I’ve bought all of the Babylon 5 script books that were put out by the B5 Books team over the past few years, just because it was a cool way to relive the show that I’d put so much time and love into over the past 15 years.
I may have reached my limit, though, with the newest venture — a 5-volume collection of Joe Straczynski’s answers to 5,296 B5/Crusade questions, from all the various online boards he’s been on since 1991. At $30/pop, that’s an awful lot of cash for questions that I’ve (a) mostly read already from the fifteen years of haunting those self-same boards, and (b) found to be lavishly quoted already online at various B5 sites.
So … I am going to have to take a pass on this effort for the moment. Joe was one of the earliest TV creators to actively participate in online discussions of his work (primarily B5), for which he deserves almost as much kudos for as his ground-breaking work. I just don’t need to acquire that much trivia that I already know. 🙂
There are FAR more interesting books to spend your $30 on, fo’ sho’!
It was really cool that JS rolled around in the online trenches with the fans. It’s rather rare even now to see that level of participation, and back in the “old days,” most of the movers & shakers in Hollywood wouldn’t be caught dead online (most often because they hadn’t a clue how to even get there!). Who can say how much brand-loyalty was gained by his being willing to do chats and play on the boards? He can sell a book after all this time, so that’s something!
Random B5-related factoids:
I was the Admin for the WB Message boards, and there were at least 3 separate occasions where management wanted to kill the Babylon 5 boards. I went to bat to keep them because the community there were some of our most active and long-lasting members.
One day a few years ago while I was strolling through the Renaissance Pleasure Faire, a masked woman grabbed me and kissed me full on the lips (the first and last time that’s ever happened to wholly hetero me). When I looked closer, so I could perhaps identify this Kissing Bandit, I realized it was none other than Ivanova herself, Claudia Christian! Rumor has it she was quite naughty that faire season; and I just another notch in her belt.
I have to say if I weren’t such a JMS board follower, I’d be sorely tempted by the books. But I have been, so I’m not.
And, yes, I think Joe’s involvement in the online community was a serious boost to show loyalty and loyalty to his subsequent efforts.
Thanks for the factoids, OB!