lurkers-guide/ftp/Usenet/jms96-11-usenet

JMS Usenet messages for November 1996.

Date: 1 Nov 1996 23:07:17 -0500
Subject: joe's heart (from jms)

Honestly, people...I can't believe anyone still falls for this stuff.

So there I was, over in the editing bays (away from the B5 stages),
editing 406, merrily nipping and tucking and rearranging, when a phone
call comes from the stage.  In a harrassed voice, the person on the other
end explains that they have been flooded with calls asking about a rumor
that I'd passed out on the way to work and had been taken to the hospital
with a heart attack.

C'mon, people...this is the oldest gag in the book.  It's been done to
Harlan, Walter, Jimmy Doohan (which makes me thing a ST person is behind
this) and others.  

Lemme put it to you this way: if anything should ever happen to me, you
will never have to hear about it from someone else, or a rumor.  I have
people here who will post the information, and all pertinent details,
direct from Babylonian on my behalf.  If you hear this sort of nonsense
from anyone else, you can totally ignore it.

And to the person who says he "heard it:" you obviously did not hear
anything of the kind, and you made it up deliberately to cause trouble. 
If you did hear it from someone else, let's hear a name.  If not, then you
are to be held responsible for this.  And, frankly, for the grief caused
to the set, the stage, and many other people who called out of concern,
the person responsible for this is less than a creep.  This is just
another form of interneterrorism.



 jms


Date: 3 Nov 1996 01:06:52 -0500
Subject: Re: Sorry! (jms in hospital)

James: let me explain why what you did was a Bad Thing.  And let me now
proceed to bust your chops over this.

A rumor like that is started for only one reason: to hurt.  By passing it
along, you compound the problem.  You become the instrument of their
assault.  Too many people have a tendency to take what they see on the
nets as either true, or worth investigating, and they then pass it on to
the next net, and the next net...it becomes a kind of interactive virus,
spreading further.

The result: the small staff at Babylonian were harried with endless
numbers of phone calls.  People got annoyed.  Time was wasted.  I got
pulled out of editing to deal with this.  I spent several *hours* last
night tracking this down and posting messages to other systems putting
people's minds to rest.  Hours that could (and should) have been spent
writing.  Very close friends of mine overseas and elsewhere saw this and
panicked, some were deeply emotionally upset, and would like to get your
throat someplace near their fingers for posting this in the first place.  

Make no mistake: though it was not your intent, *you did harm*.  As does
anyone who takes what some jerk says in IRC or elsewhere like this and
reposts it without doing the least amount of checking.  And don't take the
"I wanted more information" line with me, James.  You want information,
all you have to do is send email to the moderators of this forum, who can
call the stage, and find out.  Then you have your answer, real easy. 
Instead what you did was the effect of lobbing a hand grenade into a herd
of horses.  

So don't blame the other person.  You posted the original message, and
added two more "clarifications" to it that were equally bogus.  You
started the stampede.

"Sorry" doesn't cut it.  "Sorry" doesn't restore the lost hours of work,
the annoyed employees, or placate the friends of mine who you deeply
distressed.

Never, ever, ever do this to me again.  

Or I will be most upset.

You wouldn't like me when I'm upset, James.


 jms


Date: 3 Nov 1996 19:54:32 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Censorship and "Wolf" (no spoilers)

"In "The Hour of the Wolf" there are two scenes -- you know which ones --
that seemed quite a departure from what one usually sees on TV.  Did you
write "Wolf" before or after your revelation that you were not bound by
Standards and Practices.  'Cause if you wrote this *before*, then we're in
for quite a ride."

Aside from the desk scene, which was the other you're referring to?

Oh...and the answer is...before.

Hang on.  It's going to be a bumpy night.


 jms



Date: 4 Nov 1996 19:54:46 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN:JMS:Newsweek and E-Mail

Darn, I was going to look for that one today and I forgot....

Yeah, we're a fully wired show.  Scary, innit...?



 jms



Date: 4 Nov 1996 19:55:19 -0500
Subject: Re: Hour of the Wolf (NitPick :)

The ships provided by Delenn are White Star class ships, hence the useage.


 jms


Date: 5 Nov 1996 08:16:51 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN:JMS thanks from a new viewer

"Does it hurt to give birth to an entire universe?"

Not really, but the post-partum depression is a bitch.




 jms




Date: 5 Nov 1996 08:18:06 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Great Book!! Thanks!

Thanks.  The script is a good example of how things work,and how the
writer forms what the director does.

I'll try to stop by Bix...it's just the pace of so much stuff makes it
hard.


 jms




Date: 5 Nov 1996 08:22:38 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: The lost hours of work and the worried people as a result of THE RUMOR

"As much as you hate to admit it, you're an important person, not just out
there, but in the lives -- right there, in our faces, guiding us for a
small, or large part of the day -- in the lives of millions of people.  We
care about you enough to cause chaos.  But it's not any one person's
fualt."

I'm not important.  The story, yes, maybe...but not me.

James was the one who initially posted it, having been exposed to the one
person in IRC who wanted to do this.  If B5 is about choices, consequences
and responsibility, we have to own up to making a choice to go public with
something rather than check it out, recognize that there are consequences
to other people when you do this, and then accept the responsibility for
those consequences.

"Quite frankly, when it comes to B5, I find that the people are a lot more
polite and honest than other 'netters, and I have come to trust people."

This part I agree with.  I can't tell you how often I've had convention
organizers, from Worldcon and elsewhere, tell me how pleasantly surprised
and pleased they were that the B5 fans were invariably well-spoken,
polite, intelligent, and friendly.  We've got a good rep, and I guess I
want to protect that.


 jms




Date: 6 Nov 1996 05:52:59 GMT
Subject: Re: JMS's "Complete Book of Scriptwriting"

The date stated obviously refers to the US, not to the UK.  The US
experiments in TV fell a bit by the wayside when the war hit.  Some
European communities kept at it.  But question: are you sure, when the BBC
refers to its founding in 1936, that they're not referring to BBC *radio*?


 jms




Date: 6 Nov 1996 08:11:51 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: your reading list?

