lurkers-guide/ftp/Usenet/jms94-11-usenet

===========================================================================
| This text is compiled from posts by J. Michael Straczynski on the Usenet
| group rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.  This document contains material Copyright
| 1994 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: 1 Nov 1994 03:16:11 -0500
Subject: Re: USA TODAY and the Truth ab

     Someone should point out to Ford the article appearing this week
(out in many newspapers already) for the Tribune Syndicate, in which she
states that, based on her interviews and sources, it WAS a mutual and
amicable parting, that Sinclair is NOT gone, and basically reinforces every
single point made here.

     Assuming anyone really cares anymore...frankly, I'm getting pretty
fucking tired and disgusted with the whole discussion.  Ford is an idiot,
pure and simple.

                                                                   jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 1 Nov 1994 03:16:30 -0500
Subject: ATT JMS & PAD:  (Re: Ignore Fo

     The idea of, "ask a member of the WGA" why one should never trust a
television producer is moronic in the extreme, because for the most part,
the majority of producers in TV ****ARE WRITERS**** and members of the
WGA.  I've been a member of WGA since 1978 or so, and have been a writer
a lot longer than I've been a producer.

	                                                      jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 1 Nov 1994 04:46:58 -0500
Subject: Re: Bab 5 in USA Today

     *sigh*...I was up writing all night long, I meant to say that the
Tribune Syndicate and TV Guide got the story more accurately than USA
Today in that one respect (though the rest of the article seemed fine);
unlike Ford, I have a life, and sometimes it gets tiring.

	                                                              jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 1 Nov 1994 06:23:19 -0500
Subject: Re: Ignore Ford Thaxton  (was

     Woody Harper: you have ended your messages with a "quote" from me
stating, "I'm foolin' 'em with these funny footprints!"  As with much of
what comes out of your and Ford Thaxton's mouth, this is a lie and a
fabrication, I never made that statement.

     Just what the hell is your problem, anyway?  You put info out that
I'm fired, you misquote me, you lie to others on systems about me...this
is stalking behavior on your part, and I'm getting very, very tired of it,
and I'm not going to stand for much more of it.  You may consider that I
am now putting you on formal notice.  Henceforth, all further fabrications
and downright lies that you post, all harrassing messages sent by you,
all rumors and deliberate distortions will be forwarded from me to my
attorneys, and gathered to be filed with an attorney in your state for
potential prosecution under libel laws and anti-stalking laws.  Further, I
may be forced to take personal legal action against you.  Remember that I
have your address.

     You have deliberately manufactured quotes from me.  You have stated,
as fact, that I was fired from my job.  You have told others that I
tracked you down for disagreeing with me, when in fact (as others here
can and have agreed to testify), it was incidend #1, the firing story,
that prompted this action.  You (and now, our latest homunculus, Ford
Thaxton) deliberately distort and misrepresent and simply lie about
matters injurious to my (and in the latter case, Michael O'Hare's)
career.

     I would also request the sysop of the system from which you are
logging in to be aware of your stalking behavior, and to reconsider your
continued access to this forum.

     I have had enough of this obsessive behavior from you.  You are now
under formal notice to stop it and stop it now.  I don't know what the
reason is for this sick fixation of yours, but get some help for it.

     If you don't stop, you, and your family, and your employer will be
hearing from my attorneys in very short order.

     Enough is enough.

	                                                              jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 1 Nov 1994 19:13:31 -0500
Subject: USA TODAY WRITER STANDS BY STO

     So now why don't you call the bunch of other reporters who say the
opposite of USA Today and ask if *they* stand beside *their* story?

     You seem obsessed with Michael O'Hare's personal employment
conditions...like I said, why don't you give me YOUR personal employment
history and let ME make some phone calls?  Or shall I go ahead and
answer my own question...that you're a sick, obsessed little fuck who
has no appreciable life, and thus has to meddle in the lives and careers
of others.

     Get this straight: you are entitled to *nothing*.  Not even this
reply.  Leave Michael O'Hare, and his career, alone.  You are trying to
turn a pleasant situation between me and someone I call a friend into
something that will, by rumor and innuendo, harm Michael O'Hare's career.
The degree of your obsession is becoming an area of great concern to us
at Babylon 5.  I hear that someone posing under an assumed name started
calling here the other day, trying to worm out information about Michael
and his employment.  Coincidence?

     Get this straight: LEAVE MICHAEL ALONE.  Nothing here is any of your
goddamned business.  It is a PRIVATE matter, everyone is content with
life...who the fuck are you to try and distort and screw around with
people's careers?  You are a viewer, who is entitled to what we put out
over the air, and not one bit more.  Okay, you don't buy what happens to
be the truth.  So the fuck what?  I don't care, no one here cares; the
concern raised is because you are openly trying to harm me, and Michael,
through your messages.

     How about you get your OWN fucking life and leave everybody else
alone?  And until YOU are willing to provide, here, your OWN employers,
so that we can do to you (a public figure on these boards) what YOU are
doing to MICHAEL, as far as I'm concerned you're nothing more than a
coward and a loudmouth who gets off on causing other people psychological
distress.

	                                                        jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 1 Nov 1994 19:26:50 -0500
Subject: Re: Before There Was B5 There

     In my view, Blake's 7 is a *terrific* show, and if we can come even
close to that quality, I'll be happy.

	                                                                 jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 2 Nov 1994 00:20:21 -0500
Subject: ATTN JMS: Political opinions o

     The similarity to the Kennedy situation, and the use of the LBJ
swearing-in photo as reference for the Earthforce One shot, were
definitely intentional.  Remember, we're trying to construct a metaphor
here, as one of the levels on which the show operates.

     What do *I* personally think re: the Kennedy situation?  I can't
think of anything less interesting, and less grounded, than my own
opinion on this subject.  I've done an awful lot of reading in this
area, but there are a lot of folks who know a hell of a lot more than I
do, with probably many of them on this system.

     The House Subcommittee that investigated this issue some time ago
came to the conclusion that there most likely *was* a conspiracy of
some sort, but couldn't find any overwhelming evidence to any other
shooter (these being two different but important issues).  Do I think
there was some sort of conspiracy (and to qualify as conspiracy you only
need one or two other people)?  Yes.  Were there other shooters?  My
sense is probably, but not necessarily.  Will we ever know the full
story?  No.  Should we ever stop trying?  No.

