lurkers-guide/ftp/Usenet/jms95-10-usenet

Date: 2 Oct 1995 02:20:19 -0400
Subject: Re: B5 and ST: the men

     "...wearing the red silk dress, like we'd agreed...."
 
     Oh.
 
     YOU were supposed to be wearing the red silk dress.
 
     Then I definitely got the message confused.  Most unfortunate, though
several nice men *did* buy me drinks that night....
 
                                                                  jms

Date: 3 Oct 1995 03:13:26 -0400
Subject: attn: JMS after B5, Azimov?

     I think the rights to all Asimov's works are taken, alas.
 
                                                                   jms

Date: 3 Oct 1995 03:13:29 -0400
Subject: = ATTN. JMS: New Story Editor?

     No, there is no story editor currently on the show; nothing to do with
ego, just not enough outside work to really merit it.
 
                                                             jms

Date: 3 Oct 1995 03:25:12 -0400
Subject: Re: Space:Above&Beyond (Opinio

     Saw the second installment of "Space" the other day; very good, I
thought.  Vastly encouraging.  Continued good luck to them.
 
     (One aspect of this general discussion...when the B5 area goes up on
AOL, and then later on the web, it's designed to have sections dedicated
to *other* SF shows as well, to encourage folks to check them out, on the
theory that other shows in the genre are not a threat, but a bonus for
everyone, healthy competition.)
 
                                                                     jms

Date: 5 Oct 1995 03:43:50 -0400
Subject: Delenn And Sherdian

     You're assuming, of course, that the Delenn/Sinclair relationship was
based on romantic love...might be something just as deep, but very
different....
 
                                                                     jms

Date: 5 Oct 1995 17:56:29 -0400
Subject: Attn JMS:'Fall FX Question (TF

     A wire harness was used; and the effect you ask about was a mix of
CGI, live action, and rotoscope.
 
                                                                  jms

Date: 5 Oct 1995 17:58:48 -0400
Subject: KBHK (San Francisco Ch 44) B5

     There must be an error in your transcription, because "Matters of
Honor," season 3's debut, should be on the list between "Fall" and
"Convictions."
 
                                                                  jms

Date: 5 Oct 1995 17:59:01 -0400
Subject: JMS:Re: Space:Above&Beyond (Op

     I agree; SPACE has a great deal of potential.  I watched the second
episode, and enjoyed it.
 
                                                                      jms

Date: 5 Oct 1995 17:59:16 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: Question on script w

     You have to write toward the act breaks, so that each act ends on a
strong point or hook to bring the audience back after the commercial.
 
                                                                  jms

Date: 5 Oct 1995 17:59:38 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: Cards Illustrated gi

     Great news about the review; let me know when it appears.
 
                                                                    jms

Date: 6 Oct 1995 19:11:38 -0400
Subject: Schedule in LA?

     The first of the final four airs next week in LA on Wednesday 9 p.m.
 
                                                                    jms

Date: 6 Oct 1995 19:36:07 -0400
Subject: Re: JMS on Compuserve: October

     Of course, bear in mind that there *is* no correct answer to
Sebastian's question...because no matter what answer you give, the
question will be repeated.  It's a process, not a goal, designed to
tear down the artifices we construct around ourselves until we're left
facing ourselves, not our roles.  At some point the "answer," such as it
is, must transcend language.
 
     Since the episode aired, I've received many notes from philosophy
teachers and religious instructors and those who ran the Synanon game
noting that they've used that technique as well, or intend to do so from
now on.
 
                                                                 jms

Date: 6 Oct 1995 19:36:17 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS : today ?

     Jeez...I've already forgotten much of what I've done today, it goes
so fast, but....
 
     Grabbed a few hours sleep (dropped at 3 a.m., a bit early for me
most days), came in for a production meeting, which is when we bring in
all the department heads and go over the script page by page one more time
before getting ready to shoot.  Went over specifics on extras, types of
wardrobe we're going to need, monitor playback stuff, endless details.
 
     Proofread the first issue of the B5 collector's magazine for error
and revisions (should be out shortly from Sendai).  Made last minute
revisions to script for "Messages From Earth" prior to shooting.  Viewed
dailies.  Returned calls to Warners and others.  Spoke with PR person about
series launch, getting copies of the first two year 3 eps to reviewers in
time for print deadlines.  Finalized outline for my next script, title not
yet set.  Lunch.  Went over contracts for B5 fan club that have finally
come in, making revisions on a couple of points, hope to announce this
formally soon.
 
     Jumped to script 10 and made some revisions I'd been thinking about
last night.  Walked on set and spoke to the director, made sure the scene
was going right, also checked with Jason Carter on a few things.  Took
care of some fan mail.  Finalized casting on "Messages."  Booked director
for the two-parter, Adam Nimoy, whose first ep for us is dynamite, and
checked on casting for several episodes down the road, to make sure the
actors would be available.
 
     Made final changes to new main title, and met with Christopher Franke
to go over his first pass at the new music, made some suggestions, and
he'll get a new version to me over the weekend.  Received and reviewed
director's cut of "Dust to Dust," in preparation for going in next week to
edit the producer's cut.  Went over new costume designs for some cast
members with wardrobe, made final suggestions.  Approved some new patches
for use down the road, and additional artwork for parts of the station.
Gave interview for article.
 
     Called several actors to go over various things with them; met with
the director for "Messages" again to go over some possible new EFX; ditto
later with another EFX person.  Got first draft of #10 "Severed Dreams"
out the door to WB/PTEN.
 
     Approved casting breakdown so it could go out to casting agencies for
#9, "Point of No Return."
 
     That's it for so far today; it's now 4:00 straight up, and I've still
got another 3 and a half hours to go (I generally leave the studio about
7:30 p.m., go home, grab a fast bite, and get to writing.)  Oh, yeah, and
took a moment to log on (big cluster of new messages finally, about 500 or
so), and plow through some of them, including the one to which this is a
response.
 
                                                                   jms

Date: 6 Oct 1995 20:01:29 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: your Foundation arti

     As I have not yet received my OWN copy of FOUNDATION that has my
extensive B5 article in it (hello?  Mr. Edward James, Editor and
Publisher? are you out there?), I can't exactly help others finding the
darned thing....
 
                                                                jms

Date: 6 Oct 1995 20:01:53 -0400
Subject: How did Billy Mumy connect wit

     Bill Mumy came in to audition, same as everybody else.  It was known
then that it was a recurring role (contrary to his recollection of things),
and when he walked in the door, I knew he was right.
 
                                                                  jms

Date: 6 Oct 1995 20:14:10 -0400
Subject: Re: Majel Barrett-Rodenberry

     Patrick: at Toronto Trek, Majel told an assembled crowd that she
felt badly about the misunderstanding, and wanted to call and apologize;
she went to either Berman or Pillar to get my number (can't recall now
(3v`Wr$dwhich she said)...and told a very funny story of what happened then.
 
