lurkers-guide/ftp/GEnie/jms95-07

JMS messages on GEnie, July 1995.  Collected by Steven Miale
<smiale@cs.indiana.edu>.


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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 393       Thu Jul 06, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:39 EDT
 
     Actually, all B5 crew get the jacket; difference is, only a few of us are
entitled to wear the Battle of the Line patches.

                                                                     jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 421       Fri Jul 07, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:52 EDT
 
     I hear there's even going to be a jms card in the first batch of 120
cards.  (I have now achieved something, I am now a trading card.)   There will
be cards for every episode, in chronological order, and they can trace some
arc elements and stuff.  They look to be gorgeous, all based on photographs,
many never before published or seen.

     People entitled to wear BotL patches: me, Michael O'Hare, and John
Copeland.

                                                                   jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 434       Fri Jul 07, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 22:52 EDT
 
     Haven't seen the poster yet, but I hear it's cool.

                                                             jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 453       Sun Jul 09, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 04:18 EDT
 
      Mike, would *love* to see a copy of that review; could you send it to me
at 14431 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 260, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423?  I would *very*
much appreciate it.

    (If you could include the cover, that'd also be great.)

                                                                  jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 466       Mon Jul 10, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 01:38 EDT
 
     We're still negotiating for the release of the tapes.  We may have to
bring in former president Carter to finalize the negotiations.  The cards will
be fall-ish; the CD regular edition is currently available.

                                                                   jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 513       Sun Jul 16, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 04:13 EDT
 
     Y'know...we despair here about how the media (viz: TV Guide and others)
can only think to describe B5 by comparing it to ST, why can't they get it
together...I just blipped over to the category for NASFIC, the US proxy
Worldcon...and there are panels on Star Wars, on the Fox shows, including X-
Files, all this...and you know the only B5 panel I found?  BABYLON 5 VS. STAR
TREK.

     sigh....

                                                              jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 526       Sun Jul 16, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 18:47 EDT
 
     We're doing a bit more here and there on merchandising, just enough to
keep it going and provide quality assurance.

     BTW, in the ongoing saga of Big Bang Screwups...heard today that, in
addition to Michael O'Hare getting stiffed the $5,000 remaining on his  fee,
Mark Hamill's check for the balance of his fee (a remainder of $10,000) has
bounced, this on top of a previous check to reimburse travel expenses ALSO
bouncing.

     These people are unbelievable....

                                                                      jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 555       Mon Jul 17, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 23:49 EDT
 
                ....birthdays.....pfthpft.....

                                                               jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 570       Tue Jul 18, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 21:01 EDT
 
     My hair doesn't change much in length, so I'm not sure there's any real
difference.  (Now *quantity* of operational follicles, that's a different
story....)

                                                                 jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 583       Wed Jul 19, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 02:50 EDT
 
     The shadows know that Kosh knows, because the Vorlons *always* know; they
also know (or think) that they're in a superior position because if Kosh
should tell the others, either a) most wouldn't believe him, or b) the shadows
would move aggressively now, costing untold lives.  They're more worried about
an alliance between lots of races than the Vorlons alone.

                                                                  jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 585       Wed Jul 19, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:40 EDT
 
     Okay.  Look.  I'm gonna make this *real* simple.

     Somebody gives me the cheat codes for DESCENT, and nobody gets hurt.

                                                                 jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 603       Thu Jul 20, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 04:13 EDT
 
     BTW, keep forgetting to mention...I've just finished a VERY lon (long) B5
article for FOUNDATION, an academic review of SF published out of Britain. 
It'll be out and available at Worldcon, and elsewhere.

     It's about 7,600 words/28 typed pages, a mix of pro and personal stuff.

                                                             jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 610       Thu Jul 20, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 17:58 EDT
 
     Our pilot got one emmy nomination (won that one); season one got two noms
(won one), and our third season has just gotten three Emmy nominations, with
the possibility of one or two more to come.  We got noms for makeup, hair and
cinematography.  Nominations for directing, music, EFX and a few other areas
will be out in the next couple/three weeks, when the last of the ballots are
counted.  Nothing for the cast or writers, alas, but that's typical for SF.

                                                           jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 625       Fri Jul 21, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:46 EDT
 
     It didn't share an emmy, no, but in that category, more than one can win
(EFX).  DS9 also got an emmy that year, but TNG did not, the first year in a
while that they hadn't.

                                                                   jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 648       Sun Jul 23, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 01:04 EDT
 
     To some extent it falls into a steady rhythm, except that each year we
try to get more ambitious than the year before, so we're constantly pushing
the envelope and looking for new ways to do things, and ways to make those
things even bigger and better.

