Babylon 5 page

What is Babylon 5?

Babylon 5 is a science fiction television series that is set on a space station in the mid 23rd Century.

The series is now in its second season in North America. After the two hour pilot movie in Feb. 1993, the series started the week of Jan. 24, 1994, with a season of 22 episodes. The second season began the week of October 24, 1994. The series is planned for a five year run. It is part of the Warner Bros. Television Consortium, called the Prime Time Entertainment Network (PTEN), syndicated to stations across the USA and internationally.

Character list:

(Possible spoilers!!!)

Who is behind Babylon 5?

The show was created by J. Michael Straczynski (JMS), who is co-executive producer on the show along with Doug Netter. It has been in development since 1987, the last few years with Warner Bros.

Doug Netter is an equal partner in Babylon 5, mainly handling the business side and leaves the creative work to Straczynski, which is how they first worked together on Captain Power.

Harlan Ellison is the Conceptual Consultant for the series. He has also written a "manifesto" for the show that explains to other writers how to write science fiction for television and Babylon 5, in particular. He also does a production voice-over at the very end of season 2 episodes.

Well-known science fiction writers, including Ellison, David Gerrold, D.C. Fontana, and Peter David are contributing scripts to the show.

Christopher Franke, formerly of Tangerine Dream, does the soundtrack.

What other SF projects has JMS been involved with?

JMS has been involved with genre television for many years, as story editor and writer for the Twilight Zone TV series (syndicated version), Captain Power, , and the animated The Real Ghostbusters. He has also written for Jake and the Fatman and Murder, She Wrote. JMS has also had many published short stories, an anthology, and two fantasy/horror novels. Until recently, he was co-host of Hour 25, a Los Angeles area science fiction radio talk show.

Though Babylon 5 is his main activity right now, JMS has also been working on some other projects. A feature film adaptation of the Grimjack books by John Ostrander will begin shooting in 1995, and will be written by JMS. Fall 1994 will (did?) also see the production of a two-hour pilot for a contemporary SF series that JMS has created and written, executive produced by JMS and Doug Netter. The title has not yet been announced. He will not be involved in these projects in the day-to-day operations as he is with Babylon 5.

What kind of Special Effects does Babylon 5 have?

All special effects for Babylon 5 are computer generated imagery (CGI). Foundation Imaging, headed by Ron Thornton, is utilizing Lightwave 3D and specialized software in conjunction with NewTek's Video Toaster (running on the Amiga platform) to design and render the visual effects. Space scenes are clearer and more realistic than Model shots. Some interior shots such as docking bays are "virtual sets" combining live action with computer imagery. Macintoshes and PCs are used occasionally for 2-D effects and painting packages.

I have to know more

Check out this great episodes guide.

Where to find online information

WWW Lurkers Guide - The very best site!
(Mirrors: Essen Athens Atlanta Newcastle)
Offical Site - Offical site.
ISN-Network among other thing carrying lotsa great movie-clips.
(Mirrors: Eurodome ISN-FTP)
Encyclopedia Xenobiologica - Aliens of Babylon 5
Draal - One of the best B5 sites
Babylon 5 Encyclopedia - Very good encylopedia
Early B5 designs - What B5 might have been
B5 Vehicles
B5 Spoiler junkies page
MFFC - Mira Furlan Fan Club.
Mira Furlan - The Reference Site.
Claudia Christian
Pegasus Publishing providing B5-merchandise.
Movie Madness B5-merchandise.
Agamemnon Sound Site
Seker's Sound Site
Gold channel - Babylon 5 fan page
Babylob5 Addicts Page
Create a Babylon 5 WebCard
B5 quote - Covering all 4 seasons


USENET rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.info A low-volume, moderated list for announcements and information related to Babylon 5, as well as general compilations of JMS postings.
rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5, The main Babylon 5 discussion newsgroup.
alt.tv.babylon-5 The original Usenet B5group.

FTP Midwinter major site
(Mirrors)
North America: ftp.uml.edu
Australia: econ-www.newcastle.edu.au
Europe: ftp.ctrl-c.liu.se

Agamemnon sound site: archive.egr.msu.edu/pub/babylon5

IRC A weekly chat in IRC space, on channel #babylon5, every Saturday at 7 PM Eastern (23:00 GMT), discussing the latest B5 episode and so on.

REVIEW LIST The Babylon 5 Reviews Electronic Forum, moderated by Jeffrey D. Schultz, JDS4@CORNELL.EDU. To subscribe, e-mail the automated list server, LISTPROC@CORNELL.EDU with the following information in the *message body*: SUB B5-Review-L Firstname Lastname

STORY IDEAS LIST An outlet for creative "fan fiction" has been set up as a mailing list in order to keep JMS from being exposed to any story ideas. There's also a speculation mailing list. E-mail majordomo@lists.best.com and enter one or both of these in the body:
subscribe b5-creative
subscribe b5-speculation

JMS RELAY LIST To get mailings of JMS's answers from Usenet (and their preceeding questions) as well as digest of CI$ JMS postings, send e-mail to majordomo@majordomo.cs.columbia.edu containing:
subscribe b5jms

MUD There's a B5 MUD (info:rmeikle@cs.strath.ac.uk ) reachable by:
underworld.demon.co.uk 2010 visit babylonfive

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Ola Mårtensson: http://www.df.lth.se/~ola

Time-stamp: <2012-10-23 14:03:21 ola>