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Ron Thornton Interview

Triple-F said:
Not added it yet (so adding that to the screens wasn't overly bright), though it’s something I’m working on when time allows. Should be up in about a week or so. Though you can get a copy of those sketches over here

http://www.firstones.com/wiki/ITF_ship_sketches

(some browsers seem to have difficulty seeing the images, at least me IE does but Opera works fine!!!)
Click to expand...

The "Minbari Orbital Platform" kinda has a DS9 look to it.
 
While it wouldn't surprise me if that was somewhat intentional, to be fair it's a pretty logical extrapolation from the pre-Valen starbase glimpsed at in 'War Without End'. Plus of course DS9's design itself is clearly influenced by the old theoretical spinning wheel concept designs that date back to the early 1900s (though the one in 2001: A Space Odyssey is probably the most well known.)

So there's a good chance it's just a case of a mutual influence rather than a direct one.
 
Cheers, it's turned out to be something I keep stopping but find something to add after 3 months.
 
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^Welcome to my world! ;)

You should definitely keep it up though, there isn't another resource like it on the net.
 
Wow, I've never seen that map of Minbar before. I think that's the closest to any kind of "official" map I've ever seen out of B5.

Just FYI though; it looks like that "B5 Craft Comparison Study" site is a dead link. Also, only the first page of your "rant" appears to be working. 2-20 are coming up 404.
 
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Oh. Strange it was working about 10 minutes before I uploaded the pages. Just checked the whole site is down rather than just that screen. It’ will probably pop back up again soon enough.

Yeah, I was surprised Chris sent the Minbari texture map down that was used in LoTR and TLT, but he had no use for it. ; )

The rant. Ohhhhh (sigh). I’ve converted the first 7 or 8 pages over to the current format (it was written a while ago) – but it’s probably best to read the whole thing as they sort of link together – and depending on your viewpoint, it’s . . . . . . . well, it’s a rant. ; ) I’ve uploaded the first screens for it, the links and credits, more for place holders.

[edit]
That’s the meshweaver site back up.!!!?

BTW. If you do notice anything screwy like that let me know, I keep finding little errors all over the place.
 
Credits page and links added – though again most folks will know more or less all of them I guess. But there’s a couple of lesser known ones, and dead ones, thrown in.

http://www.themadgoner.com/B5/B5Scrolls/B5Scrolls.htm#Screen4_03_1


@ Reverend
I’ve uploaded the first 10 screens of the rant as well, so you can get a sense of where it’s heading (mainly up my own arse ; ). But I was venting and it’s just some personal opinions, and there’s a few more screens to convert over to the new format which may explain a few more things. ; )
 
There’s been a few little updates.

It’s the last update I’m doing to the site so I’ve added this screen in, which some might find of interest.

http://www.themadgoner.com/B5/B5Scrolls/B5Scrolls.htm#Screen4_01_5



I was going to add stuff like this to the ship screens.

http://www.themadgoner.com/B5/B5Scrolls/Screen6_10_1.htm
http://www.themadgoner.com/B5/B5Scrolls/Screen6_01_4.htm
http://www.themadgoner.com/B5/B5Scrolls/Screen6_05_1.htm

But every time I did one I got depressed about the quality and stopped for a while – at that rate it would have taken another 8 years to finish it. ; ) I’d also hoped to include things like occlusion renders showing orthos for some of the original models used on the show. But as I felt awkward enough asking for them I’ve decided to not bother chasing those anymore. There was a few other ideas but this seems a good a time as any to close the book on it, hence the offer of the download to anyone who wants it. (and yes, it is the last update – this time ; )

btw, if you know of any B5 fans who might not read this, and might be interested, give them a kick and let them know about the download.

Cheers
 
Many thanks for the downloadable version of the site. I have been both impressed and grateful for the amount of information that you have been able to gather together.
Ron Thornton's work on B5 kick started my interest in 3D CG which has given me both a rewarding hobby and a freelance 'second' career over the years.
 
Seemed the logical thing to do.

The weird thing is I’d never heard of him before starting the site and it turns out, like yourself, there’s a whole generation of efx guys out there who got turned on to CGI because of the work done on the show. I was also surprised to learn how many of those that worked for FI and Optic are now viewed as leaders in the industry, contributing to many a tentpole movie – The guy who designed B5’s Na’Ka’leen feeder for example. It was a good training ground apparently. ; )

http://schellstudio.com/about.php
 
This is going to read as some kind of shameless plug, but that can’t be helped.

If you liked the B5Scrolls site, and *if* you have a facebook account can you ‘like’ this thing.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Babylon-5-Some-behind-the-scenes-stuff/178490865572648

I only recently joined facebook, and I never thought I’d read myself writing that, and the other day started posting messages.

Web sites go off line for any number of reasons, and the information they contain can get lost or forgotten as a result. As most of the content comes from some of the artists who worked on the show, I felt it would be a shame if it all disappeared like a fart in the wind when the inevitable happens to B5Scrolls – which is why the whole thing is available to download.

Thing is. Forums like here are a great way to let folks know about that, but this thread will quite quickly drop off the first page of the forum, so most people who might enjoy the content will never see this.

The idea behind the asking for the facebook ‘like’ is not some self promotion dip shit, but to let more folk know the site (or to be more accurate, the information / images on it) exists and is downloadable. The bottom line seems to be that the more ‘likes’ it has the more likely a facebook search on “Babylon 5” will return that page. I don’t think a google search on “Babylon 5” will ever return something like B5Scrolls, even though two sites currently host it.

This is (genuinely) embarrassing as hell to ask, but . . . . .
 
Cheers.

And thanks to the others that risked visiting facebook to “like” the site (you know who you are ; ), the numbers up to 300 and there’s been over 100 new downloads so obviously new fans of the show have found the thing – and the information it contains.

Which, at the end of the day, was the whole point of making a tit of myself by doing this.

ArtSamp.jpg

Or maybe it's just the pile of production concept art.
(A small sample for anyone who ain't seen it yet and are curious. ; )

BTW that new timeline layout for facebook is a twitchy sod.
 
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Ack. Facebook gives me a headache. I have an account but it's "fake" since while it's sometimes necessary to access the site, I have zero interest in being contacted by some random idiot from my school days, neither for that matter do I feel the need to update anyone on what I get up to on a daily basis.

Good work on getting the site out there though!
 
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