will take part in a voyage of discovery that will very much change her character. Some of the established empires will fall. Some will rise. Hopes and fortunes will be alternately made or destroyed. At least one major group not yet known even to EXIST will make its presence known, but only gradually. Some characters will fall from grace. Others will make bargains whose full price they do not understand...but will eventually come to realize, and regret. At the end of the first season, one character will undergo a major, MAJOR change, which will start the show spinning on a very different axis. The first season will have some fairly conventional stories, but others will start the show gradually moving toward where I want it to go. One has to set these things up gradually. Events in the story - which is very much the story of Jeffrey Sinclair - will speed up in each subsequent season. Someone he considers a friend will betray him. Another will prove to be the exact opposite of what Sinclair believes to be true. Some will live. Some will die. He will be put through a crucible of terrible force, that will change him, and alter his destiny, in a profound and terrible way...if he goes one way, or the other, will determine not only his own fate, but that of millions of others. He will grow, and become stronger, better, wiser...or be destroyed by what fate is bringing his way. In sum, it is a story of hope against terrible adversity and overwhelming odds. That, in broad brush strokes, is a *taste* of what I plan to do with the series. I note this here because when the pilot airs, I am going to ask for your continued help in supporting the endeavor for the series, and it occurs to me that you ought to have at least SOME idea of what you're buying, and being asked to support. One should never be asked to sign a blank check on the bank of one's conscience. Reactions? jms Category 18, Topic 2 Message 549 Tue Jan 12, 1993 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 23:42 EST What happens at the end of the five year arc? The "Babylon 5" series ends...if I have anything to say about it (and I do). If something esle follows, we'll see what that is, but it won't be the same series, or the same title, or really the same characters. Barring that very distant possibility, at the end of the five year arc, I take a very, very, VERY long nap.... jms [The following is the opening narration from the movie. The voice talking is an older Londo Mollari ]. Category 18, Topic 8 Message 137 Sat Jan 09, 1993 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 23:23 EST "I was there at the dawn of the Third Age of Mankind. It began in the Earth Year 2257. Babylon 5 was the last of the Babylon stations, located deep in neutral space. It was a port of call for refugees, businessmen, smugglers, diplomats and travelers from a hundred worlds. It could be a dangerous place, but we accepted the risk because Babylon 5 was our last, best hope for peace. Under the leadership of its final commander, Babylon 5 was a dream, given form. A dream of a galaxy without war, where species from different worlds could exist, side by side, in mutual respect...a dream that was endangered, as never before, by the arrival of one man on a mission of destruction. "Babylon 5...was the last of the Babylon stations. This...is its story...." jms Category 18, Topic 2 Message 250 Mon Jan 25, 1993 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:29 EST A video index...oh man...you're *deliberately* trying to make my life a living hell, aren't you? (More than it is already.) We'll see. It's something I'll mention, and see how they react. Meanwhile, here's a little something I came across in my computer this evening. I had always sensed that the Londo introduction/narration at the top of the pilot was the way to go. But it never hurts to try other avenues...you discover the darndest ideas that way. Anyway, I came up with an alternate introduction, just to see if it worked or not. I rather liked it...and still do, to some degree...but finally opted to go with the Londo intro instead, which is what we'll stick with. But since it's not going to be used, I figured...why not let y'all take a look at what would've been an alternate opening for the pilot? BABYLON 5 Insert/Prologue FADE IN: ON STATIC. Then: a BLACK SCREEN, OVER which we HEAR the FEMALE voice of a news broadcast in progress: FEMALE VOICE (vo) -- continue to bring you updates on the Interplanetary News Network. And now, gradually, a PICTURE begins to emerge from the darkness -- grainy, slightly washed out, a VIDEO IMAGE of Babylon 5. FEMALE VOICE (vo) In other news, the Earth Alliance space station Babylon 5 celebrates its first year in operation with the imminent arrival of an ambassador from the Vorlon Empire. And now: a MONTAGE of shots from within B5, and some EFX shots from outside...the casino, the customs area, the bazaar and other areas. During this, the IMAGE BEGINS TO SHRINK, to recede into the distance, and gradually the stars begin to come out on all sides of the picture, framing it. This UNDER: FEMALE VOICE (vo) Located in neutral territory, Babylon 5 has exceeded all expectations in dealing with the many life forms that pass through the five mile long station. As a result, Earth Central has approved