	                             jm("Back, and to the left.")s

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 2 Nov 1994 00:20:46 -0500
Subject: Kill files!

     Unfortunately, the GEnie gateway I use does not have a killfile
feature.

	                                                         jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 2 Nov 1994 01:09:28 -0500
Subject: Re: USA TODAY WRITER STANDS BY

     What is most hurtful about this is that Michael O'Hare has been out
there *really* pulling for the show lately, talking it up at the Big-E
Con over the past weekend, wishing everyone well, looking to the future,
reinforcing everything said here, he's been nothing but nifty...and along
come people obsessed with poisoning the well and hurting Michael in the
process.

	                                                         jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 2 Nov 1994 05:44:46 -0500
Subject: USA, JMS, and YKW.

     At this juncture, as you say, I have no further interest in
responding to these people, since their agenda is quite clear.  So much
crap has been said about this show, so much misinformation put out by
people, that it can make you crazy.  (Several newspapers and stations said
point blank that there were NO plans for Sinclair to return, that he
would NOT return...and here I am in my office, looking at footage we shot
which we're about to use for season two.)

     To your comment about personalities entering the fray and/or getting
targeted...I guess I keep forgetting that part of it.  I have never really
considered myself a *PERSONALITY*...wasn't altogether sure I *had* one
outside of the work....

	                                                              jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 2 Nov 1994 05:45:01 -0500
Subject: Some ACTUAL SHOW questions WAS

     We try to accommodate our actors where we possibly can.  For
instance, one of our actors will tentatively be doing a CD Rom movie
project, and will need two days off in the middle of shooting.  So while
we can't guarantee (we just got in the script and are now breaking out the
shooting schedule), we're certainly going to try our best to work this
out, and probably will be able to.  Actors need to take every free chance
they have to work; the more work they do, the better they get; the better
they get, the better my show gets.  As long as it doesn't interfere with
production, I have no problem with it.

                                                jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 3 Nov 1994 01:45:16 -0500
Subject: JMS (and others): Babylon 5 co

     By the time B5 hits the UK, only the first 2 issues of the comic
should be out, and there's nothing in any of those that could be
considered a spoiler, so you should be okay.

                                                                       jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 3 Nov 1994 06:53:51 -0500
Subject: Re: Ignore Ford Thax

     Well, well...I've been getting some very interesting information on
our friend Ford A. Thaxton, who is involved with a little enterprise
called Silva Screen Records.  Perhaps Mr. Thaxton wouldn't mind discussing
some of *his* personal business, like how why he has been using
Christopher Franke's music in his released (remixed) without paying
Chris any royalties...?  Apparently he has some real business problems
with Chris, and I would think he has considerable motivation to smear
anything that Chris is involved with.  Didn't mention that li'l old
conflict of interest in your quest for the "truth," did old Ford.

     And some of the things recently conveyed to me by some who've worked
with, and for Ford, in HIS business practices, are quite illuminating, to
say the least.  But I suppose he would think that was a private matter,
not to be discussed on a network.

     Maybe I should go and contact Edgar Froese in Germany, and ask about
some of *his* recent dealings with Ford, so that I can post them here.

     Nice little place Ford has, out there in Olympia, Washington....

     My, but Ford's had such an *interesting* life...at least, so say
the many people who've dropped me messages in the last few days, who have
worked with him.

                                                                 jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 3 Nov 1994 18:38:29 -0500
Subject: Re: Points of Departure -- SPO

     Next week, in "Revelations," you get G'Kar, Londo, Delenn, Lennier,
Na'Toth, Kosh, Garibaldi, Talia and everybody else.  Because there was SO
much happening in #1, that got slid back a bit; also, there's a fair
amount of time required for everything to do what they're supposed to be
doing.  (Note that we're operating pretty much in real-time; "Points" is
around 8 days after the events of "Chrysalis," and "Revelations" is about
another week after that.)

     One thing I noted here some time ago, as a large part of the reason
I dropped "to be continued" from "Chrysalis" is that this is more of a
three-parter than a two, and some threads pulled in "Chrysalis" won't be
fully resolved in some ways until the third and fourth episodes.  There is
a LOT going on, and if we try to cram it all into one episode (as I at
first tried with "Chrysalis, Part Two") you don't give ANY of them the
proper time to have any impact.

     Finally, we're getting new people sampling the first episode of the
season, as is true of most shows.  Thus, you have to put into dialogue a
fair amount of stuff that otherwise you could just imply or rely on past
experience/prior knowledge.  So you kind of introduce the newbies to the
situation, and that requires a fair amount of exposition.  This is pretty
much localized to "Points," however; with the next episode, we're up to
full speed.  Episode 2 deals with as many issues/plotlines as "Chrysalis,"
with the main difference being that here, they're *resolved* rather than
left hanging.

                                                                       jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 3 Nov 1994 18:38:47 -0500
Subject: Church of JMS

     Speaking as an atheist, if there is to be a church of jms, then I
must become its first apostate and refuse to believe in myself (adding
further insecurity to my life), and nail a whole bunch of theses to the
front door on the way out....

                                                                        jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 4 Nov 1994 08:39:53 -0500
Subject: The new "Tech #1" <sniff> (no

     Just as an advisory...the woman who spoke up in PoD (the tech who
told Sheridan that Security wanted him) is not a Tech 1 replacement; she
was there just for that one episode.  We have a number of folks floating
through that area now, because logically you would have rotating crews.

                                                                         jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 4 Nov 1994 21:47:59 -0500
Subject: Re: Ignore Ford Thaxton (was

     Well, well, well....y'all remember how for weeks and weeks old Ford
has been in here, arguing that he had a right to know the inner workings
of Michael O'Hare's business, his career, his employment, "the truth is
out there," on and on and on ad infinitum?  Message after message after
message, smearing by implication and innuendo, demanding the truth, that
he was entitled to know, that this was the right forum to discuss such
matters?

     Well, after my ONE message here about *his* business, guess who has
gone right up the flue and started whining to Warner Bros. about how it
is unfair and wrong for me to discuss someone's business in a public
forum...?  And buttressed it with threats (veiled and otherwise)?

     I guess there are rules that apply to Ford, and rules that apply to
everyone else.

