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Foreword
to Episode Synopses
by
Shaz Ney
The
original purpose of these postings was not to
summarize the episodes. If you want a simple
synopsis, there are many sites that can provide
that service. What I tried to do was to draw out
those aspects that were either particularly
important to the overall 'arc' (underlying story)
of Babylon 5, or I found amusing, or generally
noteworthy. I was trying to guide new viewers who,
in many cases, admitted they'd never watched SF
before. These are highly personalized analyses, but
I can't help that. I have to write it as I see it.
Sometimes I'll ask questions, sometimes emphasize
something perhaps you didn't think that important.
They're not supposed to be the be-all and end-all,
however. They're a jumping-off point for
discussion. As you go along, feel free to ask
questions. There is no such thing as a stupid
question about this show ('though you can try and
find one!). We'll all do our best to answer those
questions for you.
What we WON'T do is spoil the rest of the plot.
Babylon 5 has an evolving storyline, building on
what's gone before. For your own sake, DON'T
JUMP AHEAD! You WILL regret it if you do, honest!
We will drop hints, teasers, or otherwise mess with
your heads. Joe and the actors did it to us (on
line and at conventions); it's only fair you find
out what it felt like <G>.
Each season of Babylon 5 has 22 episodes. Some are
what are called major arc episodes. That means if
you miss those you miss something vital to the
overall plot. B5 was written as a 'novel for
television'. That means it has a beginning (build
up, introducing the main characters and plot
features, putting the pieces in place. This all
happens in Season 1 whose subtitle is 'Signs and
Portents' (also the name of an episode.)), build up
(seasons 2 and 3, subtitled 'The Coming of Shadows'
and 'Point of No Return.' (again, also episode
titles. All the season titles are also episodes,
and they're arc episodes to boot)), climax (season
4, subtitled No Surrender, No Retreat'), and,
finally, epilogue (season 5, subtitled 'The Wheel
of Fire'.). Think of major book divisions in a
large novel with 22 chapters for each division.
In season 1 there's something in just about every
episode, but some can be skipped without you
missing too much. Episodes you HAVE to watch
are:
Midnight on the Firing Line
Mind War
And The Sky Full of Stars
Signs and Portents
A Voice in the Wilderness 1 & 2
Babylon Squared
Chrysalis.
Episodes you could happily miss and you'd never
notice are:
Infection (nice to see David McCallum in work. Pity
it's a terrible episode!)
Grail (David Warner good. Plot... let's not think
about it!)
TKO ('though the Ivanova subplot is good). TKO
stands for Technical Knock Out.
During the original run of this show we were lucky
enough to have the creator, writer (of around 85%
of the episodes and all the films), executive
producer... basically, the man who was the heart
and soul of the show, J. Michael Straczynski,
sitting on-line and dropping hints. He gave us
pointers, told us about behind the scenes stuff and
generally kept us clued in. He'd warned people
there was a show in the works. For a long time it
was 'The show that cannot be named'. Something we
were warned would be good; something this avowed SF
fan, who was as fed up as we were with the way SF
was being treated by people who didn't understand
the genre, was determined would be different.
Instead of being episodic in nature, it would have
a five year 'arc', telling a story that developed
and evolved like a novel. The characters,
too, would change as the story progressed. The show
would have an epic feel to it, rooted firmly in SF
literature, mythology, and a whole slew of other
sources. Still and all, it was Joe's vision and he
was determined to make it as he saw fit or not at
all. He'd had the idea a long time ago when in the
shower. At the time he'd been mulling over two
ideas for a show. One was a great,
time-and-planet-spanning epic. The problem with
such things is they tend to be horribly expensive
to make and no studio in its right mind would
commit to such a thing financially. The other was
set on a space station where people came together
to try and resolve their differences -- a sort of
UN in space. That would be cheap to make, but
potentially limiting. On that day in the shower he
realised these two apparently different stories
were one and the same. The space station would act
as the hub -- the central point in this massive
epic. It was the place where the characters met and
interacted. As for the rest, with Computer
Generated Images advancing at a terrific rate, even
the planetary and space aspects would be a lot
cheaper to do at that point than they would have
been just 5 years before.
Joe hawked this show to several companies,
including Paramount who kept the outline for some
time before turning it down, (only to announce
shortly thereafter that the new Trek story would be
set on a space station.) before Warner Brothers
decided to take it on. They weren't sure Joe could
do what he claimed for the money he suggested, but
they were prepared to give it a shot. Thus, the
pilot (The Gathering) was made. It was over a year
before we got the first installment on the rest of
his promise to us, but the Babylon 5 saga had
begun.
Where Joe saved money was in having the story laid
out in advance. Once a script was delivered, there
were very few last minute changes. Departments like
costuming and set design were warned well in
advance of the event what would be required of them
and had time to prepare. Filming stopped at around
7pm at the latest (instead of running past midnight
as has happened on other shows, racking up the
costs as overtime upon overtime is added), and the
actors turned up at 4.30 am at the earliest (this
for those wearing prosthetics so they had time to
get into makeup). Rather than working in one of the
film studios, the show was filmed in a warehouse
out in Sun Valley, California (the Aquatek
building. It had been used for making hot tubs
before!). In time, a second warehouse (the Orange
Bang! building. It was a soft drinks place) was
added so the props, set design and construction,
and other departments could move out and so carry
on working (hammering, sawing, and generally making
a racket) without having to stop every time the
bell went to announce filming. The warehouses were
right under a major flight path, so the din of
aircraft still interrupted proceedings on a fairly
regular basis, but it worked. An on-site food
service was provided and a kraft table loaded with
whatever food or drink people might need so they
wouldn't have to leave the site during the working
day. The actors, production staff and everyone else
connected with the show ate together, Joe often
listening in to the conversations and using them to
add to the characters within the show.
The result of all of this was a very close-knit
community of people, all working together to a
common goal: the creation of a different and (at
that time) unique television series. I visited that
set towards the end of the five years (courtesy of
Pat Tallman) and found it incredibly warm, friendly
and welcoming. People were proud of what they were
doing, cared about it, cared what you (as a viewer)
thought of it. The atmosphere was more like a
family business. Now, like most families, it had
its ups and downs. People fell out with each other,
people grew close. Some even married each other
<g>. It wasn't always happy, but from what
I've heard of some film sets, it was a darn sight
happier for a lot longer than most.
The
show was always planned to last five years, and at
the end of each season we, the viewers, prayed it
would get renewed. Joe kept his word about the
costs -- in five years never once going over budget
-- and the show got its full run (although there
was a major hiccup when PTEN, the original
distributor, went belly up and TNT stepped in at
the last minute). What you will get to see 6 days a
week, we saw unfolding over months and years. Spare
a thought for us original viewers when you get to
the cliffhangers at the end of seasons 1, 2, and 3.
Heck, spare a thought for us when you only have to
wait twenty three hours or a couple of days for
something we had to wait a week or three months
for! It was a hard road that first time, but it was
worth every minute (even if some episodes do
seriously suck! See above. <g>)
Babylon 5 does not pretend to give you answers. In
fact, it raises far more questions than answers. If
you like your tv spoonfed, you're going to find
this show hard going. But if you like to be treated
like an adult, capable of thinking and working
things out for yourself; if you're fed up with
being treated as a Nielson number, a mere backside
on a couch that'll tolerate any rubbish so long as
it's on that box in the corner, you will LOVE this
show. By the end I hope you will feel, as I
do, that you've been on one hell of a ride; one
filled with with tears and laughter, surprise,
horror, romance,
mystery, great space battles and tender personal
moments mixed in equal proportions.
Welcome to the world of Babylon 5, where nothing is
quite what it appears....
Shaz
Tells Us How
the Synopses Were Created
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