I read him in college, but not much since then, I'm afraid.



 jms




Date: 8 Nov 1996 07:04:33 GMT
Subject: Re: B5 Filming/Studio Question

No, we don't film on the Warner Bros. lot, and we're not set up to do any
kind of tours.  



 jms




Date: 8 Nov 1996 07:06:25 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: B5 MIDI on Web Page?

I cannot give permission for *anything*, as the copyright is owned by
Warner Bros., not me.


 jms




Date: 8 Nov 1996 07:08:18 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: HourOTWolf CGI *No Spoilers*

The non-moving Centauri Prime shot is an original Foundation shot; the one
where it's moving (with the cruiser fly-bys) is the new one, and there's a
lot more detail now in the surface of the planet and other stuff.  


 jms




Date: 8 Nov 1996 07:11:54 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Questions About Scriptwriting Book

I debated long and hard about including a section about comics in the
script book, and finally opted against it, on several grounds.  1) I
wanted to specialize in performance-style scriptwriting, involving living
people, and 2) while I've written some comics, I don't feel enough of an
expert yet to set down my poor understanding in book form.


 jms




Date: 8 Nov 1996 07:38:54 GMT
Subject: Re: For JMS

Thanks, and good luck with your own writing.  Follow your passion; the
rest will take care of itself.


 jms




Date: 8 Nov 1996 23:08:05 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Why is no one offended at BOTH old races?!?

"After watching Z'ha'dum and "Wolf"  (No spoilers here), my main thought
was basically,  who the hell are these old races who assume moral
superiority based on technical superiority?  How dare they interfere with
our development as a species just to suit their own petty needs? I wonder
if any character  on the show will take that same line of thought and
expand upon it?"

Well, until now, that's been primarily unknown to the other species.  Now,
thanks to Sheridan's trip to Z'ha'dum, and stuff coming up, that
information will start to get out.

So yeah, you may find someone or someones picking this thread up....


 jms



Date: 9 Nov 1996 06:19:18 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: WOLF reaction (no spoilers)

I seem to vaguely remember the title "It's a Very Nice Day," but will have
to work to connect it to a story.

And thanks...it's a good start to the season.



 jms




Date: 9 Nov 1996 22:56:49 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Why the Theme Change?

We change the theme every season to reflect the tonaity and direction of
that season's story.  Every season when it butts up against the previous
season's intent, a lot of folks ask why change it, it was better
before...and then, by the end of the season, when people see how it fits
in, generally they like it a lot...and then ask why it got changed for the
*next* season....



 jms




Date: 9 Nov 1996 23:03:50 GMT
Subject: Re: New FX

"The first S4 episode (Hour of the Wolf) doesn't have nearly as many FX as
the later S3 episodes, and what is there is mostly stock shots of the
station rotating, etc."

There are as many CGI shots in "Wolf" as in most of our episodes, and more
than in "Rock," a later S3 episode.  There's also the new establishers of
Centauri Prime the planet, the revised Palace shots, new establishers of
the station, a big new shot of the interior of the Garden that pans down,
the beside-Z'ha'dum sequence...there's a LOT there.  So a) your latter
observation is, I gently point out, factually inaccurate, and b) most
station shots have been recycled stock since year one, adding new ones
each season then dropping them into rotation (so to speak).

We always balance big EFX shows with smaller ones, building up to some big
stuff.  We're doing the same thing here this year as we've ever done.
\

 jms




Date: 9 Nov 1996 23:05:26 GMT
Subject: Re: Hour of the Wolf: non-spoiler(?) question

There's more to Lorien than meets the eye.



 jms




Date: 10 Nov 1996 06:09:09 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: New Novels Known?

The first book is by Jeanne Cavellos, following Anna Sheridan and the
Icarus to Z'ha'dum; the second follows Vir and Londo to Centauri Prime at
the time of the events in these first six episode; and the third follows
Sinclair to Minbar after leaving B5 and setting up the rangers.  This time
out, I decided to assign out the stories, to make sure they were accurate
and in continuity.  The first one up may be the best to date, I'm 2/3rds
through it and haven't made a note yet.



 jms




Date: 10 Nov 1996 08:58:03 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Another Hour Nit...*minor spoiler*

"best I can tell from my (admittedly limited) knowledge of Centauri
physiology, he would have been looking in the wrong place - kinda like
looking down a human woman's socks, or something."

Tell that to a foot fetishist.




 jms





Date: 11 Nov 1996 06:53:55 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Regarding B5 sets on 'FutureQuest'

They asked if they could borrow our sets, and we said sure...anything to
help.


 jms





Date: 11 Nov 1996 03:57:14 GMT
Subject: Re: The Hour of the Wolf -- homonym question (* Spoilers *)

It's definitely born, not borne.



 jms







Date: 11 Nov 1996 09:01:39 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Spoilers in the "...Garibaldi" trailer for Ep #403

Correct, I have no editorial control or influence over the trailers; I see
them when everyone else does.



 jms







Date: 12 Nov 1996 20:42:51 GMT
Subject: Re: Wow! "Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi" & a concern

"when we were watching "Hour of the Wolf" G'kar had a line (when answering
Zack) that caused all of us to bust out laughing because of it's relation
to rec.humor.  Was this intentional?"

As I've no idea what this refers to...nope.

And thanks.



 jms





Date: 13 Nov 1996 00:31:23 GMT
Subject: Re: Rumor of first season actually (finally) being released on video...

No, like all WB rumors, this one isn't true either.

Understand...if there were going to be a video release, I'd be all over
the place announcing it.  