                                                                jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 656       Mon Jul 24, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:10 EDT
 
     The BG is a sculpture; they were clipped into the image.

                                                                jms
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Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 732       Sun Jul 30, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 23:04 EDT
 
     What Earthdome told us was that the Minbari were beaten back by our
defenses, and sued for peace rather than walk into a buzzsaw.

                                                                   jms

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Category 18,  Topic 2
Message 544       Sun Jul 16, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:47 EDT
 
     WB will be putting out a bunch of new images/avi files/wav files to usher
in the new season.

                                                                  jms
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Category 18,  Topic 2
Message 548       Mon Jul 17, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:17 EDT
 
     Script #5 completed, "Passing Through Gethsemene."

                                                                jms
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Category 18,  Topic 2
Message 559       Mon Jul 17, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 23:52 EDT
 
     For most of our history with WB, the shield's attitude has been sort of
lackluster when it comes to PR.  Particularly for the first year or so, during
their trial of a new concept in TV: stealth programming.  You do  as much as
you can to make the show invisible to eye, ear, radar, sonar and infrared,
lest god forbid somebody should write an article about it.   We had *constant*
battles with them over this. 

     We think the situation is finally, slowly improving.  A great deal of the
problem comes from the fact that we're a) not a network show, and b) not a
Warners in-house series, like Kung Fu or the other PTEN shows.  We're an
independent production company, and thus we tended to get orphaned/neglected a
lot.

                                                                   jms
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Category 18,  Topic 2
Message 578       Wed Jul 19, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 02:51 EDT
 
     Good heavens; I think the "Gethsemane" story *you're* seeing is much more
interesting than the one *I* came up with....

     Not to say that that theme won't recur down the road anyway....

                                                                   jms
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Category 18,  Topic 2
Message 604       Fri Jul 21, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:44 EDT
 
     Bear in mind also that this is a TV Guide photo, done by them, not an
official B5 production cast photo, and it's who was available and in town
during the hiatus.

                                                                   jms
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Category 18,  Topic 2
Message 615       Sat Jul 22, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:57 EDT
 
     As I recall, what they did was shoot the background, then shoot
individual shots of the actors, and they may have put them all together later.
Don't know if a single was shot of all of 'em or not.

                                                                   jms
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Category 18,  Topic 2
Message 637       Wed Jul 26, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:54 EDT
 
     Stan, y'know the only thing that kinda bothers me?  I see you over here,
on AOL, elsewhere, posting all these spoilers...and that's all you seem to do.
I don't see you engaging in discussions, it seems to me as if your main
interest is in just grabbing the information and racing to all the forums to
be first with spoilers.  I find this rather peculiar.

                                                                 jms

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Category 18,  Topic 11
Message 516       Fri Jul 07, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            (Forwarded) 
 
     Except, of course, that I'd specifically asked for people NOT to post
that info; if this has been done, then this is the first time that request has
not been honored.  I've done these screenings in the cooperative sense that it
will be kept to the crowd and not posted publicly; even gotthe  audience to
agree with it.  If this promise has been broken, I may have to reconsider the
screening process. 

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Category 18,  Topic 11
Message 517       Fri Jul 07, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            (Forwarded) 
 
     PS.  So in other words, Stan, if you want to post this material all over
the place, on an episode that hasn't yet aired yet, totally not respecting my
wishes on the subject, as the creator of B5, because you believe your right to
post this is greater than my polite and respectful request to the fans who
attended NOT to publicly post such things, then do as you wish, knowing that
you kill any future screenings for other people.  

                                                                   jms
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Category 18,  Topic 11
Message 524       Sat Jul 08, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            (Forwarded) 
 
     AND FURTHERMORE, *Stan*....I just checked AOL.  The synopsis one person
wrote there was *never* posted publicly insofar as I could see, and was noted
that if anyone wanted to see it, it would be sent via email to that
individual.  Why?  Because the person who saw the ep understood and respected
my request, and didn't want it posted publicly.  If that person had, it
would've been.  So you're even going against the wishes of the person who
WROTE the synopsis.

                                                                      jms
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Category 18,  Topic 11
Message 538       Sat Jul 08, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            (Forwarded) 
 
     You know, Stan, it's really very sad when courtesy is no longer a valid
reason for doing something.  "Well, show me where it breaks THE LAW to do
this," "I would love to see a legal challenge on that one," and "taking a
magazine or newspaper to court."  This is one of the reasons our society is so
totally screwed up.  "Because I ask you, as a favor, and as a personal
courtesy," is not a good enough reason for some people.