     I guess there are those who like to dish it out, but don't much like
it when EXACTLY the same thing is done to them.  Fortunately there is a
long, LONG trail of messages here from Mr. Thaxton which present a very
clear picture of who started what, and why.

                                                                      jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 4 Nov 1994 23:09:52 -0500
Subject: Re: USA TODAY and the Truth ab

     This to Ken Schroder...a very good analysis of the situation re:
Sinclair/Sheridan.  One other element, which will become clearer with
the passage of time, is that Sinclair's main tie was to the Minbari
storyline, which though not *resolved* per se in "Points," gets pushed
back as the Shadowmen story advances.  So his impact on that storyline
would have been second-hand.  Sheridan, on the other hand, has a direct
tie-in to this latter storyline, though he does not know it yet.  Also,
there are some military aspects coming that only someone commanding a
starship recently, and working with some other aspects of the military,
would have access to, and that is also something Sheridan brings to the
story.

                                                                           jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 4 Nov 1994 23:11:33 -0500
Subject: JMS: Mea Culpa (was : What I d

     Jeremy: you are forgiven; go, and sin no more.

                                                                      jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 5 Nov 1994 03:16:16 -0500
Subject: JMS: Good Choice!

     The nice thing is that Bruce's likeableness (is that a word?) isn't
just confined to the camera.  He's honestly a nifty guy.  He's friendly
to everyone on the set, even casual visitors.  He's what's called a "team
player," in that his concern is for the other actor, and gives as much off
camera for the actor to play against as when he's on-camera.  He's charmed
the hell out of just about everyone involved in making B5, and that's not
an easy task.

                                                                         jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 5 Nov 1994 03:37:33 -0500
Subject: Another B5 media mention

     I would be *profoundly* grateful if you could send a copy of the
article to:

     14431 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 260, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423.

     Thanks if you can oblige....

                                                                       jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 6 Nov 1994 03:27:59 -0500
Subject: ATTN JMS: Assorted questions o

     Laurel Takashima was not a psi, no.  Valen did have something to do
in the struggle against the Shadows at a prior time.

                                                                       jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 6 Nov 1994 03:32:34 -0500
Subject: ATTN JMS (nagging question & a

     Valen's prophecy is something that will have to be revealed with
time; if I gave it out now, it would ruin too much yet to come.

                                                                      jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 6 Nov 1994 05:09:00 -0500
Subject: JMS: PoD Plusses (Minor Spoile

     To your points...yes, we definitely plan to do more with Dr.
Franklin this year.  My goal is to get Ivanova OUT of Ops, and Franklin
OUT of Medlab on occasion, to see their real lives, and do other things
with them (and I think you'll find some real surprises coming up very
shortly).

     The Earthforce lounge (EA personnel only) is Earhart's, named after
the famed aviator.

     (Consequently, as tradition, only swing or big-band music is ever
played in Earhart's.)

     Yes, we brightened things up a notch, but only a notch, because we
discovered that a lot of the good work being done on the sets and the
costumes wasn't being seen because we were too dark.  So we went up about
one f-stop, but at the same time began using more shadows, textures and
colors, so the show has a denser look to it.

     Definite agreement on the CGI this year.

     There are a couple of big, honking CGI episodes coming up fairly
soon that're just terrific, the best Ron and Kevin have done to date.

                                                                      jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 6 Nov 1994 09:01:30 -0500
Subject: JMS: Thanks for the good trans

    An interesting summation; good stuff.

                                                                          jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 6 Nov 1994 18:29:42 -0500
Subject: JMS? New info on New Series ?!

     I'd rather speak to the new projects when there's more concrete news
to convey.

                                                                          jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 6 Nov 1994 18:29:58 -0500
Subject: ATTN JMS: why do aliens lust a

      Actually, it's mainly just G'Kar who's big into human females (so to
speak); Lennier was more astonished than anything else.

                                                                       jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 6 Nov 1994 18:31:42 -0500
Subject: Will we ever see...

     You will see hyperspace from the inside briefly in episode 2, and
bigtime in episode 4.

                                                                        jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 6 Nov 1994 18:33:30 -0500
Subject: ATTN JMS: Do YOU have any info

     It's my understanding that Seven Network in Australia will begin
carrying B5 around December or thereabouts.

                                                                  jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 6 Nov 1994 21:28:59 -0500
Subject: B5's music

     Christopher writes the B5 music here; faxes it to Berlin, and the
Berlin Symphonic Film Orchestra, which he works with.  The next day, he
gets on a high-compression audio/video link (via phone and fiber optic
lines) and conducts the orchestra in Berlin from his home here in LA.  The
finished music is then sent here via those same high-compression lines,
and transferred to DAT.  In some cases, if we need something fast, and
it's fairly simple, he does it on his studio equipment.

                                                                         jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 7 Nov 1994 04:24:01 -0500
Subject: "Things cannot hold..."

     One aspect of the Yeats quote, and the Lincoln quote, and the
Tennyson quote(s), and the many others, is that I think a lot of folks
at some point tuned out of, or aren't interested in, literature and
poetry because they've never really been exposed to it.  So just to be a
little subversive, I work some of it into the show.  I choose that which
has meaning to the show, and the characters, in the hopes that (as has
happened here), viewers will dig out the original material and be exposed
to some *really* nifty writing.  Granted that television must entertain
at minimum; it should also elevate and ennoble and educate, and this is
too good an opportunity to waste, provided one does not become didactic
about it.

                                                                        jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 7 Nov 1994 04:24:14 -0500
Subject: Mysticism (PoD Spoilers)

     The fact that Minbari believe in souls does not make it so.

     If a story is rigorously SF, but some of the people who inhabit the
story have belief systems, does that automatically invalidate it as SF?

     I don't think it's the position of this show to state whether or not
a belief system is true but rather to explore the actions of those who
THINK it's true; not to resolve arguments, but to start arguments.  (See
"Believers" for more on this one.)

     What the characters believe is subjective, and is their business.
Or, as Sheridan says in a later episode, "I'm not saying what I'm saying.
I'm not saying what I'm thinking.  For that matter, I'm not even THINKING
what I'm thinking."

                                                                       jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 7 Nov 1994 10:02:00 -0500
Subject: Sheridan didn't tell Clark !!!

