COMPLETE
DETAILS ABOUT VOLUME 15
Why
Volume 15 is Not For Sale
(and never will be and what's in it)
Volume 15 is not for sale and never will be. It
is only available as a free gift for folks who go the distance
with the 14-volume set. And by the way, when we
say “free” we mean “free.” Even the shipping/handling
is paid for by us and that includes international fans.
What
makes Volume 15 so special is that it is packed with never-before-seen
material from Joe’s vault. So what’s in Volume 15
you ask? Here’s what J. Michael Straczynski has to say:
»
THE
LOST SCRIPT FOR “SOUL HUNTER”
“Remember the lost script for “Soul Hunter,”
of which only 5 copies existed before I pulled them back, destroyed
all but one copy for my files, and wrote a brand new script
to replace it...all because it felt too much like a Star Trek
script? It also features a comic sub-plot concerning B5 being
audited.”
»
UNRELEASED
DRAFT OF “AND THE SKY, FULL OF STARS”
“Nearly a year before we began writing episode scripts,
before we had the series commitment, Warner Bros. wanted to
see what a typical episode might look like. So I wrote a draft
of “And the Sky, Full of Stars,” one of our most
important episodes, that is massively different from what we
would later produce...including fantasy sequences with Knight
Two as the proprieter of a dark carnival of sorts.”
»
THE
BABYLON 5 WRITER’S BIBLE
At the launch of the series, JMS wrote a document to be used
by additional writers as an overview, reference and guide to
the general feel about the show. This report-length communiqué,
written 6 months before season one began production, provides
a comprehensive look at the characters, the Babylon 5 universe,
as well as the kind of stories that were going to be told.
»
BREAKDOWN
OF THE ENTIRE 5-YEAR STORY ARC WITH SINCLAIR
“For over ten years, fans have asked “What would
Babylon 5 have been like had Sinclair stayed?” After we
finished the movie, but before we got the series going, WB asked
to see a breakdown on this five-year arc thingie. So I wrote
a six or seven page, single spaced outline of the entire five
years with Sinclair still in place. The document makes for fascinating
reading when compared with the series as it developed. Not only
that, but the same document has a brief outline for A POTENTIAL
BABYLON 5 SEQUEL SERIES, which would have been entitled BABYLON
PRIME.”
»
THE
“LEGENDARY” ALTERNATE VERSION OF “THE EXERCISE
OF VITAL POWERS”
This is the secret script written as an elaborate practical
joke on the actors, which contains the Londo/G’Kar seduction
scene.
Again, Volume 15 is not for sale. It is
only available for free as a thank-you to folks who buy all
14 volumes set.
Complete
details about the proof of purchase are available by clicking
here.
NEWS
FLASH #1:
JMS IS SIGNING ALL VOLUME 15s
Are you sitting down?
We were
having our regular pow-wow with J. Michael Straczynski, detailing
the status of Volume 15. JMS told us that while he was adding
one big, bonus piece of content (which you'll read about in
Good News #2), he also wanted to do something extra special
for the fans as a thank you for their patience and loyalty to
the script books.
"You
could sign them," we replied in unison, half-chuckling,
as if JMS would lock himself up for weeks to sign every Volume
15.
"That's
what I was thinking," he replied.
Stunned
silence. We knew he wasn't kidding.
So that's
what he's doing. Right now. As you read this. Signing.
Actually,
to be more specific, he's signing the title page of each book,
and the signed title page will be bound with the rest of the
pages for Volume 15.
To do this,
we paused production on Volume 15, dispatched a FedEx convoy
that arrived at an undisclosed location -- fondly referred to
by the team as the "Signing Bunker" -- and off-loaded
box after box after box after box of these title pages.
Signing
stations were set-up throughout the Signing Bunker. Each station
has a table with a stack of title pages and a fresh-out-of-the-box
pile of red Sharpie pens. If you were to climb up on a ladder
all you'd see is row after row of these signing stations and,
a speck at one of them, hunched over.
(Important
note: J. Michael Straczynski is signing his name only. In other
words, these aren't personally inscribed, meaning that they
don't include a salutation such as "To John". If you
would like JMS to inscribe your book, he's happy to do that
during signings at his personal appearances.)
Once JMS
is done signing all the title pages, the FedEx convoy will return
to haul the pages back across country to Cafepress, who will
reunite the signed title pages with the rest of Volume 15's
contents, and then bind them.
So that's
the first big piece of good news. Your Volume 15 will arrived
SIGNED.
NEWS
FLASH #2:
JMS HAS ADDED MORE CONTENT TO VOLUME 15
JMS has
added a new goodie to Volume 15 that he describes as "the
most staggering document to appear in any of these volumes.
A Rosetta Stone, if you will, to the whole series of script
books."
This Rosetta
Stone is called "Joe Cuts."
Joe Cuts
is an inventory of every variation between all 92 scripts in
the 14-volume series and what you've seen on the DVDs. In other
words, a script archivist compared every single line of every
single script to what is in the episode on DVD, and itemized
those differences, line by line, shot by shot, scene by scene.
Here's an
example of one entry:
