Babylon 5: The Scripts of J. Michael Straczynski, Volume 3

Front Cover

Back Cover

Publication Date: January 2, 2006
Retire Date: June 30, 2008
Pages: 453
Format: Softcover
SCRIPTS
- Points of Departure
- Revelations
- The Geometry of Shadows
- A Race Through Dark Places
- The Coming of Shadows
- All Alone in the Night
- Acts of Sacrifice
FEATURING
- A brand new 60 page introduction and commentary. The longest one yet. More than 19,500 words, many of them pronouns, some nouns, a handful of adverbs and far more adjectives than would be appropriate for polite company.
- 27 pages of memos written during production of the second season, detailing the process of developing stories, scripts and episodes, some of which have never been seen or discussed before. See how premises are suggested, developed, changed, combined, dropped or re-edited into whole new stories as the season two arc is created in front of your very eyes.
The funniest, most personal, and most revealing volume yet...the book that was so big we had to push the photos to volume 4 just to fit everything in!
- A lengthy discussion of the change-over from Sinclair to Sheridan, including the process by which Bruce Boxleitner was finally selected as the new commanding officer of Babylon 5, what the character's name was originally, and how Sheridan's name was finally chosen.
- For the first time, we reveal the other actors who were considered for the part, and the famous British actor who came within an inch of being hired, what happened, and why.
- A PG13-Rated retelling of what happened the afternoon JMS stepped onto stage B to ask Claudia and Talia about whether or not they'd be willing to play intimate scenes.
- Descriptions of two recurring characters who had been planned to appear in year two but had to be cut.
- JMS's calm, level-headed, scholarly discussion of the decision by PTEN to delay the final episodes of each season until the start of the subsequent season. (One excerpt: "I mean, there's actually a kind of awe that sets in when you begin to really understand the extent of the stupidity involved...the same kind of stunned, silent reverence that comes when you finally see the Mona Lisa up close, or the first time you hear Ode to Joy performed by a live orchestra. The sheer majestic perfection of it sends you to your knees with the realization that this is not just common stupidity, it's a Mount Everest rising into the clouds... a level of stupidity so monumental that it actually acquires horizontal perspective, like a train disappearing into the distance.")
- Read how the techno-mages were created, and why.
- A point-by-point analysis of the nearly-supernatural Babylon 5 synchronicities that began to haunt production and may have resulted in real-life broken bones and arms among the cast.
- Learn for the first time which scenes in "Points of Departure" had to be re-shot, something almost never done in the course of the series, because JMS screwed up.
- Discover the reason Warren Keffer's character was created, what that character was originally supposed to be, and why JMS was determined to kill the character off at the very first opportunity.
- Production secrets about how the Centauri homeworld was created and visualized, and the production of Babylon 5's first Hugo-winning episode, "The Coming of Shadows."
- Never before revealed secrets concerning the relationship between Garibaldi and Sheridan, when and how and why the O'Hare cameo was shot, and how the arc of the season was constructed.
- At last, a complete, shot-for-shot explanation of Sheridan's famous prophetic dream in "All Alone in the Night," most of it never revealed before. Who was the man in the middle, REALLY? It's not who you think.
- The development process that culminated in the Shadow-doctrine of evolution through war.
- Funny convention stories, Drazi wars, and the day the JMS generic protest chant led to the police being summoned.