     This is correct.  Sheridan did NOT tell President Clark about the
Minbari soul situation.  Clark already knew about it.  Sheridan's line
is, "I spoke with the president.  He is the only other person who knows
why the Minbari surrendered."  Also, in the first issue of the comic, this
prior knowledge on Clark's part is clear as well.

                                                                       jms
Article 37979 of rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5:

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 7 Nov 1994 19:03:34 -0500
Subject: ATT JMS:  Comments from my wif

     Tell your wife I'm getting kickbacks from the AMA.

                                                                       jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 9 Nov 1994 02:03:54 -0500
Subject: JMS: Yeats The Second Coming-

     Let's just say that I've read a lot of British literature, and quite
a bit of Yeats and Keats and Shelley and others, and let it go at that for
now.

     Re: Lennier, the Grey Council fellow said, "Tell them what we've told
YOU," not someone else.  Just to clarify.

                                                                            jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 9 Nov 1994 02:12:56 -0500
Subject: ATTN JMS: Damn you, Mr Straczy

     Let me reassure you.

     It's all a carefully woven covert plot to destroy your attention span
so you can't study.

     Look!  Over there!  A comet!

                                                                           jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 9 Nov 1994 02:13:09 -0500
Subject: CHRYSALIS, blooper? (SPOILER)

     Sorry, this isn't a blooper.  Garibaldi says, into the Link,
"Garibaldi to Sinclair," which tells the Link to find Sinclair.  Then we
have Sinclair's response.  No blooper.

                                                                          jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 9 Nov 1994 18:50:23 -0500
Subject: Attn JMS

     Thanks for the support, and the story; I kinda like that....

                                                                     jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 9 Nov 1994 18:52:11 -0500
Subject: JMS! HELP! RE: B5 -Capt Power

     I had very little to do with Captain Power after walking off the
show because I thought there was too much power being given to the
merchandising aspect.  And I'm not sure how much to reveal; I can say
that Larry DiTillio, who came in after me as story editor, edited an
entire season worth of scripts; 24 scripts are lying around, waiting to
be filmed.  I kinda gave him the elements I wanted to see dealt with, and
left.  (I seem to remember a Starlog interview with Larry a couple of
years back where the arc is pretty much spelled out for year two.)

                                                                     jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 9 Nov 1994 18:52:23 -0500
Subject: ATT JMS: Casting the pilot

     Oddly, the only name I remember from casting the pilot, in looking
for a Sinclair, before we found Michael, was John Rhys-Davies.

                                                                     jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 9 Nov 1994 20:37:03 -0500
Subject: ATTN:JMS spoiler for revalatio

     The platform seen in the opening of "Revelations" is a hazardous
materials platform, which is still cleaning up the radioactive debris
and other stuff from the blown Minbari cruiser in the last ep.

                                                                      jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 9 Nov 1994 20:47:40 -0500
Subject: JMS : who won the court case ?

     The human won the case, but damages awarded were minimal.

                                                                   jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 9 Nov 1994 20:50:52 -0500
Subject: ATTN JMS: New Officer's Lounge

     Basically, I decided to name the EA Lounge "Earhart's" because she
is an important figure in aviation history, and I wanted a 40s art deco
style to the place, down to big band music, and it fit perfectly.  There
have been more women aviators, civilian and elsewhere, than we know,
particularly during WW II at home, and they deserve recognition.

                                                                     jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 10 Nov 1994 00:09:48 -0500
Subject: CHARACTERS CHANGING

     Somebody posted the other day that this is as if you're reading a
novel, and something happens to a character, so you stop reading at
chapter three.  Me, I'd want to keep reading to see what happens next...

                                                                     jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 10 Nov 1994 00:10:01 -0500
Subject: Attn JMS: Chrysalis and JFK (S

     Actually, I was born in 54, so we're about the same age.  Oddly, I
don't remember the day of the shooting; what I *do* remember is watching
JFK's funeral, and not entirely understanding the depth of the event, but
fully grasping the emotions around me.  That will linger forever.

                                                                        jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 10 Nov 1994 01:11:44 -0500
Subject: ATT JMS:  Comments from my wif

     AMA = American Medical ASsociation.

                                                                        jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 12 Nov 1994 00:31:50 -0500
Subject: "Revelations" blow by blow (SP

     Re: inconsistent writing and Narns...please bear in mind that there
are two ways to encounter shadowmen: going out there, and them coming in
to see YOU.  The Narns need not be (and were not) spacefaring when they
encountered the shadowmen.  Or, more accurately, were encountered BY them.

                                                                            jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 12 Nov 1994 00:38:16 -0500
Subject: JMS : Sheridan in from beginni

     Sheridan, or more specifically the need for someone *like* Sheridan
began to get through clearly toward the latter part of last season, as I
began planning out season two's progression, and kept looking at elements
of the story and trying to find ways to get Sinclair into the heart of
them.  They felt contrived, for the most part; and the other characters,
like Londo and G'Kar and Delenn, were *really* moving forward in a big
way.  The role of Sinclair was becoming primarily that of a "problem
solver," and when that happens, a sort of glass bell falls down around the
character, and you can't do much with him.

     So what the writer has to do is break that bell in one way or another;
do something totally unexpected to him, and bring in someone who has a
direct, personal connection with the storyline emerging in season two, so
it's not contrived or forced.

                                                                        jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 12 Nov 1994 00:38:28 -0500
Subject: JMS: Question and a comment [n

     It's G'Quan (or G'Quon, my notes aren't in front of me).

                                                                       jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 12 Nov 1994 06:06:12 -0500
Subject: ATTN JMS

     Insofar as I know, no, wasn't on Alternative Possibilities BBS.

                                                                           jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 12 Nov 1994 06:54:40 -0500
Subject: Revelations and Tolkien (spoil

     "it is hard to explain how the Narns...could travel faster than
light one thousand years ago."

     Indeed, it would be, if that were what had happened.  Fortunately,
it isn't.

                                                                       jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 12 Nov 1994 06:54:49 -0500
Subject: Lawyers?

     Evolution notwithstanding, there are still lawyers in the future;
we've shown them (alongside defendants) but not given them any lines yet.
But they're there.