If you hear a rumor, and it didn't come directly from me, you can almost
always discount it.  What happens, I talk about.


 jms





Date: 12 Nov 1996 20:41:13 GMT
Subject: Re: To JMS and the gang

Thanks, and yes, there was a hint of Gene in her dialolgue about Turhan.


 jms







Date: 12 Nov 1996 20:37:41 GMT
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: You Did It (WHt Mr. Garibaldi? *SPOILERS*)

Thanks.  The script was easy to write story-wise, I think it only took me
a few days (in general, the faster the write, the better the script, when
it comes to something like this...writing in white heat is best), but
*very* difficult from an emotional standpoint.  I was just about as wasted
after writing it as you were after seeing it.  There's a lot of stuff in
there that's difficult or painful to touch, and you can only hope that it
comes out okay.  I'm happy it did.


 jms







Date: 13 Nov 1996 09:46:20 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS "The" Tony Dow?

Yup, it's him.  He's also directing "Atonement" for us this season.\

 jms





Date: 13 Nov 1996 09:53:11 GMT
Subject: small jms email rules

     Okay, it's time for the usual recitation of email rules.

      1) Please do not send me inquiries about the storyline in private
email.  You may think, "Well, it's just me," but at last Neilsen count
there were about 15 million of you out there, and only one of me.  I can't
get into lengthy discussions about the plot or storylines in email.  I end
up answering the same questions multiple times, and the answers go to only
one person at a time.  If you have a story question, ASK IT IN A PUBLIC
FORUM, NOT IN EMAIL, so that others can benefit from the answers.

     (Here's where this gets silly.  Often, when I'm speaking at a
convention, I'll ask, at the end, "Any other questions?"  And nobody puts
their hands up, even though we've got a few minutes left.  Then, as soon
as the presentation is over, 50 people rush the stage with questions they
want to ask...many of them very good, and which the audience would've
loved to hear answered.  You tend to be a very smart, perceptive
bunch...don't deny others the quality of your questions.)



      2) Please, please, PLEASE do not send me story ideas in email.

      3) Do not send jpgs or anything else that requires downloading; I
was hit by a trojan horse and virus lately, and consequently I have a very
firm no-download policy on anything else coming into me via email.

      4) Private email should be used for things you cannot discuss in a
public forum, or for which confidentiality is needed for other reasons. 
I'm swamped with 500 messages a day...if it doesn't have to be sent email,
please don't do so.

      5) Requests for agent suggestions, or requests to read your scripts
or stories, will be met by stony silence.

      6) We cannot give studio tours, or afford to send out scripts, or
story bibles, or actor photographs.  When the actors do this, bear in mind
that it is a kindness *that comes out of their own pockets*, as there is
no budget from WB to send photos.  

      I hate to be as brusque as this, but I'm starting to get overloaded
with email, and an occasional advisory seems necessary.

      Many thanks.
                                                                  


 jms







Date: 13 Nov 1996 23:32:08 GMT
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: What ever happened to Quality?

The characters figure it out later this season.



 jms





Date: 13 Nov 1996 23:37:20 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS Stealing scenes from other works

But the thing is, I wasn't *thinking* of LoTR...I was thinking of Orpheus
going into the underworld, of the classical notion of descending into hell
to find oneself or something else...it just bugs me when someone assumes
that they know what was in my head at a time when I wrote something, and
then take that as a given and start making me explain it or acting as if
this is true, when it ain't.


 jms





Date: 13 Nov 1996 23:33:29 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Faith in Future Eps?

Belief in one thing or another is *always* important.  Only the subject is
sometimes worrisome.


 jms







Date: 14 Nov 1996 06:00:53 GMT
Subject: Re: Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi (* Spoilers *)

"I watched _What Ever Happened to Mr Garibaldi_ last night and was struck
by the scene where Mr. G was being questioned by the disembodied voice. 
That scene was very similar to the style of another one of my favorite
shows _Homicide: Life on the Streets_.  I'm just wondering if that was an
intentional nod to that show."

This is kind of embarrassing, but...see, I don't watch much TV anymore.  I
don't have time.  I think I've seen maybe two episodes of Homicide, total.
 So we were in with the editor to do our producer's cut of 402, and I was
trying to describe what I wanted...jarring, disorienting cuts, don't worry
if it matches, use conflicting takes or overlaps of takes...and finally
the editor said, "Oh, you mean the Homicide look."  And it'd been so long
that I asked them to explain to me what that meant, and John got into it,
me with him, and ended up with what we've got.  I've got to start watching
TV again, beyond X-Files, 60 Minutes and Simpsons.  (Well, I've added
Millennium, so that helps.)

"Second question. Last year on ABC the show _Murder One_ tried having one
main story, like an arc, through the whole season.  It was following a
single
trial (I assume you know this).  That show basically got a "that's nice"
from the crowd and not much else.  Do you think that the  concept of an
ongoing story works better in a science fiction show  than say a cop show?
 Was it more the execution of _Murder One_  that did in the idea of one
trial per season?  I would be curious to hear your thoughts."

No, I don't really think it's genre specific.  Frankly, I think the
viewing audience was *so* sick to death of the OJ trial that the idea of
watching ANOTHER homicide trial take a week was just too much for them.  


 jms







Date: 15 Nov 1996 07:54:25 GMT
Subject: Re: *SPOILERS* [ATTN:JMS] Observations after 'Whatever Happened ...'

"They are being made to choose between life and death, action and
inaction, hope and despair.  They are in the position of having to either
lose faith, or keep it."

Yup.  Got it in one....





 jms





Date: 15 Nov 1996 07:57:27 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Expanding Symmetries (No Spoilers)

I briefly considered giving G'Kar a second, after the revolving door
Na'Toths, but as I looked at it...as you say, the others all DO have one
like that, and I figured it might be good to have someone *without*
that...especially after the fall of Narn, when the staff would be
canceled.  And there's something I like about G'Kar being alone in all
this.  Anyway, it varies the mix a bit.


 jms





Date: 15 Nov 1996 08:01:19 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: I was right...

