lurkers-guide/ftp/Usenet/jms93-07-usenet

(This is the first file of JMS postings on Usenet)
===========================================================================
| This text is compiled from posts by J. Michael Straczynski on the Usenet 
| group alt.tv.babylon-5.  This document contains material Copyright 1993
| J. Michael Straczynski.  He has given permission for his words to be 
| redistributed online, as long as they are marked as being copyright JMS.
| This document, as well as other Babylon-5 related material, is available
| by anonymous FTP at ftp.hyperion.com.
===========================================================================

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 10 Jul 1993 03:22:56 -0400
Subject: Passage through jumpgates

     As has been stated previously, large starships, such as carrier
ships, have enough energy resources to create their *own* entry into
hyperspace, their own jump points.  The jump gates are mainly used for
smaller ships, or big ships that want to conserve energy.
 
     Thus, the Vorlons used the jump gate in order to detach their smaller
ships *before* entering B5's space, so that they could go in on the attack
immediately, rather than having to separate from the mothership after
arriving via a separate jump point.  Since they were expecting some sort
of Vorlon craft, no one thought much of it; the frequency matched with the
ambassador's craft.  It's only when everything came out that they saw it
was more than it seemed.
 
     One other item: a jump gate isn't like a light bulb, you can't just
switch it off suddenly.  There are massive reactions and energy flows going
on in there, and it takes a fairly long period of time to shut one down
without blowing the thing to kingdom come.  Also, you endanger any other
craft heading for it or midway through a jump.  During the Earth/Minbari
war, EA jump gates were encoded to reject any ship coming in on the wrong
ID frequency, which helped to slow down misuse of certain gates, though
the codes would eventually get cracked, which meant they had to be changed
on a fairly regular basis.
 
     In "Midnight on the Firing Line," you will see how a carrier-size
ship makes its own jump point.
 
	                                                                jms


From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 17 Jul 1993 01:50:01 -0400
Subject: Re: FTL communication (was Re:

     The Senator of the pilot, who was back on Earth, is someone who has
in past been someone that Sinclair has come to for backing on things; he's
the equivilent of someone on the Armed Services Committee, here as one of
those civilian Senators overseeing Earthforce.  He would not be in any
position to just come in and take over, any more than a Senator visiting a
U.S. army base would be in a position to take over the base if there were
a problem with the ranking officer.  But he might be able to bring some
force to bear back in Washington, which might double-back to be of some
use.
 
     There are civilian branches and military branches, as with today, in
which the civilian branch oversees the military, but in very formalized
ways.
 
	                                                                 jms


From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 18 Jul 1993 18:21:00 -0400
Subject: Re: FTL communication (was Re:

     The sense is that the commander of B5 is empowered to speak on
behalf of his government the way a captain exploring new places is
similarly empowered.  One thing that Sinclair does *not* do is order the
Ambassadors around.  That would be a significant breach of protocol.  They
are all on equal footing in that respect.  He is forbidden from using the
station personnel or firepower to, for instance, hammer someone into
signing a particular treaty, since that would be duress, and would be
considered void.  It would also probably lead to a major confrontation that
nobody wants.  There are definite checks and balances put in place on B5,
as with any other major installation like this.
 
     Sinclair, btw, was not the first choice for this post; they wanted an
actual ambassador, but for reasons we'll reveal down the road, this didn't
happen.  At one point we'll deal very straight-forwardly with this whole
civilian vs. military question in the series, which should answer many of
the questions being asked here.
 
	                                                               jms


From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 20 Jul 1993 01:51:03 -0400
Subject: A Couple of Questions...

     The writer's guide to B5 is not available outside the B5 offices.  As
for a B5 comic...yes, there are negotiations, and as soon as there's any
news I can pass along officially, it'll be on the 'net very quickly.
 