                                                                            jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 12 Nov 1994 06:54:59 -0500
Subject: ATTN: JMS...Opening music

     No, we're not going to change the music.  The season one music was
right *for that season*.  The events in year two are different; the music
reflects where this season is going.  The complaints mainly come because
it isn't the same.  It isn't *meant* to be the same.  It's not an inferior
version of year one, it's a different cue, meant to evoke different
emotions.  They say it isn't evoking the same feelings in them as the
first year.  Good.  That's the intent.  It will be changed EVERY season to
correspond with the general sensibility of that season.  (And while you
note some who think it's lighter and airy, most others I've heard from say
they think it's darker and more ominous.  It's all subjective.)

     The only constant in the B5 universe is change.

     I've written novels as well as TV.  Often, in my published novels, I
include classical quotes at various points as chapter openings.  I pick my
quotes to correspond with that section of the book.  Should I use the same
quote over and over instead?

     I am absolutely thrilled with the music as it is, and it's staying.

                                                                        jms

     (And btw, I remember getting LOTS of complaints on the nets about the
first season music, how nobody liked it, how they couldn't hum it, it was
not symphonic enough, on and on and on.  Now everybody likes the old one
and some don't like the new one.  Next year, folks'll be lamenting the
loss of the second year theme.  Lots of folks complained about Sinclair.
We took him off the chessboard.  Now a number of folks are complaining that
he's gone.  What does all this mean?  It means you can't do a show by
committee, whether that committee is a studio, a network, or a netgroup.
The alternative is chaos and lowest-common-denominator programming.)

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 12 Nov 1994 06:55:08 -0500
Subject: JMS: What might have been...

     The only problem with answering how things would've been different
is that some information might get out by inference about how things might
still *be*.  However, to do what I can with the question (never let it be
said I don't try to accommodate....).

     If Lyta had stayed on B5, her arc would be pretty close to that of
Talia, except that she would have begun to form a strong link to Kosh,
first in the form of dreams, then something with implications that could
be read as menacing or benign.

     If Dr. Kyle would have stayed around, he would have moved more into
the position of advisor/paternal figure for Sinclair.  He also would have
continued to be more scientist than doctor.

     Takashima would have been revealed as having been in on the Vorlon
assassination attempt by season's end, and would have betrayed Garibaldi
in the events in "Chrysalis," either giving him over to those involved
with the coup, or pulling the trigger herself.  While we would know this,
our characters would not, for as much as another full season.

     Carolyn Sykes would've gotten into major trouble with one of the
major EarthCorps.

     Finally, if Sinclair had stayed with B5 at this juncture, the events
in "Points" (the reveal of the Minbari surrender) would've taken place in
episode 3 instead of 1.  Episode 1 would've consisted mainly of the events
in "Revelations," which was mainly as a bystander to the events around
him, since the sister aspect specific to Sheridan obviously wouldn't be
there.  Basically, with all the events surrounding Delenn, Londo, G'Kar
and others, he didn't have one whole hell of a lot to *DO* in the first
six to eight episodes, since that segment was set aside primarily to
introduce the Shadowman war and get that cranking, and Sinclair had no real
direct connection to that.

                                                                       jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 12 Nov 1994 06:56:44 -0500
Subject: JMS:  A few odd bits

     The changeling net face belonged to Ron in that sequence; not the
same as that in the boarding area.  And the new VO in the end credits is
done by Harlan Ellison.

                                                                         jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 12 Nov 1994 20:17:21 -0500
Subject: JMS: Forever Babylon!

     Thanks.  Positive feedback is always welcome.  Best to you and to
your associates.

                                                                         jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 12 Nov 1994 20:24:46 -0500
Subject: Too much net influence?

     My sense has always been that no one hanging thread should be allowed
to hang more than one season.  And all information needed to understand
any thread must be included in the episode.

     When I work here on the nets with notes about foreshadowing, it's
basically to play and allow some folks to start to figure out stuff before
it happens.  This is something that, from talking to many non-netted
viewers, the regular audience member doesn't really try to do.  The
emphasis in the minds of most viewers is tuning in to see what happened.
The emphasis here on the nets is to try and figure out what's going to
happen BEFORE it happens.

     The influene on the show by the nets is really minimal, if at all.
Mainly the purpose of the nets, from my perspective, is a) to help
educate people about how a show is done, b) to show respect for some of
those linked in who are in the SF community, and c) to get barraged by
questions about my characters and universe, knowing that when I get hit
by a question I hadn't considered, and answering it, I've learned a bit
more about my own story, which helps round it out.

                                                                         jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 12 Nov 1994 20:43:58 -0500
Subject: Dear JMS-Question?

     I tried to develop a basic language structure for each of the races
on B5.  There are certain commonalities to the structure of names.  I
came up with some prefixes and suffixes, and assigned meanings to them,
the same as real names.  For instance, Rathenn (referred to by Delenn in
"Voices") and Delenn have the same suffix, which has a specific meaning.
You can break it down; Ner-oon (Legacies), Del-enn, Rath-enn, Der-onn, and
so forth.  The various parts do have specific meanings, but I generally
keep that to myself, just for amusement.

     No Irish ancestry here that I'm aware of.

                                                                        jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 13 Nov 1994 07:42:00 -0500
Subject: Revelations -- Wham!

     Speaking of looking into the abyss...which comes from "Revelations,"
it's a partial quote.  Neitzsche: "When you look into the abyss, the abyss
looks also into you."

                                                                        jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 13 Nov 1994 09:02:19 -0500
Subject: Underwriting + Underacting = Q

     "Whoever wrote 'Points of Departure.'"

     That would be me.  The first three ("Points," "Revelations" and "the
Geometry of Shadows") are mine.  The next three are by D.C. Fontana ("A
Distant Star," Scott Frost "The Long Dark," and Larry DiTillio ("A Spider
in the Web"), with Peter David's "Soul Mates" rounding out the first
seven new eps to be broadcast in a row.

     We then hit late December, and reruns through the Christmas
holidays when nobody's home.  We'll come back then with "A Race Through
Dark Places" (jms); "The Coming of Shadows" (jms); "GROPOS" (ld); "All
Alone in the Night" (jms); "Acts of Sacrifice" (jms), then some more
freelance scripts.

                                                                    jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 13 Nov 1994 19:03:35 -0500
Subject: Attn: JMS: Shadowmen and Narns

     "my question is who, what or how where (the shadowmen) beaten back
then?"

     All in good time....

