Babylon 5 - The Scripts of J. Michael Straczynski Volume 6

SCRIPTS

• Exogenesis
• Messages from Earth
• Point of No Return
• Severed Dreams
• Ceremonies of Light and Dark
• Sic Transit Vir
• A Late Delivery from Avalon

We're going to do this one straight. No, really, we are. Because this is a very crucial volume, in every sense of that word.

Volume 6 of the Babylon 5 Scripts of J. Michael Straczynski begins with a lengthy and moving tribute to Andreas Katsulas. Deeply personal, and just as affecting, it's a glimpse into the revelations of those last days and how everyone, including the fans, pitched in to do everything possible.

This volume also includes the scripts for the most important trilogy of episodes in the third season (some might even say in the entire series) of Babylon 5: the Earth Civil War trilogy of "Messages from Earth," "Point of No Return," and "Severed Dreams," which became Babylon 5's second Hugo-winning episode.

In the episode commentaries -- the largest part of an original 17,000 word introduction written exclusively for this volume -- you will learn:

• What happened the day the Pentagon (and, later, the Secret Service) contacted Babylon 5;
• What "Exogenesis" has to do with Macbeth, 1950s horror movies, and what happened to turn the ending of that script into something that should be strapped to a concrete block and dropped off the end of the nearest pier;
• How and why the interior of the White Star (aka "that damned plucked chicken") was totally redesigned;
• The circumstances that led to Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, widow of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, making an appearance on Babylon 5;
• The blow-up when "General Hague" was a no-show for "Severed Dreams," and the only-now-revealed story of what JMS did about it five years later...and the never-before-told story of how Bruce McGill was cast as his replacement in a way that took everyone by surprise, including JMS;
• The origin of the Minbari beds, the story behind Jerry Doyle's broken arm, how to defeat the Macbeth curse, how Lennier fell in love with Delenn, and how Ivanova came to express her affection for Talia;
• How even more of the strange Babylon 5 coincidences that surrounded production came back to haunt not just JMS but Jerry Doyle;
• Plus more behind-the-scenes photos and JMS's personal memos written during production, in this case dealing in particular with the creation of the opening title sequence, showing how the development was handled between composer, editors and JMS himself.