lurkers-guide/ftp/Usenet/jms96-12-usenet

JMS Usenet messages for December 1996.

Date: 1 Dec 1996 03:11:02 GMT
Subject: Re: Women and B5 (was Re: Paradigm shifts and B5/Trek)

"And yet, these women can also be women. Delenn in her black dressturning
heads, giggling at John's jokes, and teasing him. Then to turn around and
destroy the Grey Council, save B5 from the Earth Alliance, and become
Ranger One. The depth, the honesty, the reality of her. It is wonderful to
see such a character, to know that there are role models for a feminine
woman who can be hard as nails."

I wish I could take more credit for this..."Oh, sure, I did this to create
strong role models, it was all conscious"...but the truth is, those are
the kind of women I've always found attractive: sharp, smart, funny,
strong, sexually assertive, credible...*women*.  Those are always the ones
I dated, the ones I hung out with as friends (on the theory that men and
women *can* be friends, it doesn't have to turn into dating)...so it's
just really a case of writing what I find appealing.  


 jms





Date: 1 Dec 1996 09:42:37 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Gold Channel

We'll be updating the Gold Channel fairly often, there's lots of material
there.



 jms





Date: 1 Dec 1996 09:47:23 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS:Re: New PPG blasts in S4? (spoilers for FtA)

"She was specifically referring to the PPG blasts and the "Kosh's head
exploding" effects.  After which I told her that the old company was gone,
off to do ST:V."

Actually, Foundation was not the sole source of PPG bursts; that's roto
work, and was often done by Kevin Kutchaver, and others not at Foundation.
 Oddly, we just had a meeting about PPG bursts, because we've done about 4
or 5 different versions over the last 4 years.  We decided to go back
closer to the ones in Soul Hunter in future, since they just look nastier.


 jms





Date: 4 Dec 1996 10:07:17 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: The mother of all coincidences?

Actually, Kyle, we're all watching you and controlling you....


 jms





Date: 4 Dec 1996 10:12:08 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Thank you!

Thank *you*, and my best to all our fans in Norway.  That's a long way to
go, for a kid from New Jersey....


 jms





Date: 4 Dec 1996 20:48:42 GMT
Subject: Re: Why does JMS make you laugh right before horrifying you? (Spoilers for #403)

It's the roller coaster theory: if you move someone to horror or fear or
shock from a neutral place, the emotional jump is less than if they're
laughing...then suddenly you whipsaw them into the absolute emotional
opposite.  


 jms





Date: 4 Dec 1996 20:45:47 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS; the FX look fabulous!

Thanks.  And we intend to continue pushing the EFX this season...the CGI
in 406 will be either equal to or more than "Severed Dreams," for
instance.  


 jms







Date: 7 Dec 1996 00:51:30 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: To thank you

Thanks.  Hope is one of the things that seems greatly missing from most
commercial entertainments, and if they do try to do something in this
area, it often tends to wander into the treacly or saccherine.  We have to
entertain, that is the requirement...but there has to be more, for me, for
it to be worth doing.

Thanks for the kind words.


 jms





Date: 7 Dec 1996 04:52:01 -0500
Subject: Re: Women and B5 (was Re: Paradigm shifts and B5/Trek)

Just checked back into this thread....

"There was the instance in GROPOS of Delenn being saved by Dodger -- but I
can't for the life of me think of a single instance of a MAN being in the
victim's position.  I'm ready to be proven wrong, though, since my memory
is faulty.  Anyone with counterexamples is welcome to provide them."

ALL ALONE IN THE NIGHT.  Sheridan's taken by the Streibs, and it's Ivanova
who puts together the rescue effort, and is directing the attack on the
Streib vessel, and who decides "screw it, frag 'em" when it seems they
killed Sheridan...then stops his pod from being killed, and orders his
rescue.

Also, in PARLIAMENT OF DREAMS, G'Kar was restrained and about to be killed
but for the intervention of Na'Toth.

