Just finished Season 5 of Babylon 5
- Thread starter Danoz
- Start date
^Unfortunately, my issues are in San Diego right now.
I found my copies of the magazine and located the two issues with the interview. I will finish reading it tomorrow and give you a run-down. Vintage Harlan, that's for sure!
Can't wait.
The interview starts off humorously enough with the author stating "I'm scared of Harlan Ellison." then proceeds to recount a few ways Ellison is his expected cantankerous self.
One of the interesting stories Ellison tells is how he came to be the "conceptual consultant" for the show. Apparently, the Writer's Guild wasn't thrilled with "creative consultant" since the title had been more or less abused over the years. A few other titles JMS and Harlan offered were "Real Important Guy" and "Big Macher". There is also the time that Paramount apparently plagiarized the 1970 short story Brillo Ellison co-wrote with Ben Bova. Ellison sued and won to the tune of $337,000.
Regarding "The Gathering", there isn't much here over and above what you've already read in this thread. Harlan recounts that "When I saw the pilot, which I had not seen up to that time - I'd seen pieces of it while it was in production - my heart sank. It just broke my heart, because I had seen what Joe had written and the richness that was there". That leads into what we've been discussing, about Richard Compton. According to the magazine article:
One of the interesting stories Ellison tells is how he came to be the "conceptual consultant" for the show. Apparently, the Writer's Guild wasn't thrilled with "creative consultant" since the title had been more or less abused over the years. A few other titles JMS and Harlan offered were "Real Important Guy" and "Big Macher". There is also the time that Paramount apparently plagiarized the 1970 short story Brillo Ellison co-wrote with Ben Bova. Ellison sued and won to the tune of $337,000.
Regarding "The Gathering", there isn't much here over and above what you've already read in this thread. Harlan recounts that "When I saw the pilot, which I had not seen up to that time - I'd seen pieces of it while it was in production - my heart sank. It just broke my heart, because I had seen what Joe had written and the richness that was there". That leads into what we've been discussing, about Richard Compton. According to the magazine article:
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Love him or not, that's one thing you will always get with Harlan: exactly how he feels. I have to admire that.Ellison doesn't mince any words, does he.
I have to agree with him, though. Compton's direction and framing was a problem from the get go. A shame Mike Vejar couldn't have been onboard in the beginning.
Issue No. 3 - Oct. 1998 (Cover: Richard Biggs in his EF uniform)
Issue No. 4 - Nov. 1998 (Cover: Pat Tallman in her Lyta green jacket)
Ah, you lot have the mags? I don't suppose you could do me a favour and either confirm or deny that the Babylon 1,2 & 3 logos in my thread on Trek art are actually from the mags? I got the reference from a site claiming they were scanned from the official mag, but you know how some fan sites are. Just want to make sure I'm not proporgating inacurate graphics. 
Actually, no you wouldn't have lost any time at all. There at the bottom of the cover for the Oct. 1998 issue, it says
"SCREAMS FROM THE EDGE
The first part of an exclusive interview with Harlan Ellison."
Ah, you lot have the mags? I don't suppose you could do me a favour and either confirm or deny that the Babylon 1,2 & 3 logos in my thread on Trek art are actually from the mags? I got the reference from a site claiming they were scanned from the official mag, but you know how some fan sites are. Just want to make sure I'm not proporgating inacurate graphics.
I will check it as soon as I recover from today's sojourn at the Ohio Renaissance Festival. I do have copies of those logos on file somewhere, that I am positive are accurate. Where are yours posted?
I didn't say I'd've had a hard time finding it, only that I'd've ended up reading instead of looking.Actually, no you wouldn't have lost any time at all. There at the bottom of the cover for the Oct. 1998 issue, it says
"SCREAMS FROM THE EDGE
The first part of an exclusive interview with Harlan Ellison."
Jan
The end of the shadow war might have had an additional episode or two if there'd been time allowed but it was never planned to be stretched out even through the entirety of season four. If JMS had thought there was even a possibility of there being a fifth season, the planned cliffhanger would have been "The Face of the Enemy" during the Earth conflict.
Jan
