Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Babylon 5" in English language version.
Anyway, they asked if I wanted to do a feature film but I declined mainly because I can't yet picture structuring a B5 movie as long as [Andreas Katsulas] and [Richard Biggs] insist on staying dead.
(Quoting J. Michael Straczynski) Caligula is probably the most obvious comparison, hence why I had that name reflect that sound a little bit. I wanted someone who you would be very much in fear of, not because he was rampaging around screaming all the time, but because he was completely and totally arbitrary.
Unfortunately, the production values date the show. As TV screens get bigger and audiences become accustomed to HD, I worry that most modern viewers will be put off by the dated effects and low visual quality.
I think I...loved Talia.
The show was one of the first to use extensive CGI instead of models for space scenes, which allowed them the freedom to shoot multiple angles. That said, the CGI looks incredibly primitive today and is upscaled for modern TVs badly.
in the Nineties it was still exceedingly rare for a TV show to have episodes directly lead into each other. Two-part episodes were a big deal, and season long story arcs (with the obvious exception of daytime soap operas) were unheard of. But, Babylon 5 changed all that.
One final note: B5 has always been conceived as, fundamentally, a five year story, a novel for television, which makes it very different as well.
My theory is that *in general* the novels and comics tend to be canon, but the details may not always be, mainly because it's virtually impossible to ride herd on every single line of all this the way I do the show. It physically can't be done. But where possible, we keep it as close to cointinuity [sic] as possible.
How they want solid characters, imaginative stories, no kids or cute robots, using science the way it should be used, not talking down to the audience. That desire has been noted.
I *love* sagas, and B5 will present a chance to tell that kind of saga. ... But this is hardly revelation; the world of SF print has been doing this now ever since the Lensman books. The job now is translating that approach to television...Alt URL Archived December 3, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
The notion of the Vorlons and Shadows representing Order and Chaos goes back to the Babylonian creation myths, that the universe was born in the conflict between order and chaos, hence part of the reason I decided to name this show after Babylon. That's called *research*. It informs the show, but it is not the show.
The title is from Shakespeare's "Hamlet," specifically Hamlet's What a piece of work is a man speech in act 2, scene 2
"The Quality of Mercy" title is drawn from the same source as Compton's book, Shakespeare.
"How sharper than a serpent's tooth." (His reply to Garibaldi's joking guess that Sinclair's interview would get him shipped off the station and himself promoted into Sinclair's position.) This is a quote from Shakespeare (King Lear.)
The antagonist in "Mind War" was named after Alfred Bester, author of "The Demolished Man," a classic SF work about telepathy. The novel also featured a telepaths' guild similar in many ways to B5's Psi Corps.
The G'Kar-Emperor thread was similar to the King Arthur legend: Arthur's and Mordred's armies are poised for battle but make one last attempt to negotiate, but a soldier raises his sword to kill a snake and everyone attacks. There's another applicable metaphor for the sword story; you'll see it a little later [in season 3].
[Straczynski] I gave very particular instructions to re-create the staging of the photograph in which Lyndon Johnson takes over from JFK after the assassination. The same layout, posture, background, and so on. We even had a photo on set for reference. The creepy thing is that the day we shot the scene was the anniversary of the day it actually took place; very weird atmosphere on set that day.
The location of Babylon 5 is at Grid Epsilon 470,18,22 which corresponds to the original location of the Babylon 5 topic on GEnie (Page 470, CAT 18, Topic 22).
For years, at conventions, I have heard fans lament, and even sat in on panels entitled WHY CAN'T THEY GET IT RIGHT?Alt URL Archived July 18, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
I *love* sagas, and B5 will present a chance to tell that kind of saga. ... But this is hardly revelation; the world of SF print has been doing this now ever since the Lensman books. The job now is translating that approach to television...Alt URL Archived December 3, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
For years, at conventions, I have heard fans lament, and even sat in on panels entitled WHY CAN'T THEY GET IT RIGHT?Alt URL Archived July 18, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
If there is any (to use your term) winking and nudging going on, it's on the level of 'Okay, YOU (Paramount) know what happened, and *I* know what happened, but let's try to be grownup about it for now,' though I must say that the shapechanging thing nearly tipped me back over the edge again. If there are no more major similarities that crop up in the next few weeks or months, with luck we can continue that way.
...there is a clear reference to I, Claudius included in Babylon 5. In 'Falling Towards Apotheosis', Cartagia introduces Mollari to his secret 'council' of the severed heads of senior figures he has had executed. He mentions that one was always coughing, but that he has now cured this (by cutting his head off). This is a clear reference to a scene in I, Claudius, in the episode 'Zeus, by Jove'. Gemellus, co-heir of the previous emperor Tiberius and therefore rival of Caligula, has a persistent cough. Caligula has him executed, and when his severed head is brought into his presence, he tells Claudius "I cured his cough."
to some extent the Roman civilization is one of the sources for constructing the Centauri
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)I knew that the best series set up where the stories come to you, in a police station or a hospital or a law office, and decided in an SF environment a space station would work well for that...added the backdrop of myth and archetype, constructed a Hero's Journey, and took it from there.
It had serialized plots and adventures to follow from episode to episode and season to season with characters that didn't just reset every week but evolved over time.
The biggest legacy in many ways has been the five-year arc. In the years since B5, starting with Lost and Battlestar [Galactica], which took that concept to its next level, nearly every dramatic series now has a multi-year arc. What started out the aberration has become the rule. That one singular development changed the television landscape forever in ways that we are still discovering.
computer-generated under the supervision of Ron Thornton
One final note: B5 has always been conceived as, fundamentally, a five year story, a novel for television, which makes it very different as well.
in the Nineties it was still exceedingly rare for a TV show to have episodes directly lead into each other. Two-part episodes were a big deal, and season long story arcs (with the obvious exception of daytime soap operas) were unheard of. But, Babylon 5 changed all that.