	                                                                 jms


From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 27 Jul 1993 03:21:18 -0400
Subject: Re: Tamyln & TV Guide - From J

     Regarding Catherine Sakai...believe me, this ain't a consort kind of
relationship.  It will be monogamous, but difficult in many ways.  This
has been an on-again/off-again relationship between them for years, made
up of three parts passion and two parts teeth.  It will be a very fiery
relationship.  And this is a woman with her own business, her own ship,
who comes and goes as she wishes.  You have to understand that I love
writing strong female characters, and Catherine will be probably one of
the strongest.
 
	                                                                  jms


From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 27 Jul 1993 04:03:07 -0400
Subject: Something I've always wanted

     Yes, the English model is very much what we're going for in the
characters on B5.  No character is safe, and we want to play with them
in some ways not usually done on american TV.  One other difference is
the notion of a single story across X-season, as with many British
series.
 
	                                                           jms


From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 27 Jul 1993 04:15:27 -0400
Subject: Re: TV Guide

     Just a correction: there is *no* story in the first season of B5
entitled "Five Minutes to Midnight."  The first episode for the series is
entitled "Midnight on the Firing Line."  Just FYI.
 
	                                                                 jms


From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 27 Jul 1993 06:53:37 -0400
Subject: Re: TV Guide

     Two quickies: in G'Kar's comments to Lyta, he mentions that they
would have to change the genetic structure of human DNA for his little
idea to work, so there is that aspect to it.  As for Sinclair going after
the Minbari assassin...there were several reasons for this.  First, this
was personal for him; if the guy *wasn't* caught, he would be blamed for
the death and sent to the Vorlon homeworld.  He had something very much
at stake.  Second, if you have somebody with shapeshifting technology on
board, the LAST thing you want is to send in a large group.  The tracking
of the energy web used for the holographic effect was good, but only
to a certain point.  It could say "He's ten feet away," but if there's 5
guys within that range, it'll take you just long enough to react for the
assassin to wipe out the bunch of you before you figure out which one he
is.  But if there's only *two* of you, and you hear the shifter is within
10 feet, you know *exactly* who it is and can react accordingly.  It
seemed logical.  Also, you'd want someone there who you knew VERY well,
in case there were a replacement...because while someone could emulate a
face, they can't replicate memories, and Sinclair or Garibaldi could
quickly figure out if the other was an imposter.
 
     Yes, I probably could've stopped to explain this...but I figured it
was readily apparent, and there was already enough exposition in the
pilot to stun a horse.
 
	                                                              jms


From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 27 Jul 1993 19:12:08 -0400
Subject: Re: TV Guide

     Alas, I wish I could say that I'm doing B5 in hopes of pleasing the
maximum number of people at all times.  Certainly there would be many
people in town relieved to hear that.  But this is something that I'm
doing because this is just the sort of series that I'd like to watch.  If
I'm lucky, others will feel the same way.  If not...well, them's the
breaks.  This show will either be a hit, or it'll go down in the biggest
fireball since Tunguska.
 
	                                                                 jms


From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 29 Jul 1993 02:21:43 -0400
Subject: Re: Something I've always want

     So far, the network (PTEN) is letting us do everything we want to
do, even going for our more dangerous stories.  Which pleases me beyond
anything I can convey to you.  They're trusting us to do what we think is
right.
 
	                                                                  jms


From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 29 Jul 1993 02:22:07 -0400
Subject: Re: Something I've always want

     We're definitely punching up the Commander.  And you're correct; not
all problems in real life are resolved in a day, much less an hour (though
that's really kind of a misnomer; generally the "span" of a TV story may
cover 3-4 days of story time...you just see parts of that story selected
for showing in a one-hour period...sort of the highlights).
 
     We do plan to bring in some things that seem at first unimportant,
then a few episodes down, learn the significance of it.  That can be a
great deal of fun.
 
	                                                               jms


From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 31 Jul 1993 05:11:37 -0400
Subject: Re: JMS: Cast additions/change

     That footage...zero.  Other stuff...maybe.
 
	                                                              jms