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Babylon 5 FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
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Date: 13 Aug 92 05:05:10 GMT
From: [email protected]
Subject: Babylon 5: The Frequently Asked Questions List
The BABYLON 5 Frequently Asked Questions List
Updated 8/12/92
Compiled by Lee Whiteside
Section I: Behind the Scenes info:
1. 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.
2. Who is behind Babylon 5?
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.
3. What makes JMS think he can do a good science fiction TV show?
JMS set several criteria for developing a science fiction TV series:
1) It would have to be good science fiction.
2) It would have to be good TELEVISION, and rarely are SF shows both
good SF *and* good TV; they are generally one or the other.
3) It would have to take an adult approach to SF, and attempt to do
for television SF what HILL STREET BLUES did for cop shows.
4) It would have to be affordable, done on a reasonable budget.
5) It would have to look unlike anything ever seen before on TV, and
present not just individual stories, but present those stories against
a much broader canvas.
For years, at conventions, I have heard fans lament, and even sat in
on panels entitled WHY CAN'T THEY GET IT RIGHT? This, I firmly believe,
is a chance to do exactly that...to Get It Right, to take SF seriously,
to build characters for grown-ups (not a Wesley in the bunch), to
incorporate real science but keep the characters at the center of the
story. Over the next 11 months, they will have ample opportunity to
voice their desire to finally Get It Right. And I hope they will.
4. Who else will be working on Babylon 5?
Richard Compton, Director: Richard is an *extremely* well-regarded
director from both film and TV, who has just fallen in love with the
project. For television, he's directed such TV movies as "Desperado"
(very nice stuff there), ST:TNG ("Haven"), a whole *bunch* of episodes
of "The Equalizer" (which is close in some ways to the look we want for
B5), "Hill Street Blues" (lots of those, too) and other shows and movies
and TV movies.
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.
Director of Cinematography: Billy Dickson. Billy has an amazing eye
for color and shadow and composition that many of you may have seen on
the Desperado programs. First-class.
Production Manager/Line Producer: Bob Brown. Previously producer
or production manager on War of the Roses, Indiana Jones & the Temple of
Doom, Return of the Jedi, Iceman and the three Childs Play movies.
Casting Director: Mary Jo Slater. Mary Jo has cast untold numbers
of movies and TV programs, from the revived Dark Shadows to the recent
Intruders mini-series to Star Trek VI.
Plus others we've nabbed from James Cameron's company, Steven
Spielberg's company, George Lucas' company, Jim Henson's company, and
others.
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.
5. Who has been cast for the show?
Commander Jeffrey Sinclair will be portrayed by Michael O'Hare, a
classically trained NY actor, a Juliard graduate, who's done a lot of
Broadway work, all mainstream drama, a number of movies (By A Thread,
Into Thin Air, Pursuit) and TV shows (Rage of Angels, Adams Chronicles,
Equalizer, LA Law, Case of Deadly Force miniseries, and others).
Tamlyn Tomita has come aboard Babylon 5 as Lieutenant-Commander Laurel
Takashima. She has appeared in the movie Come See The Paradise, starring
Dennis Quaid, for which she received rave notices for her performance.
She has had major roles in Orange Curtain, Hawaiian Dream, The Karate Kid
II, and such television projects as Quantum Leap (episode Temptation
Eyes), 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.
Londo Mollari of the Centauri Republic will be played by Peter Jurasik,
who 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 (as Sydney the Snitch), Beverly Hills Buntz, Civil Wars,
Remington Steele, MacGyver and others.
Ambassador G'Kar of the Narn Regime is Andreas Katsulas (best known as
the Romulan Tomalak 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.
Carolyn Sykes will be played by Blaire Baron, most recently seen as
the daughter in the opening sequence of A League of Their Own.
Dr. Benjamin Kyle is played by Johnny Sekka, an African actor who has
appeared in films such as The Fever, Ashanti, Southern Star, Khartoum,
Woman of Straw, and in TV such as Roots Second
Generation, Master of the Game, and others.
Security Chief Michael Garibaldi is played by Jerry Doyle. Films include
Kidnapped and Being in Time. TV appearances include Reasonable Doubts,
Homefront, Bold and Beautiful, Moonlighting, and others.
Minbari Ambassador Delenn is played by Mira Furlan, a Yugoslavian
performer who has been working exclusively overseas, and is a major star
there, who is going to be entering American TV via Babylon 5. Mira is a
featured star at Cannes, having been nominated for many awards.
Lyta Alexander is played by Patricia Tallman. Film roles include Night
of the Living Dead (remake), Army of Darkness, Sweet Justice,
Knightriders, and Monsignore. Television roles include Generations, Tales
from the Darkside, and Miracles.
And since the Vorlons will be wearing Encounter Suits when we see them,
there is no actor cast for the role of Vorlon Ambassador Kosh Naranek.
6. How much of the series is planned out already?
In preparing Babylon 5 for production, a comprehensive 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.
7. What is the current production status of the show?
Casting has been completed and filming began on August 10th.
8. Which TV stations will air Babylon 5?
A number of new TV stations have been added to the list of those who
have agreed to carry BABYLON 5, starting with the 2-hour move slated to
air in February, 1993. The current, revised list follows:
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.
9. Wasn't the movie supposed to air in November?
The plan, initially, was to air B5 on November 17th, with the other
two Warner Bros. series/projects ("Time Trax" and a new "Kung Fu" series)
to air in February. Now this has always been a little problematic, not
from a production standpoint -- we've been ready to go for a long time -
- but logically, if you're running a new consortium of stations, it
kinda behooves you to start it all at once. Because we would be ready
early, and the other two shows, which got later starts, wouldn't be, the
initial decision was to split them as mentioned above.
As of this time, all three will be airing at the same time, in
February, instead of splitting them. I will admit that I wasn't exactly
thrilled about the delay, for obvious reasons (mainly because it would
put us head to head with another certain show, rather than giving us a
head start), but grudingly, it does make a certain sense: you put it all
on line at the same time, you get more bang for your PR buck, there's
cross promotion, and in the final analysis it'll probably bring *more*
viewers to B5 than would have seen it on its own. There are also a number
of good business reasons for it as well, including details about actors
options and the like.
The new airdate for the B5 movie will probably be in the third or
so week of February, whenever Sweeps happens to be. We've re-adjusted
our production schedule to accommodate the new airdate, and on one level,
even that works out. It'll give us more time to polish the effects and
maybe do even more than we'd planned.
10. Where can I find out more 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) 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.
d) 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.)
e) FTP site: ftp@coe.montana.edu has a Babylon 5 files area in
/ftp/pub/TV/Guides/babylon-5
f) Broadcasting Magazine: July 13th issue has an article on Babylon 5
including a nice color photo of the Babylon 5 station. Check your local
libraries.
g) Starlog Magazine: September, 1992 issue has a feature article on
Babylon 5. The pictures with the articles are either outdated or have
little, if anything, to do with Babylon 5.
h) Science Fiction Conventions: J. Michael Straczynski has been attending
science fiction conventions when possible to promote Babylon 5.
Appearances so far have included LosCon, Galllifrey One in 3D, and
WesterColt .45. Upcoming appearances include:
San Diego Comic Con : Sat, August 15th, 11 a.m.
Creation Con, San Francisco - Labor Day Weekend
LosCon, Los Angeles - Thanksgiving Weekend
Gallifrey One Goes Forth, Los Angeles - Late February, 1993
i) The Official Babylon 5 Newsletter
If you would like to get on a mailing list for a Babylon 5 Newsletter
(being produced with the cooperation of J. Michael Straczynski),
send a POSTCARD with your name and address to BABYLON 5 NEWSLETTER,
c/o Moonfire Productions, Box 2325, Oakhurst, CA 93644. Mid-September
is planned for the first issue.
Section II: The Babylon 5 Universe
1. What is Babylon 5 about?
The date: 2257 A.D.
We have gone to the stars, and found that we are not alone. We have
moved quickly out, establishing relations with other civilizations that
has let us leapfrog technologies via an information and cultural exchange
with at least one other culture. Many contacts have been friendly. Some
have not been quite so benign.
From 2236 through 2247, war raged between the Earth Alliance and the
Minbari, an alien federation. The EA was losing, badly. As a last
resort, a suicide perimeter was set up around Earth, known as the Line.
Every last ship we had was on the Line, in a desperate defense of
Homeworld.
And on the brink of winning the war, just as they were breaking
through the Line...the Minbari surrendered. To this date, no one knows
why. They could have won, but chose not to. The secret behind their
surrender will gradually play a part in our story.