Good luck to you.  In doing what you're doing, you are removing yourself
from the system, and the system always objects to that.  Follow your
voice, and your passion, and you will never go wrong.

Again, good luck.


 jms





Date: 15 Nov 1996 08:10:43 GMT
Subject: Re: ATT JMS: personal ? SPOILERS for Walkabout and after

"Are you *still* dealing with this, in Sheridan's situation on Z'ha'dum,
and the decision he has to make? Is this where you get your strength of
will, that you've faced this decision yourself?.....You've been dealing
with the whole issue of finding something worth living for, rather than
something worth dying for, since when, "Infection"? "

In retrospect, that was something I probably should not have mentioned,
and would not have, had the thing not just utterly blindsided me in the
middle of the conference.  What got me through the attack, and its
aftermath, those years ago, was sheer unadulterated rage...that I would
not allow them to take my life because I had stories left in me to tell. 
And no matter what, I'd tell those stories.  At first, I'd made my peace
with myself...I'd never gone out of my way to hurt anyone, had helped
where I could, had done some good work...I had a few things on the shelf,
not a lot, but a start...but then I just started to get mad about it, and
pulled myself back from the edge.  

So yeah, in a sense, I've faced that black, implacable wall...and it does
drive you, after a while.  And I do think, to a large degree, I'm still
trying to define myself, to find what it is that's at the center for me,
beyond the work.  But then, I don't think that's terribly special...it
seems to be the standard dilemma in an industrial society.  



 jms





Date: 15 Nov 1996 08:11:53 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Claudia Christian & Episode 402 (spoilers for "Whatever...")

No, those scenes were always written with Franklin in mind.  There was a
brief scene with Ivanova originally in the ep, but it was snipped for
time.


 jms





Date: 15 Nov 1996 09:35:02 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: General B5 question

"Does reading through all these Internet discussions of your work,
speculations, and analyses help you not only generate ideas but maintain a
higher level of cohesion and complexity in the saga?"

No, for one primary reason: there is no continuity of opinion about much
of ANYdamnthing among the netizens out there.  Which is the good thing
about all this; no two people see the same show.

But from this end, the story is the story is the story.


 jms





Date: 15 Nov 1996 09:39:35 GMT
Subject: Re: JMS: Archetypes in B5?

---->*My question, then, is this:  "Is babylon5 intended to be a modern
myth?  If so, what influences might have lead to the scripting of the B5
saga?  Jung? Campbell perhaps?"*<----

Yes and no.  I'm aware of Campbell's work, and have read much of it...but
bear in mind that his analyses came *after* the creative fact.  If you try
to consciously implement that during the writing, it can start making the
writing feel artificial.  It's the difference between the first two Road
Warrior movies and Thunderdome...in the gap between 2 and 3, he read
Campbell, and started doing things by the numbers rather than following
his gut instinct.  Consequently, 3 feels the least natural.

It's the job of the storyteller to provide myth, or perhaps more properly,
to reinterpret and reinvent myth, since myth tends not so much to be
created as to be newly understood, as we remake the world in our own image
every 15 years.

This is one responsibility that TV has, for the most part, abrogated.  So
I'm trying as best I can to draw some archetypes and myths out of the
collective ether and stitch them together into new patterns for new
audiences....




 jms





Date: 15 Nov 1996 09:32:45 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS "Poss. Spoiler for next ep after Whatever Happened..."

The scene was snipped for time.



 jms





Date: 16 Nov 1996 06:42:25 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: sory if you got this before, but I'm not sure it went through

No, I didn't write for the V series, only did a 4-hour miniseries that was
not produced because it was too costly for syndication...and no, haven't
read the Niven book.


 jms





Date: 16 Nov 1996 06:41:01 GMT
Subject: Re: jms and TV was: Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi (* NO Spoilers *)

I love the history channel.  I end up landing there late at night and
watching whatever's on, especially the newsreel stuff.  Just terrific. 
Interestingly, of all the new channels, THC is the one growing the fastest
right now.  It gives me a small glimmer of hope....


 jms








Date: 17 Nov 1996 10:23:27 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: WHTMG Timeline inconsistencies?  (SPOILERS)

No, this is a case where jms screwed up.

Originally, the script read, "It's now 14 days since Captain Sheridan left
for Z'ha'dum and was presumed killed.  Nine days since Mr. Garibaldi
disappeared while on patrol."

I went to edit the first sentence to make it active rather than passive
syntax.  In handwriting on the page (after the first draft, the typists
take revisions and implement them), I meant to write, "It is now 9 days
since Captain Sheridan was presumed killed at Z'ha'dum."  I either missed
changing the days, or the typist didn't put it in (it happens), and that
draft of the script is long gone.  But without knowing which, I'll just
take the rap for it.


 jms





Date: 17 Nov 1996 10:24:05 GMT
Subject: Re: JMS:Contract with Foundation dropped?

We were unable to make a deal with Foundation this season.  All the new B5
effects for fourth season, including the first two aired, were done
in-house.


 jms





Date: 17 Nov 1996 10:14:27 GMT
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: More Homicide/B5 similarities of technique . . .

"HANNAH:  It's all trivial . . . It's wanting to know that makes us
matter. Otherwise we're going out the way we came in. -Tom Stoppard,
"Arcadia""

Saw this play while I was in London about a year and a half ago.  Liked
parts of it, but as much as I like Tom Stoppard's work overall, I think
that if they're going to produce a play like this they should at least
have the politeness to TELL you that there's math involved.  I didn't know
there would be a test.

(And since somebody's bound to ask...in addition to Stoppard, I'm very
fond of the work of Joe Orton, Harold Pinter (though a little of that goes
a long way), and Alan Ayckbourn (whose "Norman Conquests" is/are
wonderful).  I also saw "Dancing at Luhnasa," and to this day don't
understand what all the furor was about, though it was a fine enough
play.)