                                                                 jms

Date: 6 Oct 1995 20:14:21 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: "The Sky" as deliber

     Some references to the sky are just that and no more; other times
it is a process of playing to archetypes and sensibilities.  There are a
number of recurring images and thematic elements in the series, which
sometimes combine into new elements.  This coming year we'll hit the
topic of pride quite a bit, and loyalty, and what loyalty *means* when
the house of cards begins to fall apart...my sense is that for all the
stuff going on on the surface, there has to be an equal or larger amount
of subtext, stuff going on sub rosa, like a shark gliding beneath the
water.  'Cause that's where all the *really* interesting stuff happens.
 
                                                                  jms

Date: 8 Oct 1995 04:47:46 -0400
Subject: Re: JMS IS FULL OF SHIT!!! (Wa

     Since this has come up, I went back and checked the source, and did
a verbatim quote of the article that appeared in a recent (this past week)
edition of the Los Angeles Times.  Because nobody should accept info minus
attribution and provenance.  The comments came from Kerry McCluggage, the
head of the Paramount Television Group; other comments were from Berman.
 
                                                                      jms

Date: 8 Oct 1995 04:59:40 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS - Season 4: we'd all

     All you can do is make your voices heard at the local level; station
programmers are required by FCC rules to operate "in the public's interest,
necessity and convenience."  So they have to be responsive to letters and
petitions.  Beyond that, it's all beyond my control; only local voices will
make a difference.
 
                                                                     jms

Date: 8 Oct 1995 05:00:01 -0400
Subject: JMS: 3rd Season Questions

     B5 does not get new 'furies in the premire; the Asimov will likely
return, though not a big story point; the Aggy does have 'furies aboard,
yes, and it's considerably more powerful than the Hyperion, though both are
jump capable.
 
                                                                         jms

Date: 8 Oct 1995 05:25:37 -0400
Subject: Attn JMS: dubbing of Delenn in

     Nothing was changed per se; I trimmed the scene by a few lines here
and there for time, something that happens a lot, so that's probably what
you're noticing, a bridge between snippets.
 
                                                                  jms

Date: 8 Oct 1995 05:25:40 -0400
Subject: Two B5 movies coming?

     Formal reply: NO B5 movies are currently "in the pipeline," not one,
let alone two.  It's something Doug (my partner) has said he'd like to do
someday, but then he'd also like to fly under his own power.  There have
been NO formal discussions on this at all.
 
                                                                      jms

Date: 8 Oct 1995 05:37:38 -0400
Subject: Re: JMS IS FULL OF SHIT!!! (Wa

      Dave Thomas: exactly...a rumor is exactly that, and sometimes it's
a way of testing the waters.  If DS9 fans want to make sure the show stays
around, they need to support it.  Right now, nothing's been decided, and
I made that eminently clear in my original message about this.  There's
much still being discussed; even Berman in that LA Times article worried
that they may have "gone to the well too often."  I think they're going to
wait until the 30th anniversary hoopla is over before making a final
determination.
 
     Meanwhile, thanks for confirming what I said, that this stuff is out
and in the streets around town, as well as being indicated in industry
related articles.
 
                                                                      jms

Date: 8 Oct 1995 05:37:42 -0400
Subject: ATTN: JMS  Another scripting q

     Act Breaks: FADE OUT, [End Act One]  - new page - [Act Two] FADE IN:
 
     B5 as teaser, acts 1-4, tag.
 
     Establishers aren't numbered in a treatment, or called out.
 
     Credits aren't listed in a script; and don't worry too much about
the margins being *exactly* right; they vary considerably.
 
                                                                      jms

Date: 8 Oct 1995 05:37:45 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS!  Question from a tre

     Majel will appear in year 3 episode 9, "Point of No
Return."
 
                                                                     jms

Date: 8 Oct 1995 05:37:50 -0400
Subject: Re: JMS on Compuserve: October

     BTW, to Jeannette, Laura, JM Egolf, Sarah, all the others, thanks
for openly discussing what are surely difficult issues; it's been very
instructive, and helpful for the future.  And the discussion itself has
been moving and insightful; thanks for risking and giving in this way.
 
                                                                   jms

Date: 10 Oct 1995 22:01:47 -0400
Subject: Re: WHY DID JMS POST THE RUMOR

     Why did I post it?  Real simple.  I was in the midst of an ongoing
discussion on the STAR TREK forum on Compuserve.  I wasn't in the B5
area.  The topic at hand was Voyager, and people wondering about it and
its relation to DS9, the latter not generally getting the respect that
they feel it deserves.  Having just heard the story around town that the
friendly folks at Paramount are worried about DS9 pulling viewers away
from Voyager/UPN for a second time in just a few days (from a high ranking
person with Star Trek), a concern that others have confirmed here has been
floating around for a while now, that they too have heard...and having
just had a number of articles coming out in the mainstream press asking
very similar questions about whether or not there's too much ST around
(including the LA Times and TV Guide), it was timely, it was of potential
interest to ST fans, it was in the ST area, so I mentioned it...the same
as I'd mention any other piece of news.  No more, no less.
 
     There can be no agenda because there's nothing to achieve that would
be to the detriment of ST or the elevation of B5.  The implicit
assumption is that if ST folks want DS9 to continue, they should make that
eminently clear via continued support.  That is the only possible result
of that information.  Yes, indeedy, one can clearly see how that benefits
B5, can't we?
 
     The other day, in a similar ST topic, I mentioned that I *very much*
liked the episode of VOYAGER that aired on Monday.  Heaven only knows
what dire conspiracies that comment will imply to some with no fucking
life (viz: Mr. Thaxton).  I mentioned it on CIS for *exactly* the same
reason that I mentioned the bit on DS9...because I figured it might be
of interest to the readers, and because that's what was on my mind at
that time.
 
     As opposed to the estimable Mr. Thaxton, who has been spreading all
kinds of vicious rumors here which ARE destructive, which are and have
been hurtful, and which are without support.  It seems to me more than
a little hypocritical that someone who does nothing but spread lies,
gossip, rumor, character assassination and innuendo would go into
meltdown over a rather reliable story that has been picked up by major
newspapers, and confirme by others here.
 
     And then, when these facts come out, he falls back on the only tool
he has left: to villify, impugn or otherwise call into question the
motives for doing so.  Never mind that it's actually a Real Thing, why
did you SAY it?  For the reasons given.  If that's not enough for some
pinheads among us, tough.
 
     And haven't we all gotten tired of the game by now?  Ford or one of
his few netbuddies posts something outrageous, eliciting responses taht
are justifiably angry, and then proceeds to make fun of the replies because
their anger is perfectly in tune with the offense.
 
     This is the classic bully's tactic...hit you and hit you and hit you
until he gets the reaction he wants, and then he makes fun of your
reaction, hoping to get another one.
 
     How much longer does this have to go on before people catch wise to
his game?  How much longer can one justify falling for the old "pull my
finger" gag?
 
     If you're doing this on my behalf...don't.  Just *ignore* the man; I
get FAR more upset when I see others being attacked for the simple crime
of defending me against baseless attacks than I ever would get over the
original attack, in large measure because I simply Do Not Read his posts
anymore.  He is irrelevant to my life, to the life of anyone involved
with the show, and to the show itself, and to all of you.
 
