lurkers-guide/ftp/Usenet/jms96-10-usenet

JMS Usenet messages for October 1996.

Date: 1 Oct 1996 18:14:56 -0400
Subject: Re: Att JMS: BabPro Responsibilities? WAS Re: Cons and Your Health

John Copeland is a producer on the show, a line producer (technical term).
 Problem is, he's only on AOL.  I try to direct people to the right areas
in general terms -- if there's a fan club question, go to Jim Lockett at
jplb5@aol.com, for instance -- but basically, I'm here, and if a question
comes my way, I kinda have to answer it because there's nobody else here
to do it.


 jms




Date: 1 Oct 1996 18:13:44 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Writing With the Subsocscious

"Do you think that you write at both the conscious and subconscious level
simultaneously."

I think any writer has to operate at both levels at the same time.  You
learn to trust your instincts.  There's a certain point when you're "in
the zone," to use a sports phrase, and the logical part of you is
structuring the plot, and the illogical, intuitive part of you is filling
in the corners.  You have to be open to both voices for it to work.




 jms





Date: 1 Oct 1996 18:16:15 -0400
Subject: Re: Attn: JMS: Writing season 4

Basically, nobody sees anything until it's in first draft form.  Harlan
functions on an as-needed basis; if I have a question, or if there's an
area which could benefit from his input, I call him in, but for the most
part, the scriptwriting is a one-person affair.  The job of the writer is
to listen to the small voice in the back of his head, and too often too
many voices just get in the way.


 jms




Date: 1 Oct 1996 18:16:28 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS When are you going to rest?

I rest when the series is finished.

And I ain't complaining.  Believe me, I fought too long and too hard to
get this story on the air; I'm not going to start complaining about the
hours.


 jms




Date: 1 Oct 1996 18:18:37 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS When are you going to rest?

PS...Stephen Furst will direct #8, "The Illusion of Truth," and we're
shooting #4 right now, so we've got a ways to go yet.



 jms




Date: 1 Oct 1996 18:19:43 -0400
Subject: Re: Well, WE knew that! WAS JMS on Genie: September Messages

sigh...I should never have said anything about this....

I'm doomed.

Besides, naked women already *have* ribs...it just takes a little more
work to get to them....


 jms




Date: 1 Oct 1996 18:19:34 -0400
Subject: Re: Cons and Your Health WAS: Re: ATTN JMS: Bizarre Story

(enter embarrassed, chagrined mode)

Folks, it's okay...I'm fine.  I get kinda ragged some days, but it goes
with the turf, like I said.  I come from a fairly long-lived family,
mainly out of spite....


 jms




Date: 1 Oct 1996 18:18:47 -0400
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: Risky Writing? (Z'ha'dum spoilers)

Well, I think you can't do something like that without knowing how you're
going to pull the character's fat out of the fire, and it has to make
sense.  I think people will be satisfied with what they see.\

 jms





Date: 2 Oct 1996 16:48:51 -0400
Subject: Re: Review of OTHERSYDE by J. Michael Straczynski

I think I pretty much agree with the comments, criticisms inclusive. 
OtherSyde was my second novel, and I was still learning my craft, so it
has some rough edges, though overall I think it works.  

Re: some dangling threads and a hurried sense to the last third...again, I
agree.  The book was about 100 pages over what the publisher decided what
he wanted to put out, and sliced off a lot of threads, and hurried a lot
of the other stuff.  Which is one reason why I haven't let the book be
reprinted since; I'd prefer to go to the longer version...and I'm
embarrassed to say I don't know where the draft is.  (Or the files.)  I
think the longer version worked a lot better.



 jms







Date: 3 Oct 1996 03:53:20 -0400
Subject: Re: Attn: JMS:question on the warrior and the spirit

That relationship, the warrior, the spirit, and the flesh, is just what's
dealt with in very short order....


 jms




Date: 3 Oct 1996 03:57:56 -0400
Subject: Re: Justice in Genocide? (was Re: Z Ha Dum (* Spoilers *))

Spoiler reply:


















Lemme put it to you this way, Neely.

If someone pointed to an aggressor city (and for the shadows there's no
distinction between civilian and military, it's all the same, the only
thing that drives them on), which was unified by its desire to wreak havoc
and commit massive warfare, and said, "By eliminating that city of 100,000
agressors you will save the lives of 8 billion innocent bystanders," I'd
push that button in a hot second, and never regret it.



 jms





Date: 6 Oct 1996 02:18:58 -0400
Subject: Re: Writing policy change (was: Walkabout)

"Was there some incident that we don't know about? It seems to me that
there must have been. "

Nope.  No incident.  The situation with year 3 was that *so much* was
being paid off, and set up, and foreshadowed, and required such intimate
knowledge of where the show was going, and where it'd been, that it made
it nearly impossible to bring in any outside writers.  