Whenever I'm in London, I try to see as much theater as I can, because so
much of it is so well done there.  Though, I must confess, I dozed off
halfway through a Restoration period sex farce (well, an attempt at same)
at the RSC Swan Theater that was dry as sawdust.  "The Woman in Black"
remains one of the most entertaining small plays in London, a terrific
little ghost story that draws you in whether you want to be drawn in or
not.  (The Buddy Holly autobiographical play is thin on plot, great on
music.  But then, so was "Return to Forbidden Planet," and that was a hoot
also.)  And the new staging of "An Inspector Calls" is just terrific.

This has been your theater review for the day.  Thankyew.





 jms







Date: 19 Nov 1996 02:04:16 GMT
Subject: Re: Universe Today #2 ???

I have the new edition on my desk, in final form, and it's going out now. 
The problem is that normally, when licensed stuff comes through for
approval, I get it in and out the door in 48 hours.  But since this is our
own license, I can't approve our own stuff, and it has to go through WB. 
WB sat on this thing for about two months.  We're trying to work it out
with them to get things approved more quickly.  It's kinda ridiculous.


 jms





Date: 19 Nov 1996 02:06:51 GMT
Subject: Re: Attn: JMS, videos, e-mail, 'n stuff

The problem is in getting WB to kick loose of the rights to the videos. 
We've been negotiating endlessly with them to let us do them...but they're
kinda like a monkey with its hand around a nut in a jar...it can't get it
out, but won't let go, either.


 jms





Date: 19 Nov 1996 02:08:27 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Have you read...

Nope, haven't read it, have no intention of reading it.


 jms





Date: 19 Nov 1996 02:07:43 GMT
Subject: Re: Att JMS: Yes, I know you don't celebrate Christmas ... :-)

Oh, I know Levenger's, believe me...they have whole barrels of my money
over there.

Great catalog, and nifty stuff.


 jms





Date: 19 Nov 1996 02:10:27 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: How far away is the rim from B5?

They are separated by an infinite number of plot points....



 jms





Date: 19 Nov 1996 02:05:22 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Pythonesque cat in episode 402?

The cat was my idea.  Cats are endless sources of humor.


 jms







Date: 19 Nov 1996 20:31:57 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS (and everyone else) : Why reruns after only four eps?

Yes, it was just 4 of 4, but you also had the last 5 of season 3, so
that's 9 in a row.  

Basically, WB airs the show during sweeps periods.  That means you've got
November, February, May and sometimes July.  They've always done this.


 jms





Date: 19 Nov 1996 20:37:16 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Okay, this is dumb, but we've always wondered about it

The "teeth" sections, which overlap the door, have metal dowels that slide
into place into the door itself, holding it absolutely tight in case of a
hull breach or other decompression.  



 jms





Date: 19 Nov 1996 20:52:11 GMT
Subject: Re: The Summoning: Welcome back to the 50's, kids! (Spoilers)

Re: "magictech"...I believe it was Arthur C. Clarke who pointed out, "Any
sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

You wanna go argue with Clarke, feel free.

Lemme just make one point here.  In the handful of decades between the
discovery of the atom, and its use at Hiroshima, we learned how to blow up
substantial portions of the planet and render it uninhabitable.  But it
would've taken a lot of them, hundreds, to do the job.  In the 50 years
since then, with the development of thermonuclear weaponry, the job is
even easier.  It's been reckoned that you'd only need about 75 really
decent sized thermonuclear detonations to render the entire continental
United States dead and uninhabitable.

The shadows and the vorlons are *millions* of years ahead of us.  We're
talking differences in technology that are orders of magnitude beyond what
we can hope to comprehend. 

I think a planet killer eminently achievable.  



 jms





Date: 19 Nov 1996 20:45:09 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Season 5 rumor

I've been repeating this time and again...and I'm going to stop now for a
while, because I don't want to keep doing this 5 times a week.

Nothing has been firmly decided by WB yet.  If there were, you would've
heard it.

Every season, we're barely into the new stories, and everyone asks, "Is
this it?  Is it?  Huh?  ANSWER ME?  WHAT ARE YOU HIDING?  WHY WON'T YOU
CONFIRM OR DENY THIS?"

Because I don't know.  Because WB doesn't know.  Nobody will know ANYthing
for sure until probably February.  Which is what I said last year, and the
year before.  

I don't mean to be sharp about this, your message was fine, I'm just
getting a bit worn down by this every year.




 jms





Date: 19 Nov 1996 20:40:07 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: WHtMG music (spoilers!)

During the music spotting session, where I indicate where music comes in
and goes out, my main note to Chris on that final sequence was, "Break our
heart."

He did.



 jms







Date: 19 Nov 1996 20:41:41 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: WHtMG music (spoilers!)

"Was this scene redone for WHtMG?  I'd have to compare, but I think I
would've noticed that hopeful smile at the end of Z.  It would've been
just a -little- out of place, under the circumstances."

It's *exactly* the same footage, frame for frame.  Only your perspective
has changed.  

Sort of like Shroedinger's TV show.




 jms







Date: 21 Nov 1996 00:10:08 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Scripts?

Dunno if they'll ever be released...currently the only commercially
available copy of a B5 script is in my Complete Book of Scriptwriting, for
"The Coming of Shadows."


 jms





Date: 21 Nov 1996 00:12:29 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS : Spoiler credits!

Credits are done through screen actors guild regulations, and thus can't
be helped if they appear in inconvenient places, I'm afraid.


 jms





Date: 21 Nov 1996 00:15:13 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Summoning (minor spoilers)

"Joe, as I just said to a friend,  you're spreading a madness with your
writing.  Have you no shame, sir?  No conscience?  No compassion for the
minds you're destroying?"