     We all know that no matter what is said or done, somehow he or one
of his three or so ilk (and that's ALL THEY ARE), will attempt to twist
it around to make it sound somehow dubious.  That's because they are
sick, lifeless, twisted individuals who have nothing else to do.  So if
we know this is always going to happen...why even bother reacting to it?
 
     I have 543 messages sitting in my mailbox right now; the majority of
them are the "SHIT" thread in one of its various incarnations.  Is this
really the best use for this rec.arts area?
 
     If you have killfiles...use them.  Don't you understand that by
responding in any way, manner shape or form, you are giving him *exactly*
what he wants...and *encouraging* him to do more of it?  You are creating
the problem by giving him validation...validation that only comes in the
form of the echo caused by his voice.  Stop being the echo.
 
     I don't read his posts anymore; if I see it come up on the header,
I just delete it.  The only way I know something's going on is when I
see a big thread, and sometimes run across an imbedded quote.  And
y'know, I'm much happier about it.
 
     You must understand that this is simply what he does.  One of the
benefits of being one of his many targets is that you tend to hear from
others...people at record industry magazines, radio stations, other
composers and producers who have been targeted by Ford, harrassed and
stalked on the nets.  HE STAYS UNTIL PEOPLE UNIFORMLY IGNORE HIM.  The
more you ignore him initially, the more outrageous, defamatory, libelous,
smarmy and ultimately desperate his comments will become.  But eventually
if he is frozen out, he will go away in search of new prey.
 
     This is how he gets off, people.  Pure and simple.  Some of the horror
stories I've heard from others similarly targeted would curl your hair.
And along the way, I've learned a lot about Mr. Thaxton, more than I
really wanted to know.  More, I suspect, than he would be happy to know
that I know.
 
     We have new episodes beginning this week.  Ignore the jerk.  I ask
this as a personal favor; I get more upset by seeing this drag on, and
seeing others get hurt and insulted, than by *anything* Ford can ever say
to me.
 
     Because anything he has to say is a fiction, or simply irrelevant.
 
     So stop this.  Please.  As a personal favor.
 
                                                              jms

Date: 11 Oct 1995 05:30:21 -0400
Subject: ATT: JMS -- WAS JMS on Cmpsrv:

     "What's the difference between 'having a Minbari soul' and 'having
been a Minbari in a previous life'?"
 
     The difference, Jamie, is *huge*.  And extremely significant.
 
     Here, I'll give you a freebie...there's something massively,
mind-bendingly significant in a throwaway line in one of the first three
episodes of year three that seems to have little bearing on this, but in
fact is hugely involved in this *exact* issue.
 
     You'll know what it was much later in the season.  But this heads-up
might point you in the right direction.  Suffice to say there's a very
definite reason I phrased that as I did.
 
                                                                      jms

Date: 11 Oct 1995 05:42:45 -0400
Subject: > ATTN. JMS:  Ratings and Reru

      Franklin: I'm sure they still think it was a good idea.
 
      If you need me, I'll be on the roof....
 
                                                                  jms

Date: 11 Oct 1995 05:55:13 -0400
Subject: ATTN: JMS You Got Competition

     I'm quite happy to have competition.  The more the merrier.  As an SF
fan myself, I love nothing more than seeing good SF on the air, and I have
to say I *very* much enjoyed the last Voyager episode, I'm quite happy
with X-Files, I'm in love with a lot of the dialogue and camerawork on
American Gothic, I've enjoyed all the Space episodes to date...the more
voices, the more competition, the leaner and better the overall result.
 
                                                                    jms

Date: 12 Oct 1995 03:59:34 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: (Spoilers) Divided L

     No, the Ivanova revelation in "Loyalties" has nothing to do with
replacing Talia; that is a moot point in many ways, since Lyta is back,
and since other things happen which take that issue off the table in
any event.
 
                                                                 jms

Date: 12 Oct 1995 03:59:44 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: Inquisitor Question

     I'd say there's a very good chance that the Vorlons have more than
one Inquisitor.
 
                                                                   jms

Date: 12 Oct 1995 04:11:38 -0400
Subject: Ellison CITY Note

Harlan Ellison has requested that I post this in places where
those likely to have ordered the forthcoming CITY ON THE EDGE
OF FOREVER limited-edition hardcover can find it.
 
Message begins:
 
Here is the answer to the question of why a three-week delay in
shipping THE CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER became necessary.
 
A minor production glitch.
 
Nothing more mysterious or ominous than that.
 
Once the book had gone to Thomson-Shore in Dexter, Michigan for
printing, and was in production, it was discovered that more
than 150 corrections to the text--some significant, others of a
niggling nature--but all troublesome to a greater or lesser
degree--had slipped past, and had not been integrated.
 
Tom Monteleone of Borderlands Press was out of the country.  But
his concerns for shipping on time--we've been paying the price
for a premature announcement of this title four years ago ever
since that miscalculation was made--were preeminent.  Nonetheless,
because of my insistence that this book (a book of great personal
importance to me) be as close to perfect as possible, I took
the necessary action to hold the production at a pre-final stage
till Tom returned and we could get the changes made.
 
That has been accomplished.  Tom Monteleone has been very
gracious in accommodating my concerns, and the book is back in
the tube at Thomson-Shore right now.  Three weeks max is what
Dave Raymond, Customer Services Manager, tells us.  Three weeks
and the book, a beautiful beautiful package, will be in the
hands of those who've ordered it.
 
It is unfortunate that Tom Monteleone's interim message on the
Borderlands Press 800-order line has been misinterpreted by
some people.  All is well, and the CITY is on its way to waiting
eyes and hands.  Thank you for asking.
 
                                                Harlan Ellison

Date: 12 Oct 1995 04:24:28 -0400
Subject: Attn: JMS Bab5 Soundtrack Seas

     Actually, there is some year two music on the CD, on the last two
suites.  No schedule yet on disks.
 
                                                              jms

Date: 13 Oct 1995 01:45:53 -0400
Subject: Attn: JMS -- why were specific

     They tended to go from what photos and art was available from WB, and
in large measure...that ain't a lot.
 
                                                                jms

Date: 13 Oct 1995 06:06:32 -0400
Subject: The Great War of rastb5

     "Somebody please tell me what the hellis going on?"
 
     Easy.  Somebody accidentally let humanity in here.
 
     Noisy lot, aren't they?
 
                                                                jms

Date: 13 Oct 1995 06:18:58 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: B5 Comic #11 -- Mark

     There's nothing that I'm aware of in comic #11 that would place it
after "Confessions."  It's a general pamphlet prepared by Psi Corps some
time before.
 
                                                                     jms

Date: 13 Oct 1995 06:33:41 -0400
Subject: Re: JMS' powers of prediction

     Actually, the plan to run TNG originally for just 5 years was
specifically *stated by Paramount* to the news media, nothing to do with
predicting anything.  Also, at that time, I knew a lot of folks who were
working over at TNG as writer/producers, and that was what they had all
been told was the case.  When the show finally began to kick into gear,
ratings-wise, they decided to extend it to seven years, and it took quite
a bit of finageling to get everyone back on board (that was why they did
the Borg two-parter with Patrick Stewart...if he had decided not to sign,
they would've used this as a means of getting rid of the character); you
don't have to do this IF YOU HAVE OPTIONS ON THE ACTORS.
 
