lurkers-guide/ftp/GEnie/jms96-06

JMS on GEnie
June 1996 postings


SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 374       Sun Jun 02, 1996
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 19:30 EDT
 
     Yes, B5 is filmed widescreen, the full horizontal range restored
by going back to the original negs.  (After coming back from Wolf 359 I'll
actually get to see a full-widescreen version at WB.)

     You can get screwed in widescreen sometimes; I had the regular
aspect ratio of Cabaret, searched for the wide, found it...and discovered
that when they ran it in theaters, they just masked off the top and bottom 
of the frame for the widescreen effect, and the regular aspect ratio was 
the one where you could see all of it, not the wide.

     One reason there's no diffusion in space is that there's no
atmosphere in space to PROVIDE the diffusion; haze and the like is a 
atmosphere effect.

                                                                  jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 386       Mon Jun 03, 1996
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 04:49 EDT
 
     Though lately, from what I've been hearing from ST-oriented cons,
the toys aren't selling as well from ST anymore.  At the big blow-out ST
convention in Pasadena a few weeks ago, the 30th anniversary one, some
DS9 stuff sold, less Voyager stuff sold...and they had to send back to the
warehouse twice for B5 stuff.

     Now, as an aside....

     Warners has been running the numbers on renewal, and we've been
told that the numbers look right, and will be recommended for renewal.  Now
that's not the same *as* renewal, there are still some execs who need to 
stamp the thing and say domini domini over it (as John Copeland says), 
(in nomine patre, et fili, et spiritus sanctus, ACTION!")...it would take 
a huge and unexpected event to stop it now, and that doesn't seem likely 
at all.  So while I wouldn't say this is an eep, that formally hasn't 
happened yet, and it's WB's perogative to actually make that 
announcement, I'd certainly consider this at least an e.

     I make a point of saying this only because I'm going to be in the
UK this coming week, and thus offline, and won't be able to post any eeps 
that might be forthcoming.

                                                                  jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 624       Wed Jun 12, 1996
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 18:30 EDT
 
     Just got in late last night, still catching up...yes, we've been
renewed.  I dearly wanted to announce it here before I left, as has been
traditional, but it couldn't be done until we had the formal, final pickup
notification from WB, until which time it ain't real, and a) things can 
still go wrong, and b) the last time I said something too early WB rapped 
my knuckles.  It wasn't truly official until late Friday.

     We begin shooting again August 26th.


jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 2
Message 413       Thu Jun 13, 1996
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:49 EDT
 
     Araratus: most messages pass in front of me, but given that I see
about 500 or so per day, sometimes individual questions slip past me.

     Kwicker: a certain poet once wrote, "Truth is beauty, and beauty
truth; this is all you know and all you need to know."  If there is any
beauty to the work, then it contains truth, and thus cannot be a lie.  A 
story only has value wherein it touches an even greater Truth, perhaps 
even a universal truth.  

     Fiction, at its best, is truth...it's the real world that's a
lie.

     Sleep tight.

                                                                   jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 656       Fri Jun 14, 1996
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:59 EDT
 
     But y'see, the Eep is only used when I know for sure it's renewed
and can't say so.  Now it's renewed and I can say so, and I was away for
the very brief in-between...to misuse the power of the Eep is a serious
infraction.

                                                                  jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 705       Sun Jun 16, 1996
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 14:17 EDT
 
     "Ratings for all syndicated dramas have dropped."

     Incorrect, in at least one case.  B5's ratings this quarter have
been our highest in some time, so we're definitely on an upswing.


jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 26
Message 391       Wed Jun 19, 1996
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 14:58 EDT
 
     WB is coming down hard on all its shows (or so I'm told), on the
theory that a con showing = a theatrical exhibition, and they can be fined
hundreds of bucks by the showbiz guilds.  Now, in the history of hollywood,
this has never, ever happened...but the lawyers got their noses into it...and
at that point, you're doomed.

                                                                  jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 26
Message 395       Thu Jun 20, 1996
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 01:48 EDT
 
     Nope, they won't allow that.  It ain't the slate, it's the
guilds.   And we can't show scenes with guest stars, either.  And we 
can't take more than 4 minutes out of any given episode.  

                                                                   jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 544       Thu Jun 27, 1996
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:53 EDT
 
     Well, just finished the first (writer's) draft of "The Hour of
the Wolf," the first episode of year 4, to be directed by David Eagle.  
It was a tough one, like all first-episode scripts...but quite 
interesting, in its way.  Once again the show takes a somewhat different 
tone, I'm using some tools I somewhat developed in the background in year 
3 and am now trying in foreground, very interesting mood change...a good 
start.

                                                                 jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 258       Fri Jun 28, 1996
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 23:49 EDT
 
     Here's what the talk shows tell us: "Sorry, but you're a
syndicated show, and nobody knows from syndication, so our viewers 
wouldn't be interested."


jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 261       Sat Jun 29, 1996
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:49 EDT
 
     At some point along the way, somebody decided to mail out the B5
newsletters bulk mail.  This is problematic at best.  So we're going
to start switching over to 1st or 2nd class to ensure delivery.  They're 
going out in batches.

                                                                 jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 270       Sat Jun 29, 1996
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 18:30 EDT
 
     New episodes (the last of season 3) start in October.

     So the good part, such as it is, is that we'll play 5 in October,
then 4 or 5 in November, so you're looking at 9-10 in a row, almost half a
season in one go.

                                                                  jms
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