Don't be silly...remember, I'm a television producer....



 jms





Date: 21 Nov 1996 02:58:16 GMT
Subject: Re: JMS' Purpose for B5 (Philosophical)

"JMS leaves us to find our own answers and that looks like, to me, his
message in Babylon 5.  You can't just have someone give you all the
answers.  At some point you have to break away and find your own answers
to your own questions.  This seems to be the idea in a lot of his
scriptwriting and his posts.  In fact, the essence of B5 revolves around
it.  You don't know what other people are thinking, the good guys arent
always what they appear to be, and life is NOT black and white.  Relying
on others for answers makes you a slave to them because you believe
whatever they tell you."


DING!

Give that man a ceegar.


 jms







Date: 21 Nov 1996 20:53:13 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: The Summoning (* Spoilers *)

Actually, to your question, I've taught before, and would enjoy doing so
again in some kind of university environment.  (I taught writing at San
Diego State University for a semester as well, but the other instructors
didn't much like that a working writer was teaching writing instead of an
academic doing it, as they felt it sullied the program and made it too
commercial.)


 jms





Date: 21 Nov 1996 22:57:42 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: B5 Jackets

Those jackets are exclusively for cast and crew.


 jms





Date: 21 Nov 1996 22:56:19 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Who, What, Why (Philosophical)

That only works if you define yourself by what you do...not what you are.

But as Lorien says, there's never a good answer to it.


 jms







Date: 22 Nov 1996 09:21:29 GMT
Subject: Re: Pasadena Convention

"And please JMS, don't be hard on Andreas--he's had a hard time the last
few eposides, and with the stress of Peter messing with his nipples, you
could see why he broke and did the gag."

Oh, no...he doesn't get off that easy.  I've got 9 episodes left to write
this season, and that's ample opportunity to make his life a living hell.

"Let's see...he's my employer...he can make me do ANYthing he wants me to
do...I've got an idea, let's fuck with his mind!"

Oh, but I'm going to enjoy this *mightily*.



 jms





Date: 22 Nov 1996 09:22:11 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: New B5 Advertisement!!!!!

Cool, I gotta see that!  Thanks, I didn't know.

 jms





Date: 22 Nov 1996 09:22:49 GMT
Subject: Re: Attn. JMS: Kevin Dobson?

No, this Kevin is an Australian director.


 jms





Date: 22 Nov 1996 09:33:47 GMT
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: A Thank You

Thank you, your words are most kind.

I guess you have to understand...I come at this from the perspective of
having been an SF fan myself, I've *stood* in those lines.  And been cut
off.  I swore, up one side and down the other, that if I should ever get
my chance to do something of merit, if I ever got known (outside of
America's Most Wanted), that I wouldn't allow ANYone to experience that
feeling.  I've signed for sometimes 3, 4 hours at a time.  Doesn't matter.
 Nobody leaves emptyhanded.  Nobody.

This has infected many members of our cast, who feel as I do...and they go
far, far, FAR beyond the call of duty.

'Cause, basically...it's the right thing to do.



 jms





Date: 22 Nov 1996 09:26:34 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Frightening Speech in Summoning (spoilers for same)

Yup, I'd say it's very likely that some people close to Sheridan are going
to be wondering about his attitude...and maybe even acting on it.



 jms







Date: 22 Nov 1996 09:53:21 GMT
Subject: Audio Advisory (from jms)

So earlier this week we did the audio mix on almost all of 404, "Falling
Toward Apotheosis," which airs this coming week.  We did all but 7
minutes, because they were seven...big...minutes.

Last night, after working at the stage from early morning on, John
Copeland, George Johnsen and I left about 7 p.m. to go and mix the audio
for those seven minutes.

We finished at 2:30 a.m.  (And I had to get up at 7:30 a.m. for a meeting,
no less.)

Point being...if you've got a friend with a good TV and a spiffy audio or
surround sound system, you may want to watch this next one over at their
place.  

Just a thought.


 jms







Date: 23 Nov 1996 02:55:30 GMT
Subject: Re: JMS over on CIS

It's a combination of the ease of the CIS interface, that I can do it
offline more easily, and the type of questions.


 jms





Date: 24 Nov 1996 05:21:28 GMT
Subject: Re: Question to JMS about the background of developing the alien nations & organizations

Yes, I certainly tend to draw on historical parallels for parts of the B5
universe backstory.


 jms





Date: 24 Nov 1996 03:26:25 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS Ode to JMS: In honor of season four

                                           ....hrmpfrh....




 jms







Date: 24 Nov 1996 03:34:34 GMT
Subject: jms conference on Monday

Just a quick advisory...I'll be doing the first major online conference on
the B5 website at 6:00 p.m. Pacific time this coming Monday.  That's
http://www.thestation.com for the official B5 fanclub site.


 jms







Date: 25 Nov 1996 00:17:12 GMT
Subject: Re: Attn:JMS Babylon 5:Crusaders-Reality check

Actually, I've said pretty much from the very beginning of the first
season, that there was a side-story that could go off, which I'd be
interested in telling.  And that may be a possibility.

And it's not Crusaders (which always makes me think of Crusader Rabbit);
it's The Babylon Project: Crusade.  (That's the working title, anyway.)


 jms





Date: 25 Nov 1996 00:15:52 GMT
Subject: Re: Falling Toward Apotheosis (* Spoilers *)

Remember, they do have a certain physicality about them, even in that
form, and the nature of the poison was such that it would affect that kind
of life form using a crystalline base (note in the pilot the screen reads
analyzing crystallne structure, and you filter light or refract or distort
it using a crystalline structure).


 jms





Date: 25 Nov 1996 09:08:54 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS (B5 Videos)

Yes, we shoot widescreen, and hope to release in that form eventually.


 jms





Date: 26 Nov 1996 01:15:33 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Arc ending this season?

