Sandman influence on Bab 5
Chris Robin
I'm watching the new first episode of the fifth season of Babylon 5 as we
speak, and for the first time, I got a close look at an individual 'Gaima?'
alien. Is it just my imagination or are the helmets the 'Gaima?' wear pretty
damn similar to the helmet Dream crafted 'from the skull and spine of an old
God'. I know Harlan Ellison is a conceptual consultant for B5 and that he is
a fan of Gaiman. Is this the source of the design ? Or is there an external
inspiration for both Gaiman and the B5 interpretation ? I don't want to rely
on the similarity of the names, 'cause I'm not sure if I heard it correctly.
Just curious ...
Chris
Martha Soukup
In article <6a6gt9$7uo$1...@news3.tufts.edu>, "Chris Robin"
<chris...@innocent.com> wrote:
Mind you, I don't watch B5, but you heard (nearly) right: the Gaim are an
hommage to Sandman. And I've read the script Neil wrote for the show,
that guest-stars Penn & Teller and will air later this year. Has anyone
but Straczynski written an episode in the last year or two, before this of
Neil's? Don't ask me I dunno things like that.
Martha
Ray Radlein
Martha Soukup wrote:
>
> "Chris Robin" <chris...@innocent.com> wrote:
>
> Mind you, I don't watch B5, but you heard (nearly) right: the Gaim
> are an hommage to Sandman. And I've read the script Neil wrote for
> the show, that guest-stars Penn & Teller and will air later this
> year. Has anyone but Straczynski written an episode in the last
> year or two, before this of Neil's?
Assuming that the Season 5 episodes prior to "Day of the Dead" were all
written by Straczynski (a safe assumption), then JMS has will have
written 59 episodes in a row prior to Gaiman's script. That's the last 5
episodes of Season 2, all of Seasons 3 and 4 (including the as-yet
unaired series finale, filmed just in case there was no season 5), and
the first 9 episodes of Season 5.
Looking at the episode list on The Lurker's Guide, it appears that JMS
may well end up writing all of Season 5 *except* Neil's episode.
- Ray R.
--
*********************************************************************
"You see, as this chart shows, what most pebbles forget is that even
when they're losing by a landslide, they can still vote."
- H. Kosh Perot
Ray Radlein - r...@learnlink.emory.edu
homepage coming soon! wooo, wooo.
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shenmida
"Chris Robin" <chris...@innocent.com> writes:
>I'm watching the new first episode of the fifth season of Babylon 5 as we
>speak, and for the first time, I got a close look at an individual 'Gaima?'
>alien. Is it just my imagination or are the helmets the 'Gaima?' wear pretty
>damn similar to the helmet Dream crafted 'from the skull and spine of an old
>God'. I know Harlan Ellison is a conceptual consultant for B5 and that he is
>a fan of Gaiman. Is this the source of the design ? Or is there an external
>inspiration for both Gaiman and the B5 interpretation ? I don't want to rely
>on the similarity of the names, 'cause I'm not sure if I heard it correctly.
>Just curious ...
>Chris
it definitely is influenced by Gaiman i would guess.
the writer is a big fan of neil's work and asked him to script a
show. neil is scheduled to write an episode for Babylon 5 this
season...it should only be one-off, side tangent thing.
i sure hope that wasn't the episode b/c i missed it. darnit.
even if it was THE episode, i still wanted to catch it.
bright stars turn,
david
--------...@eden.rutgers.edu-----------------------------------
| 'Take some more tea,' the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly. |
| 'I've had nothing yet,' Alice replied in an offended tone: 'so I |
| can't take more.' 'You mean you can't take less,' said the Hatter: |
| 'it's very easy to take more than nothing.' -- AiW |
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Galloway
In article <34C70A...@learnlink.emory.edu>,
Ray Radlein <rad...@ibm.net> wrote:
>Martha Soukup wrote:
>Assuming that the Season 5 episodes prior to "Day of the Dead" were all
>written by Straczynski (a safe assumption), then JMS has will have
>written 59 episodes in a row prior to Gaiman's script. That's the last 5
>episodes of Season 2, all of Seasons 3 and 4 (including the as-yet
>unaired series finale, filmed just in case there was no season 5), and
>the first 9 episodes of Season 5.