I know there are other examples, but those are the two that come to mind
off the cuff.


 jms




Date: 8 Dec 1996 23:49:07 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Fourth Season Title

Nope, that ain't it...and since I haven't TOLD anyone what it is, not even
Doug or John, anyone who says he's heard it is, of course, incorrect.


 jms





Date: 8 Dec 1996 23:49:44 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Fan Viewings of B5 in the UK

It's Warners' position that the import and exhibition of episodes, at cons
or at fan gatherings, is a violation of international copyright, and yes,
they will prosecute.


 jms





Date: 9 Dec 1996 00:00:56 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS:  Computer Games and story ideas (*spoiler for WHTMG*)

"In WHTMG, Marcus is talking to G'Kar about his friends and says he's had
"Damn few of them, and most of them are dead." My instant reaction was
"That can't be an allusion to Return to Zork." Can it?"

Y'know, if I were to read this group as an outsider, I'd think that this
jms person was incapable of coming up with a single line on his own.

NO, it wasn't a Zork reference, for chrissakes.  Can we possibly get any
more obscure here?  I don't even know what this REFERS to.  Marcus came
from a mining colony.  The shadows struck, and killed everyone there. 
Hence, the line above.  

There was some goofing around with SF references early on in the show;
this got out of hand, and it stopped.  I don't sit here, thinking, "Oh,
goody, I can make a reference to The Day The Earth Stood Still here," or
some other show.  I write what is appropriate for the character to say. 
Period.

I'm sorry if I'm a bit cranky in answering this, but jesus christ, people,
give it a rest and stop looking for references that don't exist.  There
are only so many permutations in the english language, and something has
got to echo somewhere for everyone...but that ain't the source.  "Oh,
look, he use the word THE in this episode, he must be nodding at "The
Ipcriss Files" or "THEM" just leaving off the M to throw us off."

Your point of reference is your point of reference, it's nothing to do
with me.  It's like a Rorscharch test, you see what you're familiar with. 


As a writer, you work your brains out trying to come up with something,
and you try your damndest to make it original, and fresh, and
interesting...do you have any idea how infuriating, how maddening, how
bottomlin *insulting* it is to have 10,000 people parsing every sentence
and saying, "Oh, here, did you take this from that?  Is this a reference
to this over here?"  

NO, IT'S NOT.

I allowed a little of that in the first season or so, often in scripts by
other people, on a couple of occasions by myself, but that's the end of
it, because everyone decided that the show was one big easter egg hunt. 
Fanfic is full of this stuff, which is perhaps why everyone keeps looking
for it here.

If it's an absolutely blantant, and extremely recognizeable line, line the
Tolkein reference in year two's "Geometry," then yeah...but some of  this
is getting so obscure and ridiculous that it's starting to make me crazy.

Can we *please* declare a moratorium on this for a while?



 jms





Date: 9 Dec 1996 00:05:18 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Does WB give you a raise?

We get a modest budget increase each year, yes.  Cast and producers
usually get about a 10% bump each season, tied to contract, not the show's
ratings.


 jms





Date: 9 Dec 1996 00:09:28 -0500
Subject: Re: Attn jms: Any ratings news?

They're going very well.  The last batch of episodes were 3.8 in the
ratings, which is much better than last year, and put us fairly
consistently in the top 25.  Though the rankings dropped a bit because of
the number of people watching during sweeps, and the stunt programming,
the number of households watching the show went up about 100,000 per week.
 So WB is extremely pleased; we stay at the #5 rated dramatic series, and
that ain't bad.


 jms





Date: 9 Dec 1996 00:14:54 -0500
Subject: Re: '97 Hugo - Which episode?

As I understand it, only the episodes aired in calendar year 96 are
eligible for the Hugo in 97.  "Gethsmane" aired in November of 95, so it
would be ineligible.

Everything in season 3 starting in January/February through the first 4
episodes of year 4 is eligible.
 

 jms





Date: 9 Dec 1996 05:41:00 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Warner Bros

The potential problem is many-headed, like a hydra.  The short
version...the entity that created PTEN was a consortium of independent
stations and WB.  That entity basically no longer exists, and now WB is
funding B5 in its entirety.  When a corporation disappears, the wise thing
to do is to dissolve all the assets and cash it all in, NOT keep spending
money on it.  