Index
"Acts of Sacrifice" – Commentary (pages 55-60)
Adams, Mary Kay – page 22
Agamemnon, EAS – page 21
Alexander, Lyta – page 37
alien healing device – page 19
"All Alone in the Night" – Commentary (pages 49-54), page 57
Amalric, Arnaud – page 59
American Civil War – pages 8, 14, 36
Ansara, Michael – page 28
Apollo – page 21
Arthur (King of the Britons) – page 51
"Babylon Squared" – pages 31, 47
Bester, Alfred (Babylon 5 character) – pages 36, 38
Bey, Turhan – page 42
Béziers – page 59
Billie (film) – page 6
Black Star – page 14
Blade Runner (film) – page 18
bombardment of Narn – page 22
Boxleitner, Bruce – pages 1, 7-9, 11, 50
broken arm (Jerry Doyle's) – page 33
broken foot (Claudia Christian's) – page 32
Brosnan, Pierce – page 2
Brown, Julie Caitlin – page 22
Cabaret (film) – page 6
Campbell, Bruce – page 6
Cassandra – page 21
Centauri – pages 42-43
Centauri hair – page 27
Centauri Royal palace – page 46
"Ceremonies of Light and Dark" – page 32
Chekhov, Anton – page 19
Christian, Claudia – pages 32, 34, 37
Clark, Morgan William – page 12
Clarke, Arthur C. – page 27
Clinton, Bill – page 30
"Coming of Shadows, The" – Commentary (pages 41-48)
"Confessions and Lamentations" – page 50
Connery, Sean – page 2
Cotto, Vir – pages 33, 43
Cromwell (Murder, She Wrote unit production manager) – page 56
Cromwell, Oliver – page 56
Crusade (TV series) – page 18
Dalai Lama – page 14
DeathWalker's anti-agapic – page 19
Deckard, Rick – page 18
Delenn – pages 21, 33, 36, 50-51
Doyle, Jerry – pages 25, 31, 33, 54
Drazi – pages 28-29
Drazi War – pages 28-29, 58
Duke, Patty – page 6
"Dust to Dust" – page 54
Earth Civil War – pages 14, 25
Ellison, Harlan – pages 32-33
Elric – page 28
Franklin, Stephen – pages 36, 38, 49, 55
Frewer, Matt – page 6
Furlan, Mira – pages 33, 50-51, 55
G'Kar – pages 17, 20-22, 28, 42-44, 46-47, 54-56
Gajic, Goran – page 51
Gandhi, Mohandas – page 44
Garibaldi, Michael – pages 20, 25-26, 33-34, 47, 49, 54, 56
"Geometry of Shadows, The" – Commentary (pages 25-34)
Germany – page 59
Gilbert, Melissa – page 23
Global Frequency (unaired pilot) – page 3
"Good eating to you." – page 45
green (color) – page 29
Grey Council – pages 14, 50-51
Hague, William – pages 11, 13, 50
Hatcher, Teri – page 7
Hauser, Wings – page 6
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich – pages 58-59
Hitler, Adolph – page 59
hockey – page 3
Hugo Award – pages 41, 48
Iacovelli, John – page 46
Icarus (mythological character) – page 21
In the Beginning (Babylon 5 TV Movie) – page 14
"Interludes and Examinations" – page 50
Ireland – page 55
ISN (Interstellar News) – pages 9-10
Ivanova, Susan – pages 12-13, 32, 34, 37-38, 51, 56
Jackson, Kate – page 7
James, Laura (unused Babylon 5 character) – pages 9-10
Japan – pages 17-18
Jarvis, Jeff – page 12
Jarvis 2000 Toilets – page 12
Jeremiah (TV series) – page 3
Jones, James Earl – page 6
Jurasik, Peter – pages 44, 47, 56
Justin – pages 52-53
Katsulas, Andreas – pages 44, 47
keeper – page 47
Keffer, Warren – pages 10, 17, 19
Kim, Daniel Dae – page 18
Kim, Richard – page 45
Knight Two – page 26
Koenig, Walter – page 36
Kosh – pages 14, 52, 54
Lancelot – page 51
Lennier – page 51
Levitt, Judy – page 36
Lincoln, Abraham – page 14
Lord of the Rings, The (novel) – page 3
