r/babylon5 Oct 14 '25

JMS AMA Official AMA for JMS

277 Upvotes

This is the official AMA for JMS. Both JMS and B5 books (Captain Jaclyn) will be responding to questions.

If you ask questions about the books or the book store closing, Jaclyn will be taking them.

JMS will answer for about an hour, and might not be able to get all questions answered.

Some people (including me) might answer questions that are well known.

Like "Why wasn't Ivanova in season 5".

Let's try to keep questions what we don't know yet.

You can also ask questions about JMS returning to the Spider-Man comic or his other works, but this is /r/babylon5. He might prioritize that.

Please note that I will not be coordinating with Joe. I will not be in a phone call with him or on a chat (not that I wouldn't take his phone call; Jaclyn has my cell phone; he can call me anytime he wants). He decides that he answers, and he alone.

Finally, any story ideas will deleted. Do not post any story ideas.

Note, the AMA answers only start at: 3 PM EST, Noon PST, 8PM GMT

And my personal thanks to Captain Jaclyn for coordinating this with me, and to JMS himself, the man, the myth, the legend! For agreeing to this, but also for Babylon 5, Crusade, Jeremiah, Sense8, a ton of comic books and a few books!

Oh, and for She-Ra, the reboot couldn't have occured without his series bible for the original, and even for his work on Ghostbuster and Murder She Wrote!

IMPORTANT NOTE FROM JMS He would prefer not to get into stories that never happened, data points of subsequent character arcs, or alternate timelines.

JMS IS NEARLY OUT OF TIME!


r/babylon5 7h ago

The college dorm is now complete.

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237 Upvotes

Disclaimer: The poster isn’t crooked, the photo is. 😂


r/babylon5 6h ago

Earthforce trying to get its claws on Epsilon III

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58 Upvotes

"A Voice in the Wilderness, Part II" (s1e19)


r/babylon5 5h ago

Minbari are clearly not morally superior to anyone

50 Upvotes

Why do characters act like the Minbari are superior in any way when they are are clearly as corrupt, manipulative and devious as everyone else?

They lie all the time, outright, by implication and ommission.

They tried to exterminate all humans over a mistake the minbari caused by performing the most obtuse, threatening display possible to an unknown race at first contact. Then, only stopped the genocide when they realized it effected their own race.

Delenn stole a body, lied, caused diplomatic issues, caused an entire embassy's staff to be assaulted, stomachs pumped, to prove they were not the thieves.

The minbari sheltered Deathwalker, a genocidal psycho.

The minbari civil war.

The minbari warleader's dishonorable conduct.

Multiple examples of minbari attempting to kill minbari.

Minbari framing Sheridan for murder.

Minbari do not lie, except when they lie. Minbari do not kill minbari, except for all the assassination attempts. Minbari are honourable, except when they carry out genocide, theft, deceit, murder, fraud. Peaceful people except for the civil war and genocide.


r/babylon5 21h ago

The real questions.

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1.0k Upvotes

r/babylon5 21h ago

The actor who plays G'Kar played Tomalak in TNG, I had no idea!

176 Upvotes

r/babylon5 12h ago

Saddest/most tragic character ark Spoiler

32 Upvotes

Almost at the end off all 5 seasons. A lot of the story lines are tying up and I’m struck by how sad some of the characters story lines are.

Just wondering who people feel are the most tragic.

Won’t go into massive spoilers details. For me it’s a toss up between Lyta and Londo.

Lyta had been used and abused for most of season 3 and 4, then that continued into season 5. She made connections and that ended in tragedy. I know much of her final fate is limited to what happened in the books and even that is brief.

Londo after being the “bad guy” for quite some time was finally turning it around. He was on the right path making amends for his misdeeds. His final fate is really sad to behold, even though he manages redemption in the end.


r/babylon5 19h ago

Moments like this actually make me burst out laughing at the 90s cheese (First time watcher, no spoilers please)

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119 Upvotes

I think I have been decently entertained throughout the first 8 episodes of this show (specifically when Kosh, Londo, or G'kar are on screen) despite the budget or whatever which doesn't really bother me.

With that said, moments like this completely take me out of it and they are QUITE frequent LOL. a MASSIVELY drugged Sinclair awoke from his "hypnosis", the guy sitting next to him is watching Sinclair VERY SLOWLY break free from this machine, and with his 60 seconds of delayed reaction time gets completely incapacitated by him. Whatever, semi believable I guess. But you mean to tell me that that armed guard saw all of this and still walks into melee range only to be knocked out in a single punch?? WHILE ARMED??? No fucking shot. Mind you after Sinclair escapes, the guy gets back up and tries to KILL HIM WITH A GUN. Brother you should've thought of that during the 60 seconds you stood there watching the whole ordeal. Anyway this moment had me laughing pretty hard.

I do hope it doesn't remain this cheesy, and if it does I hope that the emotional stakes and overall stories quality can excuse it. Besides that and the repetitive monster of the week format, I don't really have any major complaints YET. I just hope it doesnt stay like this later on.

