Welcome to Show #88!
Jeffrey enlightens us as to what it’s like to live “in fire”, and how to avoid problems and still managing to keep abreast of the World Series.
Deep Geeking: Tim, Summer and Jeffrey talk about “Exogenesis”. Don’t forget, this is the episode where Steve “Snackman” Thorpe, Carrie Dobro and Jeffrey all appear as med techs (we didn’t, and we have a little fun with Jeff about that).
While this episode is really a low mark in Season 3, there are a few tidbits in it that reflect in later episodes, and later character behavior. We see the first time that Marcus and Franklin work together, we find out a little more about Corwin, and we witness a comedy of errors that leads to Ivanova inadvertently encouraging Marcus’ romantic intentions.
We can only imagine what this episode might have been like if JMS’ creative process hadn’t been so greatly interrupted.
B5 Audio Drama: The Three-Edged Sword Episode 17: “Questions of Authority” (TS: 21:52-27:25) What you’re hearing here on The Babylon Podcast is just a small part of the story… the full audio drama can be heard at Voices of Babylon, so what are you waiting for? Head over and check them out!
Remembrances: Jeffrey and John Radulovich pay tribute to producer / director Richard Compton, who passed away on August 11.
Listener Feedback: We discuss the voicemails and emails you keep sending in. Keep sending them!
Babylon 5 Information Gathering: Can we and should we mount a Babylon 5 propaganda campaign, in order to get sales of The Lost Tales to the point where Warner really really wants to greelight more volumes of TLT? Let us know…
Summer still wants to find the long versions of the B5 promos that ran on TNT prior to Season 5, the ones narrated by Keith David… anyone have any old VHS copies of S5 they taped from TNT? Specifically, the :30 spots, one featuring Ivanova and the other G’Kar… they were part of the series of ads TNT ran promoting the addition of B5 to their lineup.
Your feedback does matter, and is welcome! You can call us, or email us and tell us what you think… and likely hear it played or read on the show. Please try to keep the voicemail comments as brief as possible.
Link: Voices of Babylon
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Twitter: @babylonpodcast
Babylon 5 Information Gathering: If you know of a dead or abandoned B5 related website that may be in need of a new home, let Summer know! Maybe we can mirror it here or house it on a sister site.
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Promo: 7th Son and Heaven: available from Podiobooks
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The B5 Writer’s 1st season Bible was made available from the Fan Club. Looking at the Lurker’s Guide, it was announced around November 12, 1999.
http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/99.whatsnew.html
From http://www.atomsoup.com/b5/CompuServe/latest
Date: 09 Nov 1999 21:18:11 -0700
From: J. Michael Straczynski
To: All
Subject: B5 Bible/Treatment!
Also posted to the net:
For the last six years, I’ve been asked repeatedly — in email and at
conventions — “Are you ever going to make the original B5 series
writers’ bible available?” My general reaction was to simply
say…maybe someday.
After considerable reflection, and as a Solstice present to B5
viewers… we’re finally going to make it available.
TWO such *its*, to be precise.
First: The original Babylon 5 Series Treatment
This is the 23 page document, written in September 1988, that was used
to sell the series for the five years it took to find a buyer. It has
different characters than were ever seen in the show, such as Dr.
Chakri Mendak (a role that later became Dr. Stephen Franklin) and more
background on Vice-Commander Laurel Chang… Sinclair’s background is
also quite different from what we eventually ended up with… Delenn
was a male…the Vorlons were warlike, squabbling aliens….
This was the first attempt to put B5 down on paper, in a process that
would change and evolve over the next 5 years. Ideas that were never
used, characters who would never be seen again, the first stirrings of
the Minbari War story (including a never used alternate explanation for
why they surrendered), Delenn was a male character… Kosh had a mate
who came with him to B5…on and on and on.
Second: The original Season One Babylon 5 Writer’s Bible
This massive tome weighs in at over 60 pages, with comprehensive
backgrounds on all the characters as well as guidelines for writing SF
for TV in ways that would be different than all of our predecessors. It
lays out the first year of the arc and warns potential writers away
from areas we plan to explore in later years, has additional
backgrounds on regular characters never actually used in the series
(such as a strange fellow named Mr. Jones who would have been
alternately a bane and ally to Garibaldi), stories that would
eventually be filmed, other stories that would never be used,
information on the the history and technology of the B5 universe, Psi
Corps, Earthforce, the various governments, and other areas…this is
the Big One, the Grail of the B5 fictional world. The table of
contents alone covers 2 pages.
This bible was ONLY given to prospective writers, who were in turn
asked to keep the material totally confidential. The treatment was ONLY
given to network/studio. heads and others in a position to buy the
series.
In addition, BOTH of these documents will be peppered with the
original illustrations by Peter Ledger used to sell and visualize the
series in its earliest stage, including the original keyhole logo, many
of them reproduced in full color, others b&w. Some of these images
have shown up in various places, but others will be seen here by the
world at large for the first time.
I debated long and hard about whether or not I would ever make these
available, but finally decided to give in to the many requests for the
release of this material.
This material will shortly be made available at http://www.thestation.com and
via phone orders. I don’t know how long we’ll make them available, but
I suspect it may not be very long.
In reading through the documents, it’s like taking a trip back through
time to what was, to the very beginnings of the series, what would be,
what might’ve been, what never was…what got abandoned on the side of
the road, what was kept. At times the material is coy, informative,
deliberately misleading in a couple of places where I wanted to avoid
leaks, rude and sometimes it actually makes a rough kind of sense.
They’re going to cost a bit more than the scripts, because at 60+
pages in the case of the bible, and with the color illustrations,
they’re more expensive to produce, and we’re only doing a limited
number of these.
Expect the full info to go up on thestation.com in a few days.
jms
The theory that Earthforce personnel have their teeth extracted is only a part explanation for the lack of B5 dentists. These guys are out in space for years at a time and other stuff is bound to go wrong from time to time with their teeth. And anyway what about all the civilians wandering through? They’d need somewhere to get attention, specially those brawling in the Zocolo.
In response to Katie’s post.
I would expect actually that instead of having one person who specialized in dentistry alone you would see medics that might have a broad medical background including dentistry and maybe one or two with more dental background, especially in the xenobiology area.
I recognized Carrie right away as one of the med techs. She had the most lines. I saw Jeffrey. As Stephen started to walk around the table he was the second male tech. He was looking good like a doctor.
I was able to pick Jeffrey out. The middle guy at the table. Looks good very professional as a doctor. He followed Stephen’s orders well. Carrie was easy to notice and she had the most lines other than Rick the amazing.