J. Michael Straczynski

Joseph Michael Straczynski (/strəˈzɪnski/; born July 17, 1954) is an American filmmaker and comic book writer. He is the founder of Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Studio JMS and is known as the creator of the science fiction television series Babylon 5 (1993–1998) and its spinoff Crusade (1999), as well as the series Jeremiah (2002–2004) and Sense8 (2015–2018). He is the executor of the estate of Harlan Ellison. Straczynski wrote the psychological drama film Changeling (2008) and was a co-writer on the martial arts thriller Ninja Assassin (2009); he was one of the key writers for (and had a cameo in) Marvel's Thor (2011), as well as the horror film Underworld: Awakening (2012) and the apocalyptic horror film World War Z (2013). From 2001 to 2007, Straczynski wrote Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man, followed by runs on Thor and Fantastic Four. He is the author of the Superman: Earth One trilogy of graphic novels, and he has written Superman, Wonder Woman, and Before Watchmen for DC Comics. Straczynski is the creator and writer of several original comic book series such as Rising Stars, Midnight Nation, Dream Police, and Ten Grand through Joe's Comics. A prolific writer across a variety of media and a former journalist, Straczynski is the author of the autobiography Becoming Superman (2019) for HarperVoyager, the novel Together We Will Go (2021) for Simon & Schuster, and Becoming a Writer, Staying a Writer (2021) for Benbella Books. In 2020 he was named Head of the Creative Council for the comics publishing company Artists, Writers, and Artisans. Straczynski is a long-time participant in Usenet and other early computer networks, interacting with fans through various online forums (including GEnie, CompuServe, and America Online) since 1984. He is credited as being the first TV producer to directly engage with fans on the Internet and to allow viewer viewpoints to influence the look and feel of his show (see Babylon 5's use of the Internet). Two prominent areas where he had a presence were GEnie and the newsgroup rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated. Description above from the Wikipedia article J. Michael Straczynski, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Works

Babylon 5

Babylon 5 is a five-mile long space station located in neutral space. Built by the Earth Alliance in the 2250s, its goal is to maintain peace among the various alien races by providing a sanctuary where grievances and negotiations can be worked out among duly appointed ambassadors. A council made up of representatives from the five major space-faring civilizations - the Earth Alliance, Minbari Federation, Centauri Republic, Narn Regime, and Vorlon Empire - work with the League of Non-Aligned Worlds to keep interstellar relations under control. Aside from its diplomatic function, Babylon 5 also serves as a military post for Earth and a port of call for travelers, traders, businessmen, criminals, and Rangers.

Release Date1994-01-26

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Charactersd Maintenance Worker

Episode Count92

Vote Count550

Thor

Against his father Odin's will, The Mighty Thor - a powerful but arrogant warrior god - recklessly reignites an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans as punishment. Once here, Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

Release Date2011-04-21

DepartmentWriting

JobStory

Charactersd Townie

Vote Count21641

Toy Masters

First ever feature-length documentary on the world-wide phenomenon that inspired an entire generation of children and became a billion dollar franchise--"Masters of the Universe". Features interviews with the key creative personnel behind every version of the best selling toy line and all incarnations of "Masters of the Universe" on television, film, stage, and print, tracing the inception and ups and downs of the fantasy juggernaut.

Release Date2014-08-16

Charactersd Himself

Vote Count3

Marvel Studios: Building a Cinematic Universe

Feature-length documentary about the rise of Marvel Studios and their films leading up to, and including, The Avengers.

Release Date2012-09-25

Charactersd Self

8 Arms to Hold You

An "Ock-umentary" exploring the character of Doc Ock and the way he as well as his tentacles were brought to life on the silver screen.

Release Date2004-11-30

Charactersd Self

Murder, She Wrote

An unassuming mystery writer turned sleuth uses her professional insight to help solve real-life homicide cases.

Release Date1984-09-30

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count7

Vote Count402

Loki

After stealing the Tesseract during the events of “Avengers: Endgame,” an alternate version of Loki is brought to the mysterious Time Variance Authority, a bureaucratic organization that exists outside of time and space and monitors the timeline. They give Loki a choice: face being erased from existence due to being a “time variant” or help fix the timeline and stop a greater threat.