an appropriations bill to keep the orbiting freeport open to travelers, businessmen and diplomats for another five years. And now the image shifts, and the picture continues to recede into the distance, now only a few inches across...a grainy black and white image: FEMALE VOICE (vo) Meanwhile, a new binary star discovered by Mars colony scientists has been named Kennedy Proxima, after 20th century president John F. Kennedy, born 340 years ago this week. And now, in the small picture framed by stars, receding more rapidly from view, we SEE footage of JFK speaking before the Democratic convention the eve of his presidential nomination: KENNEDY I believe that the times require imagination, and courage, and perseverance. I'm asking each one of you to be pioneers toward that New Frontier. My call is to the young at heart, regardless of age; to the stout of spirit, regardless of party; to all those who respond to the scriptural call, "Be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid, neither be dismayed." For courage, not complacency, is our need today. UNDER this, Kennedy's image recedes further into the distance, growing smaller and smaller until he is now one of the many surrounding stars splashed across the blackness of space. A moment, and the MUSIC RISES, brave and martial, as we TILT and PAN ACROSS to reveal Babylon 5 itself, up close and personal in all its huge splendor. PUSH IN on the station as a ship approaches, and we HEAR: LAUREL (vo) Confirmed, Delta Gammer Niner, you are clear for docking. jms Category 18, Topic 2 Message 251 Mon Jan 25, 1993 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:33 EST That should be Delta Gamma Niner, not Gammer Niner. Typo. Sorry. jms ------------------------------ ------------------------------ Date: 1 Feb 93 06:11:16 GMT From: Edward_Lee_Whiteside@cup.portal.com Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu Subject: BABYLON 5: Compiled Posts from J. Michael Straczynski (35K) [Moderator's Note: This is the final part to the article that began in issue #114.] Category 18, Topic 2 Message 265 Mon Jan 25, 1993 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 23:17 EST Generally speaking, I agree with the sentiments expressed, and what you've picked up on are the reasons that I decided against using this particular form, even though there are things I like about it. What was, for me, the #1 reason for not using it is that it's...for lack of a better term, fairly prosaic. A news cast as opposed to the voice of the story teller, a sense of future-history you get through Londo's voice and the identification of him as the storyteller. Although I agree about the Kennedy tie, and that it can be somewhat problematic, what I like about it is that it fed into what I've been after with this show from day one...to tie our past, our present and our future. Done properly, it could've been fairly classy, I think. And there's Kennedy's voice - I have the tape of his speech - which rings powerful and true in that speech. It set a tone. But as has been noted here before, writing and acting and directing are fundamentally about making choices...this move rather than that, this attitude over that attitude. The Londo choice was the *better* of the two, even though there's much about this version to commend it. (A quick aside re: the MURDER question...the episode you cite was one done under my watch, but not the one I mentioned as the last I'd have anything to do with for this season. That one, which I wrote, aired about two weeks ago. The one you saw this weekend was from last season, as is the one coming up this Sunday, an episode of mine called "The Committee," a fairly gothic episode that actually came out quite well. The mystery element may or may not be that strong, but for me, MURDER was always a character story first, onto which you graft a puzzle.) Well, review copies of the pilot are going out, and have gone out. I heard through back channels that a major reviewer for a major magazine saw the pilot on Thursday last and his head exploded, thought it was terrific. The one comment that I keep hearing back from people is that it redefines SF on television. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean it's the best thing since sliced bread, but in terms of character and SFX and the general, more adult approach, it redefines what you can get away with. Which is all to the good. As for what I'm doing now...writing a script for a friend who's in a bind, ratcheting up the PR on the show a little more, giving interviews and suchlike, trying to get a leg up on my next novel so I'll be able to continue with it once this thing gets going to series, and some other stuff that, for the moment, is classified. It's now less than a month until this thing shows nationally. And just a tick over two weeks until those with satellite dishes pull the show out of the general ether. By February 22nd, I fully anticipate being a complete and total basket case. Fortunately, it's unlikely anyone will notice.... jms Category 18, Topic 2 Message 318 Thu Jan 28, 1993 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 06:54 EST Well, it's almost 4 a.m. I was going to give you three guesses as to what I've been watching - again - but I figure by now that's kind of pointless. I know, I