But that was now 10 years ago, in our story. There is now an uneasy
peace between the Earth Alliance and the four other alien federations.
To help cement that peace, the EA has constructed BABYLON 5.
BABYLON 5 is a five-kilometer-long space station in neutral space
more or less central to all five of the different alliances, human or
alien. To get to one or the other, you have to pass through this sector
of space. Thus, Babylon 5 has been created as a sort of port-of-call for
travelers, statesmen, emissaries, traders, refugees and other, less
savory characters. Five kilometers long and two kilometers wide, Babylon
5 is divided into separate, discreet sections that rotate at differing
speeds to provide different gravities to accommodate those who come to
the station. There are also sections with alternate atmospheres.
The station boasts living quarters, customs areas, docking bays,
meeting areas, a casino, several bars/nightclubs, command and control
spheres fore and aft, and a decent defensive grid. In addition, each of
the various federations has one official representative aboard the
station (with the station's commander representing the Earth Alliance),
so that it also functions as a sort of mini-U.N.
It is home to humans and aliens in various roles, some arriving or
departing every day, others working there full-time. They live on the
very edge of the frontier, in the sense that if they get into trouble,
there's no one who can arrive in time to help them. Because of the
nature of the travelers, they bring their stories with them to Babylon
5 rather than having to seek them out. The stories are of people in
flight, seeking sanctuary; stories of smugglers, assassins, traders,
mappers, dignitaries and others, all on urgent missions of one sort or
another.
If STAR TREK was "Wagon Train to the Stars," then BABYLON 5 is
Casablanca in space.
It is humanity's last hope for peace, a single hope in the middle
of an uneasy, fragile peace.
And it *is* fragile, and dangerous. It is called BABYLON 5 because
the first three efforts to build the station were sabotaged and
destroyed. The fourth one disappeared without a trace 24 hours after
becoming operational. No one knows what happened to it.
And *that*...is only the beginning of our story.
2. What happened in the Earth/Minbari War?
The story of BABYLON 5 takes place in 2257. In 2236 or thereabouts,
the Earth Alliance made First Contact with a race known as the Minbari.
They were, at that time, only the second major civilization we'd
encountered, though we had certainly come across a number of non-aligned
worlds and smaller governments, one or two worlds each. The Minbari
represent a *major* force on every level, resources, technology, sheer
number of worlds involved, on and on.
The Minbari are the oldest of the different alien civilizations, and
largely kept to themselves. Their interests were (and are) in attaining
perfection: physical, mental, spiritual, emotional. They answer to a
Council of Elders, whose pronouncements are considered law in an almost
biblical sense. Though deeply religious in their way, they have also
pursued the ways of technology, and as such they are easily the most
advanced of the various alliances. But they view technology as
transitory, a means to an end rather than an end in itself. Like Tom
Bombadil in LORD OF THE RINGS, they can hold the Ring of Technology but
it has no hold over them.
And from 2236 until about 2247, we were at war with them.
The Earth/Minbari war began as a misunderstanding. The first time
a Terran ship encountered a Minbari starship, they studied each other
closely. The Minbari ship made a move that they thought would be
considered non-threatening. It wasn't. Even in the present of our
story, no one is quite sure who fired first. The Minbari ship was
greater in power, but taken by surprise, was destroyed, and the Earth
ship limped back to base with tales of a terrible new enemy. Minbari
ships, arriving to investigate, were interpreted to be the first wing of
an invasion force by the base commander, and ships were launched in
response before receiving formal authorization from Earth Central.
The war put a great strain on the Minbari, who have always been
strongly divided between the religious caste, and the military caste, who
were now forced to work together. The religious caste were quietly
opposed to the war, but were generally vague about their reasons when
asked.
The climax of the war was the Battle of the Line. Earth had all but
lost the war. In a last-ditch attempt to save Homeworld, every available
ship left in the armada was positioned around Earth itself. It was,
everyone knew, a suicide mission. And that's, indeed, how the Battle of
the Line started out to be.
In the course of that battle, a lone ship -- a one-man fighter with
very little in the way of armaments -- took several heavy hits. His
instruments failing, other ships blowing up all around him, he aimed his
ship at the nearest Minbari cruiser, deciding to ram it in the hopes of
destroying at least that one ship. He kept his ship on course for as
long as he could hold out. Then, abruptly, he blacked out.