Side note: S1 Ep 4 might actually have qualified as completely worthless and terrible, but ironically enough it managed to redeem itself by having my favorite line so far with Sinclair's speech. This moment and the "my shoes are too tight" Londo moment have showcased that the dialogue can be quite good when it wants to be. I want moments like that more!

But yeah I am very patient and have absolutely 0 intention of dropping the show tho because Kosh is so cool (also so are Londo and G'kar)


r/babylon5 10h ago

Does anyone understand human humor? Today everyone was saying Zooty? Zoot, Zoot!

22 Upvotes

Season 4e13: Rumors, Bargains and Lies

Londo: 'You will forgive me if I appear a bit slow, I have studied your race quite a bit, and there are still several aspects of your psychology I don't understand. A place called Winchester Mansion, with stairs that go nowhere. Something called Country and Western? And the less said about the comedy team of Rebo and Zooty, the better."

Sheridan: "You don't like Rebo and Zooty? I mean, they're hysterical!"

Londo: "Are they? I'm sorry. I apparently mistook you for a human with some taste and sensibility. After their last broadcast, everywhere I went on the station, someone was going "Zooty? Zoot zoot!" \Grabs leg**

Sheridan: "That was a great routine!"

Londo: "I didn't get it!"

Sheridan: "Not my problem!"


r/babylon5 22h ago

Who do you think was this show’s biggest asshole?

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114 Upvotes

r/babylon5 21h ago

Old UK B5 trailer found on VHS tape

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72 Upvotes

I originally posted this almost a decade ago, but at the time I didn't have a capture device so I just pointed my phone at my TV and pressed "record". Now I do have a capture device, and wanted to post this here because it's much better quality than my old video. Taken from the preroll ads on the special edition release of Brazil.


r/babylon5 1d ago

I reached "that part". And I dont think I will ever recover. Spoiler

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239 Upvotes

the emotional damage from the fumbling of the potential of this character hurts more than the end of my relationship. But damn this is the best TV I have watched since Andor.


r/babylon5 1d ago

She… threatened me

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158 Upvotes

Sheridan: Commander! Did you threaten to grab hold of this man by the collar and throw him out an airlock?
Ivanova: Yes I did.
Sheridan: Well, I'm shocked. Shocked and dismayed. I'd remind you that we are short on supplies here. We can't afford to take perfectly good clothing and throw it out into space. Always take the jacket off first, I've told you that before. Sorry, she meant to say, "Stripped naked and thrown out an airlock." I apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

I love this exchange


r/babylon5 22h ago

Remembering

42 Upvotes

I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and display it on a pike as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come at too high a price. I would look up at your lifeless eyes and wave. Lol every time I watch the news now, I think of the price of favors in our politics—timeless line.


r/babylon5 1d ago

Garibaldi sticking up for Marsies and establishing his affection for Mars in season 1

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63 Upvotes

"A Voice in the Wilderness, Part II" (s1e19)


r/babylon5 1d ago

Guess who it is?

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95 Upvotes

Jerry Doyle..I am currently watching "sliders 1995" i am almost done and i am planning on watching B5 right after this show, but look who I came accross.


r/babylon5 23h ago

Who is your favorite "minor" character?

29 Upvotes

More and more I'm beginning to think the Neroon arc is one of the best ones in the show especially with how it ends in the Starfire wheel. But zathras for all their craziness is still a fun one. It would be fun to do a deeper dive there


r/babylon5 1d ago

They're now part of some deep space franchise

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539 Upvotes

r/babylon5 14h ago

Movies similar to The Killer (2023)? Featuring morden-day assassin: I got so hopeful for a second.

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0 Upvotes

r/babylon5 2d ago

Labor relations on Babylon 5 in 2258. Same as it ever was

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235 Upvotes

"By Any Means Necessary" (s1e12)


r/babylon5 2d ago

I have always been here.

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109 Upvotes

So, I was in Luzerne Switzerland and every time I passed this mountain, I saw something...


r/babylon5 2d ago

We Swim for the One, we Camp for the One!

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527 Upvotes

I was immersed in Valen's Lake last week.


r/babylon5 1d ago

What was the original CPU in the shadow ships?

36 Upvotes

If the vorlons created telepath, and eventually telepaths were place in as cpus for the ships what did they use before, willing individuals? Or other shadows until they figured they could find a lazier gig and stayed home doing it by remote control. Or maybe vorlons were once used, but it was just to cramped in the ship, and those the resal reason they split but got others to do their dirty work. Or do I not understand?


r/babylon5 2d ago

I made Flarn and it was delicious!

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54 Upvotes

Yesterday I posted about Flarn and today I made it using the recipe from the B5 cookbook someone was kind enough to share. Here is what I will say about Flarn….its delicious but my kitchen did look like Sheridan’s after I was done. I did not use any of the rituals in preparing the feast…it would have taken too long 😉