There has never been any series in television history where every episode
was utterly beyond criticism.  Some are better, some are worse, some are
average.  There are many Twilight Zones by Rod Serling that are utterly
brilliant.  And some that just fall flat.  That's the nature of the beast.
 Sometimes something will look great on the page, and fall flat on the
stage.  (And sometimes it happens in reverse; you think you've got
something that won't work, and somehow the filmed version just takes off.)
 There's a lot about Walkabout I like; and there's some stuff that just
didn't work out.  You try something different here and there, and
sometimes it works, and sometimes it don't.  TV, or any form of writing,
is the constant process of trial and error.  It's not like one day you
forget how to write, or you're writing bad...you very rarely fall below a
certain facility once you reach it.  

There's not a writer alive who has turned out nothing but terrific stuff. 
Now, one could turn out a lifetime of mediocre stuff, by not trying...but
I think it's better to shoot high, and sometimes fall, knowing that you'll
get something great one out of every five tries, than not try at all and
just do okay.  

"Grey 17" is the same thing, for me.  There are bits in that I like a lot.
 And some parts of it just fell down dreadfully.  That's simply the nature
of the beast.  I thought I'd try something different in the tone of "Grey"
and while most of the writing works (mostly), the production fell down on
a couple of aspects.  It happens.  It doesn't mean anything.  

On the other hand, the following 3, "Rock," "Shadow" and "Z'ha'dum" are
some of the best stuff we've done.  The preliminary P5 survey has
"Z'ha'dum" as the best episode of the entire series to date.  Did I
suddenly learn to write better?  If there were a problem with being tired,
then by all rights you should see a descending order in quality.  But
these last 3 are some of our best work.

The real key here is something I heard someone say a while back about TV:
a flaw, or a flop, or a misstep happens by accident as often as by
inability; but real quality is never an accident.  So the latter is more
indicative of the level of the show than the former, since accidents or
missteps *always* happen.  

"Walkabout," for me, is a good episode with a very few clunky parts; for
me, it's a middle of the road episode.  "Grey" falls a bit short of that,
for me.  But then, I'm very hard on my shows; a lot of folks have liked
"Walkabout" a *lot*.  I didn't much like "Infection," but many did; and
some shows I love dearly, like "Geometry," don't catch on.  It's
subjective.  And where you say the battle falls short, others like it...so
on one level, I'd caution against applying your standard as an objective
one that is somehow more true than another, and thus asking "what's wrong
with *you* that I had this opinion?"  If everyone on the planet shares
that opinion, then you've got something.  Otherwise....

And there are always some people who don't want the character stuff at
all, they want battles...and some for whom the CGI is of secondary
interest to the plot...and those who want arc stories *only*...and those
who like the stand-alones.  Some of it is a function of what you want.

Anyway...point being, and I went around the barn a few times to get there,
no, there's no "incident" and I don't even know what this could refer to. 
Some episodes work better for some people than others.  That will happen
whether you've got 1 person or 50 people writing scripts.  I caught a lot
of *very* negative comments on Peter David's script, which you cite (as
well as many positive ones).  The Brits in particular seem to uniformly
dislike that one.  And in the P5 surveys, the freelance scripts are *all*
in the bottom third of the rankings.  So it's really not a question of
freelancers or no, it's just that TV is variable, as is any kind of
writing.  Not every episode is going to work for you.  Nor should you
expect it to.  I'm very much an X-Files fan...but there are some scripts
that work better for me than others.  Doesn't mean anything other than
that show didn't quite jell for me.  That's the nature of TV.  

I'm sure somebody will cite this as being defensive about it, but honest
and true, I'm not.  I'm just trying to explain it from this end of things.
 My prior exec producer said, "You're doing *real* good if, in a season,
you've got one-third that are pretty good, one-third that are okay, and
one-third you never want to see again the rest of your natural life."  I
think we do a heck of a lot better than that, and that's a heck of an
accomplishment.


 jms


Date: 4 Oct 1996 17:06:37 -0400
Subject: Re: JMS: Season Four, the HUGO, and the WWWF Grudge Match

"1)I've noticed that, according to the Lurker's Guide, you have written
the first eight episodes of season four.  Are you planning to write the
entire season?  I hope so.  Season three kicked ass.  I can only assume
that the Hugo must have revitalized your writing spirit."

It was a big help, no mistake.  
 
"2)How does it feel to be in a class of sci-fi writers that produced such
classics as Star Wars, Alien, 2001, and of course old Harlan's classic
Trek episode?"

Well, that kind of approbation is granted by time and time alone, not by
the person doing the work...if the show survives and thrives twenty years
from now, as is my hope, ask me again then.  Now, it would be presumptive
of me to do so.

"3)Did you get a chance to read the WWWF Grudge Match a few weeks ago?"

No....



 jms



Date: 4 Oct 1996 21:28:30 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS   "Opus 322, blues in VCR-major repair"

Yeah, but didn't the hassle just add to the experience?  Now you've not
only seen the episode, but you've got a great story to tell about it.

Take the magic when it comes.


 jms


Date: 6 Oct 1996 06:02:46 -0400
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: HELP!!!!

