lurkers-guide/ftp/GEnie/jms95-03-01

This file contains messages posted by J. Michael Straczynski on GEnie from
Mar 1 - Mar 15th, 1995.  Postings are copyright 1995 by J. Michael Straczynski
with compilation copyright by GEnie.

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Topic 1         Mon Oct 26, 1992
SF-MARSHALL [Dave ]          at 18:50 EST
Sub: Babylon 5 - The Series  (Non-Spoiler)

Welcome to the Babylon 5 General category.  This is the main topic for  the
hit SF series.  We discuss all general information on the series in this
topic.  Topic 2 is for SPOILERS!  DO NOT POST STORY IDEAS!

878 message(s) total.
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 471       Wed Mar 01, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 04:17 EST

     We hadn't thought much about it (maybe because I'm kinda tall), but
Bruce, Jerry, Claudia, Richard, Andreas...they're all *really* tall, which has
kinda come back to bite us at times on casting, because if we have to have a
baddie, or someone against whom they must go, we have to be sure they operate
at the same height area (usually), or it'll look goofy.

     BTW...I'm pleased to announce that the latest survey from Viewers For
Quality Television (VQT) has chosen Babylon 5 as the #1 ranked syndicated
series, and #16 overall, beating such network/non-network shows as Murphy
Brown, DS9, Seinfeld, Lois and Clark, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman and The
Simpsons, among others, in their ranking of Highest Quality Shows.

     Thanks to all those who downloaded (and continue to download) the VQT
survey forms, for helping draw people's attention to the hard work being done
on Babylon 5.

                                                                     jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 495       Fri Mar 03, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:25 EST

     As Harlan has pointed out, he's really tall when he stands on his
charisma.

                                                                    jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 501       Fri Mar 03, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:26 EST

     VQT = Viewers For Quality Television.

     A totally irrelevant aside...does ANYbody here know ANYbody from the Ben
and Jerry Ice Cream company?  If so, I have a message for them.

     HEY!  PAY ATTENTION!  Did you know that there is NO ONE out there making
banana ice cream?  I don't mean banana mix with those crummy walnuts in them,
or sometimes a little banana cream stuffed into an ice bar, or those sticky
banana ice-milk bars....I'm talking here STRAIGHT BANANA ICE CREAM.  Go ahead,
check out any supermarket's frozen section.  You've got cherry, strawberry,
chocolate, coffee, rum-raisen, white russian, vanilla, french vanilla,
neopolitan...row after row of ice creams of every sort and flavor and
packaging...EXCEPT BANANA.  I KNOW.  I'VE SPENT THE LAST SEVEN YEARS SEARCHING
FOR IT!

     Ben...Jerry...SOMEBODY...make up some banana ice cream and you'll have
the corner on the entire market.  Trust me on this.

                                                                  jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 507       Fri Mar 03, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 17:21 EST

     I'm between 6'4" and 6'5".

                                                                   jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 532       Sat Mar 04, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:03 EST

     I haven't used my pool in a year and a half because I'm too busy behind
the keyboard to take a dip.  Honest.  And making ice cream isn't something I
can even think of making the time for.  Thank goodness I have a policy of not
getting involved in my own life....

     Believe it or not, I worked with Laura Dern once upon a time, before  she
was LAURA DERN.  When Showtime produced my adaptation of "The Strange Case of
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," through Shelley Duvall's company, she and Anthony
Andrews were cast as the leads.  Even though she was noted even then mainly
for being Bruce Dern's daughter, she was very sweet and talented and you could
see real talent there.

                                                                   jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 534       Sat Mar 04, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 04:27 EST

     Since I've been meaning to post the info here in answer to requests:
really nifty B5 t-shirts and caps can now be ordered directly from All-U at 1-
800-424-2558, ext. 105.  T-shirts (great color images) and caps are $17, and
the LONG SLEEVE t-shirts are $25, plus shipping and handling.   The shirts
they have now are 1) original cast photo with station, 2) new cast photo with
station, the B5 logo with station and the words "the last best hope..." 4)
station, planet and logo, and 5) station and starfury, all color.

