PLUME: How did the Seeing Ear Theater project for Sci-Fi, City of Dreams, come about?

STRACZYNKSKI: I’ve always been a big fan of radio drama – I began working early on in that area with Alien Worlds. I knew Brian Smith – he read my book on scriptwriting, which is one of the things that got him started, apparently. He said, “Do you want to do a radio drama?” I said, “Sure. What do we want to do?” My response to almost everyone who asks, “Do you want to do something?” is “Sure”, because – by stumbling on to weird stuff – I learn. I said, “What about a 13 episode anthology series. I’ll write them all, and it will be Twilight Zone-ish with teeth. The first four will be very straight-forward stories. The second four will be experimental stories – taking the form and trying new things with it. The last five I haven’t decided yet, but it’s going to be weird.” He said, “Sounds great. What do you want to call it?” “City of Dreams”. We made the deal, and the first two had Steve Buscemi and Andre Braugher, with Tim Curry in the most recent version. It’s doing very well.

PLUME: And you enjoy the process?

STRACZYNKSKI: Oh yeah. I love working in radio, because it’s a very pure form of writing. It’s just the words and the voices. You can’t rely on special effects or a big budget – it’s got to be the words. That’s a real challenge for any kind of a writer.

PLUME: And you wouldn’t mind doing this again in the future?

STRACZYNKSKI: Oh, absolutely. Sure.

PLUME: If you were to look back over the 25+ years you’ve been writing professionally, how would you sum up where you’ve been and how you feel right now in regards to your career?

STRACZYNKSKI: Overall, I’m very pleased. The task of a writer is to put things up on the shelf so when he’s gone, people can come up look at them and say, “This is who he was and this is how he saw the world.” I think there is enough good work out there, that the shelf is pretty well populated. I managed to avoid compromising more than I could handle. I told the stories I wanted to tell. I’ve made a living doing what I’d have to do for nothing, otherwise, because I can not not write. It’s been a great ride. I’ve worked with a lot of good people, and I’m – overall – very pleased with it. I think I can do more, but if I got hit by lightening today and that was it, I would be content… if only for Babylon 5. I know Rod Serling did many other projects, but he’s known for Twilight Zone. Roddenberry is known for Star Trek. If I ended up going to my grave with B5 being what I am known for, I’m perfectly content with that. I was at a seminar at MIT at the media lab, and they had these big gun academics and critics and high IQ types speaking at this presentation. They said that there are three seminal American science fiction shows: Twilight Zone, the first Star Trek, and Babylon 5. That ain’t bad company to be in, and if that were all I’d ever done, I’d be happy with that. I think I can go further, however, and do more things, but if that was it, I’d be happy with it.

PLUME: You mentioned early on that when B5 was done, you were going to retire… What happened to that?

STRACZYNKSKI: Well, a number of things set in. One is that those comments were made at a time when I was exhausted – and when you’re totally exhausted, sleep sounds real good. Also, once B5 ended, I had a vested interest in proving that it wasn’t a fluke – that I could do it again, and that it wasn’t an accident. The ego in me is saying, “Let’s prove that you can do this again.” And I realized if I manage to do another couple of years on a show, it will give me the wherewithal to retire nicely. I could retire right now and not have to work for the next eight years and not have to worry about it, but I would rather have a bit more than that to get by on.

PLUME: And you’d probably go stir crazy…

STRACZYNKSKI: Yeah, to some extent, but also – beyond that – the reality is that television remains the most pervasive medium we have for storytelling. When you write a short story in a magazine, you’re lucky if, maybe, 30,000 folks will read it – if it’s a good sized magazine. Over a period of 10 years, maybe 100,000 might read it. On television, you can write a story and ten million people will see it in one night. For any kind of a storyteller, that’s a hell of an attraction, because the whole purpose of telling stories is to be heard and to be seen, and tell those stories to lots of different people and try and affect social change and get a point across. Consequently, there’s a certain lure and attraction to staying in a little bit longer. I don’t want to stay forever, because I think that would be sad. I think I can stay outside and play just a little bit longer before it gets dark.

10 QUESTIONS

1. What is your favorite piece of music?
“Where Angels Sing,” Meatloaf.

2. What is your favorite film?
Aliens

3. What is your favorite TV program, past or current?
The original Twilight Zone.

4. What do you feel has been your most important professional accomplishment to date?
Babylon 5.

5. Which project do you feel didn’t live up to what you envisioned?
My adaptation of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for Showtime’s Nightmare Classics.

6. What is your favorite book?
The Lord of the Rings trilogy

7. If you could change one thing about Hollywood, what would it be?
Force it to act logically.

8. If you could change one public perception of yourself, what would it be?
That I’m aloof or distant. Stage-persona notwithstanding, I’m extremely shy and quiet. Almost painfully shy. People misinterpret that as being above it all or not interested.

9. What is your next project?
Jeremiah, a new 20 hour dramatic series for Showtime.

10. What is the one project that you’ve always wanted to do, but have yet to be able to?
Forbidden Planet: The Series.

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