Asked & Answered: J. Michael Straczynski Answers 5,296 Questions About Babylon 5 & Beyond. Part 4

Asked & Answered: J. Michael Straczynski Answers 5,296 Questions About Babylon 5 & Beyond #4

by J. Michael Straczynski

Note: same ISBN as volume 2 - 0979539382 (9780979539381)

It's true. The creator of Babylon 5 answers 5,296 fan questions covering every aspect of the show in over 100 categories in this new Babylon 5 book series.

J. Michael Straczynski answered these questions as they surfaced over a period of 18 years as part of an online experiment he started in 1991 and continues to this day.

This makes Asked & Answered something that has never been done before with a television show: an oral history IN REAL TIME. No revisionism. Nothing forgotten. No detail spared.

Because this dialogue with fans starts in 1991, it pre-dates the production of the Babylon 5 pilot, so you'll discover JMS' complete vision for the series, many aspects of which never made it to the screen.

Even better, these questions and answers include interactions on AOL Bulletin Boards, GEnie Forums, the moderated usenet group, CIS Discussion threads and Chat Transcripts, some of which are not available in archives anywhere.

In addition to Babylon 5, Asked & Answered includes JMS' responses to personal questions about his life, politics, love, religion, writing and more. These responses are grouped with a related B5 topic showing fans – for the first time – the provenance of the Babylon 5 philosophy and culture. All that plus JMS' real life stories behind the stories.

To make this the ultimate source, it took 2½ years and a crew of four B5 experts – in addition to J. Michael Straczynski – to compile, categorize and edit.

COMPLETE DETAILS ABOUT PART 4
Asked and Answered Part 4 is J. Michael Straczynski's real-time history of the beginnings of Babylon 5: from before the pilot (including the online announcement of the series) and through Season 1.

Part 4 is loaded with details that never made it to the screen as well as the origins of what did eventually air.

As you move through the following topics, you’ll relive what it was like to be part of Babylon 5’s launch:

* Announcing Babylon 5
* Creating Babylon 5
* Babylon 5 Backstory
* Pre-production
* Filming the Pilot
* Approaching Airdate
* Fan Reactions After Airing
* Behind the Scenes Immediately Before & After Airing
* Deleted Scenes from the Pilot
* Changes from Pilot to Series

This section also includes JMS's first archived post about the show (and it’s so early in the process that he even hyphenate’s the show’s nickname as B-5). Here's just a small sampling of the details he discusses in this section:

* The designing of prosthetics to prevent actors from being typecast;

* The moment JMS changed “Jackarr” to “G'Kar” and why the switch was made;

* The reasoning behind the design of PPGs;

* The process of hiring a composer (including his interactions with pilot composer Stewart Copeland of The Police);

* The development of Babylon 5’s production design (including the design of the Garden, the video displays throughout the station, CGI for the Vorlon ship, early uniforms) along with concepts that were scrapped like the “Being Mover”;

* An early description of the chrysalis device Delenn would eventually construct across Season 1;

* The announcement of each cast member along with the insider scoop on the auditions;

* What happened when the cast read the script aloud for the first time;

* Clues JMS told viewers to watch for in the pilot that would pay off down the line;

* The unused opening narration for the pilot;

* The reasons for the long delay between the pilot and the series;

* Walter Koenig’s reaction to seeing the pilot;

* Negative feedback from industry insiders after a private screening;

* The link between the pilot’s airing and Oprah;

* The actor in the end credits of the original pilot edit who was not in the show and why;

* The scenes cut from the original edit of the pilot;

* A step-by-step account of how JMS re-configured the pilot for the TNT Special Edition;

* The whys behind the cast changes from pilot to series;

* Why JMS chose to shoot Season 1 in secret for a month before announcing that filming had begun.

Following the pilot section, Asked and Answered Part 4 moves into fan questions about the particulars of Season 1 with entire sections dedicated to the following episodes:

* Midnight on the Firing Line
* Soul Hunter
* Born to the Purple
* Infection
* The Parliament of Dreams
* Mind War
* The War Prayer
* And the Sky, Full of Stars
* Deathwalker
* Believers
* Survivors
* By Any Means Necessary
* Signs and Portents
* TKO
* Grail
* Eyes
* Legacies
* A Voice in the Wilderness Part 1
* A Voice in the Wilderness Part 2
* Babylon Squared
* The Quality of Mercy
* Chrysalis

And if all that wasn’t enough, Asked and Answered Part 4 begins with detailed insights about J. Michael Straczynski’s career as a writer – a compelling...

Genres: Babylon 5, Science Fiction

414 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Joseph Michael Straczynski is an American filmmaker and comic book writer. He is the founder of Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Studio JMS and is best known as the creator of the science fiction television series Babylon 5 (1993–1998) and its spinoff Crusade (1999), as well as the series Jeremiah (2002–2004) and Sense8 (2015–2018). He is the executor of the estate of Harlan Ellison.
Straczynski wrote the psychological drama film Changeling (2008) and was co-writer on the martial arts thriller Ninja Assassin (2009), was one of the key writers for (and had a cameo in) Marvel's Thor (2011), as well as the horror film Underworld: Awakening (2012), and the apocalyptic horror film World War Z (2013). From 2001 to 2007, Straczynski wrote Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man, followed by runs on Thor and Fantastic Four. He is the author of the Superman: Earth One trilogy of graphic novels, and he has written Superman, Wonder Woman, and Before Watchmen for DC Comics. Straczynski is the creator and writer of several original comic book series such as Rising Stars, Midnight Nation, Dream Police, and Ten Grand through Joe's Comics.
A prolific writer across a variety of media and former journalist, Straczynski is the author of the autobiography Becoming Superman (2019) for HarperVoyager, the novel Together We Will Go (2021) for Simon & Schuster, and Becoming a Writer, Staying a Writer (2021) for Benbella Books. In 2020 he was named Head of the Creative Council for the comics publishing company Artists, Writers and Artisans.
Straczynski is a long-time participant in Usenet and other early computer networks, interacting with fans through various online forums (including GEnie, CompuServe, and America Online) since 1984. He is credited as being the first TV producer to directly engage with fans on the Internet and to allow viewer viewpoints to influence the look and feel of his show. Two prominent areas where he had a presence were GEnie and the newsgroup rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated.