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

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

by J. Michael Straczynski

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.

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The long-awaited Asked & Answered Part 5, the fifth and final book of the Asked & Answered series, has arrived. Packed with 1,301 questions, Part 5 has the most questions asked (and answered) of any book in the 5 book series.

Picking up where Part 4 left off, Part 5's questions and answers are all related to the specifics of each episode and movie, starting with Season 2 (Season 1 was the final section of Part 4) and continuing through "The Lost Tales: Voices in the Dark."

SEASON 2
* Points of Departure
* Revelations
* The Geometry of Shadows
* A Distant Star
* The Long Dark
* Spider in the Web
* Soul Mates
* A Race Through Dark Places
* The Coming of Shadows
* Gropos
* All Alone in the Night
* Acts of Sacrifice
* Hunter, Prey
* There All the Honor Lies
* And Now for a Word
* In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum
* Knives
* Confessions and Lamentations
* Divided Loyalties
* The Long, Twilight Struggle
* Comes the Inquisitor
* The Fall of Night

SEASON 3
* Matters of Honor
* Convictions
* A Day in the Strife
* Passing Through Gethsemane
* Voices of Authority
* Dust to Dust
* Exogenesis
* Messages from Earth
* Point of No Return
* Severed Dreams
* Ceremonies of Light and Dark
* Sic Transit Vir
* A Late Delivery from Avalon
* Ship of Tears
* Interludes and Examinations
* War Without End Part 1
* War Without End Part 2
* Walkabout
* Grey 17 is Missing
* And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place
* Shadow Dancing
* Z'ha'dum


SEASON 4
* The Hour of the Wolf
* Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?
* The Summoning
* Falling Toward Apotheosis
* The Long Night
* Into the Fire
* Epiphanies
* The Illusion of Truth
* Atonement
* Racing Mars
* Lines of Communication
* Conflicts of Interest
* Rumors, Bargains and Lies
* Moments of Transition
* No Surrender, No Retreat
* The Exercise of Vital Powers
* The Face of the Enemy
* Intersections in Real Time
* Between the Darkness and the Light
* Endgame
* Rising Star
* The Deconstruction of Falling Stars

SEASON 5
* No Compromises
* The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari
* The Paragon of Animals
* A View from the Gallery
* Learning Curve
* Strange Relations
* Secrets of the Soul
* Day of the Dead
* In the Kingdom of the Blind
* A Tragedy of Telepaths
* Phoenix Rising
* The Ragged Edge
* The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father
* Meditations on the Abyss
* Darkness Ascending
* And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder
* Movements of Fire and Shadow
* The Fall of Centauri Prime
* The Wheel of Fire
* Objects in Motion
* Objects at Rest
* Sleeping in Light

MOVIES
* In the Beginning
* Thirdspace
* The River of Souls
* A Call to Arms
* The Legend of the Rangers: To Live and Die in Starlight
* The Lost Tales: Voices in the Dark

Here's a glimpse, a hint, a peek, a preview of the info-nuggets you'll discover in Part 5's 1,301 answers:

* J. Michael Straczynski's least favorite episode and which one took his breath away
* How the story would have proceeded if Sinclair, Takashima, Kyle, Alexander and Sykes had remained in the cast
* How JMS's child...

Genres: Babylon 5, Science Fiction

370 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.