Never mind the initial; that's just his stage name, the name he's published under. In person, J. Michael Straczynski insists that you call him Joe.

It helps set people at ease, you see. He sometimes talks about meeting fans who are terrified of him, so frightened they tremble nervously when approaching him for an autograph, and he always takes a moment to calm them down, to let them know that it's all right. It's just Joe.

But it ought to be expected: Joe Straczynski is one of a circle of writers--Straczynski, Peter David, Harlan Ellison--who have picked up a reputation for moodiness and impatience with quivering fanboys. And at a burly six and a half feet tall, Straczynski has the physical presence to match. Not to mention his pivotal role in the recent development of popular science fiction. Is it any wonder that fans, overly excitable at the best of times, get a little rocky when they meet him?

It doesn't help if you catch him at an early appearance. "Harlan Ellison says that only one thing really frightens him," Straczynski says, "and that's seeing me in the morning before caffeine."

J. Michael Straczynski--Joe, that is--is most famous as the creator of Babylon 5, the award-winning syndicated television series which originally aired from 1993 to 1998, accompanied by the TV movies In the Beginning, The River of Souls, Thirdspace, and A Call to Arms. Straczynski followed Babylon 5 with a second series, Crusade, also intended to follow a core cast over a five-season storyline; but it was cancelled after shooting only thirteen episodes, before the series even hit the air, after irreconcilable differences between Straczynski and the creative offices of TNT.

Before Babylon 5, Straczynski worked on a number of shows as writer and producer, mainly the 1980s reincarnation of The Twilight Zone, Murder, She Wrote, and several children's cartoons; he also published the horror novels Demon Night and Othersyde, hosted Hour 25--a weekly Los Angeles science fiction radio talk show--for five years, and published a bestselling manual on scriptwriting which became a standard text in many colleges. Last year, he made the news again when he began negotiations with X-Files mastermind Chris Carter to work together on a new television series, to be called The World on Fire. And he is writing two comic books for Top Cow, the best-selling Rising Stars and the recently released Midnight Nation.

At the World Horror Convention 2000, and again at Wizard World 2000 in Chicago, Straczynski answered many questions about Babylon 5, Crusade, Rising Stars, The World on Fire, and many other projects past, present, and future.

Babylon 5 and Crusade

Straczynski is involved in projects for every medium, from online serials to comic books to television, but Babylon 5 is still the story on every science fiction fan's mind. While B5 employed a number of directors and writers over the years, it was Joe's story, from the moment he conceived it--he's said the entire five-year arc came to him in a flash of inspiration--through the intricate plotlines it explored over the years, to the final episodes; virtually the entire fifth season was written by Straczynski alone.

To fans who were there from the beginning, the fact that Babylon 5 survived to see its story finished is a wonder: the summers between every season were filled with anxiety as the cast, crew, and fans waited to find out if it would be renewed. When Warner Bros. decided to drop the show after the fourth season, it was saved at the last minute by TNT, which saw it through to the end... only to cancel Crusade, the follow-up show, before a single episode had aired. TNT wanted Crusade to be a much more violent and sexual show than Straczynski had written, with the already-rakish Captain Gideon as sort of a blackmailing interstellar Lothario. "Unlike Babylon 5," Straczynski says, "Crusade was not a known commodity." TNT wanted its own stamp on the show, and the Atlanta business offices of TNT intruded more and more on Straczynski's dealings with TNT's Los Angeles-based creative offices. Straczynski, always zealously protective of his creations, would not budge. And so Crusade was gone.

Still frustrated with the way Crusade was handled and cancelled, Straczynski has no concrete plans yet to continue it in another format. He plotted Crusade out for a five-year storyline, though not with the detail with which he had plotted Babylon 5. The 13th (and final) episode, he says, offers some hints at what was to come: the plague which was the impetus for the show's beginning was not the whole story. The crew would have found a cure in the second season, setting the stage for the greater conflicts and storylines of the five-year arc.

Many of the questions raised by the short-lived series will be answered in the upcoming Techno Mage trilogy: the novels will deal with the origins of Techno Mage power in ancient Shadow technology, and the flight of the Techno Mages at the outbreak of the Shadow War. The trilogy is now being written by Jeanne Cavelos, and Straczynski has said it might wind up being his favorite yet, since it will interweave with much of the Babylon 5 storyline.

