TV ZONE special #22 8/96

In today's crowded television market place, Science Fiction series come and go every year. The list of casualties is endless: Space: Above and Beyond, Earth 2, seaQuest, RoboCop... Yet Babylon 5 is still going strong. The third series has been completed, and a fourth has already been commissioned. There are several factors behind Babylon 5's longevity. And aside from the excellence of its storytelling and its impressive production values, high on the list is the fact that it is produced far more cost effectively than any of its rivals. One man who has helped the show achieve this economic means of production is executive producer Doug Netter. "I was the one who really spearheaded putting it together," says Netter, "as always with the great help of Joe Straczynski, who created it and believes in it. It makes it so much easier when you have a creative leader like Joe."

Every Avenue

Netter and Straczynski met on the shortlived Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, and began an excellent working relationship which still thrives over a decade later. When Straczynski approached Doug Netter with the idea of making Babylon 5, the seasoned executive producer explored every avenue available for obtaining financial backers. "At one time we were very seriously in discussion on financing the pilot with four elements ­ Warner Brothers distribution, United Television, a German distributor and a Japanese distributer," he discloses. "Each were going to put up 25%. It was a job for Jesus. It's hard enough with two, but when you're trying to put four elements together, two of which are foreign countries, it was very difficult to satisfy the needs of each. As this was about to either finalize or fall apart, along came the PTEN group [the association of cable stations]. Since we've been previously involved with Dick Robinson at Warners and Evan Thompson at United Television, they liked the idea of bringing it to that group immediately. We made the presentations and they proceeded to make first a pilot and then a series."

Budget

To ensure the show did not go over budget, a number of cost-cutting measures were intiated by the Babylon 5 production team. Special effects were to be achieved using state of the art desktop computer software instead of employing traditional modelwork, scripts were to be written early to allow sufficient planning, and as the show was commissioned for a full season a purpose-built studio complex in North Hollywood was planned. "I had a lot to say on that," says Netter of the special facility. "In syndication you have to make a series at a price because the market is not so strong from the cost point of view. The revenue from the advertisers is not as strong as a network. We insisted on making a quality show at a price, and I think the quality has been shown on the screen better than any other Science Fiction show."

Complex

The Babylon 5 complex was built quickly, with the input of the show's production designer John Iacovelli. "Now it's an authorized, identifiable soundstage," says Netter proudly, "which means that we get certain benefits." How would Netter describe his day-to-day responsibilities on Babylon 5? "The executive producer is really in complete charge of the production," he clarifies. "He has to gather together all of the creative elements: the actors, the wardrobe, the prosthetic, set design. With the help of the producer, he is involved in the choice of the directors for each episode. "Then of course there is working with the writers, but with this particular season Joe Straczynski has written every episode and so it's only liaising with Joe. In my opinion the scripts have been so good that there isn't too much to do in that area. There's also the job of liasing with the distributor, which in this instance is Warner Brothers. We have to liase with the sales department, both foreign and domestic, with promotion and publicity and merchandising and various other departments."

Casting

Netter is also involved with major casting decisions ­ the most significant of which was the casting of Bruce Boxleitner as Captain John Sheridan. "I was certainly heavily involved in that choice, but I never make a decision unilaterally," he explains. "It was such an important decision to make, and that has to be directly involved with Joe as the man who commands the writing. [Producer] John Copeland was also involved, and then you get involved with the thinking of PTEN and Warner Bros distribution ­ they have ideas about the commercial acceptance of people. I don't want you to think that they insist what we do ­ they're very good because we're successful and they like the results and also the creative elements going in. They've been very supportive. But that particular decision was discussed with many people."

Costs

When asked how much an episode of Babylon 5 costs to produce, Netter remains tight-lipped. "I'm not going to say how much it costs," he says. "If I say how much it costs, people think the quality has gone. You look at it and tell me. We've proven that you can make a quality show under controlled circumstances at a price that's acceptable for the syndicated market. It's down to attitude: we have people who want to work hard and get satisfaction out of it. We're proud of that." Always conscious of the programme's need to stay within budget, Netter regularly keeps an eye on each department's expenditure. "Every day I look at the costs," he reveals, "and if I see that any one category is over budget then I will ask why. In most instances this show is run so well that there will be a good reason."

