J. Michael Straczynski
@straczynski.bsky.social
Writer/producer. Babylon 5, Sense8, Changeling, Thor. Amazing Spider-Man, Captain America. Together We Will Go, The Glass Box. DO NOT POST STORY IDEAS.
Scripts, behind the scenes posts and a lot of conversation at https://www.patreon.com/thejoepage
Scripts, behind the scenes posts and a lot of conversation at https://www.patreon.com/thejoepage
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J. Michael Straczynski - Career Reel 2026
YouTube video by Synthetic Worlds
youtu.be
From time to time I update my career reel in service to the number of folks commenting, oh, I didn't know you worked on (pick a project). Here's the latest iteration.
youtu.be/zDJ6lIDI2-8
youtu.be/zDJ6lIDI2-8
That being said, a few of the other comments here raised in me the thought: some people stay in college way too long.
February 8, 2026 at 3:01 AM
That being said, a few of the other comments here raised in me the thought: some people stay in college way too long.
And the same goes for you. I've stuck around for this because so many of the arguments/assertions were clearly well considered. That I don't necessarily agree with them is not saying they are without merit or thought. You showed both.
Knock it off, you know the rules.
Knock it off, you know the rules.
February 8, 2026 at 3:00 AM
And the same goes for you. I've stuck around for this because so many of the arguments/assertions were clearly well considered. That I don't necessarily agree with them is not saying they are without merit or thought. You showed both.
Knock it off, you know the rules.
Knock it off, you know the rules.
But if the mission is to deliver vaccines to prevent hundreds of deaths and you ditch those vaccines, what purpose is there in the mission?
February 8, 2026 at 2:55 AM
But if the mission is to deliver vaccines to prevent hundreds of deaths and you ditch those vaccines, what purpose is there in the mission?
Thank you, and by the by, I've enjoyed your corner of this back-and-forthing. Honest disagreement honestly rendered is a rare quality these days.
February 8, 2026 at 2:54 AM
Thank you, and by the by, I've enjoyed your corner of this back-and-forthing. Honest disagreement honestly rendered is a rare quality these days.
I can counter: because there was an emergency going on, hundreds of lives were at stake, and they weren't focused on the idea of anyone stowing away on a ship to a death planet. Stories aren't about why *didn't* someone do something, it's about what people did under given circumstances.
February 8, 2026 at 2:53 AM
I can counter: because there was an emergency going on, hundreds of lives were at stake, and they weren't focused on the idea of anyone stowing away on a ship to a death planet. Stories aren't about why *didn't* someone do something, it's about what people did under given circumstances.
Nothing was said to indicate they did have that technology, or it would've been mentioned. But if it had, that would bump into your complaint that it already explained too much. No robotics are known to exist in this story-universe, so we can safely assume it doesn't. If you say it does, prove it.
February 8, 2026 at 2:51 AM
Nothing was said to indicate they did have that technology, or it would've been mentioned. But if it had, that would bump into your complaint that it already explained too much. No robotics are known to exist in this story-universe, so we can safely assume it doesn't. If you say it does, prove it.
Except you are because you are faulting the story for presenting ideas (or failing to present ideas) that you deem important. Hence, the burden is on you to show how it could have been done differently. If you can't, if all that was done is all that can be done, it negates some part of the issue.
February 8, 2026 at 2:48 AM
Except you are because you are faulting the story for presenting ideas (or failing to present ideas) that you deem important. Hence, the burden is on you to show how it could have been done differently. If you can't, if all that was done is all that can be done, it negates some part of the issue.
That would work.
February 8, 2026 at 2:45 AM
That would work.
Since there were no means of robotic transfer, if what you suggest was implemented then the hundreds of people on the colony die.
February 8, 2026 at 2:45 AM
Since there were no means of robotic transfer, if what you suggest was implemented then the hundreds of people on the colony die.
Ah, but who gets to decide that? And what happens when it gets aimed at a story you think *is* worth telling?
February 8, 2026 at 2:43 AM
Ah, but who gets to decide that? And what happens when it gets aimed at a story you think *is* worth telling?
I always saw it as being about moral anguish, and how trying every possible thing to fight the cold math of space travel sometimes doesn't work out. You could set the story on the Titanic in freezing water and have a much similar situation. X-degrees x Y time in the water.
February 8, 2026 at 2:42 AM
I always saw it as being about moral anguish, and how trying every possible thing to fight the cold math of space travel sometimes doesn't work out. You could set the story on the Titanic in freezing water and have a much similar situation. X-degrees x Y time in the water.
I'm simply saying, you are suggesting the story should have dealt with the questions you think are important, that the story is flawed without them, so the logical next step is for you to act on your position and demonstrate where and how that could have been done in 12 already crammed pages.