     There was no predicting involved.  I reported what was being said by
those directly involved with ST:TNG at the time, what was in the press,
and what was being told to agents.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Five
years WAS the original plan; check the first newspaper articles about the
show, it's all over the place.
 
                                                                        jms

Date: 13 Oct 1995 06:33:56 -0400
Subject: Re: WHY DID JMS POST THE RUMOR

     I disagree with the term ego in this connection.  (Big surprise,
right?)  On one level, anyone who is involved in any aspect of the arts
has exercised ego in the sense of, "I am going to make little black marks
on this piece of paper," or "I am going to make colored brushstrokes on
this canvas, and they will be sufficiently impressive that you will want
to pay money for them."  That aspect is part and parcel of working in any
form of the arts.
 
     But B5 specifically?  I don't think so.  First off, there's a great
deal of misunderstanding in this discussion about how television works.
In a TV series, the story editor *NEVER, EVER* rewrites the executive
producer.  It would be a hideous breach of protocol.  On MURDER, SHE WROTE
or JAKE, or other shows, I *never* touched my exec's scripts.  The network
puts an executive producer/writer on premises for one singular reason
(not counting the one billion others): to set the tone for the writing for
everyone else to follow.  They rely on YOU to absolutely govern that
aspect, or you're not doing your job, and betraying your commitment to the
network.
 
     So when someone says "It's ego not to let the story editor revise the
executive producer's scripts," that betrays a total lack of understanding
of how television production works.
 
     Finally, working 5 years to get B5 produced had nothing to do with
ego and everything to do with obsession.  There's this story that I like,
which I hope others will like.  The ONLY way that this story will ever be
told is if one person fights for it tooth and nail for every day of every
year required to tell it.  I have an obligation to this story to see it
through.  Getting doors slammed in your face for five years takes its toll
on the ego; ego says, "Screw it, go find a nice cushy job on another show
where nobody'll slam the door on you."  Obsession says, "Keep going."
Ego hates to fail.  Obession *requires* that you fail from time to time,
in striving for something greater.
 
                                                                     jms

Date: 13 Oct 1995 07:25:13 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: Production Question

     Flashback scenes are usually part of a prior scene, and thus are
shot in color, shown the first time, and transferred to black and white
for flashback use.
 
                                                                   jms

Date: 13 Oct 1995 08:20:45 -0400
Subject: Re: jms is anti-Trek?

     "JMS loves the fact that you worship him...."
 
     Yessir, boy-howdy, and there ain't nothin' like signing onto your
account and seeing ten gazillion messages titled JMS IS SOMETIMES / ALWAYS
/ GENERALLY / 99.9% FULL OF SHIT to make you feel like the living
reincarnation of Thor hisownself.
 
     "you ain't never gonna be on the show" ... actually quite a few folks
on the nets have come by the Babylon 5 stages, have been paid to edit music
videos, have even come to *work* for us...PwdrdTstMan from AOL now works at
the B5 stages, another internetter known to most folks here is now working
at WB on the B5 AOL page, others have come here as well, even as extras a
few times.
 
     "and you ain't havin' dinner at Master JMS' estate."  As soon as
Master JMS *gets* an estate instead of a fairly simple 3 bedroom house in
a reasonably nice neighborhood, I'll let you know if this happens or not.
In the interim, I've had dinner and lunches with folks from the nets for
quite some time now.
 
     "thrill of a lifetime feeling that they are actually interacting with
their 'god'"   See paragraph 2 above.  Amazing how if anyone does anything
of merit, and some folks acknowledge that, others have to characterize
that in Deity terms.  Is there no in-between?  Oh, silly me, it's just a
rhetorical device to deride the issue at hand; sorry, for a moment there I
thought you were interested in accuracy, Ross.  My apologies.
 
     And frankly, if I were ANY kind of deity, I'd have a LOT more hair and
a *MUCH* deeper voice.
 
                                                                     jms

Date: 13 Oct 1995 20:25:13 -0400
Subject: ATTN: JMS Your opinion on comi

     I wasn't terribly pleased with the artwork on 9 and 10, I thought it
could've been much better.  As for the story, David Gerrold had proposed
(and written) that as an outline for an episode; I said I didn't think it
worked for our show.  Which opened the door for DC to pick it up, and since
he felt so strongly that it *did* work, I figured I'd let him proceed.
 
                                                                      jms

Date: 13 Oct 1995 20:37:22 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS- Peter David.

     I'm certainly open to his doing more for us.
 
                                                                  jms

Date: 13 Oct 1995 20:37:35 -0400
Subject: Re: jms is anti-Trek?

     To John Lawrence Morgan: no, I don't get to watch ST very often;
that's because doing this job is a 25-hour-a-day responsibility.  I'm at
the B5 offices from early in the day until 7:30-8:00 at night, I grab a
fast meal, sometimes just a sandwich, and charge into my home office and
start writing.  I try to break away for a very few shows; American Gothic,
Space, the Simpsons, X-Files and 60 Minutes during the course of the week.
I have no time for anything else.  That's why I log on here often at 3 a.m.
because that's the only time I have left after work.  (Today's an
exception; I get to work at home today since we've given the crew a couple
days off to catch their breath.)
 
     And yeah...given the choice between spending those last couple of
hours vegged out watching TeeVee, and coming on-line and hanging out with
people, almost my last vestige of human (sorta) contact...I choose the
latter.  What in this do you have a problem?
 
                                                                jms

Date: 17 Oct 1995 04:15:18 -0400
Subject: JMS: You did it to me again!

     Ben....we try.....
 
                                                                        jms

Date: 17 Oct 1995 04:27:54 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: Lyta's P Rating (Dis

     Didn't say Talia WAS a psi-cop, Talia said she *interned with* the
PsiCops.  Bear in mind that you're going to need support staff, lower
level liaisons, and a bunch of other positions as well as the actual cops.
 
                                                                    jms

Date: 18 Oct 1995 06:17:43 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: B5 Comic #11 --

     Tritium: you actually believe *anything* in a PsiCorps propaganda
booklet?  Only about 10% of what's recorded in that booklet is true, and
even that's distorted.  The character in the booklet is totally fictional.
 
                                                                  jms

Date: 18 Oct 1995 06:18:05 -0400
Subject: Re: JMS on Compuserve: October

     Jamie: I don't consider myself an "abuse survivor."  I think that
term has been so over-used, exploited and trivialized in some corners by
application to the smallest of problems ("My father once hit me when I
was 12 so now I'm an axe murderer/going through regression therapy in
search of one more time when it might've happened") that it takes away
from people who've had terrible, mind-bendingly awful backgrounds with
serious personal violence, sexual violation, psychological torture and
other aberrations.  I'll probably get roasted for this, but it does seem
to me that talking about one's "abusive childhood" has become the newest
trend, and one more way of denying personal responsibility for who one is
and what one does...and, ultimately, detracts from the attention and
needs and real problems of those who *have* suffered terribly.
 