Although I believe one of those Season 5 episodes, A View From The
Gallery, may be credited as co-written by Harlan Ellison, although from
comments Harlan and Joe have made, it's unclear to me whether Harlan
wrote the script per se as opposed to providing the idea to some level
of detail.
tyg t...@netcom.com
Snibor Eoj
In article <soukup-2101...@ppp-asfm06--095.sirius.net>,
sou...@genie.com (Martha Soukup) wrote:
> Mind you, I don't watch B5, but you heard (nearly) right: the Gaim are an
> hommage to Sandman. And I've read the script Neil wrote for the show,
> that guest-stars Penn & Teller and will air later this year. Has anyone
> but Straczynski written an episode in the last year or two, before this of
> Neil's? Don't ask me I dunno things like that.
Indeed, the Gaim are an homage to Sandman, having been on the series since
season 1. (Interestingly enough, under the helmets, the Gaim turn out to
look an awful lot like Cthulhu, of all things... :-)
To answer your question: JMS wrote the last 4 episodes of season 2, all
of seasons 3 and 4, and is writing almost every episode of season 5. I
think that he recently said that of the total 110 episodes (22 per
season), he will have written 91 of them at the close of the series. So
Neil's is one of a small number of guest-written episodes. :-)
Snibor Eoj
jmro...@sccs.swarthmore.edu
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm a member of the Non-Sequitur Association of America
A fish said to two translucent dogs:
"A marble flower is too delicious for the morning sacrifice.
Linger here no longer."
And then it died.
Clinton W Steeds
"Chris Robin" <chris...@innocent.com> writes:
B
>I'm watching the new first episode of the fifth season of Babylon 5 as we
>speak, and for the first time, I got a close look at an individual 'Gaima?'
>alien. Is it just my imagination or are the helmets the 'Gaima?' wear pretty
>damn similar to the helmet Dream crafted 'from the skull and spine of an old
>God'. I
>Chris
The "Gaim" (pronounced alternately _game_ or _gay-im_) were designed
directly from Dream's helm and were even named after Neil in homage.
Neil has written the script for the eleventh episode of the season,
"Day of the Dead," which would make him the only writer to have penned
a B5 ep since season two.
Interestingly enough, I popped up on this very newsgroup about a year and
a half ago to ask if anyone could confirm the rumor that Gaiman would
be writing a B5 script, and nearly all answers were unequivocally, "No
he has no intention of doing this. Where did you get that crazy rumor?"
Watch the episode, ye Gaiman fans. In fact, watch the whole damn series,
if you get the chance. TNT rebroadcasts it from the beginning at 7PM EST.
This, like Sandman, is a story of great scope and beauty designed from the
its inception with an ENDING.
cs
Clinton Wade Steeds
cst...@comp.uark.edu
ps. excuse the typing mistakes. i still use vi.
Asmat Noori
>
> Looking at the episode list on The Lurker's Guide, it appears that JMS
> may well end up writing all of Season 5 *except* Neil's episode.
>
>
> - Ray R.
>
JMS recently posted that he is writing 21 episodes in year five. Since
the season is only 22 episdoes long, it looks like Neil's script is the
only non-JMS in three years.
--
Asmat Noori
As...@umich.edu
we danced in graveyards with vampires 'till dawn.
we laughed in the faces of kings, never afraid to burn."
-Tori Amos
"You get what anyone gets...you get a lifetime"
-Death, "The Sandman"
"You seek meaning? Than listen to the music...not the song"
-Ambassador Kosh, Babylon 5
Tanaqui Weaver
When the rumour popped up, it escalated quickly to "Neil Gaiman is writing all
of Season 5, Babylon 5". That was patent nonsense, and the Net was filled with
shouts of "No".
Like M. Soukup, I have read the episode script. There's a slightly-garbled
short summary of its general drift on Midwinter.
Tanaqui
Ray Radlein
Tom Galloway wrote:
>
> Ray Radlein <rad...@ibm.net> wrote:
> >
> >Assuming that the Season 5 episodes prior to "Day of the Dead" were
> >all written by Straczynski (a safe assumption), then JMS has will
> >have written 59 episodes in a row prior to Gaiman's script. That's
> >the last 5 episodes of Season 2, all of Seasons 3 and 4 (including
> >the as-yet unaired series finale, filmed just in case there was no
> >season 5), and the first 9 episodes of Season 5.
>
> Although I believe one of those Season 5 episodes, A View From The
> Gallery, may be credited as co-written by Harlan Ellison, although
> from comments Harlan and Joe have made, it's unclear to me whether
> Harlan wrote the script per se as opposed to providing the idea to
> some level of detail.