                                                                   jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 585       Mon Mar 06, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:55 EST

     Joe does not consciously raid ST for guest stars.  Joe looks for the best
actor for the role.  Sometimes he goes out of his way to help someone break
the fist of typecasting.  That's it.

                                                                  jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 601       Tue Mar 07, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:32 EST

     Kwicker...wow, that's a lot of legwork, thanks.  I think I can follow up
from here now, thakns.

     Or thanks.

                                                                  jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 606       Tue Mar 07, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 02:57 EST

     Did I mention you'll probably see Lyta Alexander once more before the
season is out...?

                                                                  jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 634       Wed Mar 08, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:06 EST

     Loops: get the hell away from my office window.  I can see you out there
with my x-ray specs.

     Y'know...people wonder sometimes why I get a little exasperated with
Paramount from time to time.  Here's a few reasons.

     Back when the Arsenio Show was still on the air, Stephen Furst was set to
appear on the show.  Suddenly, they canceled.  According to Stephen, he was
told on the QT that it was because Paramount heard about it, and didn't want
to promote B5.

     Back at the top of the season, we'd met with Winrich Kolbe about doing
some of our episodes (he does a lot of TNG, DS9 and now Voyager directing).
 Nice guy, we met, we agreed, and a date was set.  All parties agreed to it,
we had a deal.  Not long before the episode comes up, his rep calls to get him
out of it...at first muttering about some vague, ill-defined TV movie
Paramount wanted him to do, but we'd had this for a long time...then his rep
was finally asked, "Look, does this have anything to do with the big boys at
Paramount leaning on you because it's B5?"  The rep reluctantly admitted that
this was the case.  We released Kolbe from his assignment.

     Now, finally, B5 is getting some press, some word of mouth; mostly about
this show called Babylon something.  Well, UPN just announced that they're
doing a new detective series for the UPN stations, the majority of which are
also B5 stations.  And guess what they've announced the title is?  BABYLON.
You think maybe some folks'll get confused about which show this is, given
that they're both on the same station in many places?

     The roster of such things goes on, and on, and on.

     But it's not stopping us.  Inch by inch, we continue to fight our way
into the ratings.

                                                                    jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 654       Wed Mar 08, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 15:52 EST

     Letters to Paramount will serve no purpose.  We'll handle this one.

                                                             jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 661       Wed Mar 08, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 20:21 EST

     Neither Shatner nor Takai have ever been on B5.

                                                              jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 713       Fri Mar 10, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 16:29 EST

     I've read Harlan's piece for the TV guide special Star Trek edition (like
there haven't already been a dozen such recently).  Suffice to say it pole-
axes much of the mythology around "City" and Gene's claims in that regard.
Interesting reading...and some smoking guns.

                                                              jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 736       Sat Mar 11, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:56 EST

     Actually, the idea that people coming into the story now will have a hard
time is something of a myth; we continue to add new viewers all the time, and
in some countries the show is actually being shown out of  order; to date I
have seen at most 1 or 2 people who were unsure about one aspect or another
after seeing just one episode, but were still able to follow the story easily
enough.  You may not know what it means in relation to something that happened
6 months ago, but what it means *now* is very clear, and all the information
needed is always included in the episode.

     Re: raiding myself (ST comic)...I stopped raiding myself, what with all
this Jocelyn Elders controversy....

                                                                     jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 807       Sun Mar 12, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 23:18 EST

     B5 does not provide squished credits to anyone, and they are not
satellited out in that form.  Local stations do that.  In the cas of Fox
shows, sometimes the Fox network does it in distributing the show to its
affiliates.  But we never provide them that way.

                                                                       jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 846       Tue Mar 14, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 01:26 EST

     Was out having dinner with Harlan and Susan, so missed seeing Voyager,
thus can't comment.