     Yeah, I had a crummy childhood, followed by a crummy adolescence;
vast sections of it were a nightmare.  Fundamentally...so what?  I never
considered that anyone's had a Leave It To Beaver childhood.  Some were
better, some were worse.  Doesn't mean I still don't get pissed about it,
doesn't make me any more willing to have contact with my family, but I
have never considered myself in the light of those two words.  That, to
me, is one more manifestation of the victim mentality that seems to be
all OVER the place.
 
     People spend too much time finding other people to blame, too much
energy finding excuses for not being what they are capable of being, and
not enough energy putting themselves on the line, growing out of the past,
and getting on with their lives.
 
     And, again, I *very carefully and specifically* exclude from this
discussion, and the preceding paragraph, those who've gone through true,
serious abuse in childhood, who must spend years rebuilding their lives
and their trust and their emotional infrastructure.
 
                                                                    jms

Date: 19 Oct 1995 07:02:42 -0400
Subject: TLTS: Opinion (no spoilers)

     Dennis: thanks, we're starting to get better at this stuff.  It's a
nifty episode.
 
                                                                     jms

Date: 19 Oct 1995 07:09:00 -0400
Subject: To JMS: Congratulations!!  <DL

     Christian: I quote Mark Twain: "The test of any good fiction is that
you should care something for the characters; the good to succeed, the
bad to fail.  The trouble with most fiction is that you want them all to
land in hell, together, as quickly as possible."
 
                                                                      jms

Date: 19 Oct 1995 19:34:11 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS : Important KOSH ques

     The more people who have to *see* Kosh as one of their own, the
greater the strain on Kosh, as you'll note in the first ep of year three.
 
                                                           jms

Date: 19 Oct 1995 19:36:14 -0400
Subject: JMS: dumb DL question (really

     What was the passwor?  I'm hideously tempted to say, "Z'ha'dum."
 
                                                                jms

Date: 19 Oct 1995 19:36:48 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: Murder1 & B5

     I for one would love nothing more than to claim that B5 "paved the
way...for Murder One," but truth is...the network folks probably haven't
even noticed.  From all I hear, Murder 1 has more to do with the long
term fascination with the OJ trial than anything B5.
 
                                                                     jms

Date: 19 Oct 1995 19:37:50 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: Going to Loscon?

     I'll be at LosCon over Thanksgiving because, well, I have no life;
if anyone else attends depends on their schedules.
 
                                                                  jms

Date: 19 Oct 1995 19:38:11 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS:Metaphysical question

     Nia: I'd say you're reading WAY too much into this.
 
                                                               jms

Date: 19 Oct 1995 19:38:39 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: Back door into plot?

     Yeah, originally it was the Kosh-scan that would've gotten Lyta in
trouble; the TK aspect was originally going to come in from another angle,
but I was able to collapse the two in Talia, and then bring Lyta in from
a different direction, as you'll see in one of the first batch of new
year 3 eps.
 
                                                                  jms

Date: 21 Oct 1995 06:10:48 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: Explain editing proc

     Film is shot on the stage, then transferred to video, which is then
digitized onto the Avid computer editing system, which holds every take of
every scene.  A scene is shot many times from various angles: wide master
shot, three-shots (3 people), two-shots, singles, raking twos, close
ups, medium shots, extreme closeups and sometimes downshots (as well as
CGI and composite shots).
 
     John Copeland and I then go in and work on the version of the episode
edited by the director to do the producer's cut.  We sit down with the
editor, and go scene by scene.  The usual construction is as follows: you
get a wide master shot so we know the geography, where we are, and where
everyone is in relation to that.  Gradually you go closer, into threes or
twos, then singles or closeups for dramatic emphasis, coming out into the
master from time to time when someone has to move, or to break the sense
of claustrophobia.
 
     When you get in close, you have over-the-shoulder shots, meaning
you're shooting past one character's shoulder to the other.  Then you do
the same thing in reverse, so you see both sides of the conversation.
You do these one at a time, for lighting purposes; you light one side of
the room for the scenes looking left-right, then move the camera and the
lighting around for the scenes when you're on the right side looking
left (or, phrased differently, you light for Susan looking at Talia,
then Talia looking at Susan).  The actors then do the scene again, with
the camera on the other side.
 
     The actor has to be very careful to always repeat each movement
exactly; if he picks up a teacup on the word "quibble," he has to make
absolutely sure he picks up the cup on exactly that same word, every
time, in every take, in the same way, in the correct hand.  If the
actor slips (and this sometimes happens), when you go to show the other
side of the scene, you suddenly find you have a matching problem; in
the shot over Talia's shoulder to Susan, the actor raised a hand; in
the shot over Susan's shoulder to Talia, the actor (generic term that
includes women) *didn't* raise a hand.  So when you edit the two, you
have a matching problem.  You can sometimes avoid this by just staying
on one side of the shot, but then you can't get the other character's
on-face reaction to what's being said.  And in that scene in particular,
we *needed* to see both sides.
 
                                                              jms

Date: 21 Oct 1995 06:10:55 -0400
Subject: Query:  Will the Shadows attac

     Babylon 5 is still needed for their own purposes, as an easy way to
keep an eye on things and get to the people they need to get to, so
there's no need for them to attack B5.  They certainly wouldn't do so
just because Morden was busted...that's beneath their concern, as long
as he keeps his mouth shut.  Which he did.  Doesn't mean, though, that
in fairly short order they won't take steps to be as sure as they can be
that, in fact, the secret *is* still secure....
 
                                                              jms

Date: 21 Oct 1995 09:31:04 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: You got some bad, BA

      Two things transcend all human understanding: the concept of god,
and PTEN publicity.
 
                                                                    jms

Date: 21 Oct 1995 19:34:27 -0400
Subject: Attn JMS: Question (& mild SPO

     In part it's John's take on the character, but what I indicated to him
was that Draal's gone through some considerable changes by entering the
heart of the machine; it's given him greater understanding, and the freeing
aspects of greater humor.  It's almost like -- and I hate to even use the
reference because somebody'll say "Oh, that's what he's doing," and I ain't
it's just a point of comparison -- Tom Bombadil in LoTR...quite funny, but
also someone not to be trifled with.
 
                                                                    jms

Date: 21 Oct 1995 19:34:29 -0400
Subject: ATTN: JMS - A few questions...

    Land armies, deliberating Shadows, probably not, for various reasons;
gloss off CGI, 3D starmaps, new tech and better rendering, yes.
 
                                                                     jms

Date: 21 Oct 1995 19:57:37 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: Internauts coming fo

     There's not much sense to it; it just happens with some folks.
 
                                                                 jms

Date: 21 Oct 1995 20:09:14 -0400
Subject: Attn JMS: Scripted Facial Nuan

     Generally, you don't so much indicate the face (with some exceptions)
as the mood...in parentheticals in dialogue (growing horror) (with
meaning) (sotto voce) and in narrative description (his face fall as he
sees Morden enter).
 
                                                                 jms

Date: 21 Oct 1995 20:09:17 -0400
Subject: Attn JMS: Rehearsals and Takes

     The number of scenes varies depending on the amount of action
required.  On balance, the average TV script has about 60-75 scenes or
shots in it.  From time to time, in B5, we've gone as high as 130 shots
in episodes like "Twilight" or "Fall."  I think we just blew out our
record here with "Severed Dreams," which has close to 140.
 