It's a weird situation in that the *copyright* is owned by WB, but in many
ways, the *show* is owned by PTEN, so WB can't just go around reassigning
rights within its own organization.  And WB Network, as a network, must
define its own image...we know, from in-house discussions, that they would
not take on B5 because they want to create their own shows, not inherit
them second-hand.

See, with most companies, the goal for each division is real simple: make
money for the parent company.  But WB is a series of little kingdoms which
are DESIGNED TO COMPETE WITH EACH OTHER, *not* to cooperate, on the theory
(when this was put into place as executive policy) that this would lead to
more aggressive divisions.  

WB is happy with the show...the problem, and we're (and they're) still in
the process of gauging how much of a problem this is...is that we're
caught in this kind of corporate spiderweb, and the spider is gone.  All
that remains is this series of entanglements, contracts, rights provisions
and the like.  

You also have to remember that while B5 has been making money for WB from
day one (a requirement of all WB shows these days), you don't start making
any real money on a show until AFTER you've finished producing it...so you
aren't spending anything, just reaping the financial benefits of long-term
syndication.

So we're just in this maze for now, trying to figure out if that glint in
the distance is daylight, or a Minotaur with an Uzi.


 jms





Date: 9 Dec 1996 05:50:03 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Re: Snow White WAS Re: JMS on CIS 12-08-96

"Of course the question that I have is, what prompted you to write the
play in the first place?"

Sigh....

I was 18 years old.  I'd had about 5 or 6 one-act plays produced at
Southwestern College, to generally good reviews.  (I really hate to use
the term, but I was kind of a prodigy in some ways.)  Anyway, one day, the
head of the theater department pulled me aside and said, "Look, every
summer we do a summer stock production that runs about 12-16 weeks,
usually for younger audiences.  Most of the time they're established
plays, but sometimes we do an original if we see potential.  I'd love to
see what you could do with something like the Snow White story.  And we
can afford to pay a reasonable fee for it."

Understand...this was the first time I'd been *commissioned* to write a
full length play.  I was somewhat conflicted about the whole thing, most
of the plays I'd done had been either offbeat comedies or these terribly
indulgent and self-impressed treatises which will never, ever be seen by
anyone again (I have the only recordings of them), and this was about as
far away from that as you could get.  But it was the chance to have a
long-running summer-stock production, and at 18, fresh out of high
school...I fell for it.

After it ran for that year, I sent the script off to a play publisher,
figuring they'd turn it down, but not wanting to waste it...and they
picked it up.  And it's still there.  And every six months, I get these
royalty statements showing that it's being performed all over the
planet...from the US to Singapore, Thailand, once from Burma,
Germany...urk....

It was intended for kids...and ONLY kids.  So when adults go see it,
knowing my current work...I just blanch, that's all.


 jms





Date: 9 Dec 1996 15:56:48 -0500
Subject: Re: Attn JMS:Re: Falling: Preview discrepancy

I am forever amazed by what ends up in the trailers, and never see them or
know what's in them until they air.


 jms





Date: 9 Dec 1996 15:56:54 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS (Script Content and Analysis)

"If/when you have to review dialogue from an earlier episode, how do you
do it?"

I pick up the binder with the script and look at it.  We keep these around
in an adjacent office.


 jms





Date: 9 Dec 1996 15:57:22 -0500
Subject: Re: Snow White WAS Re: JMS on CIS 12-08-96

Also, you can't just go around buying rights back from publishers; the
business doesn't work that way.  Only if it goes out of print can you get
a reversion of rights.


 jms





Date: 9 Dec 1996 15:57:51 -0500
Subject: Re: Attn JMS et al.: Cast and Crew comments

We do encourage our crew to get out there, and some do, but most are
fairly quiet types.  You have some of them over on AOL, pitching in, but
still not as many as could be.