     (Reason we went out to dinner was that I spent the day at his house,
interviewing Harlan on-camera for a videotape associated with his new CD rom
game based on "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream," coming out from Cyberdreams
in a few months.  I don't think there's *any* group we didn't offend during
the course of the interview.)

     Re: Harlan on-line...no, he doesn't generally go on-line (except in some
selected live conferences) but he does tend to get printups from  folks from
time to time...said contents of which could drive a monk to murder.

     BTW...for those also on AOL, tomorrow night I'm doing a live conference
with Claudia Christian in the DC Comics Online area.

                                                                   jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 875       Wed Mar 15, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 01:46 EST

     Actually, the scene of Londo looking up at the shadow ships WAS shot
outside the studio.

                                                                   jms
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Topic 2         Wed Nov 20, 1991
STARR [Arne]                 at 19:41 EST
Sub: Babylon 5 -- The Series!! >>SPOILERS<<

Babylon 5 is moving into a second season of 22 episodes.  This series can be
seen at 8 Pm on Wednesdays, in most areas.  This topic is for SPOILERS only.
Just remember our NO STORY IDEAS rule and we'll let you live. <g>

682 message(s) total.
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Category 18,  Topic 2
Message 530       Sat Mar 04, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:06 EST

      From "Infection," the visiting Doctor points out that, regarding organic
technology, "some even say the Vorlons have got it."  All this stuff gets set
up somewhere.

                                                                    jms
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Category 18,  Topic 2
Message 532       Sat Mar 04, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 04:17 EST

     "Why are they allowed to stay on the station?"

     Space travel is *very* expensive (which is why they can't afford  tickets
off.)

     With B5's constant budget problems, who is going to pay to have these
people shipped off?  Who is going to accept them?  Can't just space them.

                                                             jms
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Category 18,  Topic 2
Message 544       Sat Mar 04, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 18:06 EST

     Re: not being one happy family...be careful what you wish for around
here.

     Re: Kosh's voice carrying some emotion...starting at about "All Alone in
the Night," or maybe one before (memory fades), I took on the job of directing
the voice sessions for Kosh.  He was moving from a neutral delivery to things
that had to carry specific emotions and implications for the future, and
nobody else knows what all this stuff means, so it fell to me.

                                                                   jms
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Category 18,  Topic 2
Message 556       Sun Mar 05, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 04:21 EST

     I think this is the first time an American series has been worked out in
this much detail.  PICKET FENCES often has threads that recur, but they're
more catch-as-catch-can, not so much a cohesive story as the recurring of
character arcs.  In the case of TWIN PEAKS, I've talked to several staffers on
the show, and they really didn't have *any* idea where they were going, they
were making it up on the fly and hoping for the best.  Some elements of X-
FILES come close, but again it's more one or two individual character arcs
(Mulder's sister, for instance) than a cohesive structured story (though if it
keeps getting tighter, that may change, though it doesn't have an end that I
know of).

     EARTH 2 apparently has a *destination*, but I don't believe its
continuity is stressed at all.  More of, When we end up, this is where  we'll
be.  THE PRISONER is probably the closest parallel structurally to B5, and
thus something of a template.  I don't know if BLAKE'S 7 started OUT plotted
like a novel, but it ends up feeling like one, so the difference may be no
difference.

     The difference, I think, beyond having a definite beginning, middle and
end (which is substantial in itself), is the approach using years as chapters;
tracking one year of story time equalling one year of real time; and
foreshadowing, setting up something in episode 7 that won't pay off until
episode 14 or later.  Little things like putting in a Ranger in shows long
before they're revealed, or planning ahead to change Londo's wardrobe to
reflect a darker attitude, even throwaway dialogue lines...as well as the
larger foreshadowings.

     I can't think of any American show that has done any of those things
consistently, or even *tried* to do all of them at once.

