Babylon 5's use of the Internet

Babylon 5's use of the Internet began in 1991 [Straczynski's first fan-archived post, to GEnie, is from November 1991, and clearly references earlier discussions now lost to time. (See [http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-7688 "Babylon 5 is the name of a particular place where our story takes place."] by J. Michael Straczynski, November 20, 1991. Archived at [http://www.jmsnews.com JMSNews.com] , accessed September 3, 2007.) The first Google Groups-archived USENET post is from 1993 (cite newsgroup | title = Re: Passage through jumpgates (first recorded Usenet post by J. Michael Straczynski) | author = Straczynski, J. Michael | date = July 7, 1993 | newsgroup = alt.tv.babylon-5 | id = [e-mail] | url = http://groups.google.com/group/alt.tv.babylon-5/msg/96db83d50eff6a97 | accessdate = 2007-09-03 )] with the creator of the series, J. Michael Straczynski (JMS) who participated in a number of Internet venues to discuss elements of his work with his fans, [cite newsgroup | title = The power of B5 fans - from jms | author = Straczynski, J. Michael | date = December 5, 2001 | newsgroup = rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated | id = [e-mail] | url = http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated/msg/5d434034310d2499 | accessdate = 2007-09-03 ] including the rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5 Usenet newsgroup, where he continues to communicate as of March 2007. [cite newsgroup | title = Re: ATTN JMS Questions | author = Straczynski, J. Michael | date = March 11, 2007 | newsgroup = rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated | id = [e-mail] | url = http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated/msg/5ab455672df61cf1 | accessdate = 2007-09-03] This flow of information and feedback had substantial impact on "Babylon 5" as well as JMS's other shows and his fan base. This interaction pre-dated the coining of the term "blog", but is functionally similar.

Internet marketing

"Babylon 5" was one of the first shows to employ Internet marketing to create a buzz among online readers far in advance of the airing of the pilot episode. Straczynski participated in online communities on Usenet (in the rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated newsgroup), and the GEnie and Compuserve systems before the web came together as it exists today. Also during this time, Warner Bros. executive Jim Moloshok created and distributed electronic trading cards to help advertise the series. [web cite | url=http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-13730 | title=JMSNews: The J. Michael Straczynski Message Archive | accessdate=2008-08-08] In 1995, Warner Bros. started the Official Babylon 5 web site which was hosted on the now defunct Pathfinder portal. In September 1995 they hired a fan, Troy Rutter, to take over the site and move it not only to its own domain name at www.babylon5.com, but also to oversee the Keyword B5 area on America Online. The fans continued to play an important role in the development of the series and the online support campaign is credited with helping persuade former PTEN station owners to carry the fourth season of the show in 1996.

Over the course of the series, Warner Bros. encouraged the use of pictures and images on fan web sites, and eventually created a home-page community called AcmeCity where users could create a homepage using logos and graphics without fear of lawsuits.

Fan influences

*One of the largest fan-created web sites, The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5 was given a nod on the show by having its root URL at the time, Hyperion, featured as a name of a heavy cruiser.
*Straczynski hired John E. Hudgens, a fan of the show and later the "Babylon 5" section sysop on GEnie, to create promotional music videos for the show after seeing the original one Hudgens did on his own. They collaborated on eight total, and Straczynski would often use one as his introduction at convention appearances. Straczynski commissioned the fifth one ("Welcome to the Third Age") to be his pitch reel to sell the show to TNT.
*The spatial location of the B5 station itself is stated as “Grid Epsilon coordinates: 470/18/22.” This came about because Straczynski was touched by an outpouring of support from the GEnie SFRT (Science Fiction and Fantasy RoundTable) community in regards to a potential letter-writing campaign that turned out not to be needed after all. He was still grateful, however, and asked how he could show his appreciation. An SFRT participant suggested placing the station at the 3D spatial coordinates corresponding to the GEnie Page (#470, for original SFRT), CATegory (#18, for Non-Trek SF TV Series), and TOPic (#22, for Babylon 5) of the then-only official B5 Topic on GEnie (the strange capitalization of CATegory and TOPic refers to the fact that GEnie was command-line-based and allowed commands to be abbreviated to three letters). Straczynski agreed and added that info to the series bible used by episode writers. The “Grid Epsilon” part was his own touch, based on the first two initials (which were usually both capitalized) of GEnie itself [since it was originally a GE (General Electric) property] . [ [http://www.midwinter.com/b5/GEnie/jms92-04 GEnie SFRT thread archive of JMS posts only (posts from others removed).] Accessed March 25, 2008.]
*A fictional chemical substance called Quantium-40 was mentioned after Straczynski conducted a contest online to name the substance.
*A Fresh Aire Restaurant waiter was named David after David Strauss, who came up with the name Quantium-40.
*The "Babylon 5" pilot, "," originally featured music by former Police drummer Stewart Copeland. After "B5" was greenlighted Straczynski solicited suggestions on GEnie for a replacement composer. Some replies suggested former Tangerine Dream member Christopher Franke, who eventually landed the gig. [ [http://www.midwinter.com/b5/GEnie/jms93-09 GEnie SFRT thread archive of JMS posts only] . Accessed September 3, 2007.]
*A contest was conducted in conjunction with Sound Source Interactive called the "Mystery Alien Sweepstakes," the grand-prize was portraying an alien on the show.
*Babylon 5 fans on the Internet have popularized the <*> symbol ("The ASCII Jumpgate") as a sort of "secret handshake" to recognize each other online. In 1994, a birthday card for Straczynski was sent around the U.S. to many of the avid posters on the rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon-5 newsgroup. While the card was being circulated, clues were given on the newsgroup, denoted by the symbol <*>, and the jumpgate symbol continued to be used thereafter. Since Warner Bros. was not heavily marketing the show, a fan named Elana manufactured Jumpgate Pins which were very popular, wearable jewelry. [ [http://www.jumpgatepins.com/ Jumpgate pins] . Accessed October 14, 2006.]
*A third season episode ("Passing Through Gethsemane") was originally developed during the second season but had to be "scuttled" [cite web | url=http://www.jmsnews.com/thread.aspx?id=_=%20Original%20Ideas%20=,%20etc. | title=Re:" Original Ideas ", etc. | author=Straczynski, J. Michael | date=February 21, 1996] because a fan posted a story idea on GEnie that matched the plot of the episode. Legal steps had to be taken to clear the situation up before the story could be put back into the production pipeline. A moderated version of the Usenet group was created in order to filter out posting of story ideas.

ee also

* Babylon 5 influences
* Spoo

References