lurkers-guide/ftp/GEnie/jms95-05-15

JMS messages on GEnie, May 15-30, 1995.  Collected by David Strauss
<dss2k@poe.acc.Virginia.EDU>.


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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 814       Thu May 18, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 01:43 EDT
 
       The odds of B5 ending up on the WB network are slim and none.  You have
to step back a second and realize the corporate structure of Warner Bros. 
Rather than one monolithic structure (a la Paramount), Warner Bros. is
actually kind of a hive mind, with something like 40 or 50 different
departments, arms, jurisdictions, companies and approaches, all of them
mutually competitive.  PTEN and WB, for instance, are two totally different
arms, and *very* competitive with one another.  I suspect either side would
slit their respective wrists before letting a show go from one to the other.

                                                                   jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 825       Thu May 18, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 19:36 EDT
 
     I'm going to put this up now, while I'm thinking about it.

     Next week, "Confessions and Lamentations" airs.  It is a very strong,
uncompromising episode.  It occured to me that parents of young kids (and
there are surprisingly a lot that watch) should *maybe* consider watching this
one on their own first, to make sure it's okay for their kids, and to maybe be
ready to discuss it afterward.  Just a thought....

                                                                     jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 26
Message 553       Thu May 18, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 19:39 EDT
 
     Just a reminder that Claudia, Bill Mumy and I will be at the big SF
convention in Anaheim next weekend (of the 28th).  Don't know which day
they'll be there at the Creation con, but I'm slated for Sunday.

                                                                jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 19,  Topic 41
Message 9         Mon May 15, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 01:27 EDT
 
     Yes, the characters were named after the actors who brought them to life.

     The cap is an Agamemnon crew cap, with a silhouette of the Aggie,
underneath EAS Agamemnon, and above OCG 5 (for Omega Construction Group 5, as
is traditionally done).  There are only three of these caps in existence:
Bruce has one, John Copeland has one...and I have one.  (I actually wore it
recently to a Lasfs (local SF gorup) party a couple of weeks ago.

                                                                 jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 26
Message 573       Sat May 20, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 16:40 EDT
 
     The next con that is closest to being a B5 convention is The Gathering,
in Manchester England this coming September.

     Here in the states, nothing yet that approaches that; B5 is still a
subset of other conventions.

                                                                  jms
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SFRT I RoundTable
Category 13,  Topic 5
Message 446       Sat May 20, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 04:56 EDT
 
      Been busy with post-production on B5, and without much traffic in here
before, hadn't checked in for a while.

      The revisions on the writing book are virtually done; there's just a bit
more tinkering to do with the stage/playwriting chapter, and it'll be done. 
Four years in the works....

      For those who've inquired about other works...you can find some of my
short stories in the SHADOWS 6 anthology, the MIDNIGHT GRAFITTI anthology
(with the same story appearing in an issue of PULPHOUSE), and AMAZING STORIES.
Some digging may be required.

      One of the main difficulties with exec producing a series is that it
leaves time for *nothing* else.  Haven't done any fiction or prose work in a
couple of years, not counting the issues of the B5 comic that I've written/am
writing.  The only time I even get to see a movie is if I'm on a plane
(assuming I'm not writing on the plane).  (On the trip to and from the UK I
saw FORREST GUMP, TRUE LIES, ED WOOD, MARY SHELLEY'S FRANKENSTEIN and
INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE, just kept grabbing tapes from the flight attendents,
who kept asking, "Don't you EVER get out?")

      Strongly considering publishing either a B5 script or a Murder, She
Wrote script in the scriptwriting book, in its totality.  Haven't yet decided
which.

                                                                  jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 19,  Topic 44
Message 11        Mon May 22, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:01 EDT
 
     Funny thing is, I've received several emails from medical professionals
who said the hesitation was exactly dead-on to when they've been in situations
of possible contamination.  Until somebody breaks the inertia and just *does*
it, as Franklin was about to.

     BTW, on the Marcabs, we've seen them frequently before, not just in
"Knives," but also in "The Long Dark" as the one who spoke about "soldiers of
darkness" to the Council, and elsewhere.

     Check out some of the isolation zone scenes, btw, and you'll see as many
as 40-50 Marcabs, in full costume and full prosthetic, the biggest of any
single race we've ever done.

