Babylon 5: Signs and Portents

Author Essay

Through trial and error (and books I won’t name) I learned a hard lesson:  don’t do books unless the source material is good.  Books based on movies and television have to stand on their own, entertain without the benefit of a screen.  Exciting characters, action, mystery, political intrigue, technology, race relations, romance–excellent fiction incorporates all of the genres.  With Babylon 5, the series had been envisioned as a five-year epic, and that epic sports one helluva backstory.  That backstory has held the attention of millions of viewers for five seasons–these are dedicated and constant supporters.

All well and good, but I’d been stung before.  Initially, I was skeptical.  It wasn’t until I visited the Babylon 5 studios, met with series creator J.Michael Straczynski, watched the actors at work, that I saw the creative spirit that drove them.  The hours they put in are painful to watch.  I’m pretty sure Straczynski doesn’t actually sleep–he wrote the lion’s share of the episodes, including two that won Hugo Awards.  

So I was convinced.  Now we’ve got four million hard-core viewers to convert.  At least we know the target audience.
                                    –Steve Saffel, Senior Editor