Babylon 5 - The Scripts of J. Michael Straczynski Volume 2.5

DISCOVERED
A completely different version of the Season 2 premiere episode, "Points of Departure."

A NEW BABYLON 5 EXPERIENCE
Featuring the teleplay and an audio-photo re-creation of the "lost" version of Sheridan's debut episode...illuminating new facts about BABYLON 5's storylines, characters and canon.

WE COULDN'T HAVE SEEN THIS COMING

While we were aware there were two very different scripts of Babylon 5's Season 2 premiere, "Points of Departure," we never thought we'd get to publish the original. Here's why:

In the early 2000s, J. Michael Straczynski's hard drive suffered a fatal crash and the original script was thought lost forever. That's why, when Volume 3 of Babylon 5: The Scripts of J. Michael Straczynski was released, JMS included the shooting script for "Points of Departure" instead of an earlier draft of the teleplay, as he'd done with most of his other scripts.

Enter Editor Jason Davis – former feature writer for Creative Screenwriting magazine (and resident Indiana Jones) – somehow, secured the original version of the "Points of Departure" script.

Surprised by the differences between this original script and the shooting script, and aware of some "classified" reshoots early in Season 2, we realized that this original draft was actually produced and edited before the episode was rewritten and scenes were re-shot.

Unable to reach JMS, we found proof of our theory in the Babylon 5 storage vault: a VHS video tape — the Season 2 opener as written in the ORIGINAL teleplay.

When J. Michael Straczynski resurfaced, he was thrilled that we now had the original teleplay and the tape and suggested we put together a "re-creation" of the original episode by using screenshots from the VHS tape and lining them up with the dialogue in the original script, since we would not be able to get permission to release the actual video. (See samples below).

For a more holistic experience, JMS had us pull the audio track from the VHS cassette, have it professionally remixed and included on an audio CD. This way, you can listen to the original episode's dialogue as you read the script and view the accompanying 300 images.

All of which makes the point: if we had then what we have now, all of this would have been included in Volume 3, which is why we are inserting this book between volumes 2 and 3 -- a moment of transition, if you'll forgive the phrase.

WHAT'S INCLUDED WITH VOLUME 2.5

✔ ANNOTATED SCRIPT
The complete ORIGINAL draft of the Season 2 premiere, "Points of Departure," with editor's annotations for every page indicating the differences between this draft, the director's cut, the producers' cut and the final version of the episode that was aired and released on DVD.

100 pages total. (See samples below).

✔ VIDEO IMAGE RE-CREATION OF "POINTS OF DEPARTURE" AS ORIGINALLY SHOT
Using nearly 300 screenshots, we have re-created, scene-by-scene, the original episode as it was originally filmed BEFORE J. Michael Straczynski decided to extensively alter the episode. The 100 pages of this re-creation are formatted so that each frame matches up to the dialogue being spoken on the audio CD. (See samples below).

✔ AUDIO CD OF THE ORIGINAL CUT
This is the complete audio portion of the original episode. This means you can pop in the CD, open the book to page 106 and follow along with the script and video screenshots for a retro "multimedia" experience. (Added bonus: You and your friends can lip synch the dialogue for added fun at your next party.)

✔ POSTCARD AND BOOKMARK
Featuring never-before-heard quotes that didn't even make it into the version of "Points of Departure" re-created herein. (See images below).