                                                                       jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 13 Nov 1994 22:10:38 -0500
Subject: DUMB SCREW-UPS

     She's not seeing the shooter from outside Garibaldi's POV.  That
shot in particular is *exactly* from Garibaldi's POV.  It's a lot like
what is done in hypnosis, going back into somebody's memory and dragging
out details they might have seen but not noted; the eye sees more than
the brain recalls at any given moment.  When we shot that scene, I was
on-set, and the camera was put *exactly* where Garibaldi was standing,
so we'd be very careful that it WAS his point of view.  So though I hate
to contradict you, it's not "a stupid plot hole from hell."

                                                                        jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 15 Nov 1994 09:34:55 -0500
Subject: ATTN JMS: Fighting in Hyperspa

     They can fight, after a fashion.

                                                               jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 15 Nov 1994 09:40:55 -0500
Subject: Re: Underwriting + Underacting

     Oddly enough, while I always had just one title for each of the first
two season, I have several competing titles for year three, and haven't
quite decided which to go with.  Somewhere near the top of the list is,
"I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds."  May be a bit too much,
though....

                                                                          jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 15 Nov 1994 19:56:00 -0500
Subject: RE: B5 & Tolkien

     The only problem with this discussion is that it begins on the
assumption that there is *any* kind of one-to-one correlation between
B5 characters and LoTR characters.  There isn't.  There are, however,
many aspects that they share in that they both are moving toward creating
myth of a sort; if you've read Campbell's "Hero With a Thousand Faces,"
you know that there are some constants that work throughout mythic-based
fiction.  The Foundation books, the Lensman books, Childhood's End, all
worked on a kind of myth-structure; so does B5 (at least in theory; how
well it actually succeeds at that task will have to be seen with time).

                                                                        jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 15 Nov 1994 19:59:04 -0500
Subject: Chelo Stew!

     This is really getting distressing.  This hate campaign is sick in
the extreme.

                                                                        jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 15 Nov 1994 23:00:02 -0500
Subject: (JMS, your thoughts?) Re: Real

     Y'know, I'm really getting sick of Theron's whining and constant
second-guessing and "personal observations" about me, Michael, and how
this show works when he is absolutely without any information on which
to base these suppositions.

     No, Michael wasn't in the first episode.  Why?  Because after we
went our separate ways in the spring, he headed back to New York for some
pending offers there.  HE WAS NOT AVAILABLE TO SHOOT.  Okay, Theron?  CAn
we be clear on this?  Can I be *ANY* clearer on this?  We DID grab
a piece with him before he left, which will be dropped in later in the
season.

     I don't know which world you live in, Theron, but I live in the real
world that has to consider cross-continental flights, shooting schedules,
and a thousand other areas.

     Further, in episode one, from a strictly creative point of view,
I had to a) introduce a new character and make him interesting, b) tie
up some important war threads from season one, c) come up with a present
time/foreground story (the Tragati) to make the episode self-contained,
d) keep all of the other characters moving...and a zillion other things.
If I had dropped a piece with Sinclair into the midst of this, it would
have royally screwed up my structure.

     I COULD NOT HAVE GIVEN THAT SCENE THE TIME AND ATTENTION AND
IMPORTANCE IT DESERVED.  When we *do* see Sinclair again, it will be in
a context where it will be important, and can be handled properly.

     I *really* don't like people second-guessing me; worse still when
they imply motivations and engage in personal speculations that have
NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with the real world, or the story that I'm trying
to tell.  Okay, Theron, YOU wouldn't have done it this way.  So go make
YOUR show.  This is mine.  And I'll do it as I see fit, in order to tell
the story that I want to tell.

     Can we now resolve this and move on?

                                                                        jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 15 Nov 1994 23:00:12 -0500
Subject: ATTN JMS: Music and Harlan

     Harlan is not actually *in* the story as a character, and the
opening VO is for those IN the story.  It's not a merit thing, it's a
story thing.

                                                                       jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 16 Nov 1994 01:29:18 -0500
Subject: Why is B5 syndicated?

     Real simple, non-tech answer: none of the networks wanted it.  They
didn't think it could be contained and shot for a budget; they didn't
think there was an audience for SF space stuff outside Star Trek (and many
still don't); they didn't think the EFX could be done using CGI.  Every
single one of them passed on it on the grounds that it couldn't be done.

                                                                        jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 16 Nov 1994 08:28:21 -0500
Subject: JMS: RE: Underwriting + Undera

     I scuttled my story for "The Customer is Always Right," a stand-alone,
because I decided it wasn't up to par, and walked over some of the turf
ST had walked over.

                                                                        jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 17 Nov 1994 02:45:31 -0500
Subject: JMS: Utility Actor????

     In order to create more involved alien makeups, and because many
actors have a hard time with prosthetics, we created what we call the
Babylon 5 Alien Rep Group; last year about five, and this year about 12
actors who we have taken full head and (in some cases) body casts, so we
can use them in mid-level speaking roles as aliens and rotate them in and
out.  Since we had fewer last year, you saw Mark more than you'll see him
this year.  Green Drazi #1 in "Geometry" is one such rep group alien.

     We keep trying to find interesting solutions to interesting problems.

                                                                        jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 17 Nov 1994 04:09:18 -0500
Subject: ATTN JMS: Re: Why is B5 syndic

     No, neither B5 nor *any* of the ST shows get enough ratings to come
near the basement in terms of network ratings.  So B5 will either survive
where it is, or vanish.

                                                                            jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 17 Nov 1994 04:39:26 -0500
Subject: ATT JMS! How can we help "save

     The best thing to do, really, is to a) let the stations know, in
writing, that you like the show, and why, and b) keep bringing in others
to discover the show.  Near as I can tell, most of the new viewers we're
now getting are coming not through ads or promos, but word of mouth.

                                                                         jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 17 Nov 1994 04:55:23 -0500
Subject: 14 words

     If I told you what the 14 words were, they wouldn't mean anything
anymore.

                                                                 jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 17 Nov 1994 04:55:35 -0500
Subject: Geometry of Shadows [SPOILER]

     You hit on the head *precisely*.  When Garibaldi was popping the
energy cap in and out of the PPG, he was on the floor, nominally in the
dark, thinking of killing himself.  I didn't want to play it up, didn't
want to make it what the story was about...just show him doing it, over and
over.  And from Sheridan's face, seeing the last of this, it's clear he
got it...and I thought he handled the scene *perfectly*, by his whole
demeanor, but NOT talking about it except indirectly.