According to Lurker's, it is listed as Written by JMS, Story by JMS and
HE.
Matthew T Ellis
Clinton W Steeds wrote in message <6a8m3m$7...@picayune.uark.edu>...
>Interestingly enough, I popped up on this very newsgroup about a year and
>a half ago to ask if anyone could confirm the rumor that Gaiman would
>be writing a B5 script, and nearly all answers were unequivocally, "No
>he has no intention of doing this. Where did you get that crazy rumor?"
I believe JMS has been trying to get Neil to write an episode for a couple
of years. Every time he asked, Neil was always too busy (with neverwhere, I
think) so the answer was always "No"
Matthew Ellis
m.t....@swansea.ac.uk
Ken Buzzard
Clinton W Steeds wrote:
>
> Watch the episode, ye Gaiman fans. In fact, watch the whole damn series,
> if you get the chance. TNT rebroadcasts it from the beginning at 7PM EST.
> This, like Sandman, is a story of great scope and beauty designed from the
> its inception with an ENDING.
Hear Hear!
For those who want to watch the series, it airs on TNT weeknights at 7PM
Eastern. They're slightly more than half-way through the first season,
having shown 14 of the 22 episodes thus far.
The new episodes air on Wednesday nights at 10pm, with a second airing
at 7pm on Saturday. Last night's episode was the 5th Season premiere.
If you want to watch ONLY the Gaiman episode, 'Day of the Dead', you'll
want to tune in on Wednesday, April 1st. Of course, like all things
B5-related, watching only THAT episode will probably confuse you, as
it's the 99th episode in a 110-episode story arc. Caveat Emptor!
--
Ken Buzzard (Ken...@aol.com)
http://members.aol.com/KenBuzz/b5.htm
B5MD - Resident PsiCorp Representative
"Trust the Corps. The Corps is your friend."
Michael S. Tumilty
Ken Buzzard wrote in message <34C938...@aol.com>...
>If you want to watch ONLY the Gaiman episode, 'Day of the Dead', you'll
>want to tune in on Wednesday, April 1st. Of course, like all things
>B5-related, watching only THAT episode will probably confuse you, as
>it's the 99th episode in a 110-episode story arc. Caveat Emptor!
You're telling me! I watched my first new episode in two years,
Wednesday, and my exact words were:
Oh my God, he's president!?
Oh my God, they're married!?
Oh my God, he's emperor!?
Who the hell is she!?
Where'd his hair go!?
etc. etc.
My brother made me leave the room.
-Erin
President of Save Our Doctor: Television's Hero In Space
Proudly telling the Beeb to SOD THIS since 1997
Martha Soukup
In article <6a8m3m$7...@picayune.uark.edu>, cst...@comp.uark.edu (Clinton
W Steeds) wrote:
<snip>
> Interestingly enough, I popped up on this very newsgroup about a year and
> a half ago to ask if anyone could confirm the rumor that Gaiman would
> be writing a B5 script, and nearly all answers were unequivocally, "No
> he has no intention of doing this. Where did you get that crazy rumor?"
<snip>
Well, he didn't write the episode until some half a year ago. (And
already it's been filmed. Taped?) Up until then, Straczynski had been
noodging, but whether Neil would find the time and ideas to do it was an
open question.
Martha
Martha Soukup
In article <34C938...@aol.com>, Ken...@aol.com wrote:
<snip> If you want to watch ONLY the Gaiman episode, 'Day of the Dead', you'll
> want to tune in on Wednesday, April 1st. Of course, like all things
> B5-related, watching only THAT episode will probably confuse you, as
> it's the 99th episode in a 110-episode story arc. Caveat Emptor!
>
Well, the script worked well enough for me, and I've only seen one episode
of the show, years ago, and don't remember anything in particular about
it. Aside from probably shedding light on longrunning characters you guys
all know, it's basically a one-off story.
Martha
sea...@aol.com
> if you get the chance. TNT rebroadcasts it from the beginning at 7PM EST.
> This, like Sandman, is a story of great scope and beauty designed from the
> its inception with an ENDING.
I agree about B5, but did Gaiman really have an ending for Sandman in
mind the whole time? I was under the impression that he only started
thinking about it once the book started getting noticed, around #8 or so.
Still very early and very unusual as comics go, it's true.
Sean Medlock
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