Babylon 5's use of the Internet
Pioneered online fan engagement before the web.
Babylon 5 was one of the first television series to use the Internet for marketing and fan interaction, beginning around 1991. Its creator, J. Michael Straczynski, participated in online forums such as Usenet, GEnie, and CompuServe, engaging with fans before the term 'blog' was coined. This direct communication influenced the show's development and helped build a dedicated online community.
Quick Facts
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Lore & Background
Straczynski's online participation began in the 1980s and continued on rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5 Usenet newsgroup as late as March 2007. He discussed show production, plot development, and fan theories, often answering cryptically. In November 1995, he temporarily left the newsgroup due to flames but returned in December after thread filtering was implemented. The moderated group rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated was created to filter out story ideas after a fan posted a plot on GEnie that matched a planned episode, 'Passing Through Gethsemane', which was then scuttled until a legal release was obtained. Straczynski also asked fans to refrain from fan-fiction during production, and most complied.
Reader's Guide
Babylon 5's use of the Internet was groundbreaking for its time. Warner Bros. started the official website in 1995 on Pathfinder, then hired fan Troy Rutter to move it to babylon5.com and oversee the 'Keyword B5' area on America Online. Fans played a role in persuading former PTEN station owners to carry the fourth season in 1996. The show's spatial coordinates, 'Grid Epsilon coordinates: 470/18/22', originated from GEnie page, category, and topic numbers, with 'Grid Epsilon' referencing GEnie's GE origin. Fans on GEnie called themselves 'Grid Epsilon Irregulars'. The ASCII jumpgate symbol became a fan identifier after being used in clues for a birthday card for Straczynski circulated in 1994. Fan influences included hiring composer Christopher Franke after suggestions on GEnie, and commissioning promotional music videos from fan John E. Hudgens. A contest named the fictional substance Quantium-40, and a waiter was named after the fan who suggested the name.
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