     I was not required to show that episode.  Nobody made me.  Nobody was
entitled to it.  I did so as part of a compact between me and the audience
that we will keep the details between us, privately.  I have done literally
dozens and dozens of conventions, exercised this compact dozens of times, and
to date, not ONE PERSON has ever violated that gentleman's agreement.   Except
you.  Who wasn't even THERE, and took the message out of private mail...why? 
Because you want to be FIRST.  Because in the on-line community, knowledge =
power.  And because you want it, and unless you get what you want, you're
going to stamp your foot and carry on cranky and scream and yell that
everybody else should change the rules to accommodate you.  

     This is not a censorship issue.  GEnie is a *private corporation*, just
like a newspaper.  And any newspaper can choose, for itself, what it selects
for publication, or not to publish.  It has the right, and the responsibility,
because it provides the venue.  Freedom of speech in the press or the
electronic media is a function of who's paying the bill.  You  can't go around
screaming "I'm being censored" because a magazine saw your letter and decided
it was dopey and didn't publish it.  It's their call.   This is GEnie's call,
and the call of those who work for GEnie.

     Constitutional free speech means if you can't publish it in one place you
can go and do it yourself.  You can set up a BBS of your own somewhere and
publish this to your heart's content.  Nobody's going to stop you, this isn't
about laws, or rules, or ratings, it's a simple request from me, and the
courteous agreement to that request by others.  You are trying to negate what
they and I have agreed to, because you want to.  Because your perception of
your "rights" (which do not exist in a service like GEnie which is not a
democracy, is paid for via a corporation privately owned) is that it matters
more than my rights to make this request, more than the sysops to honor that
request, more than the structure of GEnie, more important than the wishes of
the users here, more important thjan the future convention goers who might
find no further screenings....

     Because you want to be *first*.  Very few can actually DISCUSS the
episode, because it hasn't aired.  Only the relative handful in the room.  So
there's not much they can really add to it.  You weren't even THERE.  You just
want to run into the room waving the synopsis because you feel it gives you
some kind of status.  And the hell with everybody else.

     Some studio types don't like episodes being screened ahead of the
broadcast; so I try and keep a low profile on this to avoid causing them
headaches.  Which is, essentially, what I said at the time, and was known and
understood by everyone who was there, of which you were not one.  So in your
ignorance of the situation, you potentially complicate things
further...because you wanna this, and you wanna that.  

     It's a sad world when the only thing you respect is the sound of your own
voice.

                                                                   jms
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Category 18,  Topic 11
Message 550       Sun Jul 09, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            (Forwarded) 
 
      Stan, your application of the definition of censorship just doesn't
wash.  When the dictionary says "remove or suppress," it means from the
society at large.  It also refers to the government.  If a newspaper chooses
not to publish an article, it's not censorship, it's the choice of a
publication.  The right to make that choice is one of the prime tenets of
freedom of speech.  By your definition, any service or publication which
chooses for itself what it will or will not publish is a censor; and in so
doing, you create the error of accepted cliche which in time wears down the
specific meaning of censorship by generalizing it to an insupportable level. 
People who scream censorship at the drop of a hat become like the little boy
who cried wolf; pretty soon, the serious and real cases get ignored in the
whiten noise.

     (white noise, that is)

       One suggestion: study a little communications law.  Because you really
don't understand what it is you're addressing here; a two-line definition in
the dictionary has little to no bearing on case law, the history of
governmental censorship, or much of anything else.  I've spent considerable
time studying communications law; you should try it before you go off like
this.  Also copyright law, and free speech rules.  We'll continue this after
you've finished your homework.

                                                               jms
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Category 18,  Topic 11
Message 566       Sun Jul 09, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            (Forwarded) 
 
     I was going to make one last reply on this, until I saw the line, that
I'm "supporting the use of force to thward the dissemination of information."

     Force?  WHAT force?  You keep quoting the dictionary, Stan, WHAT force? 
Look it up.  Has somebody come to your door, kicked it in, taken you to a
prison and attached electrodes to your genitalia and I wasn't informed? 
Excuse me, Stan, but you have just passed into the totally ridiculous.  Your
statement here is offensive to me and anyone who knows how writers have been
tortured and harrassed and killed in the process of their work.  I have
donated literally *thousands* of dollars to PEN and other freedom of
speech/protection for writers organizations, people who  in Latin American and
Eastern European countries know what *force* means.