     Number of scenes shot on any day depends on how long the scene; you
can do 4 really long shots or 8 fairly short scenes.  The amount of
rehearsal varies depending on the scene, how many extras or what kind of
action/stunts are required.  The more action, the more you rehearse, to
ensure nobody gets hurt.
 
                                                                   jms

Date: 21 Oct 1995 20:20:54 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: Episodes 19 &20

     No, Divided precedes Twilight.
 
                                                                 jms

Date: 21 Oct 1995 20:32:29 -0400
Subject: Attn:jms  authorship of B5?

     For starters, I have problem with the auteur term.  What most folks
forget is that this term originated with the Cahiers du Cinema (I think I
may have hideously misspelled that) which actually began a series of
screenings/presentations on each aspect of film-making, the writer, the
director, the cinematographer...started with the director...and basically
got so caught up in that aspect that they dropped the rest.
 
    So let's stick with "author" for the moment.  To that question, yes,
I do consider myself the author of the B5 story, the creator of itsz
characters and universe.  Insofar as we enter other areas, my position is
that of navigator...I point to a spot on the horizon, and say "That's
where we're all going."  Each department/artistic aspect of the show,
from props, to costumes, to the director, works to most accurately create
what I see in my head.  The most common question is, "Is this what you had
in mind when you wrote it?"
 
     I keep an eye on every aspect of the show, to make sure it's what I
see in my head.  If something isn't right, it's redone until it *is*
right.  Nonetheless, I try to provide as much latitude as possible to my
people, to let them be as creative as they have the potential to be.
 
     Sometimes there's some irony in the situation; in "And the Sky Full
of Stars," for instance, Janet is noted for the notion of having Sinclair
standing facing these lights that go out, one by one, except for the one
that spotlights him, when he's confronted by Knight Two, people say, "Oh
what a great directorial idea," but that's spelled out to the smallest
detail in the script.  Ditto for the intercutting of scenes in the fall
of the emperor in "Coming."  That's often attributed to the director, but
it was specifically scripted that way, right down to the use of slow-mo
for some shots, the way in which he falls, all of it.
 
     This is because of that nutty auteur theory that many directors have
wrapped around themselves like a flag.  With the obvious exception of
writer/directors, I've never seen any director do much with the auteur
theory and 100 blank pages.
 
                                                                  jms

Date: 23 Oct 1995 21:56:55 -0400
Subject: JMS: Talia and Ivanova *spoile

      I didn't show a kiss because, in my experience, it's easier on all
around if one steps into the shallow end of the pool first, and walks
into the deep end rather than diving in and splashing everybody in the
process.
 
                                                              jms

Date: 25 Oct 1995 03:39:32 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: RAVES and KUDOS for

     Cecil: my deepest thanks for that.


                                                                 jms

Date: 27 Oct 1995 00:58:49 -0400
Subject: Re: DS9's life or death

     To the inquiry about TV contracts...when an actor gets a contract on
a show, it's not a guarantee of anything; it's all one season at a time.
ALL TV series are like this: you (the producer/studio) have an OPTION on
the actor, by contract.  Meaning you own the actor for that period of time
AT YOUR DISCRETION.  In other words, if you're renewed for a given season,
you have the option of hiring (or not hiring) the actor back for the
next season.  The actor does *not* have the option.  If you then hire the
actor, it's pay-or-play for that season, meaning if you decide to let the
actor go mid-season, you must still pay him for the balance of episodes
committed for.


     So an actor's contract is not a guarantee of *anything*.


     As for the budget on the two-parter...DS9's ratings have been on a
steady decline for the last several seasons, according to the trades and
newspaper articles.  Paramount sells advertising based on the ratings; if
they drop below the promised level, they have to start giving money back
to the advertisers (not a good thing).  So regardless of a series
projected duration, they *must* start improving the ratings...hence you
spend a little more up front, grab some ratings, give the show a boost,
and maybe make it up here and there later in other shows, or simply write
off the additional shooting costs against the benefit of not giving money
back to advertisers.


     No judgment here, no predictions, just answering the questions that
came up about how things work in TV.


                                                                    jms

Date: 27 Oct 1995 00:59:17 -0400
Subject: Kosh's appearance (Spoilers_)

     This is not a bad assessment, Nicholas.  And yes, I remember that
quote from CS Lewis, very evocative.  (Have read the Screwtape Letters,
Perelandra, That Hideous Strength and others.  He sometimes indulged in
straw-man logic, but always written entertainingly.)


                                                                jms

Date: 27 Oct 1995 19:57:32 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: A couple of question

     Actually, what's been referred to is the Jump Gate off Io; we saw
this colony facility before, in Chrysalis...it isn't *on* Io as much as
in orbit near it.


                                                                 jms

Date: 27 Oct 1995 19:59:15 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: What did the actors

     I try avoiding telling the actors anything more than what is needed
for each episode as it comes, otherwise you risk them subconsciously
playing the result rather than the process.


                                                                 jms

Date: 27 Oct 1995 19:59:52 -0400
Subject: Attn Jms:  More PKD in B5, wha

     Nope, sorry.  "Garibaldi" comes from the Italian war hero of the
same name.  Have never read Dick's "Exegenis," and that has nothing to
do with "Exogenesis" the episode.  Don't know anything about any row
between PKD and HE.


     I'm chagrined to say that I've read *very* little of Dick's work,
though I did read "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep," which of course
became Blade Runner.  He just got a wee bit weird, even for me.


                                                               jms

Date: 27 Oct 1995 20:00:27 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: Influences?

      Have not read Rice's "The Adding Machine" or seen it, but from the
apparent time period, it's likely of the school of playwriting that has
most influenced my work in general, mainly in terms of style.


      I somewhat tend to moderate my writing style between the fairly
straightforward and simple to slightly more theatrical in nature, more of
the Serling/Chayefsky/Corwin mode.  I like playing with language, and
English is a terrific language to play with.  There was a time in this
country when literate syntactical construction was something honored; now
everything tends to be more toward the y'know, I was, you know, hanging
around the corner store, y'know, and Bob comes up to me, and he says....


     If you look at the original Twilight Zone, some episodes of the
original Star Trek, the Outer Limits...you see a kind of reflective
writing that delights in slamming nouns and verbs together to see what
kind of explosion you get when the syntax hits critical mass.


     It saddens me a bit now that anybody who sounds too literate is
often put down as showy or being theatrical.  Listen to the speeches of
Kennedy and Churchill and FDR, look to the great orators of our long
history of a nation, from Lincoln to Jefferson.  Their use of language,
of an idea well formed and delivered, propelled this nation toward its
current destiny, forged one country out of dozens of squabbling states.
I listen now to politicians, hoping and waiting for the one who
understands that the words have to dig into our souls and take root,
must have power and the purity of language well-used.  And I just don't
hear it anymore...which is perhaps why we have consensus takers and not
leaders these days.


     It saddens me that literacy has become suspect, and degraded, given
how many millions of years of evolution spent developing the ability to
create language.  The quality of our thoughts is bordered on all sides by
our facility with language.  The less precise the useage, the less clear
the process of language, the less you can achieve what you want to
achieve when you open you mouth to say something.  We have slowly
bastardized and degraded and weakened the language, abetted and abided
by a growing cultural disdain for literacy, a cyclical trend toward
anti-intellectualism.


     So I write my characters as sharp, and as witty, and as intelligent,
and as literate as I wish I would be under those sorts of circumstances,
which of course I never am.  Maybe to remind people of the power of
language...mainly because I just love the sound of words carefully
stitched together.  My dramatic conceit is that in 2259, we have had a
moderate rebirth of formality, and the kind of literacy you would often
see in letters from the turn of the century, and the 1930s.  Because it
allows me to write it the way I want.


                                                                  jms

Date: 28 Oct 1995 04:42:12 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Explain editing

     Sometimes we do use two cameras, yes, usually for big scenes with
crowds and lots of action.  If you're in tight, it's hard to light for
both sides; the light generally goes just one way, then you relight for
each new angle.  Even so, we run two cameras often, but not always, as
the cost is prohibitive.


                                                               jms

Date: 28 Oct 1995 04:42:37 -0400
Subject: Attn JMS:  Q's not asked from

     What's been happening the last few days?  Well, we're now shooting
episode #9, "Point of No Return," and today was Majel Barrett's second
day of shooting on the show; she has two more days to shoot.  So far the
episode looks very good.  We're finishing the last EFX shots on "Voices
of Authority," episode #4, which will air after episode #5, "Passing
Through Gethsemane" because the latter requires almost zip EFX, and is a
better cap to the Novemer sweeps.


     I just finished writing episode #12, "A Late Delivery From Avalon,"
and we're in pre-production on #10, "Severed Dreams."  I'm currently
breaking out the story for #13 (not titled yet), which I'll probably start
writing this weekend.  We should get the director's cut on "Messages From
Earth" (#8) sometime middle of next week.


                                                                      jms

Date: 28 Oct 1995 04:43:07 -0400
Subject: Attn JMS: I (think I) got it!

     Shadows weren't trolling, just passing through; the Narn fall is not
in the best interests of the army of light.


                                                                     jms

Date: 27 Oct 1995 21:51:25 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS :  expression

     There have been many explanations for where this phrase comes
from.  SoMost of them are obviN%=yously spook etymology, but the first one I
heard -- and who knows if this is right -- comes from WW I, where just
before one side would go into battle, they'd send one man up in a hot
air balloon to scout the enemy's location.  If you saw the balloon
going up, you knew combat wasn't far behind.


     Wherever it comes from, though, that's the general meaning of
the phrase.


                                                              jms

Date: 27 Oct 1995 22:04:38 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: Notes to actors abou

     No, I don't believe I gave any voice direction on that one.


     But certainly, the most trouble is always caused by people who are
sure they know what they're doing.


                                                                 jms

Date: 28 Oct 1995 17:41:18 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: Caitlin Brown in CtI

     No, no Caitlin.


                                                                  jms

Date: 28 Oct 1995 17:41:22 -0400
Subject: Who is Norman Corwin?

     He is only one of the finest writers this country has ever produced.
Go to your local library and look up his work.  Take it home and read it
(or listen to it).  In addition to being one of our preeminent essayists,
and a primary influence on such notables as Edward R. Murrow, Charles
Kuralt, Walter Cronkite, Stan Freberg, Rod Serling, and is possibly *the*
primary reason Ray Bradbury decided to become a writer in the first place,
he was this nation's finest and most regarded radio drama writer of his
time, moreso than Arch Oboler or Orson Welles.  He write the radio drama
"On A Note of Triumph" aired on *all three* radio networks on VE day,
wrote cantatas for the UN, was a contemporary and friend of Carl
Sandburg, wrote the feature film "Lust For Life" about Van Gogh...look
into any copy of "Who's Who."  The listing goes on forever.


     Unfortunately, at the height of his career, he was one of many who
ended up grey-listed, because one little creep who owned a chain of
supermarkets published a rag called Red Channels, which one day listed
Norman's name because some of what he'd written struck this jerk as being
maybe sympathetic to the Reds (never mind that this was stuff he had been
commissioned by the government to write during WW 2 to demonstrate
solidarity during the war).  Despite this, his niche remains secure, and
he is what's known in the biz as a *writer's writer*.  He has been a
friend and a mentor for over 15 years, and I've learned much from him
about what it is to be a writer, and a human being.


     I'm serious.  Go to your local library and look up his work.  Or to
your local bookstore and track down a copy of his latest book, a collection
of his letters (cunningly entitled Norman Corwin's Letters), published in
hardcover by Barricade Books, containing his correspondence to friends,
family, and such notable long-term friends as Ray Bradbury, William
Shatner, Rod Serling, Robert Altman, Ken Burns, Philip Dunne, Charles
Kuralt, Walter Cronkite, Burgess Meredith, Philip Roth, Gregory Peck,
Eric Sevareid, Bill Moyers, Erik Barnouw, Groucho Marx, Carl Sandburg,
Leonard Bernstein, Bette Davis, Edward R. Murrow...well, you get the
idea.


                                                                   jms

Date: 28 Oct 1995 17:41:26 -0400
Subject: Video Video I want it on VIDEO

     If someone wants to pull out the address I listed on Compuserve,
there's the name and address of the person who makes the decision on
video releases, B5's in particular.


                                                                jms

Date: 28 Oct 1995 17:41:30 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: ISN question - How c

     There are other networks, but the cost of a hyperspace/tachyon link
to places like B5 is prohibitive, so they're fairly local.  ISN has
relays and branches in lots of places.  It would be fair to say that ISN
is taking heat from the EA gov't to portray things a certain way, yes.
Where this leads, we'll have to see.


                                                                  jms

Date: 28 Oct 1995 17:41:38 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: Patrick McGoohan?

     We'll go after Patrick when we get another script suited for him.


                                                            jms

Date: 29 Oct 1995 23:41:49 -0500
Subject: ATTN JMS, Vorlon singing & mis

     Peter David wants to re-use the teddy bear in his new series, Space
Cases...so we'll see.


                                                                     jms

Date: 29 Oct 1995 23:54:19 -0500
Subject: ATTN JMS: Could you clear some

     I could address those issues here, but I'd rather do them in the
show...otherwise it kinda defeats the purpose in making it.


                                                                    jms

Date: 29 Oct 1995 23:17:40 -0500
Subject: JMS and Coincidences

     It's real simple.  Ron Thornton showed me three variations on the
Great Machine shot.  Because you're looking at a composite shot, you have
to shoot either sharply angled down, or dead across, and full-figured,
since you have to put them into another piece.  That meant either a
horizontal shot, or a 3/4's vertical shot.


     Two of the shots on the storyboards were horizontal; one showed our
characters way off in the distance on a ribboned path lined by crystals.
It'd be pretty, but it looked like another tunnel shot, and I wanted to
show something that wasn't claustrophobic.  Also, we'd be limited in the
camera move, and our characters would look kinda like peanuts.  Not
terribly dramatic.  The second shot just didn't work for me, I don't
entirely recall the reason now.  The third possibility seemed the most
dramatic...it was a high angle shot, it had depth, it would let us start
on our characters and do a camera move/pullback in post production, it
worked on every level.


