From: skank@iastate.edu (George L Skank)
Subject: Re: BABYLON 5
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 22:32:27 GMT

     The following was mailed to me by a friend who has been following
the B5 project for a while.  Thought you might be interested.  There
is a paragraph about Babalyon 5 in this month's Amiga World, with a 
photo of what I assume is part of the B5 station.

					Enjoy,
						--George


-------------------begin included text---------------------------------

The following info on Babylon 5 was provided by J. Michael Straczynski.
Start Date: Feb 1993

                            BABYLON 5
                            ~~~~~~~~~
        WHAT IS BABYLON 5? - History

        Babylon 5 is a new science fiction project for television
that has been in top-secret development, first with Chris-Craft
Television, and then in combination with its associate Warner Bros.,
for over three years.  Selected early on as one of several flagship
projects for a new fledgling network, the producers and creator of
Babylon 5 used that time to fully flesh out the universe in which
our stories would be told.

     First, a series treatment and bible was written by J. Michael
Straczynski, creator and co-executive producer of Babylon 5.  This
was then followed by a 2-hour screenplay for a TV movie entitled
"The Gathering."  Also developed were storylines for a first full
season of episodes, and artwork was commissioned that illustrated
what, and where, Babylon 5 was.  Finally, a video demo tape was
produced.  By the time this was completed, Warner Bros. was in
place to make an important announcement.

        On November 20, 1991, Warner Bros. held a press conference
in Burbank, California, to announce the formation of a fledgling
network, similar to the Fox network when it first went on the air.
First-run programs would be produced, to air one night per week (as
Fox began once per week) on a consortium of over two dozen TV
stations around the country.  At the heart of this was the Chris-
Craft/United Television Network group of television stations.  One
of the projects announced as a Go was Babylon 5.

        Not only would Babylon 5 approved as a Go project, it was
announced at a major press conference held February 12th, 1992 in
New York City that B5 would be the first Consortium project to air,
making it the fledgling network's flagship production.  The target
airdate for "The Gathering" is Tuesday, November 17th, 1992. 
[JMS announced in May that Warner Bros. had pushed back the start date
to Feb, 1993 due to the other shows ("Time Trax" and the new "Kung Fu"
series) not being ready to air until Feb).

        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.

        Babylon 5 is run by Commander Jeffrey Sinclair, a nominal
war hero during the Earth/Minbari war (who is missing 24 hours of
memory from the last day of that war), though he serves more as
diplomat and figurehead most of the time.  In general, the actual
day-to-day operations of Babylon 5 are actually run by Laurel
Takashima, 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.

        There are, in total, ten regular, recurring characters,
in addition to whatever new characters may enter during any given
episode.  The intent is to create an ensemble show with widely
divergent characters, some good, some bad, but most a mix of the
two.

        Where some shows might show a perfect world without
conflict, where everything works as it should, where the regular
characters have no character flaws or inner doubts, the residents
of Babylon 5 are very different.  They have all the flaws to which
humans have always been prey.  The mistake is in the belief that
technology means perfection, somehow eradicating humanity, which
has been shown not to be the case.  In 1792, people worked, got
married, had affairs, had children, grew angry, touched passion
and hoped for a better future.  In 1992, though technology has
given us 200 years of progress, of flying machines and computers,
humans still work, get married, separate, have children, have
affairs, grow angry, touch passion and hope for a better future.
In 2257, our humanity continues, full of all its flaws and latent
nobility.  Those aspects may be enhanced, for good or ill, by the
new technologies, but we are still recognizeably human.

        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.

        BABYLON 5 - Behind The Scenes

        The production team assembled for work on Babylon 5 consists
of the best and the brightest, including EFX experts and others who
have worked on such projects as TERMINATOR 2, HONEY I SHRUNK THE KIDS,
THE ABYSS, TOTAL RECALL and other films.  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.

        (If you're interested at getting a sneak peek at Babylon 5
itself, there are two ways of doing it: 1) Find a copy of STARLOG
SPECTACULAR #4, March 1992, and turn to page 54.  The photo that
fills the bottom half of the page is an early version of the B5
station.  2) Call NewTek at (800) 765-3406 and request a copy of
their latest demo tape.  This tape contains a moving Babylon 5
station, and a starship that is also used in the first part of
the B5 demo itself, though the two are shown in reverse order.)

        Other EFX people working on Babylon 5 have been drawn from
the ranks of Hollywood's finest, ranging from the Henson Creature
Shop to those who've worked in James Cameron's Lightstorm Prods.

        Most importantly, every person thus far associated with
Babylon 5 is a fan of the SF genre, and wants to join in the
excitement of creating a brand new universe.  Every effort will
also be made to keep the SF as "real" and rigorous as possible.

        In addition to good SF going into the production side,
quality SF will also play a role in the creative vision of the
project.  When Babylon 5 goes into series in 1993, it will draw
upon the talents of leading SF writers for its stories, much in
the tradition of the original Trek series.

        The creator 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.

        BABYLON 5 -- Where To Find It

Stations slated to carry Babylon 5:

     NEW YORK: WWOR, LOS ANGELES: KCOP, CHICAGO: WPWR, PHILADELPHIA: WPHL, 
SAN FRANCISCO: KBHK, BOSTON: WSBK, WASHINGTON DC: WDCA, DALLAS: KTXA,
DETROIT: WXON, HOUSTON: KTXH, ATLANTA: WATL, CLEVELAND: WUAB, SEATTLE: KSTW,
TAMPA: WTOG, MINNEAPOLIS: KMSP, MIAMI: WDZL, ST. LOUIS: KPLR, SACRAMENTO: 
KRBK, PHOENIX: KUTP, DENVER: KDVR, BALTIMORE: WNUV, HARTFORD: WTXX,
ORLANDO: WOFL, SAN DIEGO: XETV, INDIANAPOLIS: WTTV, PORTLAND OR: KPTV, 
MILWAUKEE: WVTY.

     CINCINNATI: WSTR, KANSAS CITY: KSMO, RALEIGH: WLFL, GRN-SPR-ASH: WHNS,
NORFOLK: WGNT, SAN ANTONIO: KABB, OAKLAHOMA CITY: KOOB, HARARISBURG: WPMT,
W. PALM BEACH: WTVX, SYRACUSE: WSYT, ROANOKE: WJPR, DES MOINES: KDSM, 
PORTLAND ME: WPXT, SPOKANE: KAYU, BATON ROUGE: WGMB, WACO: KWKT, 
SANTA BARBARA: KADY, MONTEREY: KCBA, AUGUSTA: WFXG, LAFAYETTE LA: KADN, 
COLUMBUS GA: WXTX, YAKIMA: KCY, ODESSA: KPFJ.

For up-to-the-minute info, check out GEnie Science Fiction RoundTable 
Category 18, Topic 22.  GIF format pictures are available on both GEnie and
Compuserve in their respective file areas.


-- 
George L. Skank                 |"Religion and Politics will both          ///
Graduate, Electrical Engineering| exist in greater purity the less        ///
Iowa State University, Ames, IA | they are mixed together"           \\\ ///
skank@iastate.edu               |               --Thomas Paine        \\X//