Writers known primarily for TV work are not generally the ones hired for
high profile film work.  I've done some film assignments (none produced),
but for a Heinlein, they'd go to a screenwriter, not a TV writer.


 jms



Date: 6 Oct 1996 01:35:22 -0400
Subject: Re: Walkabout question (spoiler for Walkabout)

In "Severed Dreams," the dilemma faced by the Alexander in the teaser is
that if they jump, they'll end up leaving their fighters behind.  A jump
engine rips the area open for that one ship, and closes it again right
behind it.  What sometimes happens, as in "All Alone," is that *as a ship
comes out*, it releases its fighters.  But you can't just follow a ship
into a jump point formed by another ship.  You'd probably get torn apart
when space folded back on you, because the field opening the point is
primarily around the other ship.



 jms


Date: 7 Oct 1996 01:00:29 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Shadow Dancing assemblage (*SPOILERS*)

Simple....you don't bring in the big guns like that until you're ready for
the final assault.  You don't whistle 'em up when convenient.  You can
probably go to the well just once with these guys, and you want to do so
only when you're ready for D-Day.


 jms


Date: 7 Oct 1996 01:32:09 -0400
Subject: Re: "Walkabout" Enters the Twilight Zone (minor spoilage)

Well, that's what happens when you invite a Narn to dinner.


 jms


Date: 7 Oct 1996 15:24:59 -0400
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: Season 3 to 4 transition

The events in 401 take place roughly 7 days after 322.


 jms



Date: 7 Oct 1996 16:02:45 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Clarification (WAS Re: Writing policy change SPOILERS)

"By "incident", I meant perhaps a Roddenberry-esque communication
breakdown between producer and writer"

No, I get along with me fairly well most days...someone has to.  Of
course, there are some days I won't talk to me, stalk out of the room
whenever I walk in, and there was that time I locked me in the closet
until I forced me to finish a script, the embarrassing moment when we both
showed up for a meeting dressed in the same chiffon number and answering
to the name Dorothy...but other than that, no, no noteworthy incidents to
report.
\

 jms




Date: 8 Oct 1996 15:33:08 -0400
Subject: Re: All that Jazz (WAS: Re: Walkabout Science Nit Pick) Spoilers removed

Here's what I think is a bit of cultural short-sightedness.  Everybody
keeps saying, "well, if they had that kind of music, shouldn't it have
been shown to be an oldies bar or something?"

Look at classical music for a moment.  Goes back to Beethoven, Brahms,
Bach and lots of composers whose names don't even begin with B.  And
earlier.  Now, I don't mean to alarm anyone or startle anyone with this
revelation, but classical music is *still being written and performed*
hundreds of years later.  Not old stuff, new stuff, of that school and in
that style.  The orchestral suites in the Star Wars movies are strongly
based on classical compositions...is that "oldies" stuff?  You've got one
of the longest running musical plays running now in London, in "Phantom of
the Opera," a *new* composition (well, mostly, knowing how Webber works).

Jazz and blues kinda formally began in the 1920s and 1930s, but its roots
run back to spirituals and african-american music in the 1800s.  And it
didn't just stop suddenly in the 1930s.  There's still new material being
written in that style now; so should Stevie Ray Vaughn's albums or
performances have been labeled "oldies?"  After all, it's sixty years
later and more.

Certain musical styles will stay with us for a long, long time.  Not
performances based on old stuff, but new material in that vein, for those
forms that have shown themselves to be enduring.  200 years from now, in
addition to other forms, you're still going to have original blues songs,
original classical compositions, original jazz, original compositions in
the style of gregorian chants, on and on and on.

It's odd when people try to apply illogical rules to the future that don't
apply now; no one said, as noted, that a Stevie Ray Vaughn concert should
be billed as an "oldies" event, or an oldies bar...even though it's over
half a century since serious blues started going...it's just silly.


 jms



Date: 8 Oct 1996 15:35:04 -0400
Subject: Re: How Deep Space Nine creates its special effects...

All of which, of course, is why Foundation Imaging, which provided B5's
CGI effects since the pilot, is now doing much of the EFX work for ST.



 jms



Date: 8 Oct 1996 16:07:09 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Epilogue Speeches (minor spolier?)

The only thing worse than the way I look on camera, is my voice.  Eck. 
No, not a chance.


 jms



Date: 9 Oct 1996 03:09:09 -0400
Subject: Re: How does JMS feel about fan fiction?

Bottom line, and real simple:

I've asked that fans *not* write any fan fiction set in the B5 universe
while the show is on the air.  Remember, most ST fanfic began after the
show was over, to keep those characters alive.  We're still around.

Fanfic is a threat to us, in that if someone writes a story, puts it in a
fanzine, and something remotely similar is done in the show, that person
could decide to sue.  It happens; Marion Zimmer Bradley lost an entire
*book* over this, when her publisher refused to put the book out because
of the threat of lawsuit from a fanzine with a similar story.  

