Babylon 5 Books From Creator Straczynski > Echoes - Frequently Asked Questions Untitled Document ABOUT THE "ECHOES"

6-VOLUME SERIES

Volume 1

Released March 14

Signed by

Peter Jurasik



Volume 2

Released April 11

Signed by

Bruce Boxleitner

Volume 3

Released May 16

Signed by

Claudia Christian

Volume 4

Released June 13

Signed by

Mira Furlan



Volume 5

Released July 11

Signed by

Jerry Doyle

Volume 6

Released August 15

Signed by

Bill Mumy FAQ ABOUT THE 6-VOLUME SERIES



WHAT IS INCLUDED IN EACH OF THE RELEASES?

1) 350+ page book with 20-40 complete transcripts of interviews with the Babylon 5 stars and key crew members conducted while the show was in production. Each book also includes at least 20-30 never-before-seen photos, sketches or in-house documents.

2) Personally autographed by one of the Babylon 5 stars.

3) Note to the fans from the star.

4) Quote postcard by the Babylon 5 character played by the autographing star.

5) Bookmark with a quote selected by the star.

6) Audio CD interview that includes two or more of the show's main cast or key crew members, recorded during the filming of Babylon 5. Transcripts of these interviews are NOT included in the book. They are audio only.

IS THIS A LIMITED-EDITION SERIES?

Yes. The six volumes were released one per month for six months, from March through August 2012. For the first 7 days of each release they were discounted $20 off. They will never be discounted again after their "debut" discount.



While the series was originally scheduled to go out of print in September 2012, fans have asked that we keep them on sale through the holidays. This means they will now be available at through December 31, 2012 and possibly beyond.



IMPORTANT NOTE: While the series will remain available beyond the initial date, the volumes will NEVER be discounted again after their 7 day debut discount of $20 off.



WHERE DID THESE INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS COME FROM?

Journalist Joe Nazzaro, who started interviewing the Babylon 5 cast and crew in 1992 before the pilot aired, and continued through the conclusion of the series and subsequent television movies (including the 2007 DVD release Babylon 5: The Lost Tales).



THIS SERIES HAS BEEN DESCRIBED AS "HOLOGRAPHIC." WHAT DO YOU MEAN?

When B5 started shooting, a crew member remarked to J. Michael Straczynski that the show was "holographic" because each subsequent script shed new light on all the preceding scripts. The same principle applies here. Though presented in chronological order, the interview transcripts in this series were conducted at different times, with different people, BUT on the same subjects. Therefore, you get multiple perspectives on the episodes, people and events. Each interview will "shed new light on all the preceding" interviews.

WHAT WILL I LEARN FROM THIS SERIES IF I ALREADY HAVE THE JMS SCRIPT BOOKS?

The JMS 15 Volume Limited-Edition Script Series contained 800+ pages of introductions to the scripts that detailed his perspective of events. Echoes of All Our Conversations is the flip-side, featuring 2,100+ pages of detail told by more than 50 people.

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?"

Please forgive this non-answer, but it's the truth: we can't commit to a specific release date for the balance of the HELL series for reasons that will be clear when the rest of that series is released. ARE THERE SCRIPTS IN THESE VOLUMES?

There are no scripts in any of these volumes. This series is strictly a collection of transcripts of "as-it-happened" interviews, never-before-seen photographs and the hand-signed autographs of one of the stars. The contents are similar to "CRUSADE: Behind the Scenes."



PLEASE DEFINE EXACTLY WHAT YOU MEAN BY LIMITED EDITION.

These books will never, ever be available again. This compilation under a different title will never, ever be available again. Really. Name any ploy used by an unscrupulous "limited edition" publisher and know that we will not do that.



That said, it is probable some of the content will be available somewhere else, someday, separately. "Separately" is the key word here. For example, one of the interviews could be republished in another book.



WHAT IF I DON'T LIKE IT? WHAT IS YOUR REFUND POLICY?

You can return it for a 100% refund. You will be refunded (1) what you paid, (2) shipping charges to receive it and (3) the cost to return. This policy extends to international customers as well. Just email us your order number at help@b5books.com.

I'M GOING TO BE OUT OF TOWN DURING THE $20 OFF DEBUT DISCOUNT OF THE NEXT RELEASE, HELP.

Email us at help@B5books.com before you head out of town. When you return, send us an email and we will respond with a personalized link that will give you the $20 off. ARE THE INTERVIEWS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER? WILL IT MAKE SENSE TO READ THEM WHEN RE-WATCHING THE SERIES TO GET BEHIND-THE-SCENES INFO ON WHAT'S GOING ON ON-SCREEN?

Yes, they are mostly in chronological order, and yes, it does make sense to read them while rewatching the series. In part, this is the reason every interview transcript lists the episode being filmed as well as the episode being aired when the interview was conducted, so that you have this context. THIS SERIES IS SIMILAR TO "CRUSADE: BEHIND THE SCENES?"

Exactly. Those interview transcripts were also from Joe Nazzaro's source material. WHAT PART OF THE BABYLON 5 PRODUCTION TIME LINE DOES THIS SERIES COVER?