February 8, 2026 at 2:40 AM
I'm simply saying, you are suggesting the story should have dealt with the questions you think are important, that the story is flawed without them, so the logical next step is for you to act on your position and demonstrate where and how that could have been done in 12 already crammed pages.
The story is about character, the math is the methodology behind those character moments. The textbook definition of SF, especially then, is "the affect of technology on humans." If you remove the mathematics and the weight from the story, there is no story, it's just two folks talking in the ship.
February 8, 2026 at 2:37 AM
The story is about character, the math is the methodology behind those character moments. The textbook definition of SF, especially then, is "the affect of technology on humans." If you remove the mathematics and the weight from the story, there is no story, it's just two folks talking in the ship.
And that's altogether possible. But if that were the case, and the hypercompetent guy saves himself, the story would probably never have been published because nothing of significance actually happens. A day when a dog doesn't bite someone doesn't get reported much. But maybe there was a way.
February 8, 2026 at 2:36 AM
And that's altogether possible. But if that were the case, and the hypercompetent guy saves himself, the story would probably never have been published because nothing of significance actually happens. A day when a dog doesn't bite someone doesn't get reported much. But maybe there was a way.
And that get-out-of-jail-free ticket is arguably one of the worst cultural decisions this country has ever made. "The business of America is business." Nonsense then, nonsense now.
February 8, 2026 at 2:33 AM
And that get-out-of-jail-free ticket is arguably one of the worst cultural decisions this country has ever made. "The business of America is business." Nonsense then, nonsense now.
And how do you dramatize that in a 12 page story?
February 8, 2026 at 2:31 AM
And how do you dramatize that in a 12 page story?
So are you suggesting that if Godwin had written about a young boy stowaway, he would have had that changed to a woman? Or would he have let the point stand?
But with you on the fascist-adjacent part.
But with you on the fascist-adjacent part.
February 8, 2026 at 2:30 AM
So are you suggesting that if Godwin had written about a young boy stowaway, he would have had that changed to a woman? Or would he have let the point stand?
But with you on the fascist-adjacent part.
But with you on the fascist-adjacent part.
HOWEVER...your point about SF editors at this time believing that women could not write SF is spot on. It took decades to finally shake of at least some measure of that misogyny, though I'm not entirely convinced that it's truly gone.
February 8, 2026 at 2:29 AM
HOWEVER...your point about SF editors at this time believing that women could not write SF is spot on. It took decades to finally shake of at least some measure of that misogyny, though I'm not entirely convinced that it's truly gone.
This, of course, precludes the fact that the colony they were racing to save had both male and female colonists. She wasn't out there by herself.
February 8, 2026 at 2:27 AM
This, of course, precludes the fact that the colony they were racing to save had both male and female colonists. She wasn't out there by herself.
No, it was talking about mathematics, weights and fuel supplies, which are straightforward. The cold hard truth of the universe itself -- a sine qua non endorsing that approach in all things in all places, regardless of situation -- is a larger point you are drawing that is not implicit in the text
February 8, 2026 at 2:26 AM
No, it was talking about mathematics, weights and fuel supplies, which are straightforward. The cold hard truth of the universe itself -- a sine qua non endorsing that approach in all things in all places, regardless of situation -- is a larger point you are drawing that is not implicit in the text
That's how you perceive it, and that's fair, but I don't know anyone, myself included, who ever thought the story had any application outside the situation presented therein. You can say that it was trying to impart some larger truth, but there's nothing conclusive to support that opinion.
February 8, 2026 at 2:23 AM
That's how you perceive it, and that's fair, but I don't know anyone, myself included, who ever thought the story had any application outside the situation presented therein. You can say that it was trying to impart some larger truth, but there's nothing conclusive to support that opinion.
If I recall correctly, this was an emergency situation, they had to get a ship there asap to save the lives of a colony, so they stripped out everything before launch and took up every inch of space with medical supplies. So the situation did not allow for much planning or margin of error.
February 8, 2026 at 2:21 AM
If I recall correctly, this was an emergency situation, they had to get a ship there asap to save the lives of a colony, so they stripped out everything before launch and took up every inch of space with medical supplies. So the situation did not allow for much planning or margin of error.
A) it was 1954 and nobody knew about these things, and B) even if all that had been done, Godwin would just have found other way to make the story happen, because it's not about the staging, the boosters, or the size of the ship, it's about the moral anguish of the situation.
February 8, 2026 at 2:19 AM
A) it was 1954 and nobody knew about these things, and B) even if all that had been done, Godwin would just have found other way to make the story happen, because it's not about the staging, the boosters, or the size of the ship, it's about the moral anguish of the situation.