     No force was used of any kind, Stan.  You're gibbering.  You got your
little message deleted, you got hysterical, and you're blowing this out of all
proportion.

     I have nothing further to say to you. 

                                                                jms

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Category 18,  Topic 12
Message 299       Sat Jul 15, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 22:27 EDT
 
      The TV Guide issue with the B5 feature story should be hitting
newsstands on the East Coast today (reaching LA on Monday).  Anybody out there
got a copy for a quick review/heads-up for us out here? 

                                                                   jms

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Category 18,  Topic 17
Message 378       Wed Jul 12, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 05:08 EDT
 
     Some places list the CD under Chris Franke's name, not B5, oddly enough. 
You can also get it via Tower Records phone order, at 1-800- ASK-TOWER.  Many
folks have reported getting it quickly that way.

     Yes, insofar as I know, these are licensed uniforms.

                                                             jms

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Category 18,  Topic 26
Message 622       Mon Jul 03, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 01:20 EDT
 
     The assaulted dealer has required hospitalization and there are some
concerns about his vision in one eye.

                                                                    jms
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Category 18,  Topic 26
Message 656       Sun Jul 16, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 18:41 EDT
 
     Is Trace Bileau (I misspelled that, I know) going to be doing the honors?

                                                                jms
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Category 18,  Topic 26
Message 659       Mon Jul 17, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 17:23 EDT
 
     No, that happened just before the pilot was aired, and just after it was
finished.

                                                                  jms
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Category 18,  Topic 26
Message 670       Sun Jul 23, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 01:01 EDT
 
     Both Bruce and Pat Tallman were at MOC, and apparently everybody  there
was very much won over, from reports I've seen.

                                                          jms

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Category 18,  Topic 38
Message 230       Tue Jul 04, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 02:17 EDT
 
     All issues through 11 will come out; we think we've got things in place
to go beyond that as well, as some elements have improved.  More on this as it
develops.

                                                                jms
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Category 18,  Topic 38
Message 242       Thu Jul 06, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 23:35 EDT
 
     I've just been told today that the comic has been extended through issue
#24.  So it's clear for over a full year yet to come.  There should be
something official about this out soonish.

     This should give it a decent shot at finding its audience, which is
already building (40,000+ copies per month ain't bad).

                                                                  jms
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Category 18,  Topic 38
Message 300       Mon Jul 17, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 23:44 EDT
 
     David's story for DC is based on an episode script he'd done for us
(outline, actually) for the first season, which would've been just about
impossible to shoot.

                                                                jms

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Category 18,  Topic 41
Message 12        Sat Jul 15, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 22:24 EDT
 
     I think the idea of a fan-run con is great.  And be *sure* that wherever
you do choose has a) adequate transportation in and out, b) something to do
when the con's not in session, c) good hotels centrally located to the
convention.

     I like Tom's approach above; it gives all the various departments a
chance to get their moment in the sun, AND provide solid info on those aspects
of making the series that would be of interest to different people.

     What we have here, really, is the chance to re-think and re-create the
convention process a little, make it more active, and inter-active, and more
interesting.

     One thing to be advised about: actors are paid to perform.  This is
performance, however one might choose to consider it otherwise.  So any cast
members brought in are going to require some kind of compensation, travel and
the like.  Just a reminder to keep in the back of your head(s) as you plan all
this stuff out.

                                                                      jms

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Category 19,  Topic 43
Message 314       Thu Jul 20, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 18:02 EDT
 
     Negative.  That was never intended.  Sakai would not have had this
encounter with the shadows.  And remember, we *saw them* in year one, so they
were already out, about and awake.  It's not just a matter of  transposing
names.

                                                              jms

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Category 19,  Topic 46
Message 4         Wed Jul 26, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:55 EDT
 
     There is a topic here for spoilers from the UK, Stan.  Use it.

     Also, what is this obsession you have with posting every single detail of
a story just to get it out there?

                                                           jms
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Category 19,  Topic 46
Message 9         Wed Jul 26, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 06:08 EDT
 
     It's just that the sysops have *specifically* set aside topic #1 here for
"The British Aired Final Four Episodes."  The DL info came from one of the
British Aired Final Four Episodes.  It seems to me that one would wish to
respect the wishes of the sysops who created that topic for that express
purpose, the same way one puts discussions of B5 science into 18/13.  Why is
it you seem to feel that the sysops needs are subordinate to your own?  Nobody
said you couldn't post the spoilers, they merely said that the topic over
*there* is the right place for them, THIS one is for the spoilers that take
place after they've aired here in the US.

                                                                 jms