My theory is that *in general* the novels and comics tend to be canon, but the details may not always be, mainly because it's virtually impossible to ride herd on every single line of all this the way I do the show. It physically can't be done. But where possible, we keep it as close to cointinuity [sic] as possible.
I *love* sagas, and B5 will present a chance to tell that kind of saga. ... But this is hardly revelation; the world of SF print has been doing this now ever since the Lensman books. The job now is translating that approach to television...Alt URL Archived December 3, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
For years, at conventions, I have heard fans lament, and even sat in on panels entitled WHY CAN'T THEY GET IT RIGHT?Alt URL Archived July 18, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
How they want solid characters, imaginative stories, no kids or cute robots, using science the way it should be used, not talking down to the audience. That desire has been noted.
computer-generated under the supervision of Ron Thornton
Anyway, they asked if I wanted to do a feature film but I declined mainly because I can't yet picture structuring a B5 movie as long as [Andreas Katsulas] and [Richard Biggs] insist on staying dead.
I think I...loved Talia.
When Babylon 5 revealed two of its lead characters to be bisexual or lesbian in its second season, and established that gay marriage is legally recognized, and generally accepted, on Earth in the 23rd century, there was no uproar, no drop in ratings, and no boycotts.
The notion of the Vorlons and Shadows representing Order and Chaos goes back to the Babylonian creation myths, that the universe was born in the conflict between order and chaos, hence part of the reason I decided to name this show after Babylon. That's called *research*. It informs the show, but it is not the show.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)I knew that the best series set up where the stories come to you, in a police station or a hospital or a law office, and decided in an SF environment a space station would work well for that...added the backdrop of myth and archetype, constructed a Hero's Journey, and took it from there.
The title is from Shakespeare's "Hamlet," specifically Hamlet's What a piece of work is a man speech in act 2, scene 2
"The Quality of Mercy" title is drawn from the same source as Compton's book, Shakespeare.
"How sharper than a serpent's tooth." (His reply to Garibaldi's joking guess that Sinclair's interview would get him shipped off the station and himself promoted into Sinclair's position.) This is a quote from Shakespeare (King Lear.)
The antagonist in "Mind War" was named after Alfred Bester, author of "The Demolished Man," a classic SF work about telepathy. The novel also featured a telepaths' guild similar in many ways to B5's Psi Corps.
The G'Kar-Emperor thread was similar to the King Arthur legend: Arthur's and Mordred's armies are poised for battle but make one last attempt to negotiate, but a soldier raises his sword to kill a snake and everyone attacks. There's another applicable metaphor for the sword story; you'll see it a little later [in season 3].
to some extent the Roman civilization is one of the sources for constructing the Centauri
...there is a clear reference to I, Claudius included in Babylon 5. In 'Falling Towards Apotheosis', Cartagia introduces Mollari to his secret 'council' of the severed heads of senior figures he has had executed. He mentions that one was always coughing, but that he has now cured this (by cutting his head off). This is a clear reference to a scene in I, Claudius, in the episode 'Zeus, by Jove'. Gemellus, co-heir of the previous emperor Tiberius and therefore rival of Caligula, has a persistent cough. Caligula has him executed, and when his severed head is brought into his presence, he tells Claudius "I cured his cough."
[Straczynski] I gave very particular instructions to re-create the staging of the photograph in which Lyndon Johnson takes over from JFK after the assassination. The same layout, posture, background, and so on. We even had a photo on set for reference. The creepy thing is that the day we shot the scene was the anniversary of the day it actually took place; very weird atmosphere on set that day.
In recognition of their support, JMS placed the Babylon 5 station in Grid Epsilon -- taking the "GE" from GEnie.
The location of Babylon 5 is at Grid Epsilon 470,18,22 which corresponds to the original location of the Babylon 5 topic on GEnie (Page 470, CAT 18, Topic 22).
If there is any (to use your term) winking and nudging going on, it's on the level of 'Okay, YOU (Paramount) know what happened, and *I* know what happened, but let's try to be grownup about it for now,' though I must say that the shapechanging thing nearly tipped me back over the edge again. If there are no more major similarities that crop up in the next few weeks or months, with luck we can continue that way.
It had serialized plots and adventures to follow from episode to episode and season to season with characters that didn't just reset every week but evolved over time.
The show was one of the first to use extensive CGI instead of models for space scenes, which allowed them the freedom to shoot multiple angles. That said, the CGI looks incredibly primitive today and is upscaled for modern TVs badly.
The biggest legacy in many ways has been the five-year arc. In the years since B5, starting with Lost and Battlestar [Galactica], which took that concept to its next level, nearly every dramatic series now has a multi-year arc. What started out the aberration has become the rule. That one singular development changed the television landscape forever in ways that we are still discovering.
Unfortunately, the production values date the show. As TV screens get bigger and audiences become accustomed to HD, I worry that most modern viewers will be put off by the dated effects and low visual quality.
When Babylon 5 revealed two of its lead characters to be bisexual or lesbian in its second season, and established that gay marriage is legally recognized, and generally accepted, on Earth in the 23rd century, there was no uproar, no drop in ratings, and no boycotts.
In recognition of their support, JMS placed the Babylon 5 station in Grid Epsilon -- taking the "GE" from GEnie.