They were given the pilot screenplay for The Gathering, an extensive series
treatment with sample stories covering most of the first season, with notes on
where the series would go, and lots of sample artwork on the station and the
characters.

With some exceptions, it was very close to what became the B5 writer's bible,
which was available for a while via thestation.com.


jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
(all message content (c) 2001 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)

>This might sound a little bit naive, but what was to stop any network
>ripping off your hard thought-up work, and altering a few minor details,
>then touting it as their own show.

Absolutely nothing. It happens a lot. It happened to Roddenberry when he
pitched ST and a lot of that material ended up being used to make Lost in
Space.

When the Abyss was in development, at least two other studios rushed forward
with similar underwater movies to capitalize on it and co-opt any PR for their
own purposes.

>I've heard some rumours that this is what happened with DS9, but I'm not
>sure whether to believe them.

There's little question in my mind that the suits at Paramount wanted to co-opt
what we were doing with B5. I know that they *resented* the show because it
was, at that time, their belief that they pretty much owned the space SF genre.

I feel that they guided the development process in order to co-opt what we were
doing. And nothing I've heard from my sources inside the studio has given me
cause to think otherwise.

>Obviously if another network uses your plots, characters etc it can be a
>blatant copy, but sometimes things can be more subtle.

They can indeed.

jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
(all message content (c) 2001 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)