When someone posted a basic story idea similar to what was planned for
"Passing Through Gethsemane," that script went into cold storage for over
a year; only when the fan involved offered (greatly chagrined) to write
and sign a legal release, and delivered it to me, could that story be put
back into prep.  If he had not been this kind, THAT EPISODE WOULD NEVER
HAVE BEEN MADE.  Roll that one around for a while.

It seems to me that if someone wants to write B5 fanfic, it's because that
fan likes the show, appreciates what's done, and respects those who
created it.  And that selfsame fan would not want to jeapordize the
continued existence of that show.  And would, therefore, honor this
request from those who make it for the duration of the show.


 jms



Date: 9 Oct 1996 02:40:48 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Art of Screenwriting

The script which, I hope, WB has included, for "The Coming of Shadows," is
written exactly the same way I write *all* my scripts, whether for B5 or
Murder, She Wrote or any other series.  And there's really no one way to
do this, which is something I make clear in the book...you find the style
that works for you.  I've seen, and bought, scripts that were very spare
when it came to camera stuff, and scripts that were chockablock with them.
 Ain't no one answer in this business.


 jms



Date: 9 Oct 1996 03:08:37 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS AND ALL: Interesting article in Chicago Tribune

Re: places where B5 isn't mentioned and should be...here's another, which
came out this week, and it's hit that point now where I just have to
laugh....

The current issue of Cinefantastique has a whole two or three page article
about how Voyager is now using story arcs across episodes.  They consider
it a new kind of storytelling for them, but cite the notion that it *has*
been used here and there.  The magazine (not the folks at the show)
enumerate such examples as Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue, LA Law...of which
2 out of 3 shows are no longer on the air...but what's the one they
*don't* mention?  The only one really doing this in SF until lately?

Yup.  I think the magazine deliberately pre-censored themselves on this,
because they suspect that the folks at Paramount grind their gears bigtime
if B5 is EVER mentioned as in any way having an influence on their shows. 


Here's JMS's rule of journalism, which you'll see repeated in 90% of the
articles on SF out there: if it's an article on B5, ST is almost always
mentioned somewhere; if it's an article on ST, you almost *never* see B5
mentioned.


 jms



Date: 9 Oct 1996 20:19:15 -0400
Subject: Re: All that Jazz (WAS: Re: Walkabout Science Nit Pick) Spoilers removed

"But it *would* be nice to hear some Zeppelin, or Beatles, or Blues
Traveller, rather than semi-mainstream fare."

Yup.  Only problem...it costs an arm and a leg, and that's one limb more
than we can afford.


 jms



Date: 9 Oct 1996 21:06:26 -0400
Subject: Re: Philosophy ? (SPOILERS for F5) WAS JMS's "old" GEnie posts

"When is walkabout a legitimate choice, and when is it a cop-out?"

When you're more afraid of what you're running *to* than what you're
running *from*.



 jms



Date: 10 Oct 1996 02:06:43 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Profound thanks

The pleasure and the thanks are entirely mine; it's been a good run, and
the new shows are just spiffy, and one is rarely afforded the chance to
grow, and try new things, and push your luck.  I'm happy that viewers have
stuck with us through it all.  It's been great.


 jms



Date: 10 Oct 1996 02:13:58 -0400
Subject: jms in Tampa, also jms book

Two quickies....

1) This weekend, 11-13th, I'll be in Tampa Florida for Necronomicon, a
convention being held at the Chamberly Plaza Hotel/Convention Center. 
I'll be bringing the bloopers, some clips from as-yet unaired shows, and
other goodies.

2) My totally rewritten, updated and expanded "Complete Book of
Scriptwriting" hits the stands this week in hardback, $21.99, from
Writer's Digest Books (ISBN 0-8987-9-512-5).  The book can be found at
stores, and you can pick up any copy of Writer's Digest Magazine and order
from them via their 800 number (which I don't have at hand, alas).


 jms


Date: 15 Oct 1996 22:55:12 -0400
Subject: Re: Attn: MOJO, were there any regrets?

RE: the notion of seeing a boat on a lake in the central Garden area...the
reason I didn't want to do it was that it's silly.  It stretched credulity
enough to show the baseball diamond (which I've since never returned to,
for that very reason), but to waste water and space like that in a
confined location like B5, which is always short, and needs everything to
be somewhat functional, struck me as a Foolish Thing.  The whole idea here
is that they're under stress, locked in a tin can.  To do a scene like
this would undercut that.  Would it look cool?  Sure.  Would it be right
for the story?  No.  


 jms


Date: 15 Oct 1996 23:00:12 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Inside the mind of the Great Maker

Thanks.  It's the sort of book -- a retrospective -- that would be useful,
I agree.  On the one hand, I'm not sure I'd be up to writing it right
after finishing the series; I think I'll probably be off in a coma
somewhere.  But if I wait too long, some details will get lost.  I think
I'll have to think about this some more....



 jms



Date: 15 Oct 1996 23:09:57 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS - Necronomicon

To the thread in general...thanks.  It was a great convention.  Kinda blew
out my vocal cords a bit, but other than that, it was terrific.  Thanks.


 jms



Date: 15 Oct 1996 23:13:28 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS (Z'Ha'Dum spoilers) WOW! & the Tea Set

The props department found the teapot, and found it very suiting to the
environment, so they went with it.



 jms



Date: 15 Oct 1996 23:14:17 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Love that title...