Unfortunately for fans, there are no B5 novels planned past the Techno Mage trilogy. Straczynski himself still pens a short story here and there, though, which will give die-hard fans something to look for. Recently Amazing Stories magazine published "Space, Time, and the Incurable Romantic", a short story describing the fate of Marcus Cole, the Ranger who--apparently--died saving his beloved Ivanova from a mortal wound. (The opening line: "Much to his own surprise, Marcus Cole breathed deeply." If you want the story, find the magazine.)

What about a Babylon 5 movie? Straczynski is optimistic but patient: "If there's a Gilligan's Island movie and a Brady Bunch movie, then, God willing, there'll be a B5 movie." He has already written a treatment, but he would say little about the plot, except that it may involve the Telepath Wars and the Psi-Corps, and "There will be Vorlons involved."

In the meantime, we'll have to settle for reruns. Babylon 5 begins on the Sci-Fi Channel on September 25, 2000. U.S. audiences will see it for the first time in wide-screen format.

Straczynski is always enthusiastic about his fans. As he sees it, something about B5 seemed to bring out the best in its fans, who have always been uncommonly helpful and friendly. But while he was famous for responding daily to fans' questions and concerns about Babylon 5 online, via America Online, GEnie, Compuserve, Usenet, and by e-mail, he wouldn't repeat the process. Like many celebrities, he was turned off by cyberstalkers--one sent him e-mail with a virus which wiped out three scripts and half his hard drive, replacing all with a single line of text: "Star Trek Rules."

But while Straczynski expresses bafflement at the heat of the rivalry between Babylon 5 and the more venerable Star Trek, he mentions with pride a notice that appeared on a NASA bulletin board several years back: "Don't apply a Star Trek solution to a Babylon 5 problem!" And B5 fans always get a kick out of "The Phantom B5 Video," a reel put together by the crew to celebrate the show's five-year run. With action from all five seasons of B5 set to the score of The Phantom Menace, the reel opens with a Star Wars-style crawl of text:

"Through five seasons, Babylon 5 influenced many, inspired others, and was imitated by those in Deep Space...."

That sense of humor and loyalty is only one of the many things which set the show apart.

Fun, Pranks, and Being a Vengeful Son of a Bitch

Any panel with J. Michael Straczynski is likely to be punctuated with anecdotes from his days helming Babylon 5. Throughout the show's turbulent run, a sense of esprit de corps grew among the cast and crew, many of whom shared the same wicked sense of humor as the man who started it all, Straczynski himself. Here are a few of those stories.

The Andreas Kulatas Story

The scene: a Babylon 5 convention in Pasadena, a standing-room-only crowd, and Straczynski was late. Asked to keep the fans happy until Straczynski showed up, actors Peter Jurasik (Londo) and Andreas Katsulas (Londo's archrival, G'Kar) went on stage and roped the crowd into a little gag: don't say a thing when Joe comes on stage. Don't clap, don't cheer, don't whistle, don't do anything. Eventually, of course, Straczyinski arrived. He took the stage: nothing. Silence. Crickets. He checked the mike - no problem. He talked to the crowd. He told stories. He told jokes. No response. Five full minutes of flop-sweat. Agony. Finally, Katsulas and Jurasik came on stage, giggling, and the crowd stood up and went nuts.

Time passed. Months went by. Occasionally Katsulas or Jurasik would feel him out, hesitantly: "So, that stunt at the convention, all's forgotten, eh?"

"Nope."

In the middle of the next season, he sent out the script for an upcoming episode. In the episode, Katsulas' character, the reptilian G'Kar, collapses in a sudden physiological transformation triggered by great stress. The doctor says there's nothing to be done about it.

Cut to Londo's room, dark. He's awakened by someone at the door. It's G'Kar, silhouetted against the light of a hallway.

Now female.

"You may have conquered my people," G'Kar tells Lonodo, "but you've never conquered me. Until now."

Cut to the afterglow, the two of them in bed.

"I hope I didn't hurt you," says Londo. "I didn't mean to use all six; it just happened..."

Straczynski sent the script out, the same as every other script. It went to all the actors, it went to make-up, to the effects department, everyone. Jerry Doyle found him first, saying he "just happened to be in the neighborhood" of the set (which is in an industrial sprawl not close to any neighborhood). "This was so funny! What a great gag!" "It's not a gag," Straczynski told him. "We're shooting this." Doyle nodded, mumbled excuses, and took off.