Release Date2021-06-09

DepartmentCrew

JobThanks

Episode Count5

Vote Count11944

The Twilight Zone

This 1980s revival of the classic sci-fi series features a similar style to the original anthology series. Each episode tells a tale (sometimes two or three) rooted in horror or suspense, often with a surprising twist at the end. Episodes usually feature elements of drama and comedy.

Release Date1985-09-27

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count10

Vote Count232

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

When Adam, Prince of the planet Eternia, raises his magic sword he transforms into He-Man (the most powerful man in the universe). With his allies and friends, he battles the evil Skeletor and his minions to protect the secrets of Castle Greyskull.

Release Date1983-09-05

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count9

Vote Count381

Walker, Texas Ranger

Modern-day Texas Ranger, Cordell Walker's independent crime-solving methods have their roots in the rugged traditions of the Old West. Walker's closest friend is former Ranger, C.D. Parker, who retired after a knee injury, and now owns "C.D.'s," a Country/Western saloon/restaurant. Rookie Ranger, James "Jimmy" Trivette is an ex-football player who bases his crime-solving methods on reason and uses computers and cellular phones. Alex Cahill is the Assistant DA who shares a mutual attraction with Walker, but often disagrees with his unorthodox approach to law enforcement.

Release Date1993-04-21

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count1

Vote Count500

Sense8

One gunshot, one death, one moment out of time that irrevocably links eight minds in disparate parts of the world, putting them in each other's lives, each other's secrets, and in terrible danger. Ordinary people suddenly reborn as "Sensates."

Release Date2015-06-05

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count24

Vote Count1714

Jake and the Fatman

Jake and the Fatman is a television crime drama starring William Conrad as prosecutor J. L. "Fatman" McCabe and Joe Penny as investigator Jake Styles. The series ran on CBS for five seasons from 1987 to 1992. Diagnosis: Murder was a spin-off of this series.

Release Date1987-09-26

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count5

Vote Count50

Spiral Zone

Spiral Zone is a 1987 American science-fiction animated series produced by Atlantic-Kushner-Locke. Based in part from a toy line made by Japanese company Bandai, the series focused on an international group of soldiers fighting to free the world from a scientist who controls much of the Earth's surface. It only ran for one season, with a total count of 65 episodes. Tonka acquired the license from Bandai and created a different treatment to the series, plus a short-lived toy line. Spiral Zone is known among fans as a series that stood out from other contemporary cartoons of the 80s because of its dark story. The series has not been officially released on DVD by Hasbro, who had acquired Tonka in the 90s, including all the copyrights to their properties.

Release Date1987-09-21

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count1

Vote Count9

The Real Ghostbusters

The continuing adventures of paranormal investigators Dr. Peter Venkman, Dr. Egon Spengler, Dr. Ray Stantz, Winston Zeddemore, their secretary Janine Melnitz and their mascot ghost Slimer.

Release Date1986-09-13

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count22

Vote Count278

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Peter Parker is unmasked and no longer able to separate his normal life from the high-stakes of being a super-hero. When he asks for help from Doctor Strange the stakes become even more dangerous, forcing him to discover what it truly means to be Spider-Man.

Release Date2021-12-15

DepartmentCrew

JobThanks

Vote Count20930

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

In this reboot of the '80s series, a magic sword transforms an orphan girl into warrior She-Ra, who unites a rebellion to fight against evil.

Release Date2018-11-13

DepartmentWriting

JobOriginal Series Creator

Episode Count52

Vote Count769

Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors

The Lightning League drives white and silver vehicles with assorted weaponry, and are led by a teenager named Jayce. The villains are organic green vegetable-based creatures called the Monster Minds, who tend to take the shape of black and green vehicles. They travel via large green organic vines which can grow in and across interstellar space, and sprout seeds that rapidly grow into further Monster Minds. They are led by Saw Boss.

