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Finally revealed! Where JMS got the "B5" idea

Finally revealed! Where JMS got the \"B5\" idea

Forget all that stuff about the Arthurian legends, how G'Kar was a Cassandra figure and Londo was influenced by King Lear. Don't bother digging through books on Greek myth or Sumerian legend. And file all of that Tolkein crap away with the rest of the conspiracy theories.

I'm about to reveal the true insipiration for Babylon 5.

JMS stole it all right.

He stole it from ...


Mel Brooks!


OK. Mel Brooks and Buck Henry.


He didn't experience a sudden epiphany in the shower. He ate an entire pepperoni pizza, watched a TV Land marathon and fell into a troubled sleep. When he awoke he remembered a strange dream. So he sat down at his desk and in one burst of energy he wrote the outline to his science fiction epic, the one he that would make his reputation and which he would claim as his own original idea for all these years. Now it can finally be told. Babylon 5 is nothing more than a science fiction remake of...



GET SMART!


Ah, starting to see it now, aren't you. The intrepid, but sometimes slightly dim hero? The beautiful but often ignored heroine? The older mentor? The mysterious, never seen associate? (JMS combined the characters of The Chief and Agent 13 when he created Kosh, but he isn't fooling me.) Zack was obviously inspired by Hymie the robot. And what is Sebastian but a poor-man's Dr. Siegfried? (Siegfried had more sinister torture equipment, and a much more sinister accent) Like Sinclair, Maxwell Smart had memory problems. Like Sheridan, Smart was fond of gadgets and liked blowing things up. (Granted in Smart's case the stuff he blew up generally belonged to his own side, but you have to make certain cosmetic changes when your trying to disguise a theft this big.) Like Delenn Agent 99 repeatedly saved her man's bacon, and put up with his quirks. (Max's multiple door locks, his constantly malfunctioning shoe phone, and his annoying catch-phrase, "Wouldja believe". Sheridan's fondness for nuclear weapons, his constantly malfunctioning undead wife, and his annoying catch-phrase, "Straight to hell.")

I'm telling you it's all so obvious. Just watch 15 or 16 S1 episodes in a row, switch over to TV Land at about 3 in the morning and catch a rerun of Get Smart! and you'll see it to.

Babylonian creation myth my ass!

NEXT WEEK: How George Lucas pillaged The Wizard of Oz and made about a billion dollars.
 
Re: Finally revealed! Where JMS got the \"B5\" idea

I always wondered /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Interestingly, I'm just about to audition for a production of 'Fiddler on the Roof', and I remember that the film had at least three B5 quotes in it. Another influence /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
Re: Finally revealed! Where JMS got the \"B5\" idea

Strange but i would have never guessed get smart was inspiration for B5 /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Re: Finally revealed! Where JMS got the \"B5\" idea

*doesn't even know what Get Smart is*
 
Re: Finally revealed! Where JMS got the \"B5\" idea

Get Smart is a terribly funny old, um, spy show. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Haven't seen it for many years.... I loved it ages ago, though.
 
Re: Finally revealed! Where JMS got the \"B5\" idea

Now I know the answer to that age old question. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Re: Finally revealed! Where JMS got the \"B5\" idea

Is Get Smart the show where the guy has a telephone in his shoe? If that's it, that show was hilarious!
 
Re: Finally revealed! Where JMS got the \"B5\" idea

Is Get Smart the show where the guy has a telephone in his shoe?

No more calls, please, we have a winner! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

That was the one. And of course it was funny. It really was created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry.

Regards,

Joe
 
Re: Finally revealed! Where JMS got the \"B5\" idea

My God. I think Joe is taking Sassy lessons...
 
Re: Finally revealed! Where JMS got the \"B5\" idea

My God. I think Joe is taking Sassy lessons...

Hah! If Sassy works very hard, studies and practices dilligently, she may someday be ready to take "Joe" lessons. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Besides, if I were taking Sassy lessons wouldn't the first one be "how not to type"? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Antony:

I'll take pity on you. Here's the Official TV Land web site (they're a cable channel that specializes in shows from the 60s and 70s) and a fan site. That should be enough to give you some information about the show, but to really understand (not to mention believe) it you really do have to see it. Who could resist an 1960s spy spoof (remember this was just after the James Bond craze kicked off in America) that had episode titles like this?:

"Bronzefinger"
"Valerie of the Dolls"
"Leadside"
"Satan Place"
And the immortal, "Tequila Mockingbird"

What can you say about a show in which budget cutbacks on both sides of the Iron Curtain have led to pay reductions and the threat of simultaneous strikes, while the CONTROL and KAOS agents exchange information on their dental coverage along with gunfire?

Regards,

Joe
 
Re: Finally revealed! Where JMS got the \"B5\" idea

There are not many shows in which the hero gets his nose caught in the HQ's third set of doors.

Next Joe DM will be saying that the plot of King Kong came from Romeo and Juliet.

Opps that is the other Joe - JMS published that.
 
Re: Finally revealed! Where JMS got the \"B5\" idea

Who could resist a 1960s spy spoof? Well, back then, I could. The Man From Uncle was my favorite TV show, it was a spy spoof, and to my teenage mind rather sophisticated. I saw Get Smart as a satire on TMFU, and just silly slapstick at that. So I didn't care for it then I did watch it years later, after I knew who Mel Brooks and Buck Henry were, and enjoyed it.
 
Re: Finally revealed! Where JMS got the \"B5\" idea

Joe, I think the Sassy lessons refered to the off-the-wall stupid and implausible theory you put forth to start this thread. We all know you can spell. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Re: Finally revealed! Where JMS got the \"B5\" idea

Get Smart ran out of ideas far too quickly, though. I never saw a show that reused the same jokes so much. /forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif
 
Re: Finally revealed! Where JMS got the \"B5\" idea

Joe, I think the Sassy lessons refered to the off-the-wall stupid and implausible theory you put forth to start this thread. We all know you can spell.
OBVIOUSLY JoeDM sarcasm doesn't work well here....

/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

***he already knows that...he just ignoring that part. ***

actually, he probably is insulted anyone would **THINK** HE has a SASSY moment...

he is gargling with SCOPE as you read this... /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Re: Finally revealed! Where JMS got the \"B5\" idea

If Sassy works very hard, studies and practices dilligently, she may someday be ready to take "Joe" lessons
no way.

I would NEVER get a cat..or two cats. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
 
Re: Finally revealed! Where JMS got the \"B5\" idea

I suspect that Joe DM is in a better mode this week. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
Re: Finally revealed! Where JMS got the \"B5\" idea

Well, Sassy, as a B5 fan, you could get a couple of ducks and call them cats. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Re: Finally revealed! Where JMS got the \"B5\" idea

AH! what a brilliant idea jade...will work on that imediately...
 

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