know, obsessive/compulsive. Sue me. It's now 2 weeks and 1 day until those of you with satellite dishes see the pilot. I'll be very interested in seeing (well, reading) your reactions. I must confess that as this dialogue continues, I find myself learning more, and questioning more, and digging deeper for information that had been glossed over before. I very much appreciate your comments, your suggestions, even the occasional outbursts of Attitude. There will shortly be a private screening of the pilot on a real movie screen, just for cast and crew. The only time that I know of that this thing will be shown in the US on a big screen. Have been going over what I'm going to say to the assembled folks...how does one properly thank another for the fulfillment of a dream? How do you quantify five (now six) years of struggle, now given life by people you had hardly met one year before, but have given their blood and time and effort to see someone else's dream realized? During the filming, as I would be standing on stage, off camera, and we'd take a break between shots, invariably someone - the camera operator, the costumer, an actor, a carpenter - would come up alongside and say, "Is this close to what you saw when you wrote it? How are we doing on the dream?" They knew what it meant, the long road to get here, that it wasn't just a *job* for me and many others; it was something we wanted to do out of passion. And they responded to that...slept nights on the set rather than going home, produced work above and beyond the call of duty...how do you properly thank someone for reaching into your head and pulling out a vision and giving it form and weight and light and substance? I don't know. I don't know. Whatever the future holds - win, lose or draw - I think we've done something special here. And it's interesting to see how that sense pervades everything...the casting, the production...and now even this. I have noticed - I do a LOT of bbsing, much to my spousal overunit's dismay - that the tone on this category seems vastly different than it is elsewhere. I don't know...a give and take, no flame wars, a sense of community, the VERY SAME sense present on the set, in the dressing room, behind the camera. In the cold light of morning (when I manage to see it, when I'm not coming at 4 a.m. from the opposite direction), I tell myself it's just a television show, and six months from now, or ten years from now, no one will notice or remember. At night, as I watch the show again for I no longer know how many times, I allow - just for a second - the notion that we've carved out a little piece of history. Win, lose or draw, we got it on film, when everyone said we couldn't. And now it's yours. jms Category 18, Topic 12 Message 176 Thu Jan 28, 1993 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 20:01 EST BTW, I've been hearing more and more from our Warners liaison that the reviewers who've gotten copies of the B5 pilot have had their corneas melted by what they've seen. Half a dozen have already scrapped plans for other covers in their weekly television magazine/supplements in deference to a cover story on B5 (and this during Sweeps Week, no less!). Keep your eyes peeled, folkses...the stuff should start hitting the streets in the final week of our countdown. jms Category 18, Topic 2 Message 363 Sat Jan 30, 1993 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:20 EST Agreed on LBJ...he was something of a thug. Flat-out wasted tonight...we had a private screening this evening for cast, crew, some critics and some Warners execs. About 400+ people at the theater in the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in North Hollywood (in the shadow of a 50 foot Emmy). I don't think I've ever been as nervous, because here's where all the people who worked their butts off get to see if we screwed it all up for them or not. Everyone liked it bigtime. The few critics who said anything (most headed out, as is standard, you don't want to tip your hand) loved it...one CNN person said he hoped it would run for 10 years, another critic said it was the best SF television pilot he'd seen in the last 10 years...I think they liked it. Sitting here now with a MASSIVE headache from fretting over all this, so will probably make this short tonight. (Harlan kept hitting me in the shoulder after the screening, smiling and saying, "Will you for chrissakes ENJOY this? It's your night! It's a hit! It's wonderful! This kind of night only comes once in your life! Enjoy it!" I will...as soon as we get the series Go. Nothing can be allowed to distract from that.) jms Category 18, Topic 2 Message 374 Sat Jan 30, 1993 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 23:50 EST The sound system at the theater was great; we ran it off the D2, the master tape, and it came out very well. The point you raise re: Starlost is one Harlan's made to me. When I was at times feeling a bit low - I want the series NOW - he would point out that no matter what happens, we made my show the way I wanted it made, no interference...as opposed to what happened with Starlost, which just yanked his heart out. And it's a valid point. Thing is, it took five years to get this made, and that it HAS been made...it's almost an act of sheer will. I decided five years ago that no