Release Date1985-09-01

DepartmentCreator

JobCreator

Vote Count30

Crusade

Crusade is an American spin-off TV show from J. Michael Straczynski's Babylon 5. Its plot is set in AD 2267, five years after the events of Babylon 5, and just after the movie A Call to Arms. The Drakh have released a nanovirus plague on Earth, which will destroy all life on Earth within five years if it is not stopped. To that end, the Victory class destroyer Excalibur has been sent out to look for anything that could help the search for a cure.

Release Date1999-06-09

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count10

Vote Count111

Jeremiah

Jeremiah is an American television series starring Luke Perry and Malcolm-Jamal Warner that ran on the Showtime network from 2002 to 2004. The series takes place in a post-apocalyptic future where most of the adult population has been wiped out by a deadly virus.

Release Date2002-03-03

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count19

Vote Count70

World War Z

Life for former United Nations investigator Gerry Lane and his family seems content. Suddenly, the world is plagued by a mysterious infection turning whole human populations into rampaging mindless zombies. After barely escaping the chaos, Lane is persuaded to go on a mission to investigate this disease. What follows is a perilous trek around the world where Lane must brave horrific dangers and long odds to find answers before human civilization falls.

Release Date2013-06-19

DepartmentWriting

JobScreenstory

Vote Count15822

CBS Storybreak

Hosted by Captain Kangaroo's Bob Keeshan, the episodes are half-hour animated adaptations of some of the most beloved children's books published at the time of airing, including How to Eat Fried Worms. Other episodes included Dragon's Blood and Ratha's Creature.

Release Date1985-03-30

DepartmentWriting

JobTeleplay

Episode Count1

Vote Count2

Thor: Love and Thunder

After his retirement is interrupted by Gorr the God Butcher, a galactic killer who seeks the extinction of the gods, Thor Odinson enlists the help of King Valkyrie, Korg, and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster, who now wields Mjolnir as the Mighty Thor. Together they embark upon a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher’s vengeance and stop him before it’s too late.

Release Date2022-07-06

DepartmentCrew

JobThanks

Vote Count8028

Ninja Assassin

Ninja Assassin follows Raizo, one of the deadliest assassins in the world. Taken from the streets as a child, he was transformed into a trained killer by the Ozunu Clan, a secret society whose very existence is considered a myth. But haunted by the merciless execution of his friend by the Clan, Raizo breaks free from them and vanishes. Now he waits, preparing to exact his revenge.

Release Date2009-09-29

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Vote Count1630

Watchmen: Chapter II

Suspicious of the events ensnaring their former colleagues, Nite Owl and Silk Spectre are spurred out of retirement to investigate. As they grapple with personal ethics, inner demons and a society turned against them, they race the clock to uncover a deepening plot that might trigger global nuclear war.

Release Date2024-11-25

DepartmentWriting

JobAdaptation

Vote Count125

Underworld: Awakening

Having escaped years of imprisonment, vampire warrioress Selene finds herself in a changed world where humans have discovered the existence of both Vampire and Lycan clans and are conducting an all-out war to eradicate both immortal species. Now Selene must battle the humans and a frightening new breed of super Lycans to ensure the death dealers' survival.

Release Date2012-01-19

DepartmentWriting

JobScreenplay

Vote Count4172

Changeling

Los Angeles, 1928. When single mother Christine Collins leaves for work, her son vanishes without a trace. Five months later, the police reunite mother and son. But when Christine suspects that the boy returned to her isn't her child, her quest for truth exposes a world of corruption.

Release Date2008-10-24

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Vote Count4284

Watchmen: Chapter I

In 1985, the murder of a government-sponsored superhero draws his outlawed colleagues out of retirement and into a mystery that threatens to upend their personal lives and the world itself.

Release Date2024-08-12

DepartmentWriting

JobAdaptation

Vote Count180

Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future

Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future is a 1987–88 Canadian-American science fiction/action television series, merging live action with animation based on computer-generated images, that ran for 22 episodes in Canadian and American syndication.