Thanks.  I labor over titles a long time...I can't actually begin writing
an episode until I have the title worked out; dunno why, it's just one of
those glitches.  And yeah, it's a good and in this case, very apt title.



 jms



Date: 15 Oct 1996 23:15:33 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: wasting Wayne

Wayne Alexander plays Lorien, a character you'll see throughout the first
six episodes of season 4.  We wanted to give him more to do.\

 jms



Date: 18 Oct 1996 19:15:01 -0400
Subject: Re: JMS gets a Trojan

Just to jump in...I've now got most of the disk restored, still working on
the windows system directory (logging on to AOL from work), but it's
almost in hand, so there's no urgent need for email instructions at this
time...it should be okay soon.  Thanks.


 jms



Date: 18 Oct 1996 19:16:14 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Future Episodes (no spoilers, I think)

Yes, a substantial amount of the S4 storyline takes place off B5.



 jms



Date: 18 Oct 1996 19:16:32 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Your "virus" problem

Alas, I didn't write down the email address, as the sender said that it
was on the supposed jpg image.  And then my system went kablooey, so
there's no way to backcheck it.


 jms



Date: 20 Oct 1996 01:53:42 -0400
Subject: Re: Sci-Fi Universe Awards-Congrats to Mira Furlan & Peter Jurasik

Peter Jurasik won for Best Supporting Actor, and Bruce won for Best Actor.

The web site got it wrong; B5 won for Best Series, not X-Files...an error
which was repeated onstage, as one of the presenters read the name
X-Files, which was on the prompter, even though the card in his hand read
B5.  This led to a very embarrassing moment for a poor X-Files fellow who
went up there to accept, only to have it taken away.  

Mira, btw, was never notified of her nomination, or invited to the awards.



 jms



Date: 20 Oct 1996 02:28:16 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Where Credit Is Due?

WB determines and tells us how the credits are to be displayed; we have no
latitude in this.

jms


 jms



Date: 20 Oct 1996 01:51:15 -0400
Subject: And the Rock Cried Out No Hiding Place  (* Spoilers *)

(* Spoilers for And the Rock Cried Out No Hiding Place  *)


























Re: the rabbi singing the gospel song...a couple of points.  First, if
you're visiting someone's church, it's only considered polite behavior to
go along with what's there.  I have a number of Catholic friends who would
sometimes go to temple with Jewish friends...and when it came time to
sing, would do so.  Why should it not work the other way around?

Second, as I seem to recall, the line about "no hiding place" is taken
from the Old Testament, which forms a substantial portion of Judaic
teachings (but not the whole of it, a mistake many make).  Yes, there's
some later stuff worked in, but the heart of it is from a common ground.



 jms


Date: 20 Oct 1996 02:10:41 -0400
Subject: Re: And the Rock Cried Out No Hiding Place (* Spoilers *)

Waitaminnit...I retract part two of my reply...I think I just stooged the
origins of that song.

(whaddyawant from me, I just spend 12 hours putting my hard drive back
together....)


 jms


Date: 20 Oct 1996 02:31:24 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS  And The Rock Question ( * SPOILER * )

I don't think she was so much withholding the information, as they just
weren't ready yet, and the need for them wasn't there yet.



 jms


Date: 20 Oct 1996 20:03:27 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS - Your Druthers

Without commercials is always a preferable format for one-hour.  It's just
more intense that way.  (But for something longer, some kind of break is
good, even plays break up by acts and intermissions.)  
\

 jms



Date: 20 Oct 1996 19:09:29 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN:JMS  And the Rock...  (spoiler)

Not sure it was so much a look of disappointment as..."Okay, I know
something here isn't on the level...but he's got it very well
surrounded...and is it worth sticking out my neck to get into this?"

And yes, Refa was his last name/family name.

 jms



Date: 21 Oct 1996 21:13:17 -0400
Subject: jms scriptwriting book info

(This is the last time I'll be forwarding this info for a while; I got
requests from several nets for more info, since the prior notice was
fairly brief, and now that I have a minute to spare, I'm passing it along,
but I don't want to monopolize this overmuch with what is, in essence, a
commercial....)

As I mentioned in my earlier note, bundled with the Tampa convention info,
the new edition of my book, "The Complete Book of Scriptwriting," has just
come out from Writer's Digest Books.  

It has chapters on breaking in as a writer for film, TV, stage and radio,
which have been rewritten stem to stern from the prior edition, fully
updated, old info trashed, again completely revised...plus new chapters on
animation, the Writer's Guild, Warning Signs, altogether about 100,000 new
words.  (The book is huge, 424 pages, one stop shopping for the
script-inclined.)  It's basically the book I wish someone had written when
*I* was starting out in the biz.