                                                                   jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 19,  Topic 44
Message 13        Mon May 22, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 05:25 EDT
 
     It's *possible* you have the Marcabs confused with the Brikiri, who are
somewhat similar in look, until you get close; it was a Marcab, again, who in
very good english explained the soldiers of darkness in "The Long Dark."  On
the other hand, we might've shown somebody grunting, I could be wrong.  Not
all Marcabs are fluent in English, certainly.

                                                              jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 2
Message 746       Wed May 24, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:12 EDT
 
     Leaving our sector of space to go beyond the rim doesn't necesarily 
equate with strength; it's harder to stay, and act against what's coming, than
to just run away.  Also there may be reasons they chose to stay.

                                                                     jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 536       Tue May 30, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 17:43 EDT
 
     Though I worked for a while on ALIEN WORLDS, no, the Markab name wasn't a
nod there; I'd totally forgotten about any bunch with a name like that.  (It
was 16 or so years ago, remember.)

                                                                    jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 558       Wed May 31, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 05:19 EDT
 
     Actually, Dennis did not appear in "Acts," he appeared in "Comes the
Inquisitor."  This is stuff yet to come.

                                                                jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 23
Message 240       Sun May 28, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:31 EDT
 
     No, I've never made any bones about the fact that, should B5 run its full
5-year course, barring any side-stories that might spin off, my intent is to
probably get out of TV and go back to novels and plays.  I have the next novel
outlined already -- it'll be a 1,000+ page whopper -- but haven't had time to
write any of it.  It'd take probably a year full tilt to write it.  After
that, probably back to plays.

                                                                   jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 23
Message 243       Mon May 29, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:26 EDT
 
     I actually started out in theater.  I was writing small, one-act plays in
high school, which got performed around campus for classes by a kind of
traveling troupe put together by some of the teachers when they discovered,
kinda startled, that I could write.  First commissioned work was a full-length
comic play I wrote at the request of the school which was performed in front
of a full assembly.  (Prior to then noboby noticed I existed.  Suddenly I was
noticed.)

     My last year of high school, I started sending out one-act and full
length plays to various theaters.  One local theater decided to produce one of
them, and sent a letter suggesting a meeting.  I went to it, and they kept
waiting for my dad to show up or something; finally I was able to convince
them that no, I really *was* the person who wrote the play.  (And they did do
it.)  When I made it to Southwestern College in Chula Vista (after a quick run-
around at schools in Chicago and Dallas), at age 18, I wrote a bunch of one-
acts for the college, and was commissioned to write another full-length play
which was performed for 20 some weeks in summer stock, and later published in
book form by a leading play publisher (and no, I'm not telling you which
publisher, even though it's still in print, because I was 18 and it was dumb).

     I started getting one-acts and full length plays produced in a variety of
theaters, but eventually kind of got out of it when I got more into fiction,
working as a journalist, and other venues.  I have a tendency to drift in and
out of venues.

                                                                  jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 23
Message 247       Mon May 29, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 02:51 EDT
 
     Yeah, probably 1,000 manuscript pages, figure about 250,000 words, but
that's a conservative estimate; it may go longer once I get into it (it's a
contemporary dark fantasy story, fairly involved).  I'd probably get more if I
extended it into a trilogy, in terms of advances, but I just don't really
think in those terms.  It's, "What does the story require?"  Then that's what
you do.  I've always worked this way.

     1,000 pages ain't really that much, either, when one stops to realize
that in just the 15 scripts I've written for year two of B5, that's about 750
pages by itself.

     Don: yeah, a playwright, and lots of other stuff.  My problem is that I
like all kinds of writing; I *learn* from all kinds of writing.   So I'm
constantly drifting from one to the other.  For years I worked as a journalist
for major papers and magazines (over 500 article (articles) published; a
reviewer; an investigative reporter; radio drama writer; playwright; on-air
talk show host; short stories; novels; songs; you name it.  

     Basically...I flit.

                                                                  jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 23
Message 252       Mon May 29, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 19:00 EDT
 
     Actually, 1,000 manuscript pages generally equals about 750 printed book
pages.

