Chats Transcripts

12/10/97 Marjorie Monaghan	Portrayed Number One, a member of the Mars Resistance.	Q: Do you think Number One will feel pity for Garibaldi now? A: "No! I would have been completely comfortable shooting him because he was jeopardizing my people...The fact that he was telling the truth saved his life, but I have no regrets over the action I nearly took. If someone plays deadly games they must accept the risks."
1/21/98 JMS and JC chat	J. Michael Straczynski and John Copeland chat on the fifth and final season of Babylon 5.	Q: As an atheist, my first impression is that you would of excluded religion from B5, but instead you expanded, and developed the religions of the different races. What motivated you to do this? A: "A writer has an obligation to be honest in his writing; the truth is, religion isn't going to go away any time soon.... and if I have characters who believe, I must treat them as honestly as I would like to be treated. It's a matter of not proceeding from an agenda; then it's just propaganda, not storytelling."
2/12/98 Roll Playing Game chat	The folks that designed the Roll Playing Game talk about it.	"Basically, we read every script, watch all of the videos OVER and OVER, scour the net for everything JMS says, and then apply physics and logic. Watching every episode about 800 times in single frame... Reading all the scripts, doing meetings with JMS and others on the staff... Long late night skull sessions. THEN we start writing a (RPG) book."
2/19/98 John Vulich chat	The Special Effects Make Up Designer and owner of Optic Nerve talks about the makeup on the show.	Q: Do you get ideas for the look of the aliens from real life or from your imaginations? A: "Both...We often turn to nature and wildlife books for inspiration ... oddly enough children's books, especially the "Eyewitness" series...and then we just mutate the ideas we get from real animal into Aliens...I'm very fond of Crocs and Alligators... it's sort of an in-joke here."
2/26/98 Steve Charendoff chat	From Fleer/Skybox, he talks about the newest trading card set and the future sets.	Q: How do you decide what kinds of cards will be included in a set -- chase cards, autographs, etc. A: "Well, we look around and see what we've already done... we try not to repeat too many things from one series to the next... with this past set, it was a challenge, because we had done a lot already... one popularity in all of the collectibles, are the autographs..."
3/5/98 Lyta and Bryon chat	Patricia Tallman and Robin Atkin Downes chat about their rolls.	Q: How do you feel about creating a character, seeing her dropped from the series, then re-instated? What changes did you make to Lyta, and did JMS clue you in on anything about her? A: It was gut wrenching to loose the series and a complete shock to come back...much less to become a regular...JMS and I worked hard to make Lyta believable this season"
3/12/98 Dark and Bear chat	The Prop Department's Dark Hoffman and Bear Burge.	Q: How did you get interested in propmaking?" A: Bear: "Wow...I started in High School that I had a love of building stuff and decided it was time to take shop class and learn" Bear: "how to do it and its been a love affair ever since" Dark: "I was always interested in building things ever since I could pick up an exacto blade" Bear: "And how old were you Dark?" Dark: "I'll have to be honest and say 12"
3/19/98 David Eagle chat	Director of 13+ episodes.	Q: How do you prepare for the shoot? A: Very carefully. Actually, I immerse myself in the script and shoot the show in my head and on paper before we begin shooting.
4/2/98 Robin Atkin Downes chat	Robin returns to chat after his character's demise	Q: What's that pendant Byron wears? A: It was given by his mother.... Byron believes power in family... the small branches on it represent that... . o O ( my what a vivid imagination I have)
4/9/98 Kim Holly chat	Kim the Wardrobe Supervisor chats about the wardrobe.	Q: Do you work with the make-up people, so that the costumes don't interfere with the prosthetics? A: Yes. Usually their designs are completed first, then the designer work up a design based on what she perceives about that race , than she and I work together to make4 sure necks fit over prosthetics, hands are covered, etc
4/16/98 Jeff Conaway chat	Zack Allen himself talks about Babylon 5 and Grease and Taxi.	Q: Have you created a back story for Zack -- his childhood, what brought him to B5? A: I've just kind of formulated a back story for Zack where he's doing better but he's the kind of guy who ended up belting a superior officer one day cause he was outta line and that got him busted, wandered around not knowing what to do .. .and decided to go to space and get away from it all.
4/23/98 Wortham Krimmer chat	Emperor Cartagia. Talks about Babylon 5 and the Soaps.	Q: Who was the funniest person on the show? A: That would be a toss up between Peter and Stephen both of whom had me laughing right up to action. There were times when I didn't know if I could have a straight face before the scene began. Andreas is also very funny but in a dry way.
4/30/98 Walter Koenig chat	Star Trek, Babylon 5 and his writings are some of the topics.	Q: What kind of differences, especially in creative freedom, do you find between network and syndication/cable shows? A: Its really a matter of Production company and not the venue.. What I've discovered with Babylon 5, is a extraordinarily caring group of people with a marvelous feeling of mutual respect. I sometimes think that the budget restraints t hey operate under draw them closer together.