matter what happens, this pilot WILL be made. You have to focus in on the goal like a laser beam (tm Bill Clinton). That's been done. Now the next step: the series WILL be made...and now I have to focus in on that one with equal conviction. It's quite literally the only way ANYTHING ever gets made in this town. Ask George. He's been down the same road. As for the question of the show working with non-SF fans...we've actually shown it to a number of people who don't know from SF, and the result has been that they've liked it enormously. The reason, basically, is that it's not a hardware-driven story. It's a character drama with a mystery story element. The solution doesn't come from cross-wiring the ramaframmit with the zigamakawanna, and computing the resonance factors. (And I have to confess that those kinds of stories bore me to tears.) You start and end with character, and drama...and if you're true to those elements, the audience will follow you even into unfamiliar terrain. jms Category 18, Topic 2 Message 379 Sun Jan 31, 1993 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 05:21 EST (btw...anyone here know of any major conventions between now and February 22nd around the country?) What has been said that's *negative* about the show? Do you actually believe I'll provide *NEGATIVE* information about my own show? You do? Oh. Then okay. Probably the number one comment, when there are any negatives voiced, is that the first half-hour is slow when compared with the rest of the episode. And I have to agree...there's SO much to establish, so much ground to cover, that the first half hour is very dense. Once we've established the foundation, that changes fast, because we now have a common ground of understanding about the universe in which the story is taking place. Let's see...one fellow from Starburst Magazine who was at the preview said that if it were his, he would've rearranged the last few shots. The current sequence is, Action Scene, Transition with Kosh, Confrontation with a Major Character and Sinclair, the Reception, Delenn and Sinclair in the Garden, and the final shot with Laurel in the observation dome. He would've put the Confrontation with a Major character as the LAST scene, and cut the shot of Laurel altogether. His sense is to end on a big scene...my sense is that it's better to end on a note that sets up the series to follow. Not so much a negative as a difference of opinion. Let's see...some didn't like the gun designs (others loved it), some felt we didn't do as much as we could've with the background aliens (some thought we did too much)...mainly they've been matters of taste, rather than someone finding something that Just Doesn't Make Sense, or an EFX shot that looks crummy. There aren't any Real Big Plot Holes, and insofar as I know, nothing major to pick on which is *objective*, only differences of opinion. (As we've seen here with the Kennedy stuff; some liked it, others didn't.) jms Posted by Lee Whiteside P14942@email.mot.com elw@cup.portal.con ------------------------------
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Jan 19, 2021 01:51
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A new rerender! With a bunch of notes in the description, so don't forget to check that https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMABL7qiwoA
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Jan 19, 2021 04:18
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There was a bunch more mega-compilations of JMS responding to questions/feedback on GEnie after the Babylon 5 after pilot aired. Good stuff all around, here was the highlights for me: -JMS heavily defending casting Tamlyn Tomita/Laurel Takashima & Patricia Tallman/Lyta Alexander, and said that most of their best scenes got cut for time reasons. -Delenn ended being female in the tv-series because the vocal over-dubbing of Furlan never sounded right. (seems like the initial plan was for Delenn/most of the Minbari seen on the show was to be gender-neutral until the finale of Babylon 5 season 1?) -(Andreas has this belief that G'Kar is secretly in love with Laurel, and every time he sees her, it just lights up his heart This was the same man who explained to me that he pronounced "G'Kar" "Sha-Kar" because he decided his character was French. Go figure.)
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Jan 19, 2021 19:38
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Grand Fromage posted:When rewatching 5 I'm always surprised how little Byron is actually in it, compared to how much gently caress Byron my memory always has. There's like... two episodes? where he's the main story and six or seven others where he is in it for ~10 minutes, and that's it. The rest of the season is pretty good. The problem is Byron is a total wet blanket and just spends those ten-odd minutes of an episode totally derailling the momentum on the actual story of the week by being upset about something petty.
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Jan 20, 2021 08:01
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Oh look a video essay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVo0AvnwiSk
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Jan 20, 2021 16:22
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