     My second thought was, "Shit, somebody's going to gig us on the
Forbidden Planet thing."  Nonetheless, it was the right shot, for the
right reasons, and we chose to go with it.


                                                                  jms

Date: 29 Oct 1995 23:17:45 -0500
Subject: Attn JMS: CTI Thoughts/Feeling

     Will: thanks, and you're quite right; it does say something about the
Vorlons that they'd use Jack for this purpose.  Now we just have to further
define what that is.


     BTW, just to append it here, not strictly appropos of your message...
I've noted a number of people say, in essence, "Boy, was I disappointed
that he said Jack at the end, what does he think we are, morons?"  And I've
seen plenty of comments from people who didn't know it was Jack until that
very last moment, for whom it was a revelation.


     It's pretty clear, to lots of folks, that the test was in some ways
(most, actually) more for Delenn's benefit than Kosh's...lots of folks got
this...and then others have said, "Well, if that's what he meant, why
didn't he just have one of them come out and SAY this, say what was learned
or that this was for THEIR benefit?"


     So frankly, whether one comes out and says something, or does not come
out and say something, someone on one side or the other is going to give
you a hard time about it.


                                                                      jms

Date: 29 Oct 1995 23:17:49 -0500
Subject: ATTN JMS: To whom would we wri

     I'll try to post the address later, but in the interim, I gave the
address of the person at WB video over on CIS, so somebody'd probably
already got it here.  ('s)


                                                                 jms

Date: 29 Oct 1995 23:17:52 -0500
Subject: ATTN JMS : Theo & his Brothers

     No, these are not the monks Sheridan met earlier.


                                                                      jms

Date: 30 Oct 1995 16:13:22 -0500
Subject: ATTN JMS:  Maybe setting recor

     Actually, it was pointed out to me recently that as far as can be
determined (and if there's any solid info to the contrary, I'll gladly
take it) that no one has ever single-handedly written a full season of
a dramatic, one-hour series.  Even David Kelley often uses co-writers on
many of his episodes of ER and Picket Fences.  I have not yet set this out
as a personal challenge, because I think you have to be open to what may
come your way from other places.  But it's something I'm keeping a vaguely
interested eye on....


                                                                     jms

Date: 30 Oct 1995 23:20:16 -0500
Subject: Re: Attn Jms:  More PKD in B5,

     Okay, I've just read a bunch more of these...okay, I admit it, you
got me...I'm doing Philip K. Dick right down the line...and I'm also
doing George Orwell right down the line...and I'm doing Lord of the
Rings beat for beat...and Chalker...and...and Cherryh...and I'm doing
a variation on the Bible, and King Arthur, and the history of Babylon,
and the Idylls of the King....


     What?  What's that you say?  You can't be doing all of these right
down the line, all at the same time?  Sure I can.  Because there IS no
B5.  There's a blank signal that registers in your brain, triggering the
last thing you read, or the most important thing you read.  It's a
carefully rigged US Government psychological warfare experiment.


     I give up.


                                                                jms

Date: 30 Oct 1995 23:20:37 -0500
Subject: JMS:  Alice Cooper influence o

     No, no nod there.  (Again, same thing as my last note.)  It's a
longstanding device, used by therapists, it's a big part of the Synanon
game (for those who know what that is)...Alice Cooper used that kind of
structure, but so did Meatloaf in "Life Is A Lemon And I want My Money
Back."  (What about your childhood?  What about love?)  It's in many
poems from the Beat Poetry period...it's a device with a long tradition.
(Heck, read the book of Job sometime.)


                                                                  jms





Date: 30 Oct 1995 21:36:46 -0500
Subject: "Comes The Inquisitor"  SPOILE

     There have been a great number of films and TV programs with one sort
of interrogation scene or other; I'd commend "Closetland" for something
else on this order.


                                                                  jms

Date: 30 Oct 1995 21:36:50 -0500
Subject: Attn. JMS: AOL B5 site - SHIP1

     I believe that's an alien probe from "A Day in the Strife."


                                                               jms

Date: 30 Oct 1995 21:36:55 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Explain editing

     Cameras don't run themselves; along with the cost of renting a second
camera (we don't own them), there's the cost of the crew to operate it,
camera operator per se, you double the cost of your people on the floorl.
  Er, floor.


                                                                  jms

Date: 30 Oct 1995 21:37:02 -0500
Subject: ATTN JMS:The Quintara Marathon

     No, I've never read them.  "I am wondering if they had any relation
to B5."  No, because that is called plagiarism.


     I'm not yelling at you, James, I'm just taking a moment here to make
a general comment.


     Ahem.  To everyone looking on.


     STOP ASKING ME IF I AM DOING ONE BOOK OR ANOTHER BY ANOTHER WRITER.


     That is called plagiarism.  It's called theft.  It's not a question
that novel writers get, only TV writers.  I know that's not your intent,
but that's what it is.  I didn't fight for five years to make this show to
do somebody else's story.  This is its own story.  Nobody else's.  It may
not occur to you -- likely does not -- but this is a *supremely* offensive
comment to any writer.  It implies that one cannot come up with one's own
story, one has to borrow or rip off from somebody else...again, a comment
usually directed toward TV writers.  I've never seen a novelist asked if
he was doing somebody else's novel.


     I may sometimes nod in tribute to those works that have come before,
but that's all it ever is.


                                                                   jms

Date: 30 Oct 1995 22:55:11 -0500
Subject: ATTN JMS: Childhood -How was i

     Without going on overlong, as some of this has already been covered,
it wasn't terrific as a kid.  We moved every 6 months to a year, blowing
from town to town (economic reasons), always the new kid, hence very few
friends at any time.  None that lasted more than that 6-12 months.  No
one town that constituted a home town.  So I read a lot...novels, comics,
you name it.


     Wasn't a nerd in high school; I just passed through their ranks
unnoticed, like some kind of translucent Eisenglass figurine at the back
of the room.  I went back to the 20th reunion...to find that only one
person sorta kinda remembered me.  No one else.


     As for writing...I always knew that I'd be a writer, for as long as
I can remember.  Even as a kid I collected pens, had an interest in all
things writing.  The second that I was old enough to take typing classes,
I did.  Ended up taking 4 semesters of it, until by the time I left I was
the fastest typist they'd ever produced, 'cause I knew full well I'd need
that skill when I got going.  In my senior year, having studied the style
and structure of most of my favorite writers (I can do a lethal imitation
of just about any writer's style), I decided, at 17, that I'd prepared
enough...time to start Writing, and selling.  And I did, right then.


     And I've never looked back.


                                                                  jms

Date: 30 Oct 1995 22:55:17 -0500
Subject: ATT JMS: Shorter episodes?

     I don't believe the length of the show has changed much more than a
few seconds; if there are minutes missing, it's something happening at
your end of the signal.


                                                                jms

Date: 31 Oct 1995 02:05:20 -0500
Subject: JMS:  A Opening Naration Quest

     If one simply makes up a costume for one's own use, I can't see any
problem with that.


                                                                      jms