Babylon 5 Preface JMS

1992 Preface from JMS about the upcoming Babylon 5 series.

        WHAT IS BABYLON 5 -- The Concept

        The year is 2257.  Mankind has gone to the stars, and we
have found that we are not alone.  There are other governments and
empires that are far older than ours, and some that are younger.
Some we met in peace, and began an exchange of technology and
information that substantially increased the pace of Terran space
exploration and colonization.  Some contacts were hostile.

        And some led to outright war.  The Earth/Minbari war lasted
for almost a decade, and led to one of the great mysteries of the
time in which our story is set.  On the very edge of victory over
the Earth Alliance, when everything Earth tried had failed and their
destruction seemed imminent...the Minbari surrendered.  It is now
five years later, and the dark secret behind the Minbari surrender
will finally begin slowly to emerge.

        And over the course of the series, that secret will have a
direct and substantial impact on Babylon 5.

        As for Babylon 5 itself...it is a space station roughly
three miles in length, with docking bays fore and aft.  It is made
up of sections that rotate at varying speeds to create alternate
gravities to accommodate various lifeforms.  Different atmospheres
are also used in different sections.  Babylon 5 is located at a key
jump-point; to get from any one of the five major confederations
(four alien, one human), you almost always have to pass through this
sector of space.  Thus, the area surrounding Babylon 5 has been
designated Neutral Territory.

        Babylon 5 itself, therefore, functions as a sort of futuristic
free-port, a space-borne Casablanca open to travelers from anywhere,
going anywhere; people fleeing from something or escaping to something,
on missions of urgency...smugglers, diplomats, scientists, mappers,
traders, soldiers, refugees...sooner or later, they all come to
Babylon 5.

        The station boasts substantial facilities, including the
docking bays, customs areas, nightclubs, casinos, meeting rooms,
a Rent-A-Telepath service for use by businessmen, living quarters
and other facilities.  Because the station creates its gravity by
rotation, like an O'Neill sphere, the very center of Babylon 5 is
a null-gravity area.  On the fringes of that round section, where
gravity returns, hydroponic and other forms of gardens and crops
have been planted.  In that respect, Babylon 5 is a self-enclosed
planet turned inside-out.  It is self-sustaning in most regards.

        Though run under the nominal jurisdiction of the Earth
Alliance, the station also has an advisory council consisting of
one ambassador from each of the four major alien confederations,
with the station commander forming the fifth, tie-breaking vote.
In that sense, the station serves as a sort of min-U.N., the
first time all five groups have ever gathered together before
under one roof.  As such, Babylon 5 represents the best chance
for peace that's come along in a very long time.

        But there are also those who profit by trying to
sabotage that peace.  And they, too, come to Babylon 5.

        The station is called Babylon 5 because it is not the
first such attempt.  Babylons 1 through 3 were sabotaged and
destroyed.  Babylon 4 disappeared mysteriously, without a trace,
24 hours after becoming operational.  Which makes life aboard
Babylon 5 tenuous at best.  They are very literally on the fringe,
on their own.  If something should happen, no one could reach
there in time to help.

        Babylon 5 is run by Commander Jeffrey Sinclair, a nominal
war hero during the Earth/Minbari war (who is missing 24 hours of
memory from the last day of that war), though he serves more as
diplomat and figurehead most of the time.  In general, the actual
day-to-day operations of Babylon 5 are actually run by Laurel
Takashima, one of the few command crew actually born on Earth, she
is consistently on top of things and is Sinclair's buffer between
his diplomatic responsibilities and the physical running of the
station.

        There are, in total, ten regular, recurring characters,
in addition to whatever new characters may enter during any given
episode.  The intent is to create an ensemble show with widely
divergent characters, some good, some bad, but most a mix of the
two.

        Where some shows might show a perfect world without
conflict, where everything works as it should, where the regular
characters have no character flaws or inner doubts, the residents
of Babylon 5 are very different.  They have all the flaws to which
humans have always been prey.  The mistake is in the belief that
technology means perfection, somehow eradicating humanity, which
has been shown not to be the case.  In 1792, people worked, got
married, had affairs, had children, grew angry, touched passion
and hoped for a better future.  In 1992, though technology has
given us 200 years of progress, of flying machines and computers,
humans still work, get married, separate, have children, have
affairs, grow angry, touch passion and hope for a better future.
In 2257, our humanity continues, full of all its flaws and latent
nobility.  Those aspects may be enhanced, for good or ill, by the
new technologies, but we are still recognizeably human.

        The primary goal behind Babylon 5 is to do a show that is
both good sicence fiction and good televison.  An SF series without
cute robots or kids.  An SF series that is thoughtful, but which
has action.  An SF series for grownups, with the same level of
characterization and storytelling found in such shows as Hill Street
Blues or St. Elsewhere or L.A. Law.

        In preparing Babylon 5 for production, a comprensive five
year arc has been created.  Though stories will stand on their own
in each episode, the series overall will gradually tell a story on
a much grander scale, a tapestry of falling and rising empires in
which one or two individuals may mean the difference between a new
dark ages on one side and a future of hope on the other.  In that
respect, Babylon 5 will be treated as a five-year miniseries, with a
definite beginning, middle, and end, with each year equalling one
"chapter" or book in the saga.  In that respect, it has been likened
by some to going for the broad tapestry of a Lensman or Foundation
series of books.