     So, bottom line, we're kinda out here on the edge all by ourselves.

     Re: Kosh's lines...the best part of working with the actor is that
between takes, since he's locked in the audio booth, but doesn't want to break
character, he'll mutter to himself in Kosh's voice...so there I am outside,
hearing Kosh's voice on the speaker, "Bugger off, Sheridan... Have I told you
I find you very attractive?...Oh the pain, the pain...."

                                                                  jms
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Category 18,  Topic 2
Message 595       Tue Mar 07, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:00 EST

     Except, of course, they live in the nastier, less attractive parts of the
station, near the air reprocessors that go all night and all day without a
break; the sewage and water reclamation factories...but yes, eventually their
numbers will have to grow too large and something will have to be done.  That
something has been planned for.

                                                                    jms
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Category 18,  Topic 2
Message 605       Tue Mar 07, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 21:45 EST

     To pick one background shot, as I recall, there was a ranger at the
zocalo bar at one point in "Long Dark."

                                                                    jms
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Topic 4         Tue Nov 03, 1992
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:12 EST
Sub: Babylon 5 - Cast & Characters      

For discussion of the actors who will be bringing BABYLON 5 to life with their
performances...for information before, and discussion after the airing of "The
Gathering" pilot.
360 message(s) total.
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Category 18,  Topic 4
Message 326       Sat Mar 11, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:59 EST

     Okay, let's see...upcoming we've got John Shuck, a reappearance by Morgan
Shepherd in a different role, and Pat Tallman returns as Lyta Alexander.

                                                                   jms
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Category 18,  Topic 4
Message 356       Tue Mar 14, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 01:28 EST

     Okay, okay, I misspelled John's name....

                                                                 jms
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Topic 17        Tue Jan 19, 1993
C.STOBBE [Colin]             at 21:02 EST
Sub: Babylon 5 - Merchandising          

A place to discuss all the neat Babylon 5 merchandising coming out (hopefully)
soon
572 message(s) total.
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Category 18,  Topic 17
Message 529       Sat Mar 04, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 04:22 EST

     There are some *nifty* B5 t-shirts and caps available from All-U at 1-800-
424-2558, ext. 105.  The shirts are color, nice screening process...just very
well done.  Prices are very reasonable.  I commend them to you.  (They're now
available direct from All-U, which previously shipped mainly to distributers.)

                                                        jms
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Topic 33        Sun Mar 05, 1995
M.BURSTEIN [Michael]         at 00:16 EST
Sub: Hugos, Other Awards, and Babylon 5 

For discussion of awards Babylon 5 has won, and discussion of which  episodes
should be nominated for Hugo (and other) Awards.
31 message(s) total.
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Category 18,  Topic 33
Message 4         Sun Mar 05, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 04:30 EST

      There's a dangerous irony here; the ST episode "Inner Light" was
objectively the one stand-out episode of that season, and thus won.  The
problem I've detected in posts from people about B5 is determining WHICH
episode to nominate, since there are apparently many choices.  If you end up
splitting the vote among lots of shows, *none* of them will get on the ballot
or winning.

      So if you're going to push B5, you may want to get together on one ep
that is always included (like "Signs," which is what I'd pick).  Just a
thought, since the issue at hand may not be which single ep is one's
subjective best, but recognizing the series overall.

                                                                    jms
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Topic 39        Wed Dec 07, 1994
STARR [Arne]                 at 00:59 EST
Sub: #213 - "Hunter, Prey"              

by JMS.
75 message(s) total.
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Category 19,  Topic 39
Message 18        Fri Mar 03, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:23 EST

     The General was not a prisoner reference; it refers to General Hague.

                                                                jms
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Category 19,  Topic 39
Message 28        Sat Mar 04, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 02:56 EST

     I have a very simple rule: if you're going to reveal Kosh, first you have
to start pointing at him, so that the revelation has weight.

     We're pointing at Kosh.

                                                                  jms
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