It also contains the *complete* script for the Hugo-award winning B5
episode, "The Coming of Shadows," with material deleted from the actual
episode for time.

You can order the book via your local bookstore (ISBN# 0-89879-512-5), or
via www.amazon.com, or direct from WD (800-289-0963).  It sells for $21.99
in hardback.  

It took me about 3+ years to finish the rewrite on this, because I wanted
it to be right.  Now it is.



 jms




Date: 22 Oct 1996 16:05:35 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Third age no longer mentioned?

By not mentioning it, now you're mentioning it, so to get something
mentioned maybe it's better not to mention it, or mention not mentioning
it, or by not mentioning that you've not mentioned it let someeone else
mention that you've not mentioned it.

By the time you finish the preceding sentence, the word "mention" will
have lost all meaning.

And we'll get back to this issue in season 4.



 jms



Date: 22 Oct 1996 16:06:30 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Thanks and public apology

Thanks in return...and the intent of your message was clear, I'm not sure
you have anything to apologize for, but lobbing one out there on general
principle will rarely cause distress.


 jms



Date: 22 Oct 1996 22:11:18 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS jms scriptwriting book

Thanks; I'm glad the book is of use (when you can pry it away); that's
what I was  hoping for, to do some good with it.



 jms



Date: 23 Oct 1996 04:59:31 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: When? (B5 novel with Anna Sheridan)

It's due to come out as the first of the next batch of three from Dell.



 jms



Date: 23 Oct 1996 05:02:36 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS (Re: And the Rock )

You gotta understand...nobody touches my computer.  It's a thing with
me....



 jms


Date: 23 Oct 1996 21:40:11 -0400
Subject: Re: Fanclub Problems -- how does one get a respo

I copied your note to Jim Lockett's account; this will expedite things.


 jms



Date: 23 Oct 1996 21:47:44 -0400
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: Shadow Dancing Director (!Spoilers!)

You're right; no one should have made a big deal out of her walking past;
that was indicated to the director, but not followed through on.  Kim's
done a lot of other shows, but after this one wasn't available again due
to committments.  


 jms


Date: 24 Oct 1996 03:24:29 -0400
Subject: Re: "ATTN JMS:A ratings question"

No, nothing new, and I'm really kinda bugged about it.  Because of the
TNT/WB merger, most of our people over at WB who used to give us the
ratings aren't there anymore or have been shifted over to other
divisions...they don't like taking the time to give each individual show
they work on the ratings breakdown because it takes up too much of their
time.  

The only figure I've heard so far was the overall national (final) rating
on the first new episode, which was a 3.2, which is great for coming back.
 The station by station figures I've seen for the second week are higher,
so the overall should be higher, but until they see fit to tell me, I can
only guess, and the trades don't usually publish comprehensive lists.  


 jms



Date: 24 Oct 1996 23:35:20 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: the hype for Star Trek-Voyager

I agree.  I've more or less reconciled myself to the reality that this
show is only going to get its proper recognition once we've finished it,
and it's running in long term syndication.  Such is life.



 jms



Date: 25 Oct 1996 03:04:34 -0400
Subject: Re: Attn: JMS -- New B5 Cards -- what were you thinking?! :)

We're limited to what WB has in stock; WB only sends a photographer to the
set 1 day out of every 7 we shoot.  They usually send someone on days when
there are action sequences.  So very often, guest stars don't get shot. 
The Fleer folks have to make do with what WB chooses to shoot.


 jms



Date: 25 Oct 1996 03:07:13 -0400
Subject: Re: SHADOW DANCING (spoilers)

>...and the BIGGEST bitch of all about the episode (and JMS - pay
>attention) was the "miraculous" recovery of Marcus. I like him as a
>character, and enjoyed the further development of his unrequited love
>for Ivanova (along the Lancelot/Gueniviere parallel). But, two
>episodes ago, he had the freaking SHIT beat out of him (remember the
>bloody Minbari staff anyone???).

Yes, I do remember.  But for starters, we're talking about more than two
weeks of story time.  Between Grey 17 and Rock was several weeks, then
you've got about 2 weeks from Rock to Shadow Dancing.  That's five weeks,
and now you've got the issue of medicine 250 years from now...and you can
be sure that these kinds of injuries will be fixed much more quickly.  It
isn't like he showed up the very next day like this, we *did* allow for
proper amounts of time.


 jms


Date: 25 Oct 1996 14:55:49 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Shadow Dancing Jungian Psychology...

"Is Sheridan to meet his shadow next week?"

