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For those of the faithful who are not familiar with Joseph Michael Straczynski (JMS) he is, among other things, the creator of Babylon 5, as well as a generally brilliant individual. For those of you who are familiar with his work, this article will hopefully serve to further inform you.

JMS was born in 1954, and according to one source, spent much of his childhood moving around the country every six months or so.

He was raised Catholic with what he describes as an "Eastern European background" and was "basically a smartass."

Eventually he ended up in Chula Vista, Calif., where he completed his high school education.

From an early age JMS was an avid reader who "grew up reading mountains of books," as well as listening to radio dramas, watching plays and "writing all of the above."

He read a lot of Bradbury, Clarke and Ellison as well as mainstream novels, historyr, philosophy and the literature of other cultures.

After all of this input, JMS finally felt ready to start writing himself at the age of 16. He began showing his work to others about six months later.

His high school produced several of his one-acts, and a local theatre even agreed to produce one of them-before they realized he was only 17 years old. He also wrote articles for local newspapers and magazines.

JMS' college years were spent in several different states, and he attended four colleges. In chronological order: Kankakee Community College, Kankakee, Ill.; Richland Junior College in Dallas; Southeastern Junior College in Chula Vista; and San Diego State University.

He took courses mostly in psychology, sociology, "math stuff" and philosophy, which gave him "the tools I need for stories and scripts."

They also eventually gave him a degree in clinical psychology, and he interned in that area.

Information on his activities after college is somewhat sketchy. It is known that he lived in San Diego from 1974 to 1981, and at some point began working professionally as a writer.

This would eventually lead to jobs writing for TV shows such as Murder She Wrote, Captain Power, The Real Ghostbusters and Walker, Texas Ranger.

But since 1986, JMS had been working on a project of his own, the concept of Babylon 5. In 1990 he began pitching it to different studios, and it was eventually picked up by Warner Brothers, who planned to use it as part of their new network (the WB).

JMS had five goals that he hoped to fulfill with Babylon 5:

1) It would have to be good science fiction.

2) It would have to be good television. (Rarely, he said, are shows both good and sci-fi.)

3) It would have to take an adult approach to sci-fi, and attempt to do for the genre what Hill Street Blues did for cop shows.

4) It would have to be affordable, done on a reasonable budget.

5) It would have to look unlike anything ever seen before on TV, and present not just individual stories, but present those stories against a much broader canvas.

Towards this end, JMS had created the B5 "bible" before even pitching the show. This bible contained the major story line and plot developments of B5 for its five-year arc.

Only three people besides JMS have ever read the complete arc, and one informed JMS that he was "f---ing nuts" to consider attempting that sort of thing on television.

(Those of us familiar with the show are thankful that he did.)

The show has been something of a success. It was awarded two Emmys in its first season, and nominated for three more. The episode "The Coming of Shadows" was also awarded the Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation.

JMS himself has been singled out for praise, named to Newsweek's 1995 Who's Who list of the "most influential thinkers-innovators who will shape our lives as we move into the 21st century."

And in the 1995-96 season of B5, he became the first person ever to single-handedly write a full season of 22 episodes of a one-hour dramatic series.

But what about JMS' personal life outside of the show?

He firmly declares himself to be an atheist, though "unlike many who claim to be Christian, I've actually read the Bible. Cover to cover. Twice."

Still, he says that he makes every effort to ensure that the subject of religion is treated fairly on B5, and observes that, "It's ironic that those who complain of persecution the loudest are generally the ones with the most power, and are the quickest to persecute someone else if it serves their purpose."

His major weakness is chocolate, although he avoids other addictive substances and activities such as alcohol, drugs and gambling. JMS is the first male in his branch of the family not to suffer from alcoholism.

In fact, early childhood experience stemming from his family's alcoholism impacted IMS so greatly that it provided some of his earliest inspiration for B5.

When he was very young, he was taken to visit his grandfather's grave. His grandfather was an alcoholic who had died "literally" in the gutter and was buried in a pauper's grave, marked with a lead pipe and a brass number. No name, no date; one has to check the roster to find out who's buried where.

According to JMS his grandfather "passed through his life without leaving footprints," which "terrified me beyond the capacity of words to convey to you."

At that point he "swore I'd leave a mark somehow that I'd been here. And on one level, that's what B5 is. Even when I'm forgotten, this will go on. I will have left my work."

Author's note: the Church of Joe website is down. All info in this article was gleaned from e-mail postings and various articles on the web.

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