Release Date1987-09-20

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count10

Vote Count64

Babylon 5: The Road Home

Travel across the galaxy with John Sheridan as he unexpectedly finds himself transported through multiple timelines and alternate realities in a quest to find his way back home. Along the way he reunites with some familiar faces, while discovering cosmic new revelations about the history, purpose, and meaning of the Universe.

Release Date2023-08-14

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Vote Count84

Babylon 5: Thirdspace

Susan Ivanova discovers a derelict spaceship in hyperspace. They tow it back to Babylon 5, then strange things start happening. People are being telepathically taken over by aliens from another (third)space.

Release Date1998-07-17

DepartmentWriting

JobScreenplay

Vote Count128

Babylon 5: The Gathering

The first installment of this Emmy award-winning series. A movie based at Babylon 5: a new space station built by Humans. The Vorlon ambassador, Kosh, has been poisoned. It is the new commanding officer's, Jeffrey Sinclair, responsibility to find the culprit. Otherwise the space station will fail in its role to bring all the races together.

Release Date1993-12-12

DepartmentWriting

JobScreenplay

Vote Count173

Murder, She Wrote: A Story to Die For

Jessica Fletcher, lecturing at a writers' conference, finds herself called on to solve the killing of a guest speaker, an arrogant Russian author who'd written a nonfiction, tell-all book about his tenure as head of the KGB.

Release Date2000-05-18

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Vote Count22

Babylon 5: In the Beginning

Londo Mollari, the Centauri Emperor, recounts the initial contact between the Humans and Minbari, which resulted in a major incident and subsequent war, for an eager pair of youngsters wanting a story about love and conflict.

Release Date1998-01-04

DepartmentProduction

JobExecutive Producer

Vote Count152

Babylon 5: A Call to Arms

Allies of the Shadows seek revenge against humanity. This movie sets up the series, "Crusade," the sequel to "Babylon 5."

Release Date1999-05-12

DepartmentProduction

JobExecutive Producer

Vote Count116

Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers - To Live and Die in Starlight

After being punished for retreat from combat, Ranger David Martel is given command of the Liandra, a haunted 20-year old Minbari fighting ship. He's escorting ambassadors to a secret archaeological site, the oldest city on record and a clue to a dangerous ancient race.

Release Date2002-04-30

DepartmentCrew

JobCreator

Vote Count98

Babylon 5: The Lost Tales - Voices in the Dark

This latest installment of Babylon 5 is in two parts: the first, is about an entity that has possessed a worker. It wants to be exorcised but Col. Lochley prevents the priest & sends it & the host both back to Earth. The second is about Galen trying to dupe President Sheridan into assassinating the future Centauri President to stop him possibly attacking Earth in 30 years time.

Release Date2007-09-03

DepartmentCrew

JobSeries Writer

Vote Count106

Babylon 5: The River of Souls

A group of Soul Hunters come to Babylon 5 demanding the return of something that was stolen from them.

Release Date1998-12-20

DepartmentProduction

JobExecutive Producer

Vote Count108

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Henry Jekyll, a shy and unassuming doctor, is obsessed with the idea of separating the good in man's nature from the evil, and is attracted to Rebecca, daughter of the head teacher of the medical school.

Release Date1989-10-29

DepartmentWriting

JobTeleplay

Vote Count1

One Second After

Set in the hills of North Carolina, college professor and former military officer John Matherson as he fights to preserve the lives of his family and neighbors in the wake of an electromagnetic pulse attack. In just one second, the United States is completely incapacitated, thousands are killed, and millions are stranded. Planes fall from the sky, electricity goes out everywhere, supply lines collapse, and transportation is limited to pre-digital-era vehicles and horses. Millions of travelers, unable to get home, wander the highways in search of shelter. In the resulting chaos, residents of John’s tight-knit community look to him to guide them through the difficult decisions that must be made if any of them are to survive.

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Shadowman

A jazz musician finds himself possessed by an ancient spirit of vengeance that leads him into a new and unexplored world of voodoo and dead spirits. Based on the Valiant Comics character.

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter