Did somebody say, “Quotations”? All of what follows is from JMS, on various on-line services on the dates indicated. You can verify each and every one of them on JMSNews. - JD:
Actually, the progression of the B5 story has been almost exactly the same as the way I write my novels. I start off knowing where the story has to go, what benchmarks I need to hit en route to the end, what my repertory group of characters consists of, and then I start writing. As someone said of a battle, an outline never survives contact with the enemy, which in this case is the actual writing.
The outline, for me, is a safety net whose purpose is to keep me nominally on track while allowing me the freedom to bounce around the landscape, adding new threads, broadening out the storylines, fleshing out the characters, and reorganizing how the characters move in and out of the story. That makes the work organic. I still end up exactly where I wanted to end up, but the road there is much more interesting than if I'd just hewed to a very rigid structure.
-- 8/14/96 CompuServe
The creative process is fluid. Has to be. Consider for a moment the position in which I find myself. Let's say I'm writing a novel. I start with a fairly clear notion of where I'm going. Six chapters in, I get a better way of doing something, so I go back and revise chapters 1-5, so it now all fits; you never see what went before. Now, compare that to a situation where you're publishing each chapter as you go, and you can't go back and change anything. (This is pretty much the situation Dickens found himself in, as he published his works chapter by chapter; you can never back up, only go forward.)
At the same time, because we're using actors who have real lives of their own, to whom things happen -- broken limbs, health problems that may preclude appearing in a given episode, sudden career changes, you name it -- you have real-life obstacles constantly in your way. The closest thing I can compare this to...is if you're on stage, in front of a large audience, and you have to do a very elaborate dance...and all the while people are throwing bowling balls and chainsaws at you. You either learn how to accommodate all that, and keep pretty much on rhythm, or you're dead.
-- CompuServe 5/10/96
Okay, alternate-universe time to answer your question.... "What if Sinclair had not left Babylon 5?" (Isn't this kinda like the Marvel What If? comics..."What If Dr. Blake's Nurse Had Been The One to Find Thor's Hammer?")
The differences would be more noticeable in the later episodes of this season, rather than the first batch, which are still dealing in large measure with the after-effects of the season finale. So the first few episodes would have been somewhat the same in some ways to what is there with Sheridan. The problem that I had was that he was becoming (and would have become) mainly a problem-solver character; there's a squabble or a problem between other characters who are rising in profile (G'Kar, Londo, Delenn, etc.), and he solves the problem in some way. These, to me, were the least interesting episodes of our prior season.
It would've been necessary to bring in another character with a direct connection to the shadowmen, since Sinclair's main connection is to the Minbari, and it would've been straining credulity to plug him too much into THAT story as well...hero of the line, missing 24 hours, Minbari soul, AND a tie to the Shadowmen...c'mon, what else does he do, fly under his own power? Had he stayed, the Shadowman tie probably would've gone to either Keffer or Garibaldi. Which, again, further removes Sinclair from the main thrust of the story. He would have stayed on as more of an observer of other people *acting*, while he *reacted*.
I can't get too specific otherwise without revealing, by contrast, what's going to happen later on this season. Suffice to say this: watch the show up to and through "The Coming of Shadows," "All Alone in the Night," "Acts of Sacrifice," and "Hunter, Prey." (That's about episode #13.) You can then ask the question again, but I have a real suspicion that once you've seen those episodes, and what Sheridan does, you won't NEED to ask, because you'll see how he fits into the overall story in a very specific fashion with is 180-degrees different than Sinclair.
-- Usenet 12/06/1994
Sheridan, or more specifically the need for someone *like* Sheridan began to get through clearly toward the latter part of last season*, as I began planning out season two's progression, and kept looking at elements of the story and
trying to find ways to get Sinclair into the heart of them.* They felt contrived, for the most part; and the other characters, like Londo and G'Kar and Delenn, were *really* moving forward in a big way.
The role of Sinclair was becoming primarily that of a "problem solver," and when that happens, a sort of glass bell falls down around the character, and you can't do much with him. So what the writer has to do is break that bell in one way or another; do something totally unexpected to him, and bring in someone who has a direct, personal connection with the storyline emerging in season two, so it's not contrived or forced.
* (italics added – JD)
-- Usenet 11/11/94
To the query above, yes, BABYLON 5 has a definite beginning, middle and end. I've always enjoyed shows like that, such as THE PRISONER, which has a beginning (he arrives at the village) and an end (he escapes from the village...sorta), and good stuff in between.
All of this effort is so that we can tell A Story. A very long and involved story,
about one person, mainly,* but how that person's future can affect the course of history. A saga.
* (italics added – JD)
-- GEnie 9/19/92
Regarding the last scene/last episode note, and "is every single episode mapped out," I should explain.
I know where each season will end, and where the next season will begin. Those episodes are locks. Within each season, I have set aside benchmarks... certain events that much happen at some point in that given season. Assuming a 22 episode season, about half, or 11 out of each 22, will be benchmark episodes. The other 11 will be up for grabs in terms of the general arc of the show. I think you *have* to be open to what some freelancer hits you with unexpectedly, be open to surprises and things you never considered.
-- GEnie 4/14/92
There will be continuity. I've mapped out what will happen, in general, in about half the episodes in any given season...incidents that will eventually form the tapestry of the larger story. But the other half of any given season are left completely open to what our writers might come up with.
I like being surprised, and want the show to remain open to changes in tide and wind.
-- GEnie 5/22/92
(And, Finally…)
At the end of the first season, one character will undergo a major, MAJOR change, which will start the show spinning on a very different axis. The first season will have some fairly conventional stories, but others will start the show gradually moving toward where I want it to go. One has to set these things up gradually. Events in the story --
which is very much the story of Jeffrey Sinclair* -- will speed up
in each subsequent season.*
Someone he considers a friend will betray him. Another will prove to be the exact opposite of what Sinclair believes to be true. Some will live. Some will die. He will be put through a crucible of terrible force, that will change him, and alter his destiny, in a profound and terrible way...if he goes one way, or the other, will determine not only his own fate, but that of millions of others. He will grow, and become stronger, better, wiser...or be destroyed by what fate is bringing his way. In sum, it is a story of hope against terrible adversity and overwhelming odds.
That, in broad brush strokes, is a *taste* of what I plan to do with the series. I note this here because when the pilot airs, I am going to ask for your continued help in supporting the endeavor for the series, and it occurs to me that you ought to have at least SOME idea of what you're buying, and being asked to support. One should never be asked to sign a blank check on the bank of one's conscience.
Reactions?
* (italics added - JD)
-- GEnie 1/12/93
End of quotations from JMS
Somebody want to tell me again how Sinclair was “always” supposed to leave at the end of S1 and the
whole story was “always” planned out exactly the way it was presented? And I haven’t even bothered appending the various posts relating to Michael O’Hare’s departure which make it clear that it was an
unplanned event from both O’Hare’s and JMS’s perspective, although they were able to work it out amicably.
Regards,
Joe
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Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net