                                                                         jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 17 Nov 1994 04:55:48 -0500
Subject: ATTN JMS: Vir and Londo (small

     Be assured, Vir's position continues to be important, and he moves a
bit closer to the limelight as he does so...remember, he's the one who
has to watch Londo's actions like a man watching an accident in slow
motion, and try to do what he can to stop it.

                                                                         jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 18 Nov 1994 00:40:25 -0500
Subject: Historical models for B5 empir

     Certainly, when I sat down to construct Minbari society, I looked
into various historical models, and overall, though there are bits and
pieces of one or another, I tried not to model it after any one group
wholecloth.  Certainly there's allegory all over the place....

                                                                       jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 18 Nov 1994 02:12:29 -0500
Subject: Noises in space and Harlan

     Harlan, like many others who've bought the no-sound-in-space okeydoke,
did ask for that, yes.  Then I figured I'd try and get the straight skinny
on this, and sent messages around to folks at JPL, NASA, and elsewhere, and
y'know what?  There IS sound in space.  The conditions and circumstances
are fairly specific -- proximity to nebulae, proximity to the air-bubble
contained in a big ship when it explodes, such that it can reach you and
provide sound -- but there's a LOT of grey in this discussion, and lots of
reason to think there IS sound.  We've just all bought into it without
really doing the math.  Freeman Dyson, who currently hold Einstein's
chair, came back with many circumstances in which you'd hear sound in
space (and we've used them).  Folks from JPL and the High Altitude
Observatory reported that when Pioneer broke the speed of sound, it
registered a bow-shock of a sonic boom *while in space*.

     I've got something like two dozen email messages from credible and
well-grounded scientists who said, in essence, everybody ASSUMED this, but
nobody ever really bothered to ASK if it were true, and do the math.  I'll
eventually upload the file when I get around to cleaning it up.

                                                                         jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 18 Nov 1994 02:14:13 -0500
Subject: ATTN: JMS: Organization, Man!

     This is gonna sound really awful, and I'm not sure if this is good
or bad, but my "method of organization"...is just basically that I keep it
all in my head.  I've tried day timers, calendars, planners, and I tend to
forget to write stuff down in it.  I just tend to keep all this stuff in
my head.  Sometimes I forget something, but usually it's all there.

                                                                          jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 18 Nov 1994 02:15:55 -0500
Subject: Does Harlan really have any in

     Yes, Harlan and I are friends.  His role on the show is whatever he
wants it to be, as he wants it to be.  He describes it as being a mad dog
nipping at my ankles.  I describe him as alternatively a free-floating
agent of chaos, or Jiminy Cricket, depending.

                                                                      jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 18 Nov 1994 02:16:20 -0500
Subject: Re: GoS costumes (no spoilers)

     Actually, Londo has two coats, a cloak, several different colored
vests (blue, black, others), often wears just his shirt, we've seen him
in his PJs...he's got a fairly large wardrobe.

                                                                       jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 18 Nov 1994 02:16:34 -0500
Subject: Re: "The Geometry of Shadows"

     Ivanova did NOT take the kerchief off either of the Drazi leaders in
the council chambers; she walked PAST them, and signaled for two of the
regular Drazi to come down out of the cheap seats.

                                                                         jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 18 Nov 1994 02:16:49 -0500
Subject: "GoS" blow by blow (SPOILERS)

     "A race that speaks in macros" referred to the Drazi constantly
repeating their stance, Green must fight Purple, Purple must fight Green,
over and over...macros.

     Sheridan wasn't so much talking to himself at the end, as he was to
the Tech who'd just asked about clearing the Technomages for jump.

                                                             jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 18 Nov 1994 02:17:10 -0500
Subject: GoS costumes (no spoilers)

     Ann Bruice did a great job on the technomage costumes; I agree.  She
found ways to implement what was described in the script that were both
creative and wore well, and fulfilled the function.  I wanted black, with
fine silver lines, and an almost circuitboard look to the patterns in
places, but not *obviously* that, stylized.  She took that and came back
with a true niftyness....

                                                                          jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 18 Nov 1994 05:08:36 -0500
Subject: Re: THE GEOMETRY OF SHADOWS --

     I have yelled, frequently and consistently, about the trailers for
the series, *especially* the use of prior episode's footage, since in my
view it makes it look like a rerun.  The trailers are assembled by PTEN
marketing, which is hooked on the idea of flashy visuals, and if they're
not there, they borrow or cobble them.  And sometimes their version of
the story doesn't touch reality at any two contiguous points.  It's got
nothing to do with me, except that it annoys the hell out of me.

                                                                       jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 18 Nov 1994 05:10:15 -0500
Subject: Re: Ivanova's Foot (minor spoi

     Nope, that really was Claudia walking on her broken foot in the
council chambers.  She's a trooper....

                                                                      jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 18 Nov 1994 17:02:24 -0500
Subject: ATTN: JMS A question

     No major significance, no; the person doing the narration will, in
theory, change each year.

                                                                        jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 19 Nov 1994 01:39:22 -0500
Subject: Londo's fate (A DISTANT STAR s

     This thread is also bogus.  The poster, enigma2336@AOL.com is
screwing with everybody here.

                                                                    jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 19 Nov 1994 01:39:34 -0500
Subject: Sheridan sux

     Here's why I'm troubled by this discussion not at all.

     I've been here before.

     Last season, in the first handful of episodes we aired, some folks
were screaming that they hated Sinclair, O'Hare was a terrible actor, on
and on and on (many of them now the ones yelling about how he was the
great thespic center of the story, and is irreplaceable).  Same thing now
with Sheridan.

     You get to know a character OVER TIME.  I made a conscious decision
at the top not to go for broad-strokes characterization, but rather peel
back layers over time.  Lots of folks hated Londo at first.  Then they
got to know him *over time*, and turned around to the favorite character
for many people.

     This was made clearest to me after "Infection" aired, number four to
be broadcast, when lots of people said that they felt O'Hare was finally
settling into his role and had improved.  Only later they discovered that
"Infection" was actually the FIRST episode we shot, it just aired later
than it was produced (4 rather than 1).  It wasn't that O'Hare had settled
into Sinclair, it was that the AUDIENCE was settling into Sinclair.

