Some of you might remember I put together a comprehensive list of B5 ships a while back. Here’s a link for those who don’t.
http://www.themadgoner.com/TMG/Sci_Fi/SciPages/Babylon5/Front_Page/Mark4_Build.htm
Forgetting the episode guide, the main part of the site was going to revolve around the ships ( couple more are waiting to be added). What’s already there is more or less only the first half of the intended content, i.e the pretty pictures. The second part basically has me pulling my hair out, namely the factual/trivia bit.
You see, I don’t want just another site full of fan fiction - too easy and frankly pointless. The blurb under the ships right now was always meant to be just some general ramblings with some dodgy humour. What I want in the way of text (on a secondary screen) is the hard, dry facts along with some trivia where possible. The obvious stuff is just that, pretty well known and pretty obvious.
The Starfury design is a nod to the Gun Star in The Last Star Fighter – the first ship in a movie to be completely “virtual”.
The Drazi Sunhawk is a nod to the Liberator in the BBC program B7 (Blakes 7) which Ron Thornton worked on in the final season.
The Omega has it’s roots in 2010.
As well as the things like the Hyperion was named after the fan site that later became the Lurkers guide, The Vorlon ambassadors ship grew from an idea after seeing a bulb of Garlic.
I’ve got those little bits covered with pretty good images, some “interesting” background/related information, quotes from those involved and where necessary explanations etc, to the point where some information on these other shows/films is included. The problem is I have 140 ships currently on the site. And not a bloody lot to write about them, apart from episode related stuff, which is guaranteed to send an insomniac into a coma.
What I need is the help of people who have a fair depth of knowledge of the show and the development of things over the internet. For instance who came up with the name for the Sharlin or Primus, I’m guessing AOG, but I don’t know for sure, and it’s proving surprisingly difficult to find out (with proof).
I know concept artists like Steve Burg and later Luc Mayrand where the one’s who came up with many of the ship designs, but which ones? Mojo and Thornoton (and others) then basically built and animated them, though they to where involved in the design process as well. Mojo largely designed what became known as the Centauri Vorchan, John Teska largely designed the Narn transport. Tim Earls was also involved but he appeared more to do with cityscapes and only a few earth ships (hard to believe but apparently true). That and a well intentioned but pretty disastrous attempt and standardising ship sizes. But even the origin of the tables attributed to him appear to be in some question – see my problem.
And the problem is basically time related. This all happened a while back, and the net has got full of contradictory and just plain wrong stuff, rumours and conjecture are touted as facts and other stuff appears to have been misquoted to a ridiculous degree. Many good bits of reference material have also disappeared or become near impossible to get hold of. Back issues of the B5 magazine for instance which contained lots of good detailed information and interviews. So what I need is HELP <whimpers> please, with facts that go beyond fan based conjecture. I need the help of long standing fans who have access to these resources as well as the knowledge to separate the wheat from the chaff on the stuff currently kicking around the net. RPG’ers who are familiar with the development of AOG and the like would also be much appreciated. A collaboration if you like.
Basically the site is visually pretty nice and pretty unique, but unfinished. I now want to add some real meat to the bones, but basically don’t have the knowledge to do a good enough and accurate job.
I’m asking here because I know most people frequent more than one site and this is the one that has the highest concentration of knowledgeable fans (on a variety of subjects) that I’m aware of, (what a crawler), but it’s true, so I’m only asking here – no reflection on the other sites.
http://www.themadgoner.com/TMG/Sci_Fi/SciPages/Babylon5/Front_Page/Mark4_Build.htm
Forgetting the episode guide, the main part of the site was going to revolve around the ships ( couple more are waiting to be added). What’s already there is more or less only the first half of the intended content, i.e the pretty pictures. The second part basically has me pulling my hair out, namely the factual/trivia bit.
You see, I don’t want just another site full of fan fiction - too easy and frankly pointless. The blurb under the ships right now was always meant to be just some general ramblings with some dodgy humour. What I want in the way of text (on a secondary screen) is the hard, dry facts along with some trivia where possible. The obvious stuff is just that, pretty well known and pretty obvious.
The Starfury design is a nod to the Gun Star in The Last Star Fighter – the first ship in a movie to be completely “virtual”.
The Drazi Sunhawk is a nod to the Liberator in the BBC program B7 (Blakes 7) which Ron Thornton worked on in the final season.
The Omega has it’s roots in 2010.
As well as the things like the Hyperion was named after the fan site that later became the Lurkers guide, The Vorlon ambassadors ship grew from an idea after seeing a bulb of Garlic.
I’ve got those little bits covered with pretty good images, some “interesting” background/related information, quotes from those involved and where necessary explanations etc, to the point where some information on these other shows/films is included. The problem is I have 140 ships currently on the site. And not a bloody lot to write about them, apart from episode related stuff, which is guaranteed to send an insomniac into a coma.
What I need is the help of people who have a fair depth of knowledge of the show and the development of things over the internet. For instance who came up with the name for the Sharlin or Primus, I’m guessing AOG, but I don’t know for sure, and it’s proving surprisingly difficult to find out (with proof).
I know concept artists like Steve Burg and later Luc Mayrand where the one’s who came up with many of the ship designs, but which ones? Mojo and Thornoton (and others) then basically built and animated them, though they to where involved in the design process as well. Mojo largely designed what became known as the Centauri Vorchan, John Teska largely designed the Narn transport. Tim Earls was also involved but he appeared more to do with cityscapes and only a few earth ships (hard to believe but apparently true). That and a well intentioned but pretty disastrous attempt and standardising ship sizes. But even the origin of the tables attributed to him appear to be in some question – see my problem.
And the problem is basically time related. This all happened a while back, and the net has got full of contradictory and just plain wrong stuff, rumours and conjecture are touted as facts and other stuff appears to have been misquoted to a ridiculous degree. Many good bits of reference material have also disappeared or become near impossible to get hold of. Back issues of the B5 magazine for instance which contained lots of good detailed information and interviews. So what I need is HELP <whimpers> please, with facts that go beyond fan based conjecture. I need the help of long standing fans who have access to these resources as well as the knowledge to separate the wheat from the chaff on the stuff currently kicking around the net. RPG’ers who are familiar with the development of AOG and the like would also be much appreciated. A collaboration if you like.
Basically the site is visually pretty nice and pretty unique, but unfinished. I now want to add some real meat to the bones, but basically don’t have the knowledge to do a good enough and accurate job.
I’m asking here because I know most people frequent more than one site and this is the one that has the highest concentration of knowledgeable fans (on a variety of subjects) that I’m aware of, (what a crawler), but it’s true, so I’m only asking here – no reflection on the other sites.
, though I have promised myself a copy of lightwave some time this year.