                                                                    jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 23
Message 255       Tue May 30, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:53 EDT
 
     I wrote a 4-hour miniseries script based on the true story I spent over a
year researching.  Put it out on the market.  I've had something like a half
dozen offers to produce the thing, but only if I cut it down to 2 hours.  To
do so would violate the story, because it's too involved and too astonishing. 
You'd be left with nothing.  So I'm just holding onto it until the right
person finds it, and does it.


                                                                     jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 19,  Topic 44
Message 37        Fri May 26, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 20:48 EDT
 
     Pilots are used to putting themselves into dangerous situations on a
daily basis.  That's their *job*.  Doctors don't generally do that, and to
expect them to just dive in uniformly is patently unrealistic.  One of the
primary emails I've gotten on this ep has been from medical health
professionals who say that when they're put in this kind of situation with
some patients, there *is* a momentary hesitation on many occasions.  It's a
natural reaction.  It happens.  There's a quantum difference between the way
we *think* people should act, and the way they *do* act.  

     Re: the joke...it's another part of humanity.  Any time there's a
disaster, after the initial shock has worn, off...jokes start to appear.   I
suspect it's part of the way we try to bring large events down to a level
where we can deal with them.  Yes, they're tasteless.  But that's what we do. 
Less than 4 weeks after the shuttle went down, there were jokes.  It happens. 
Hence, it's inclusion.

     Humans are sometimes afraid.  Or less pleasant or honorable than we would
imagine ourselves to be.  We try to show both sides.  This is not a universe
where humans are without blemish, or where everyone is willing to instantly
fling himself or herself into harm's way.  It doesn't exist.  Courage is
noteworthy because it is the exception, not the rule.

                                                                      jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 19,  Topic 44
Message 47        Sat May 27, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:34 EDT
 
     Nobody said it was marital fruit.  The line is, "It's a rebirth ceremony
that sometimes doubles for a marriage ceremony."  Naturally, everybody glommed
onto the second interpretation, the lesser one, while ignoring the primary
interpretation, rebirth (as in what Delenn was planning to do with the
chrysalis).  (Well, correction, not everybody went for the misdirection, but
most did.)

                                                                 jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 19,  Topic 44
Message 49        Sat May 27, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 05:48 EDT
 
     The fighters aren't *inexpensive*, but not hideously costly either.  
Also, the pilots like to spend as much time out on patrol as possible, to
garner more flight pay.  Keffer's squad was already out earlier (as noted by
Sheridan); Keffer chose to stay out a little longer doing a bit of
reconnaisance.  Most of the hassle is in prepping the ship for launch,
maintainance and so on; once it's out, it's just a matter of a bit more fuel. 
If he left *strictly* for this purpose, then yeah, they'd nail his butt to the
flight deck.  But since he was out anyway, it's not as big an issue.

                                                                   jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 19,  Topic 44
Message 84        Mon May 29, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:10 EDT
 
     There was no change in Delenn's attitudes.  They're two different
circumstances.  In "Believers" Delenn was being asked to mediate in a dispute
between Franklin and the family, over essentially matters of the soul (as she
put it).  They do not interfere in matters of the soul, she explains.  This
wasn't such a situation.  

                                                               jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 19,  Topic 44
Message 99        Tue May 30, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:49 EDT
 
     We joked a few times about having a mass burial for the Markab
prosthetics and costumes behind the stage....

                                                                  jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 19,  Topic 44
Message 105       Tue May 30, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:23 EDT
 
    A man is shot by a gun.  Now, you can either do a story about the guy and
his life up to the moment he was shot and killed, or you can do a story about
the people who are affected by his death.  The former story ends kinda fast. 
But both are perfectly valid.  The main thrust is how this story AFFECTS our
main characters.  Would they have been more affected if it were the Drazi
rather than the Markabs?  No.  It would've been just the same.  My job is not
to sit here and say, "Hmm...do I think audience members like the Drazi or the
Markabs more?" and thus base my decision based on that.  I write my stories
based on what's right for the story, period.  In this case, I knew it had to
be one of the League races, and in particular, those prosthetics capable of
expressing broad ranges of emotion, potentially sympathetic characters.  The
instantly cut out the pak'ma'ra as primary characters.  I considered the
Drazi, but my sense was that the prosthetics couldn't convey the depth of
emotion I needed.   Finally, that led me to the Markabs.

     Enough terrible things happened, and continue to happen, to our major
races; best to give them a break and see how they react when it's someone
else.  

                                                                 jms