Biggest Yet

With an action-packed storyline that spans a thousand years, the epic War Without End has seen some instances of slight overspending. "This two-parter is the biggest one we've ever done," insists Netter, "and there's a couple of categories that on a day-by-day basis went over. But there was good reason for it, so on an overall basis we are on budget. On a big Science Fiction show like this if it gets out of hand becomes like a snowball coming down the mountain. We gotta stop it before it gets started if you can. We've done that pretty well over the last three years." At the moment, Babylon 5 has two more years to run at most. As Joe Straczynski has often stated, after Season Five there is no more story. "I'm going to try and talk Joe into doing spin-off," reveals Netter. "I don't want to see it over ­ we like doing it. I think the five year arc will be over, but I think the maestro can be talked into creating another. The writing is superb. "The market for Science Fiction seems to be growing. There can be as many Science Fiction shows as there are detective shows and hospital shows. Why not?"

The Two Captains War Without End unites Sinclair and Sheridan on the mission of a lifetime, and it's almost like old times for Michael O'Hare and Bruce Boxleitner, who previously both starred in the tv drama Fly Away Home many years ago. "It was back in the late Seventies." O'Hare recalls of the previous production. "It was supposed to be something not dissimilar to Babylon 5 ­ almost like an anthology. It had this continuing story that interconnected through each episode. An episode was like a chapter in a book." "Michael reminded me of it on the first day when we sat down and had lunch together," continues Bruce Boxleitner. "We did a pilot to a series which had a very large ensemble cast. That was going to be the first Vietnam television epic and we were both in it, although we didn't work together. I didn't even remember him ­ I guess he'd heard of me. ABC chickened out and decided to make a two hour movie and they chopped it all down and it became a terrible debacle."

Babylon 5's five-year story arc is meticulously planned to feed information to the audience in small bites. For example, Season One's A Voice in the Wilderness introduced the highly advanced city on Epsilon 3 which accommodated the all-powerful Great Machine, and Delenn's Minbari friend Draal became its caretaker. The following story, Babylon Squared, introduced the Babylon 4 storyline, and the troll-like Zathras, who appeared on the station from nowhere. A year later, in Season Two's The Long Twilight Struggle, Draal would briefly return, and a throwaway line would reveal that Zathras was one of his servants. In its first draft, War Without End would have shown the two characters on screen together for the first time, as Draal briefs the B5 command crew and sends Zathras on his mission in the White Star. These scenes were changed, however, when actor John Schuck became unavailable. Draal was removed from the script, and many of his lines were given to Delenn, who now explains the mission to her colleagues in the briefing room of the White Star. "Actually I'm glad it worked out that way," Straczynski says positively. "It's better now I've given Draal's material to Delenn, in that it makes her more active in the story. Originally you went from Babylon 5 to Epsilon 3, where Draal is explaining everything, and basically the story stops while you're there."

In the final version Delenn is expaining the story's background while the White Star is heading for Sector 24, which imbues her dialogue with a greater sense of urgency. "I've had a lot of explaining to do," says Mira Furlan, who plays Delenn, of her lengthy scenes of dialogue. "What happened before, what happened after, what will happen... Why things that happened, happened. I really had to read them a few times to get them. This whole thing with Time travelling can be really confusing!"

Had the Draal scene taken place, it could have been shot in the Great Machine set, which is stock scenery stored at the studio. However, Straczynski's rewrite now featured the White Star viewing room, a private area in which the command team can hold their confidential meeting and view archive footage of the last Shadow war. Production designer John Iacovelli was charged with creating the room, without straining the show's budget. "It's a very simple set," says Iacovelli. "I just said, 'We're doing this huge show and we don't have another set for the White Star unless you want to come up with the money. How about if we used pieces from the other White Star set?' We did it like when you go to the movies or a viewing room. What do you see ­ hardly anything. We just got some chairs, and it worked great."

"It's like a virtual Imax theatre," concurs producer John Copeland. "We had to figure out how to do this, and come up with something that would not look like some sort of effects composite in every shot and still be visually interesting and exciting and tell the story. We wanted something that was aesthetically pleasing, and practical on the production side. We needed just to go in there and it not be difficult to shoot in." Delenn selects a crack team to accompany Sinclair on the mission to Babylon 4. The White Star crew comprises Captain Sheridan, Commander Ivanova, Lennier and Marcus Cole, who are later joined by Zathras.