"I then pick up a copy of TV Zone(UK Magazine for sci-fi etc) and read in
it an interview with Bruce Boxleitner which clearly states the shows 5
year arc is ending this year.  And then I pick up a copy of Cult TV, with
an interview with JMS in it, and this also features the same info, except
this time it states quite clearly that Warner Brothers have asked JMS to
resolve the shows 5 year arc this season."

Yes, I have those two magazines as well, both from the same publisher. 
And I was rather upset when I saw them, because, if you will go back and
read them again, you will see that nowhere are Bruce or I quoted as SAYING
that there is only going to be 4 years.  The *magazine* says that, the
writer says that, but they nowhere provide a quote from anyone backing
that up.  I *sure* as hell didn't say that, and Bruce has indicated the
same thing to me.

The magazine is making assumptions.  Let me state this again: nothing has
yet been decided for certain.  If it had been, I would tell you.

Look...let's be logical about this, shall we?  If I knew this would be the
last year, what possible mileage is there in keeping this secret?  I'd
want to put this info out there in hopes of either a) getting a campaign
going, or b) bracing the fans for the inevitable, if it were inevitable
(the joke about your mom's on the roof and we can't get her down).  

Let me repeat this: I DON'T KNOW.  WB DOESN'T KNOW.  Nothing has yet been
decided for certain.



 jms







Date: 26 Nov 1996 05:59:14 GMT
Subject: Monday chat screwup

Just a note to apologize to those who showed up at thestation.com for the
chat Monday night.  DirectNet, the people who handle the server (and as of
this moment we are giving strong consideration to going elsewhere, after
this fiasco), figured (without asking us) that they'd get maybe about 100
or so people, based on other chats.  They allocated memory and other
resources accordingly.

So when about 2,000 people showed up...it blew the system to hell and back
again.  Result: chaos, confusion, lock-outs, angry calls to DirectNet,
server errors...a mess.

(It's always the same deal...at conventions, online...they always
underestimate how many people are going to show up.  It's almost funny
enough to make me reconsider gouging out the eyes of several DirectNet
personnel and feeding them to hamsters.  Almost.)

I can only apologize, and say that as with all things we try for the first
time...this will *not* happen again.


 jms







Date: 26 Nov 1996 09:44:18 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN:JMS: A 5 Year Universe Done in 4 Years?

The story will be finished, one way or another.


 jms





Date: 27 Nov 1996 01:48:14 GMT
Subject: Re: JMS: Next time, use IRC. =)

No, it wouldn't have been as bad if they'd been prepared for us.

Also, while many boast about IRCs being the end-all of these things, the
IRC that I did while in Tampa had just as many servers blow up, all over
the place.

Final figure was that 6,000 tried to get into this thing...there ain't a
server on the planet that can handle that.


 jms







Date: 28 Nov 1996 01:03:15 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: how we spend Saturday evenings

Thanks.  I'm happy that the show can provide a bridge between so many
diverse and interesting people.  It makes the efforth worthwhile.



 jms





Date: 28 Nov 1996 01:04:51 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS Bright Mountain Range

Those are city lights, visible as any big city is visible from space by
the lights.


 jms





Date: 28 Nov 1996 01:14:08 GMT
Subject: Re: Paradigm shifts and B5/Trek

"I felt as if I had been *deprogrammed,* and stopped thinking of the
future in terms of that one vision of it, and being a hard scientist,
that's a pretty embarrassing admission to make.  But it was stunning
to*feel* it happen to myself.  After a lifetime of watching Trek as the
*only* vision of the future that most people were aware of, it's amazing
to become fully aware of the depth of the belief suspension, until it
seems like the "real" future is the one with the Crayola uniforms and the
communicators on the chest."

This was something I began to really understand during the first season,
and was something I hadn't anticipated going in.  Some of the reaction
against B5 was so strong from some groups of ST fans...it wasn't just one
show vs. another, there was a vehemence in it that was coming from
something deeper.  

Eventually I began to figure it out, that it was also two competing
visions of the future.  I've mentioned before the angry letter I got that,
among other things, said that the person was thrown every time one of our
characters used a hand link when "everyone *knows* that by then we'll be
using chest communicators."  It was a vision thing (to use a fairly recent
campaign slogan).  The problem then becomes, for lack of a better term, a
religious problem...competing ideologies, notions to which one has
committed oneself.  And the most heated wars are always religious wars.

It's been...interesting.


 jms





Date: 28 Nov 1996 04:35:52 GMT
Subject: Re: What's happening this season?

Deanna: thanks.  Your words are most kind, and eminently appreciated.


 jms





Date: 28 Nov 1996 04:44:32 GMT
Subject: jms & co at LosCon (LA)

This Thanksgiving Sunday, from 2:30-4:30 p.m., there will be a B5
presentation at LosCon, an annual fan-run convention here in Los Angeles. 
LosCon was the very first convention to get behind B5 and support it, and
our appearance there every year is something that means a lot to all
involved.  It also tends to be the biggest event of each year's
convention.

For the first hour it'll be me, with clips from episodes as yet unaired,
the first pass at the season four bloopers (shown here for the first time,
still in rough form, some elements of which will be cut as we get further
along), a music video or two, and the like.  The second hour I'll be
joined by producer John Copeland (aka pigdog13 on AOL, frequent SF Vortex
guest, and resident Media Sex God), co-producer George Johnsen, and
conceptual consultant Harlan Ellison.  Peter Jurasik may make it by,
contingent upon family obligations, but that's unconfirmed.  We always try
and debut stuff there.

LosCon is a good sized (1,000 or so) fan-run convention that's been going
on here in LA for decades, and a great deal of fun.  This year it's taking
place at the Burbank Airport Hilton, just abaft from, well, Burbank
Aiport.

Because the B5 presentations are the biggest thing at each year's LosCon,
you may want to show up a bit early.


 jms







Date: 29 Nov 1996 06:43:59 GMT
Subject: Re: Paradigm shifts and B5/Trek

"No one's claiming Trek doesn't have its failings.  The issue at hand is
the B5 folk who feel compelled to constantly ridicule Trek.  There's not
much point, and the attitude is suspiciously cult-like, even if they
aren't really a cult."