Well, now that you mention it...




 jms




Date: 25 Oct 1996 16:02:51 -0400
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: Shadow Dancing at Avalon (Spoilers)

"When I saw "A Late Arrival at Avalon," Marcus's line asking "Who is
Morgana La Fey" got me to begin speculating that Anna Sheridan was alive
and that she was working for the Shadows.  My question is whether or not
Marcus's line was intended that way--i.e. as foreshadowing that a
significant female figure not presently on the scene (Anna?) would arrive
at B5 to play Morgana to Delenn's Lady of the Lake?"



yup.


 jms


Date: 26 Oct 1996 22:45:07 -0400
Subject: Re: Attn JMS:What does the signed card look like

It's similar to the regular jms card, with a seal/imprint, my signature,
and a blue area for the signature itself.


 jms



Date: 26 Oct 1996 23:06:02 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Captain Power question

I'm pretty sure the song was "Little Brown Jug."

Or was it "Little Brown Bag?"  The first two words are correct.


 jms



Date: 26 Oct 1996 23:07:56 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS...your updated Scriptwriting book

I definitely agree; the well-done 30 or 60 second spot is a true rarity,
and requires just as much attention to detail, the story involved, it has
to move you or touch you at some level...it's a *very* tough business.



 jms



Date: 26 Oct 1996 23:31:51 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: ratings --- here's some.

And here's some great info: I've mentioned that we've been consistently
growing in ratings, and the second episode back, "Grey 17," hit #19 in the
ratings, so we're back in the top 20 for the first time in quite a while!

I've mentioned before the slow upward tracking, from 60s to 50s to 40s,
and then to 30s...and now we're right smack into the top 20 (as per this
past Friday's Daily Variety).  We're very pleased.


 jms



Date: 26 Oct 1996 22:48:58 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Anti-male joke ruined my enjoyment of Shadow Dancing (*SPOILERS*)

"I gritted my teeth tighter when the dialogue launched into some anti-male
paranoia about "What if the male demands the female stay a second night?",
and the various "vengeances" she could take for a custom that is, after
all, steeply in her favor. I could accept all that in an anthropological
sense: "Look what anti-male customs the Minbari have. Isn't that
fascinating, if you put the moral judgements aside?". But then... Yeesh!"

The "vengeances" she cites, should the male insist she stay another night,
are "she can leave once he falls asleep, complain to the elders, even cut
off his access to her family."  These hardly sound like anti-male
rhetoric, but rather precautions taken to deal reasonably *should* someone
get out of line.  It doesn't state that all men do this, but sets in place
what to do should *some* men do this.

This is not a problem of context.  It is a problem of perception.  It has
nothing to do with the scene, and everything to do with how you perceive
the role of males in society.



 jms


Date: 26 Oct 1996 23:35:21 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Awful sound problem on Shadow Dancing

We've been running this down, and we suspect that the tapes are being
transmuted from digital to analog and back again when they insert the
commercials after we turn over the eps to WB.  We're working to fix this,
it happened before and we beat the crap outta some people at the
subcontracting company.  We may have to do it again.


 jms


Date: 27 Oct 1996 02:10:16 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Your health

I eat fine, and in general am fine.  It's always a risk, though, going to
conventions, because the odds of catching something from 2000 people in
close quarters, with considerable contact is fairly high.  And the flu's
running around this season.  So I got hammered just at the end of the last
con I did in Tampa.  Probably caught it the first day of the con, 'cause
it hit by Sunday.  But them's the breaks.  



 jms



Date: 27 Oct 1996 02:12:51 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Back Home?

It's a good question, to consider just how much Earth knows about all
this.


 jms


Date: 27 Oct 1996 03:02:20 -0500
Subject: Re: Shadow Dancing Q: Audio Dropped?

No, we just figured we'd let the music take it.


 jms



Date: 27 Oct 1996 19:43:25 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Suggestions for SF marathon?

"I'm the SF Marathon Director for the MIT Lecture Series Committee, and
was just wondering what you, Joe, would recommend...  what are your
favorite SF movies of all time?"

For starters, I'd include "Seconds" on your list, the only marginally SF
film done by Rock Hudson which to this *day* scares the hell out of me. 
John Frankenheimer was never better.

I'd also include "Fail Safe," "Dr. Strangelove," "Seven Days in May" and
"The Manchurian Candidate" which (for my money) do have some SF aspects to
them...if "Alas, Babylon" is SF, then "Fail Safe" and the others can be
included in that.  It's also a grouping that gives newer audiences a sense
of where this country was at a very precarious point in its history.

Of films more definitely in the SF area...Forbidden Planet, The Day the
Earth Stood Still, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Invasion of the Body
Snatchers, The Rocky Horror Picture Show (stop staring at me like that,
it's got aliens and...and space ships...and...and mad scientists and stuff
like that, and it's got a beat and you can dance to it), Aliens, High
Plains Drifter (fantasy), Terminator 2, The Road Warrior, The Princess
Bride (fantasy), On the Beach, Night of the Living Dead, Brazil, Alien,
The Haunting of Hill House, Blade Runner, First Men in the Moon, When
Worlds Collide, Village of the Damned, Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers,
Phantom of the Paradise and Day of the Triffids.





 jms



Date: 27 Oct 1996 20:02:09 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Z'ha'dum Question...Spoilers

Yes, Justin is the man in-between...the "middle man," as he describes
himself.



 jms



Date: 28 Oct 1996 00:12:13 -0500
Subject: Re: I bought a book today, oh, boy!

That's a GREAT story, thanks.



 jms



Date: 29 Oct 1996 01:27:18 -0500
Subject: Re: Babylon 5 Licensed Kits <> Revell 1997 Releases.

They only got the license a couple/three weeks ago, long after the kit
would've gone to press.  It's way too early to expect anything in print.


 jms



Date: 29 Oct 1996 01:30:31 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: You and the Cast...

Except for tone meetings with directors, no, not really.  The cast are
very happy with what's going on, so there isn't that much to say.


 jms



Date: 29 Oct 1996 15:40:38 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Z'ha'dum inquiry (SPOILERS)

Justin thought he had some influence...but perception and reality are
often at odds.



 jms



Date: 29 Oct 1996 16:06:55 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Confusion about ratings

I don't think those were the actual neilsens, but someone's assemblage of
info.


 jms



Date: 29 Oct 1996 15:43:32 -0500
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: Z'Ha'Dum Double Whammy (*No* Spoilers)

That's terrific, hadn't yet heard the details.  Thanks.



 jms


Date: 29 Oct 1996 16:05:27 -0500
Subject: Re: Captain Power Question

No, you're correct, that episode, "Retribution," was the last one
produced.



 jms



Date: 29 Oct 1996 20:52:20 -0500
Subject: 402 Spoiler Warning

I just got a copy of the ad that's going to run in TV Guide for "Whatever
Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?" in two weeks.  It's a great ad, well composed,
well done, but it's also a major spoiler for something you will NOT want
spoiled.  So avoid the ad if possible.


 jms


Date: 30 Oct 1996 04:03:22 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Election Day			(bryoung2@vt.edu (Brian De Young))

Not that it does or should matter...voting is an individual act and how
one person votes should not have influence or bearing on anyone else...but
I plan to vote for Clinton.  For my money, Dole has shown himself to be a
mean, venal little man who thinks that he should get the job because he
earned it in the Senate.  He doesn't have any real plans for it, he just
wants the pointy hat; he thinks he deserves it.  Feeling you're next in
line for promotion, for me, isn't sufficient reason to be given the
mandate to run the country.

The only thing he's ever put on the table was the 15% tax cut, which
strikes me as nothing more than a bribe.  

Frankly, my gut -- which has almost always proven correct around election
year -- tells me that Dole is gonna get whomped *badly* come November.  It
may be the most punishing loss a republican has taken in years.

Which, I suspect, will not be a surprise to the republicans.  I think they
figured, on some level, that Clinton would probably be re-elected -- very
few sitting presidents have been booted out of office while running for a
second term -- and they decided to hold off on their big guns until the
2000 election, rather than fritter them away in 96.  "Dole wants the
nomination so bad, let him have it and get pasted; we'll be over in the
bar, wake us when it's over."

In 2000 you're going to have Gore running hard on the democratic side,
again with an "I deserve it" attitude, though Veeps have traditionally not
done that terribly well when going for the Big Chair.  He'll likely get it
unless someone comes charging out of the corner with a dynamic program and
personality, which is, of course, always a possibility, though he'll have
the democratic establishment on his side.

On the republican side, you're going to see Kemp and Pete Wilson
scrabbling for the nomination for certain; who else, we'll see.  (Don't
laugh re: Wilson.  Lemme tell you a story I heard back when I was a
reporter in San Diego, at a time when Wilson was just mayor.  And an
unpopular mayor at that.  One day one of the other reporters came into a
restaurant we used to hang out at, and he was...well, he wasn't plastered,
but he'd been knocking them back.  Very quiet.  Finally, we got him to
talk.  He said, and this is pretty much verbatim, "Wilson met with the
kingmakers today," he said.  "They're going to run him for senator, then
they're going to run him for governor, and they're going to run him for
president."  This was the most absurd thing we'd ever heard, and said
so...again, he was barely holding on for *mayor*; prevailing logic was
that he'd be lucky to be elected dogcatcher next time around.  He shook
his head.  "They'll run him for senator, then governor, then president." 
And after they ran Wilson (and won) for senator, then governor, and
started poking him out the door for president (stopped only when his
throat went out)...I stopped laughing.)


 jms



Date: 31 Oct 1996 15:54:45 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: When the writer's block cometh..

"What I want to know is, when the muses fly away and bring the dreaded
monster of writer's block on you, how do YOU deal with it?"

You're going to kill me when you hear this...but since I started writing
and selling at 17, I've never, ever had writer's block.  It's finding time
to write it all, and deciding which thing to write, that's always been
hard.  But (not to tempt the universe here), I've never had writer's
block, and can't imagine it.  Even if it ever did hit, I've got so much
outlined and premise'd out in the files I could work off that for
literally *years*.


 jms