"I'm on the White Star with everyone else," Jason Carter, who plays Marcus, clarifies. "I'm sitting there doing a Chekov in this one!" Although Lennier pilots the ship to B4, he does not go aboard with the others. "Lennier isn't one of the key figures of this particular tale," says Bill Mumy. "He's piloting the White Star, getting us in and out of where we need to go. It's Joe's band, it's Joe's orchestra. Sometimes I'm the lead saxophone and asometimes I'm just a guy with a triangle in the background. But either way you're part of the tune, and I'm just happy to be a part of it."

Watching the filming of War Without End from the sidelines, it is obvious that Bruce Boxleitner and Michael O'Hare are getting on famously. As the scenic crew complete finishing touches to the set of a shuttlecraft ­ a length of tape to hold down the windows. some last-minute drilling to fix a panel in place ­ the two men stand together and chat enthusiastically. On some shows the meeting of two leading men could have resulted in a clash of egos, but on Babylon 5 the atmosphere is relaxed and congenial. The set for the shuttlecraft is small. A self-contained unit, it is raised and on wheels, so it can be moved on and off the soundstage when required. There is no glass in the forward window ­ the reflection of studio lights would ruin the take. Boxleitner, O'Hare and Jason Carter enter the shuttle interior, and strap themselves into their seats, preparing to shoot scene 37 of Episode One, as Sheridan, Marcus Cole and Ambassador Sinclair travel from Babylon 5 to the White Star.

As a studio bell sounds, shooting commences. The script supervisor reads lines for an intercom voice that will be dubbed later: "Shuttle 2 to Shuttle 1, we're clear to proceed". The actors run through the scene, which will be shot from a number of different views.

"The shuttle scene is a classic standard shooting task," Michael O'Hare reveals during a break in filming. "You shoot it from the front, at an angle, and then you go in and cover each person. It's a simple scene ­ three people sitting in seats." Between each take, O'Hare is more introverted, as he prepares to get into the character of the more spiritual Ambassador Sinclair. "I get in the mood," explains the method actor. "I've found myself being more quiet while I've been working on this."

Sitting in the rear chair of the shuttle, Jason Carter also appears laid back ­ but this is not, he insists, due to method acting. "I was relaxed because I was off camera," says Carter. "I was just feeding lines." Unlike many of his co-stars, Carter has never worked with Michael O'Hare before. His opinion of the first Commander of Babylon 5? "He's a terribly nice man, and a good actor!" he enthuses. "My relationship to him is unlike anybody else's who was on the station with him. I never had that experience of him. He was Ranger One and that's it."

As the scene is re-shot, the three actors remain faithful to the words in Joe Straczynski's script. Ad libbing is not welcome to Babylon 5. "It's not that kind of material," notes O'Hare. "It asks that you do all the signs as written. I worked with Bill Cosby last year and we improvised quite a bit, and it was another way of working. This material somehow calls for you say it as written, and if you're laying hints down all the time you can't improvise." Returning to the show after almost two years. O'Hare is surprised to find that little seems to have changed. There are many familiar faces behind the scenes, and although he has not worked with director Mike Vejar before, he has been very impressed so far. "He's a very good director," stresses O'Hare. "He's very specific, very low key, good natured, knows what he wants and gives good simple direction ­ which is what you really want. He's very good with the actors, and very strong visually. He knows how to use the camera." The actor also has many kind words for the show's director of photography John Flinn, who has given Babylon 5 its own unique look over the past three years. "I swear by John Flinn," enthuses O'Hare. "He's been with the show since the very beginning, and he is Babylon 5. He's marvellous. When I was playing the lead of the show, I used to say he was the real Commander. He's a wonderful director of photography, and a good director as well." As the scene is completed, Mike Vejar announces that they will move onto scene 86 of Episode Two, which features Ivanova and Zathras in a corridor on Babylon 4. O'Hare is finished for the day, and eagerly peels off the make-up scar that runs down his left cheek. When asked if the Ambassador will return to B5 univeerse again, the actor reveals he is as much in the dark as the show's fans. "That I don't know," he offers. "It's Science Fiction so you can write anything. I don't know if I would be likely to appear in other episodes. Tell everybody to write in!"

Thanks, Karen H and Claudia!