One fallacy in your thinking: while there are many ST fans who haven't
seen B5, there are insofar as I know *no* B5 fans who haven't seen ST, and
in most cases, began as ST fans.  These are the same complaints many of
them have had with ST for a time long before B5 ever came on the
map...only now in some cases they have a show which is doing what they
have been saying should be done for some time now.  

This is not a B5 problem...it's an internal ST problem.  



 jms





Date: 29 Nov 1996 09:44:24 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS- Ever Been to Toronto?

"I have noticed that you make appearances at many conventions and even
went overseas but I have yet to hear you make an appearence in Toronto or
any other part of Canada. Is it a matter of being invited or is it a lack
of free time?"

Yes, no, and none of the above.

There is a time question, in that that's a LONG flight from L.A., and
getting away is tough.  I do happen to like Toronto, I was there several
times while working on Captain Power and The Twilight Zone, and when I was
nominated there for a Gemini Award (the Canadian equivilent of an Emmy). 
I've always enjoyed my time there, so it's nothing against the city,
believe me.  

The other problem is venue.  I've been invited by Toronto Trek, for
instance, by some very nice people there...but I have kind of a standing
policy about not going to any conventions whose names relate to Star Trek,
because when I did them I always got gigged for "poaching" by many ST fans
who still perceive this as a zero-sum game.  I don't put this onto my
cast, who can go as they choose, but again they don't have the same onus
in this regard that I do.

Aside from that one, I haven't heard from any cons of sufficient size to
make the long trip worth doing.  Going that far for less than about 1500
people is hard to justify in the midst of filming.  (That's turned into
one of my few rules about conventions...the further away it is, the more
there has to be a goodly number of people to justify it...because I *hate*
traveling, and really long trips also cut into my work on the show...so
the more time away from the show, the more I have to justify it
logistically.)


 jms





Date: 30 Nov 1996 00:06:09 GMT
Subject: Re: ***ATTN JMS: Atonement***

Thanks...I really do think that this show will be around for a long, long
time....


 jms





Date: 30 Nov 1996 00:07:43 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Londo and "Falling Towards Apotheosis"

Thanks.  The Londo stuff is nice, and you do get a sense of the kind of
person he was before the empire began to slip, and his fortunes with it. 
He can definitely pull it out when he wants to.


 jms





Date: 30 Nov 1996 00:08:26 GMT
Subject: Re: Attn: JMS: Does this apply (Andreas/Peter)

Suffice to say you'll hear about it.....


 jms








Date: 30 Nov 1996 00:10:00 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS another compliment (possible *Spoilers*)

"What I like most about B5, I guess, is this: Shit happens.  Shit happens
to us, not the guest aliens of the week.  Shit STAYS happened."

That's a great last line...I may refer to that in future, thanks.


 jms








Date: 30 Nov 1996 06:13:33 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Biggus Headus

"I have been wondering for a while...with the constant inundation of
respect, adoration and awe from most on this newsgroup(not to mention
conventions and fan mail), just how do you keep it all from going to your
head?  I would personally find being dubbed 'Great Maker' a little
intoxicating."

I guess it's easy to not let that happen since, for me, it's all for the
show, not for me personally.  I have a very hard time applying that to
me...the show is the show.  I'm still the same goofball I was before I
made B5.  And I find that whenever I start getting cocky, the universe
whaps me upside the head, and makes me humble *real* fast.

Example...the other day, we were finishing up the editing on 408, "The
Illusion of Truth."  Making the producer's cut is the hardest thing I do,
and I'm just exhausted at the end of it.  So I'm taking a five minute
break, waiting for the elevator to go downstairs and grab a coke, just to
wake up...and I'm alone, walking back and forth in the hall...in that
kinda dopey way you do when you're just utterly whacked...I go a few
paces, swing my leg around, half/stagger back the other direction, go a
few paces, repeat...my mind elsewhere....

And the door opens, mid-swing...and I start for it...and being off-balance
I end up doing this drunken-looking stagger right past the elevator
doors....

The way it would've looked from the inside is as if the elevator doors
opened up on the fourth deck of the Lusitania, tilted and going down, and
some crew member was tumbling down the angled deck....and the door closes
again.

I was too embarrassed to get into it, and waited for the next one.

So it's real easy for me to keep modest...I don't think I have much
choice.

"Do you ever find it affecting your writing?  Your dealing with the cast &
crew?

No, they also have their ways of keeping me modest...hence Andreas' recent
little gag...for which he will pay dearly....


 jms





Date: 30 Nov 1996 09:10:13 GMT
Subject: Re: JMS makes my wife squeal Saturday Nights!

"My petite, demure wife, a professional woman of letters, turns the lights
down on Saturday nights (when the show airs), sprawls on the floor,
demands total control, and then when some piece of dailoge strikes her
just so, shreeks, holding in laughter, so she can hear the rest.   Then
when there is a great space scene, load moaning commentary like, "No, no,
no...  YES! Yes, yes!!!" is shouted."

(laying back, lighting a cigarette)

I'm sorry, what were you saying?

Okay, who wants pizza?


 jms





Date: 30 Nov 1996 09:16:51 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Congratulations on your current ratings trend!

Yeah, the rankings sometimes drop even when the hard numbers increase when
you're in sweeps period, and everybody's fighting it out and there's a lot
of stunt programming going on.  To stay in the top 25 is a great thing,
and the growth in households is even better.  That's between 10-15 million
core viewers, and that's very good for a syndicated show, especially when
other dramatic shows like the ST series have seen definite drops (as per
the latest Entertainment Weekly).  And our demographics remain the highest
for any syndicated series, so that makes the show extremely attractive to
advertisers.


 jms