     One of the things I've seen most often on the nets is a certain lack
of patience...if the actor doesn't grab one right off with some folks,
it's "he's a bad actor!"  No, you don't work as much, and as successfuly,
as Bruce and be a bad actor.  He's not.  It's just taking time -- as with
ALL our characters -- to get to know the audience, and vice-versa.

     I've been here before...heard some yelling that they hated Ivanova,
Claudia was a rotten actor, space her (now one of the most popular
characters on the show), same for Garibaldi and others at varying times.
But by season's end, once we got to KNOW who these people WERE, then that
changed.  As it'll change here.

                                                                    jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 19 Nov 1994 03:47:01 -0500
Subject: Londo being tortured in A Dist

     Everyone who reads this thread...this is a bogus thread, the so
called "spoilers" are fakes and have nothing to do with the episode.

     I would, however, suggest that perhaps the poster of this original
bogus storyline go work with the PTEN marketing people making trailers
for our show...couldn't be any less accurate than they are now....

                                                                         jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 19 Nov 1994 17:51:28 -0500
Subject: Technomage: Shadowrun homage?

     The techno-mages were not a homage to ShadowRun games, since I've
never seen the game, and have never heard of it prior to seeing this
message.

                                                                     jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 19 Nov 1994 17:51:38 -0500
Subject: Five years!! That's it??????

     I've mentioned before that there's a side-story that could go off,
within the B5 universe, with a few of our characters, once the Babylon 5
story itself comes to an end in its fifth year, but that's a long ways off,
and I don't know if that's realistic.

     You have to understand...I never came in wanting to be a producer.
I'm a *writer*, and I only got here because it was the only way to protect
the words...create and run the damned show so nobody can mess with it.
Once I've finished the Babylon story, assuming it runs its full length,
(5 years alone, more if there is that doubtful spinoff), the story is
over.  Every story has a beginning, middle and end, and the story's over
when it's over.

     I've also made no bones about the fact that, should the Babylon story
run its full term, I will have said just about everything I want to say in
television, and plan to get out, go back to writing novels.

     My philosophy: find what it is you want to say, walk in the room,
say it, and get the hell out.  (Second philosophy behind that one: when in
doubt, roll in a grenade and come in firing.)

                                                                       jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 20 Nov 1994 16:36:03 -0500
Subject: B5

     It was mainly for story reasons.  In any event...your support and
kind words are appreciated.

                                                                    jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 20 Nov 1994 18:26:42 -0500
Subject: A Distant Star

     Yes, now that we had the images in hand, Bruce re-did the opening
narration, and was able to nail it perfectly.

                                                                         jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 22 Nov 1994 02:25:29 -0500
Subject: ATTN JMS: Centauri Emperor

     The role of the Centauri emperor has been cast, and performed with
marvelous skill, in the person of Turhan Bey.

                                                                         jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 22 Nov 1994 02:56:59 -0500
Subject: ATTN JMS: New Director?

     We've signed a few new directors for year two; Mike Vejar, who did
GoS, will return to do another one or two; have also brought in Mario
Di Leo and a couple others.

                                                                       jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 22 Nov 1994 14:22:37 -0500
Subject: Evidence (Revelations SPOILERS

     Copies of the evidence were made, but the question is what is the
available evidence to BE copied?  Frankly, there isn't much.  There are
no witnesses, very little physical evidence.  If you tried to make a case
with what they've got, you'd be laughed out of the courtroom.

                                                                        jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 23 Nov 1994 00:52:01 -0500
Subject: The Geometry of Shadows (SPOIL

     "Somehow the idea that her first assignment as Commander is
successful only because of Garibaldi's competence and on a piece of blind
luck is perhaps just a bit sexist."

     There were *substantial* differences made between the first draft
and the final, based on the fact that a lot of the physical stuff I'd
written for Claudia -- getting herself out of the problem she was in with
the Drazi -- had to be dumped because the actress had a broken foot.  So
that aspect has to be remembered.  We pushed her to the limits, and I
didn't want to push further.

     I don't feel Sheridan was downplaying her promotion; he was sneaking
it up on her to surprise her, making it more of an unexpected delight.

     Re: the techno-mages being the "alien of the week"...they're humans.

                                                                     jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 23 Nov 1994 01:32:26 -0500
Subject: ATTN JMS: *PLINK* for TV Guide

     The plink got deleted for time; will do it later.

                                                                     jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 23 Nov 1994 02:01:37 -0500
Subject: Why didn't C-prime conquer Ear

     The question isn't so much "Why didn't the Centauri conquer Earth?"
as, "Why would they have WANTED to?"

     We're kind of off the beaten track, and there's little logistical or
tactical value to a base here; up until the last couple hundred years, we
didn't have a technological base they could exploit, and when we finally
did get one, the Republic was already beginning to shrink and lose its
tendency toward expansionism.  Basically, we fell between the cracks, and
for something as substantial as acts of conquer, there have to be solid
goals, either real or imagined.

                                                                          jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 23 Nov 1994 02:06:14 -0500
Subject: jms: Geometry comment

     The idea behind the title "The Geometry of Shadows" was in a sense
a metaphor for the techno-mages; geometry bespeaking the use of math and
equations, the latter being generally something dark, or mysterious, or
mystical.

                                                                             jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 23 Nov 1994 03:07:57 -0500
Subject: <spoiler of Geometry of Shadow

     Congrats; you're the first person I've seen to get the MacBeth
parallel.

                                                                     jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 29 Nov 1994 19:58:54 -0500
Subject: JMS: No ST style Technobabble

     So many questions about hyperspace came up over the last year or so
that we figured they should be addressed; be assured, we're staying as
clear of technobabble as ever, despite my Spousal Overunit's absolute
and unshakeable conviction that *everything* is, at its root, a math
problem.

                                                                        jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 29 Nov 1994 22:43:36 -0500
Subject: Season 1 Themes CD

     There's a *limited edition* of 1,000 CDs being released now; there
will be a much larger release around January for regular stores.

                                                                      jms

From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
Date: 30 Nov 1994 08:47:17 -0500
Subject: Re: Whom Will JMS Kill First?

     Probably the person who puts our promos together for PTEN....

                                                                         jms