Another cast member approached Straczynski, and others called. His response was deadpan: "This is the real script. We are shooting this."

Finally, Peter Jurasik himself found Straczynski. "Joe," he said, "we can't shoot this!"

Straczynski says he still treasures his response, a line he had been saving up all that time: "Peter, I'm producing, directing, overseeing writers, and writing scripts myself. I'm working fourteen, sixteen hours a day. I don't have time to write a script we aren't going to use."

Hook, line, and sinker.

Of course, he couldn't help have a few people fall for the gag in ways he didn't want. The prosthetics department was thrilled at the challenge of creating effects for G'kar's transformation. And after the script made the rounds, a couple of guys from make-up told him that they had friends who were transgendered, and how thrilled they were that their show was treating the issue with such maturity and sensitivity. "I felt like an assassin," says Straczynski.

And then Andreas Katsulas himself finally found Straczynski. He took out his wallet and held up a news clipping about Straczynski's success in landing Babylon 5. "I've carried this clipping in my pocket in tribute to you ever since this show began," he said. "Now, you can have it." He turned, shoulders slumped, and walked away.

Only then, after stringing them all along for three or four days, did Straczynski send the real script around.

"They knew I was gonna get 'em," says Straczynski, "because I'm a vengeful son of a bitch."

The Teddy Bear Story

Die-hard B5 fans may remember an episode in which a teddy bear was angrily ejected from the station's airlock. Well, there's a story behind that.

Or, as a fan put it at Wizard World: "What was up with the teddy bear?"

And, as Straczynski replied: "You're an evil person."

Comics and science fiction author Peter David, the author of a number of B5 episodes and novels, was not pleased with how Straczynski handled one of his Babylon 5 scripts. A long-time friend of Straczynski and Harlan Ellison, and famous for his biting wit in columns and appearances, David knew that Straczynski HATES anything cute. So he sent him an adorable, fluffy teddy bear to show his lack of appreciation.

That same teddy bear was shot into space in an episode of Babylon 5. But not before David and Straczynski went at it over the incident.

David scripted an episode of a different show in which a virus hit a planet: a virus packaged in teddy bears, sent by the evil alien Straczynskies.

In retaliation, JMS hired a guy in a teddy bear suit to follow David around at a convention. Unfortunately, he didn't send a picture of David to the actor, and that was his undoing: Peter David spotted the man in the teddy bear suit and immediately knew what was up. He went up to the man and told him, "You know, Peter David just left." The actor shrugged, said thanks, and went on his way, leaving David with the upper hand in the great teddy bear feud.

JMS on Jerry Doyle's run for Congress

On the set of B5 there were people from both sides of the political spectrum. Bruce Boxleitner (Captain Sheridan) and Jerry Doyle (Security Chief Garibaldi), both conservatives, would often butt heads with liberals like Straczynski and Jason Carter (Ranger Marcus Cole). JMS recalled one lunch when Boxleitner and Carter were arguing, "going at it hammer and tongs," until Carter angrily jumped up and grabbed his (prop) fighting staff, and Boxleitner jumped up and grabbed his (prop) plasma pistol. "Bloody Americans!" yelled Carter. "Go for the gun every time!"

But Straczynski says that as much as he disagrees with Doyle's political views, he would vote for him because he knows Doyle is honest and straightforward about what he believes. "With Jerry, what you see is what you get." With a writer who has fought at every turn for the integrity of his stories, that kind of character goes a long way.

The World on Fire and Other TV Projects

Last fall, science fiction fans may remember news that made the usual rumormills about Chris Carter and J. Michael Straczynski teaming up for a television show. The prospect of the creator of The X-Files joining with the creator of Babylon 5 was enough to pique fan interest across the Internet. But no sooner had the news hit, the deal was called off, leaving everyone wondering what exactly had happened.

The show was to be called The World on Fire, and Straczynski has said little about the concept except that it would be mostly mainstream with science fiction elements. It developed when Carter approached Straczynski with the simple suggestion that they do a project together. In early meetings they got along well, and Straczynski pitched several story ideas. The riskiest he saved for last. It would be dangerous, new, expensive, something which had never been done before. "This one will take stones the size of Manhattan to pull off," he said. When he laid it all out, Carter's eyes gleamed. They went for it.

In a round of negotiations, Straczynski, Carter, and Carter's partner Frank Spotnitz got Fox Networks and Fox Studios aboard, and they entered negotiations with CBS to broadcast the show. In the last stages of negotiations, though, only a day or so away from signing the deal, Fox Networks cancelled Carter's Harsh Realm after its third episode. And with a $2 billion investment in Carter and The X-Files, Fox Studios got nervous. As Straczynski said, "If they cancel you after 3 episodes, that's a rebuke." Fox Studios, desperate to justify its investment in Carter, blamed the failure of Harsh Realm on the fact that it originated in a comic book, a property created by someone other than Carter. And any future properties backed by Fox would have to be 100% Chris Carter.

Unlike, say, The World on Fire.

Fox pulled its support, and before the deal could be signed, CBS had quit the project as well. As Straczynski points out, if Fox had waited even one more episode to cancel Harsh Realm, The World on Fire would be airing this fall.

Carter and Straczynski have talked since then, and they hoped to pitch The World on Fire again this year for a 2001 airing, but both are involved in other projects. For now, The World on Fire is on hiatus.

Straczynski is still involved with television, though. He returned briefly this year to a series that he worked on for many seasons: he scripted a TV movie for Murder, She Wrote which will air this year.

And most recently he has been offered a new series. Since it's still in negotiations, though, he could not say anything more about it.

Comics, Novels, and the Internet

Straczynski loves writing for comics. He's a big Captain America fan, he told Wizard World, but "I'm a DC brat." He owns Superman memorabilia dating to the 1940s. ("I've got George Reeves' cup in my back yard!")

And he would love to write for DC, but he is still at odds with DC publisher Paul Levitz over the handling of DC's Babylon 5 comic book, which JMS says they treated like a "dumbed-down merchandising throwaway." When he objected, they refused to give him creative control over the comics; so he withdrew the license, end of deal.

If sales and critical acclaim are any indication (and what else is there?), it's DC's loss. Rising Stars, his now-famous title with Top Cow Comics, remains a best-seller nine issues into a 24-issue run. The story of small-town children who superpowers from a nearby meteor crash, Rising Stars already shows some of the scope which made Babylon 5 famous: it will cover 65 years in the characters' lives, and Straczynski has great leeway in the book's format; issue #9, for instance, opens with a 12-page faux-Newsweek article. He has recently concluded a deal for a Rising Stars movie, but as of Wizard World 2000 the deal was too new for him to talk directors, actors, or crew.

With the success of Rising Stars, Top Cow offered Straczynski his own imprint ("Joe's Comics"), and he was glad to take them up on it. Midnight Nation, the first title from Joe's Comics, will be a 12-issue series about a detective with the LAPD who loses his soul and goes out across the country to find it. The series has been called "Lovecraftian" before, and JMS described it as "supernatural, quasi-sf, quasi-something else." A preview copy available at Wizard World was as creepy and compelling as all that might imply.

Straczynski also has a new novel, Tribulations, which can be read for free at Bookface.com and will be available for purchase in print from DarkTales.com. Tribulations is a contemporary dark fantasy which, according to bookface.com, "offers equal portions of scares, humor, action, strong and colorful characters, while at the same time taking pot shots at the journalism profession, new age bookstores, the LAPD, psychics, politics, show business, TV news, fringe groups and agents."

Finally, he has City of Dreams, an audio serial drama released through scifi.com's Seeing Ear Theatre. Slated for 13 weekly episodes, City of Dreams is an eerie collection of stories in the vein of The Twilight Zone (for which Straczynski wrote in its brief 1980s incarnation), featuring performers like Steve Buscemi, Andre Braugher, Tim Curry, and Campbell Scott.

Straczynski is the kind of writer that new writers would love to be. He writes for ten hours a day, six days a week, and he's never met a writer's block he couldn't get around. He's got his work in print, in comics, on the Internet, on television, and soon in movies. But even with all that he has on the air and in print now, it won't be long before something new comes along, and that's something for which all science fiction fans can be glad.

Originally appeared at Zealot.com:
http://www.zealot.com/features/archives/callhimjoe.php3