The interviews, which are mostly presented in chronological order, begin a few months after The Gathering was shot in the summer of 1992, and conclude with the production of The Lost Tales in 2007. Fifteen years of as-it-happened Babylon 5 history. WOULD YOU EVER MAKE THIS SERIES AND SIMILAR RELEASES AVAILABLE AS AN E-BOOK?

Unfortunately no because our contract prohibits us from e-releases. WHAT IS THE FULL QUOTE THAT CONTAINS THE PHRASE "ECHOES OF ALL OUR CONVERSATIONS?"

G'Kar, "Objects in Motion," Season 5, Episode 20:

I believe that when we leave a place, part of it goes with us...and a part of us remains. Go anywhere in this station, when it is quiet, and just listen. After a while, you will hear the echoes of all of our conversations, every thought and word we've exchanged. Long after we are gone, our voices will linger in these walls, for as long as this place remains. WHY DO YOU INCLUDE AN AUDIO CD INSTEAD OF AN MP3?

To preserve audio quality. The masters of these recordings are mediocre. They have been remixed by a top-rate engineer to enhance the clarity of the voices. Transfering them to audio CD -- which is lossless -- means you get to hear all the nuances that would be lost in the MP3 format.

WHAT IS YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IF I HAVE A QUESTION OR COMMENT?

help@b5books.com

We personally respond to all emails. ABOUT THE INTERVIEWS

Conducted by Joe Nazzaro, the legendary SF journalist. From the first frame of film until the last, these cast-and-crew interviews occurred "as it happened," so they are free from any revisionism. These are the COMPLETE TRANSCRIPTS of the entire interviews, not the articles he wrote. Uncut. Uncensored. Nothing held back.



Editor's notes are included throughout the book describing what was happening in the Babylon 5 production timeline at the time of each interview. This provides each question and response with context.



Also, the transcripts are mostly printed in chronological order, giving you the complete behind-the-scenes history of Babylon 5 with a beginning, middle and end.



Q&A WITH JOURNALIST JOE NAZZARO

The complete transcripts in this book come from journalist Joe Nazzaro. Joe has been writing about Babylon 5 from "The Gathering" through "The Lost Tales." His quality reporting gave him unparalleled access to the cast and crew.



CAN YOU GIVE AN EXAMPLE OF A HIDDEN GEM?

I did some massive interviews with Larry DiTillio and director Jim Johnston. I suspect there will be some revelations in those interviews in particular that will raise a lot of eyebrows. More importantly, you are going to get a very different perspective on a number of events that you probably haven't had before, and from people who were in a position to know what they were talking about. HOW MUCH OF YOUR INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS IN THESE VOLUMES ARE UNPUBLISHED MATERIAL?

A huge amount of material is unpublished. For example, the first time I interviewed story editor Larry DiTillio (who is extremely frank, by the way), that interview was about 26,000 words. I think only three or four thousand words ever appeared in print. In volume 1 you get to read the entire 26,000 words, which means that 85% has never been published. Just to be on the safe side, use 75% never-seen material as a fair metric for most of the interviews. WHY IS THERE SO MUCH UNPUBLISHED MATERIAL FOR SUCH A POPULAR SHOW?

Keep in mind that most genre magazines weren't all that interested in covering B5 until maybe season 3, which is when everybody jumped aboard. Before that, it was a very tough sell. And secondly, even if a magazine wanted to run a piece, it was next to impossible to get photos from Warner Bros., who were just useless. So if a magazine wanted to run, say, a four-page article, and they only got three photos (many of which had to be used and reused), that four-page story suddenly became two. So all of this material, particularly pre-season three, really started to pile up. IN YOUR OPINION, WHAT MAKES THE INCLUDED AUDIO CD NOTEWORTHY?

Fans are actually going to be able to listen to interviews that NOBODY but myself has ever heard. These are additional interviews that will not appear in print volumes; they're just added value. Obviously, you know about the Volume 1 Peter Jurasik/Andreas Katsulas interview disc. And there is one in particular that is one of the coolest B5 interviews I EVER did. I don't want to spoil it for you, but it was recorded in 1996 and I think you're going to be blown away by it. It is being included with Volume 3. The volume 2 Audio CD is an interview with Bruce Boxleitner and Michael O'Hare. HOW DID THE B5 BOOKS TEAM GET THESE INTERVIEWS?

Well, they asked me and we came to an agreement. This is 200+ interviews. I've always tried to be very organized in terms of my work, so there's a hard-copy transcript of the entire interview for every interview I've ever done-- some three thousand and counting now--[and those] are all kept in rows in notebooks on a shelf in alphabetical order, so if you wanted to know what Bruce Boxleitner said in a 1994 interview, I could pull that book off the shelf and tell you in about two minutes. WHY CAN'T I FIND THESE INTERVIEWS IN PRINT?

Visual Imagination, who published Starburst and TV Zone among others, went out of business some years ago. Starlog Press, who refused to print any B5 interviews for many years, is also out of business as a magazine publisher. And to add insult to injury, their warehouse burned down several years ago, virtually wiping out every back issue of Starlog and Fangoria they had in storage. And all of those interviews were done before the advent of the Internet, so this is probably your first chance to read most of this material.



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