When he awoke, he was still in his ship. Drifting. He fired up the
engines, ready to continue, only to discover two things: first, that he
had been out of it for a full 24 hours. When he lost consciousness, he
had 16 hours of oxygen left in his ship. When he awoke 24 hours
later...he had 12 hours of oxygen left.
Second...the war was over.
And, incredibly, the Minbari had surrendered. On the very verge of
success in the war, they had rolled over and sued for peace. No one in
the Earth Alliance quite knew why, but they weren't about to debate the
issue, and accepted minimal compensation for the war.
Now, ten years later, the Earth Alliance is no closer to figuring
out why the Minbari surrendered. It is, in fact, one of the great
puzzles of that era, debated on a hundred different worlds. Only a few
strange clues have slipped out. One is that the military genius who led
the Minbari into the war committed suicide the day of the surrender,
though it is unclear if his death took place before or after the
surrender. And the rift between the military and religious castes
apparently came to some sort of climax, with the religious caste taking
complete control. There are rumors of some sort of religious vision,
of a prophecy of great things, and a prophecy of complete doom. But
since almost nothing is known of Minbari religion, what this might be,
no one knows.
At the conclusion of the war, those Terrans who fought in the Battle
of the Line were proclaimed heroes. One of these men was Captain Jeffrey
Sinclair...the pilot who still cannot account for the 24 hours he was out
of contact with Earth Central.
3. Who is in charge of Babylon 5?
Commander Jeffrey Sinclair has come far in the 10 years since the
war. He's had some rough times, but overall he's progressed. And he has
at last been given a major assignment, perhaps the most important job of
his life, concomitant with his promotion to Commander.
Jeffrey Sinclair is the Commander in charge of the Babylon 5 space
station.
As stated, Commander Jeffrey Sinclair is the titular head of BABYLON
5. 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.
4. Who are some of the other main characters?
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. If, as
happens early on in "The Gathering," a ship's crew refuses to submit to
a weapons search (a requirement for coming aboard B5), she has the
authority to lock them out. (To one complaining ambassador, she stands
firm on this, though noting, "I'll be happy to send them a fruit basket
if it'll make you feel any better. But other than that, they can sit out
there for the next solar year for all I care.")
She has considerable interaction with the ambassadors and others
coming aboard the station. All day-to-day operations are very much her
purview.
Laurel is a rarity among the B5 crew, in that she is one of the few
actually born on Earth. (Sinclair was born on the Mars colony, for
instance.) Thus, she has strong roots on Homeworld, which gives her a
perspective that's quite important at times. She's tough, and smart, and
resourceful (conning one of the hydroponics guys into setting aside a
couple of planters on the QT to grow coffee beans...very much against
policy, but if you report her, you can't have any). She has a long-
standing relationship with an off-world mapper who works for the E.A.,
but is gone quite a lot of the time. She can also take care of herself
physically QUITE well.
Carolyn Sykes:
Carolyn Sykes is Commander Sinclair's...darn, what's the right word
these days? Signifcant other? Lady-friend? Lover? Main squeeze? (I
keep having this recurrent flash from "Young Frankenstein," as Frau
Blucher calls out, "He vas....my BOYFRIEND!")*
Carolyn has been romantically involved with 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.
Her feelings about Sinclair's position are mixed. On the one hand,
she feels that he's the right man for the job, and he's doing a terrific
job. On the other hand, she knows that part of him longs to be back in
the pilot's seat of a starship, and when things start to get bad, she
offers him that chance...to tell them all to piss off, and the two of
them will pool their resources, buy a bigger ship, and go off on their
own.
Because of their schedule, she must find time together when they
can, stolen hours before the next run to another world, another system.
They are both supportive of each other, though that doesn't remove the
occasional conflict common to any relationship. She isn't dark and
driven, she's a strong female character who's *happy* in her work, she
enjoys it -- the freedom, being responsible -- and wouldn't change it for
the world.
They are very much involved with each other, but because of their
different lives, both know that there's every chance that this might all
end between them. So they don't often deal with that question, though
it's a thought that is sometimes expressed in the bedroom, at night, in
soft tones. They might drift apart, find someone else, or something co
uld happen to one or both of them; their jobs are not exactly conducive
to longevity. So they seize every moment and enjoy it as best they can.
