Now back to Micheal and Peter..... =========================================
Audience question on whether Micheal will keep creative control of Babylon 5.
Micheal... Will I keep control. Yes. Because there won't be a Babylon 5 without me.
Audience question on why Micheal choose Harlan Ellison toe be creative consultant.
Micheal....Why did I choose Harlan Ellison as a creative consultant? {deadpan} Because Heinlein was dead! [Audience laugh} Because, I knew him, he has worked in TV, and he was going to kill me if I didn't.
Audience question on how Micheal got the story for Babylon 5
Micheal... The story was a process. I wanted to show before the war, during the war, and after the war. I wanted to show the process [by which you might] go from a democratic society, to a military society, to a totalianism society. Internal wars are the most bloody, our own American civil war, for example.
Peter... Harlan [Ellison] was going to be invited to Israel. [Harlan was asked by the officials what he thought about the fighting and conflict in the Middle East] Harlan said "All of us think you're crazy. What we would really like to do is build a big wall, open it every 50 years and say 'Have you stopped fighting yet?', if not, we close the door for another 50 years." [Neddless to say, Harlan did not go to Israel].
Audience question on which literay work Peter would like to see made in to a movie.
Peter.... I would like to see the book "Exotic" made into a movie. Yes. [But} Star Trek is a closed shop. Let's see, the studio is going to give you $250,000 to write the script. Are you going to do it yourself, or give it to the shmuck [Peter] in New York? [Peter leans forward and places microphone to head - pretending to think] - Let's do it ourselves!
Micheal....I wrote the first [Babylon 5}] novel for DC and Peter wrote the next two.
Audience question for Micheal on line changes.
Micheal.....If someone had a good idea, I'd be a fool not to use it. On occasion, the cast will come to me with line changes. [and if it's a good idea we change the line].