Lorien – pages 14, 20, 26, 44, 53-54
Lumati – pages 56-58
Maday, Gregg – page 5
Man from U.N.C.L.E., The (TV series) – page 57
Mars – pages 14, 49
Maslow's Pyramid of Self-Actualization – page 26
McCallum, David – page 57
McHattie, Stephen – page 6
Michelangelo – page 14
"Midnight on the Firing Line" – page 46
minbar (Islamic pulpit) – page 45
Minbari – pages 14, 45
Minbari Civil War – page 51
"Mind War" – page 37
Minelli, Liza – page 6
Mollari, Londo – pages 22, 27, 42-44, 46-47, 56
Mona Lisa (painting) – page 5
Morden – pages 22, 26-27, 52
Murder, She Wrote (TV series) – page 55
Na'Toth – page 22
Narn (species) – pages 42-43, 55
Netter, Douglas – page 7
New York City – page 47
O'Hare, Michael – pages 1-2, 47
Ode to Joy (song) – page 5
Odin – page 51
oranges – page 28
Parks, Rosa – page 44
Pasteur, Louis – page 44
Phantom of the Paradise (film) – page 57
Phillips, Lou Diamond – page 6
"Points of Departure" – Commentary (pages 11-15)
Psi Cop – page 36
Psi Corps – page 52
PTEN (Prime Time Entertainment Network) – pages 3-7, 18-19, 50
purple – page 29
"Race Through Dark Places, A" – Commentary (pages 35-39)
Ramirez – page 49
Rangers – pages 45, 47
raven – page 51
Refa, Antono – page 27
re-shoots – pages 12-14
"Revelations" – Commentary (pages 17-23)
Robertson, Dick – page 5
Rogers, John – page 3
"run-and-jump" – page 49
Rusler, Robert – page 19
San Francisco, CA – pages 30-31
San Diego State University – pages 45, 58
Scarecrow And Mrs. King (TV series) – pages 7-8
Scoggins, Tracy – pages 7, 25
Sebastian, Mr. – page 26
sets – page 46
"Severed Dreams" – page 33
Shadow vessels – page 21
Shadow War (13th century) – page 21
Shadow War (23rd century) – page 58
Shadows (Shadowmen) – pages 20-21, 45, 58-59
Sheridan, Anna – pages 17, 21-23
Sheridan, Elizabeth – page 17
Sheridan, John – pages 1, 8-11, 13-15, 17, 20-22, 25, 28, 35-36, 38, 44, 49-54
Shima, Idori (Dory) – pages 17-18
Showtime (network) – page 3
"Signs and Portents" – page 27
Sinclair, Jeffrey – pages 1, 15, 36, 47, 52
"Sleeping in Light" – pages 52-54
Solo, Han – page 18
Soul Hunter – page 26
Sparky the Computer – page 32
Star Trek: The Next Generation – pages 7, 30
Star Wars (films) – page 18
Stewart, Patrick – page 7
Streib – page 54
Strider, John – pages 2-3
Strieber, Whitley – page 54
"Summoning, The" – page 54
Sun Valley, CA – page 8
synchronicities – pages 31-33
Ta'Lon – page 49
Taq – page 57
techno-mage – pages 27-28
telekinesis – page 37
telepath – pages 35-38
Thompson, Andrea – page 37
time travel – page 31
Tomita, Tamlyn – page 18
Toussaint, Beth – pages 22-23
Turhan (Centauri emperor) – pages 42-44
TV Guide – page 12
underground railroad – page 35
Vancouver, British Columbia – page 3
Vorlon (species) – page 37
Warner, David – page 57
Warner Bros. – pages 1, 5, 11, 49, 57
Wells, H.G. – page 31
"What do you want?" (phrase) – pages 26-27
"Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?" – page 53
"Where are you going?" (phrase) – pages 26-27
"Who are you?" (phrase) – pages 26-27
"Why are you here?" (phrase) – pages 26-27
Williams, Paul – page 57
Winters, Talia – pages 37-39
World Series – page 49
World War Two (WWII) – page 18
York, Michael – pages 6-7
Yugoslavia – pages 50-51, 55
Z'ha'dum (planet) – page 21
"Z'ha'dum" – pages 52, 59