Dr. Benjamin Kyle:
Dr. Benjamin 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.
He's detailed, methodical, single-minded...and if one route is
closed, he'll go another, even if it means getting into a fair amount of
trouble. (Which happens in the pilot.)
One scene omitted from the script for purposes of time is kind of
illustrative of Ben's humor. During a crisis -- there's someone in the
medical area (I'm being deliberately vague) who's in trouble, and Ben's
on stims, staying awake to see the patient through -- he at one point has
to talk to Sinclair.
Sinclair is asleep, Carolyn beside him, when the call comes in via
the bedside monitor. Noting Carolyn's state of undress, Sinclair tells
the monitor to receive the call, "audio only." Ben starts in on his
report...then stops. He can't see Sinclair. Sinclair, noting Carolyn
who stirs beside him, says, of the monitor, "Slight malfunction."
"Ah," Ben's voice comes..."Hello, Carolyn." He knows she's there,
and tells Sinclair c'mon, let me see you while I'm talking to you...I'm
a doctor, I'm not going to see anything I haven't seen before.
With a shrug from Carolyn, Sinclair switches on the video.
Ben's face appears on the monitor. He looks over to Carolyn.
Smiles. "Nice tan."
Carolyn's response...is best left unstated.
Ben volunteered to come to Babylon 5 for several reasons: as the
best in his field, he's most capable of dealing with any emergencies, and
this is the sort of place where that is most needed. In addition, he's
getting a little old to be hitch-hiking on starships...why not settle
down somewhere where the aliens come to *you* instead of the other way
around?
He's single, his wife having passed away some five years ago, one
more reason he's come to B5. There's nothing left at home for him now
that she's gone. He has two grown children, one of whom is successful,
the other...well, less so.
He's been offered research grants from some of Earth's biggest
corporations, universities have offered him important posts, the
government would LOVE to have him come work for them (where, he suspects
darkly, they would have him work on alien biological warfare)...but he's
said no to all of them. His place is as a working physician and
xenobiologist, at a place where he will have ample time to study the new
species they encounter, and do his part for peace.
Security Chief Michael Garibaldi:
Security Chief 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....
5. We've heard about the Humans, what about the aliens?
Minbari Ambassador 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.
e 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.
Centauri Republic Ambassador Londo Mollari:
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.
For a thousand years, the Centauri Republic was a force to be
reckoned with. Like the English empire once upon a time, it held
hundreds of planets in its control. It was a great military power. But
slowly, as can happen, they grew content, and lazy, and gradually their
own empire began to slip between their fingers. A world deciding to go
rogue was troublesome, to be sure, but it's SO far away, and it's SUCH
a bother to go take care of it, when we can easily get the same things
from other places...let them go. They'll come crawling back sooner or
later.
As a result, they are now down to a Republic that consists of barely
a dozen systems and thirty worlds.
It was, interestingly enough, the Centauri Republic that was Earth's
first contact with another major government. The CR was well in advance
of Earth science, and we all considered them a terrible power...an
illusion they hardly tried to set right. Trade agreements were set up,
and we gained an ASTONISHING amount of technical know-how in a very short
time, letting us leap-frog a hundred years of progress in a single year.
They were most curious to get cultural stuff in return...music, art,
philosophy, literature..."native" trinkets that could be resold for more
money back on homeworld.
In the thirty or forty years since then, however, we've found out
the truth, that the CR is really on its last legs. And we've taken the
technology we've gotten and perfected it, and now the Earth Alliance is
fast becoming one of the dominant forces of this time. And the Centauri
Republic is trying to attach itself to us the way a ramora attaches
itself to a shark...for preservation, in this case.
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.
Londo has a wife, his third, actually, on Centauri Prime, and seven
kids.
And he would sooner hurl himself into the sun than go anywhere near
ANY of them.
Vorlon Ambassador Kosh Naranek:
Let's talk about the Vorlons...because there ain't much we can SAY
about the Vorlons...because nobody KNOWS anything about them.
In our 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,ce 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 B5 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 B5 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, y'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.
Well, that's not *entirely* true.
Legend has it that one human saw a Vorlon. A pilot who crashed, off
course, on a Vorlon colony.
According to that legend, the human who saw a Vorlon...was turned
to stone.
But, after all, it's only a legend. At least, that's what our
resident xenobiologist sincerely *hopes* when he has to --
Narn Ambassador 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 occuping army, achieving independence.
The way they were able to achieve independence was through a strong
military mindset and sense of pride...which though useful then, has since
become something other...something darker and more menacing. Still
smarting from two centuries of occupation, they launched a major effort
to build up their own forces. They strip-mined their economy to get
their hands on the latest weapons tech, most of it illegally obtained.
They began slowly to convince themselves that they had a Destiny among
the stars...a destiny of conquest.
And over the last few decades, they have been tentatively extending
themselves, taking over unallied planets here and there on the fringe of
the Narn system, small places that offered strategic and economic value,
but which were too far away to fight for, and of too little importance
to (in many cases) the Centauri republic, which was busy dealing with its
own internal problems.
The Narn Regime now is in many ways the X-factor, the new kid on the
block with something to prove. They're growing awfully strong, awfully
fast. They're cunning, and determined, and quite deadly.
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 others 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.
One last note about G'Kar...I wanted to create someone specifically
who folks would gradually come to expect is behind anything that goes
wrong or afoul. "Oh, he's the bad guy." And to a large extent, for the
first part, he will be...then something quite surprising will happen, and
everything you THINK you know about Ambassador G'Karr will be turned
completely upside down. We've all seen the SF standard of The Villain Who
Chews Scenery...I wanted to take that and use it just long enough to get
folks comfortable with the convention...then pull the rug out from under
them.
6. What is inside of Babylon 5?
As for locations inside B-5...we've designed a number of very
different looks and locations to give it a non-claustrophobic feel. By
virtue of being patterned physically after the work of such scientists
as Gerard K. O'Neil, the absolute center of the elongatorld look, with fields
and hydroponic gardens along the 386-degree circular section (which is
about a half-mile, or a mile across)...and as you get closer to the
absolute center, where a transport tube cuts from one end of the station
to the other, naturally you get less and less gravity until you can
literally hang suspended.
And there are living areas designed to accommodate different
environments and atmospheres and conditions. The alien sectors are off-
limits to humans without protection (breathing gear and other measures).
Similarly, a heavy CO2 breather or methane breather would have to wear
an encounter suit to travel among the humans on the station. In
addition, the B-5 station is actually made up of several independent
(though connected) sections, each revolving at a different speed in order
to create alternative areas of gravity.
Parts of the station are still under construction, and parts are
finished. Some sections are in daylight, some in night, alternating by
level and sector. On the very outer ring, the viewports are in panels
ON THE FLOOR, so you're looking down and out into space, revolving
beneath your feet.
BTW...the Babylon 5 station isn't just floating there. It's at the
L-5 point in a binary star system between a moon and a barren, lifeless
planet.
Well, a *theoretically* barren and lifeless planet, anyway....
But that's Year Two....
7. What kinds of Language are used?
As for language...most times, since other groups know that they're
going to a station run by the Earth Allianhere are always equivilants
of the Ugly American who doesn't have the time. In those cases, there
will be a computerized translator, under which we will faintly hear their
actual language. And, from time to time, it could be fun to have two
different species at an impasse because neither understands the other.
8. What about politics in the Babylon 5 Universe?
There are, in fact, a number of splinter groups in the world (or the
universe, I suppose) of B-5. There are individuals who claim residency
in no particular group or government, they're free-traders of the purest
sort. Within the Earth Alliance, things are structured more or less along
the lines of the Commonwealth of Independent States we're seeing now,
with one monolithic voice that speaks in tersm of foreign policy, but
within the framework of everything else -- domestic policy, economics and
the like -- the independent state makes its own rules.
So their are colonies and fringe areas that consider themselves by
and large independent. And, from time to time, there will be sparks of
secession and the like. I've never much liked the Gleaming Steel Of A
Perfect Federation approach; I like things a little more tentative, less
sure. And for that matter, even WITHIN the E.A., there are factions and
problems and power struggles and the like. Wheels within wheels.
The Babylon 5 Frequently Asked Questions List
Compiled mostly from posts by J. Michael Straczynski on the Babylon 5
topic in the GEnie Science Fiction Roundtable (Page 470; Cat 18; Top 22).
Lee Whiteside
[email protected]
[email protected]
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