5/7/98 Wayne Alexander chat	Sebastian, Lorien, Drakh are just a few of his roles.	Q: What obstacles did each of the prosthetic make-ups cause for you... ie. Loriends fingers... contacts.. thick drazi scales.. etc? A: Lorien it was the contact lenses so that's not really prosthetics. it was two layers of lenses. and the top layer was metalflake gold. n} I was good for about 20 minutes at a time. The only other problem I has was that the Drazi was a little un-expressive that was due to the thickness.
5/14/98 John Copeland chat	The Producer - Director of Babylon 5 and Crusade	Q: As a producer to the series Babylon 5, where do you feel you had the greatest impact? A: That would be a long list. I think in envisioning the mounting of the production to begin with. My job is to take Joe's vision and create the environment to get it on screen.
5/21/98 Ann Bruice Aling chat	Costume Designer Ann Bruice Aling and Kim Holly chat on the Wardrobe of Babylon 5.	Q: When you're costume - concepting, does the JMS indicate how fluid/rigid a costume is supposed to be according to the civilization to which it belongs? A: Joe initially had a lot to say in terms of the background and the historical perspective of the major alien races. So, I knew if they were a peaceful people or a warring people, cold climate etc. Then, I would interpret what kind of sensibility that called for. And, of course Joe has the final say on everything....
5/28/98 Mark Walters chat	The Art Director who has been with the show since the Pilot.	Q: What was your inspiration to be an art director A: I sort of fell into this because of my training as an artist combined with my training as a manager. My first career choice was as a Marine Officer and fighter pilot.
6/4/98 Mike Payne chat	The Sound Supervisor gives insight on the post production sound of Babylon 5	Q: How much consideration is given to "surround sound" effects? Is it a difficult process? A: Not difficult, just a little extra time. JMS and John Copeland LOVE having fx in the surround speakers, so we put as much back there that we can. But because not everyone at home has a surround set-up, we never put FX ONLY in the surrounds.
6/11/98 Matt Plummer chat	Scenic Painter. If it needs to be painted he can do it.	Q: When Londo was outside entering palace, was that a set? A: We call that a Composite... the floor and a small part of the set are real... can you believe it was drizzling as we took that shoot? As the standby painter, I noticed the water glistening... on the walls, so it was my job to take it off with a broom... just before the cameras rolled for each take--reverse painting in a sense!
6/18/98 Skip Robinson and David Foster chat	Two of the editors of Babylon 5 talk about their work.	Q: what do you both think is probably the funniest thing/best blooper? A: David Foster: Season 4...when the Pak'Mara runs into the wall and Bruce loses it... A: Skip Robinson: Peter with Jerry singing potato - potato, let's call the whole thing off!
6/25/98 Peter Kowalski chat	Babylon 5 Cameraman	Q: How difficult was it to film the scene in "The Face of the Enemy" when Garibaldi drugs Sheridan...I thought that was excellent! A: There were a lot of camera "tricks" in that scene technically, it was very difficult for all the camera personnel we used things on the camera that I had never saw on a camera before like a heavy, heavy high speed camera with a rotating mesmerized lens. hand held and ramping the camera speed with the lights on and off on the stage...so you really couldn't see! it was heavy, critical, glad it's over...it looked great!
7/8/98 Mira Furlan chat	Mira talks about being Delenn and her new album.	Q: Which part of Delenn's personality would you say is most like your own? A: why do people always want to identify actors with their roles? I don't' think it a good thing to compare real people with imaginary characters. It can also become quite dangerous and quite disappointing for people who do it. because when they meet the actor they can never get what they expected.
7/16/98 Patricia Tallman chat	Pat talks about Lyta and more.	Q: What stunts do you like the best and what was your worst accident you've had so far? A: I love fight scenes. I love pointed weapons - period sword techniques is a specialty of mine. the worst...I broke my back on a TV movie of the week "In the Line of Duty"
8/20/98 Skip Beaudine chat	The Production Manager of Babylon 5 and Crusade	Q: what are good traits (for a production manager) to have? patience, logic skills.....? A: patience, patience, patience, patience. a sense of humor. patience. organization. patience. And did I mention patience?
8/27/98 Damian London chat	A conversation with the Regent of Centauri Prime and Damian London.	Q: How did you come up with the Regent’s voice and mode of speaking? I thought it was fantastic and made the character so believable. Was it a conscious choice or did it “sort of happen”? A: It was a conscious choice. I think characters are people all of them just like all of us, have our own voices and idiosyncrasies Q: How did it feel to have to change your character so dramatically? A: He didn't change, just as in life, we all change with circumstance. His life changed him.
12/4/98 John Iacovelli Chat	Production Designer for Babylon 5 and Crusade	Q: What is the major difference to the transition to Crusade from B5? Is there more time to shoot an episode? A: The major difference is that we learned a lot doing B5 and Crusade has benefited from that knowledge. I told Joe the other day that it took us 5 years of B5 to design are new ship the Excalibur <g>
3/26/99 Marjean Holden Chat	Portrays Doctor Chambers in Crusade	Q: How did you come about of auditioning for the part of the doctor on Crusade? Was it the one you wanted to try for? A: I actually really wanted to be the Thief and tunnel rat Dureena, but they already had Carrie in mind, so I went up for the Dr. and decided that saving the world was a better gig for me!

Babylon 5 Fan Club Weekly Chat Transcripts