• The Gathering
(The original 1989 Pilot Script - Alternate Version, Never Previously Released)
• Midnight on the Firing Line
• Soul Hunter
• Infection
• The Parliament of Dreams
• Mind War
• A 53 page (13,000 word) introduction with episode commentaries written specifically for this volume. Learn the genesis of the Babylon 5 series, the five year journey of selling it, the day B5 almost died, and behind-the-scenes stories, many never told before, about the making of the landmark pilot movie and these five episodes.
• 30 pages of memos from Straczynski written during production, detailing the history of the many alien races, prop and set design, casting...nearly every aspect of creating the Babylon 5 universe is revealed here for the first time.
• 11 pages of candid, behind-the-scenes B&W photos of cast and crew taken by Straczynski, drawn from his personal archives, seen here for the first time.
J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI TALKS ABOUT VOLUME 1:
When we went to sell Babylon 5, I wrote a pilot screenplay to take around. When we made the deal, the notes process began...and the script went through considerable changes. But this is the ORIGINAL draft, the one only seen by the studio and the other producers on the show.
What’s different? How about Garibaldi trying to get hold of his dying father back on Mars...how about a shape-shifter instead of a Minbari assassin with a changeling net...Londo as a part-time pick-pocket...Dr. Chakri Mendak instead of Dr. Kyle...new scenes between Lyta and Laurel, Delenn and others that were later cut...a LOT more character scenes with Sinclair and Garibaldi...a discovery about Delenn’s lifestone and what that means to the Minbari...where Sinclair is NOT put on trial, but finds a whole different and more interesting way to solve the mystery of Kosh’s assailant...and the introduction of Kosh’s life-mate, Velana, who plays a very important role in the script. (Didn’t know Vorlons had life-mates, did you?)
This script is HUGELY different from the one we filmed — funnier in places, with more character moments — and it has been kept under lock and key all this time. Now, for the first time, it has been officially released in the first volume of this 15-volume set.
In this volume, readers will also discover:
• The secret meaning of the title "Midnight on the Firing Line";
• How Londo ended up with all that hair;
• Why Lyta was in "The Gathering" but not the first two seasons;
• And the Christmas bombshell that almost destroyed the chances of Babylon 5 ever airing.