I've taken it on myself to work to get more of our crew out into the
limelight lately, to make sure they get proper attention for their work. 
I dragged George Johnsen in front of the crowd at Worldcon, and again with
producer John Copeland at LosCon a few weeks ago (those were,
respectively, their first times appearing at cons).  


 jms





Date: 9 Dec 1996 15:58:11 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Re: Snow White

"Besides, you're your own worst critic, aren't you?"

Yeah...which is why I don't like anything out there that ain't 100% right.
 Ah, well.



 jms





Date: 10 Dec 1996 19:16:10 -0500
Subject: Re: Triluminary WAS NEVER CREATED??!? (JMS, what have you done?)

As will be noted in an upcoming episode, the Triluminaries originally came
from Epsilon 3 with the other equipment brought aboard by Zathras.


 jms





Date: 12 Dec 1996 14:21:02 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Cranky (Rock Cried Out extremely minor spoilers)

"Who do you share the B5 burden with?"

On reflection, I don't think I have much of a better answer than Sheridan
did.


 jms





Date: 14 Dec 1996 10:23:38 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS - President Clark and action on Earth?

Suffice to say that the show's storyline has always proceeded in waves,
and we're getting close to this particular one surging back into the
foreground....


 jms





Date: 14 Dec 1996 10:29:38 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: What can *I* do to save B5?

Only the ratings count for Warner Bros.  Just keep watching the show, and
getting others to give it a shot.  That's all anyone can ask for.


 jms





Date: 14 Dec 1996 10:29:38 -0500
Subject: Re: Gold Channel @ www.thestation.com

We'll be dropping in new material on the Gold Channel about every 4 weeks
for now, until all the fan club folks get on board, then move it up to
about every 2 weeks.


 jms





Date: 14 Dec 1996 10:29:38 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS:  Lurker's Guide?

I think The Lurker's Guide is an invaluable resource; I check it often
when I need a quick fact about a prior episode and don't want to hassle
with digging through scripts or tapes to find it.


 jms





Date: 14 Dec 1996 10:29:39 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS; the FX look fabulous!

"However, there was the one shot where the - whoops!  Sorry - force of
habbit."

I assume you're referring to the one shot in the opening where we zip over
the back of the station, which was never completed in the 3 years of the
show, in which instead the polygons were just stretched rather than being
properly mapped and given specularity.  We've subsequently fixed that.  


 jms





Date: 14 Dec 1996 10:29:38 -0500
Subject: Re: What about the unions

"But where does B5 get its money?"

This was mentioned in an episode shortly after "Severed Dreams"-- they
collect fees from the ships that come to B5 (docking fees, customs fees,
storage and importation fees, taxes on identicards, credit chits, quarters
and others).


 jms





Date: 14 Dec 1996 11:00:55 -0500
Subject: Re: Masters of the Universe

This was the first TV series on which I was a staffer, acting as a story
editor (with Larry DiTillio) and one of the main writers for the series,
and its subsequent companion series, She-Ra.

And I'm confident that sooner or later, I'll have to answer for this
before the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal.


 jms





Date: 14 Dec 1996 23:37:36 -0500
Subject: Re: Delenn=Johnnie's boot-licker? (Was Women and B5)

"Considering her past role in Minbari society, though, I expect her to
snap out of it pretty soon.  She was *trained* to take charge, and even
the things she's endured lately won't supress that conditioning forever."

Oh, most definitely...count on it.  She's done more than enough "oh john"
stuff for my tastes...that will start to change, and soon.


 jms





Date: 14 Dec 1996 23:39:07 -0500
Subject: Re: Dear Santa-czynski: What I want for Chrysalis 1998

Well...I see SOMEone has just taken out a new life insurance policy....


 jms





Date: 16 Dec 1996 15:43:45 -0500
Subject: Re: Little Boxes (was Re: Women and B5)

All of which is, of course, the irony in the situation...many times, fans
ask for shows with colors other than black and white, shades of grey,
changes in character...but when you start executing those changes, showing
more than one side, even contradictory sides (as humans are masses of
internal contradictions) often some of them yell "HEY! STOP THAT!"  

Which goes back to the moral: "Be careful what you ask for."


 jms





Date: 18 Dec 1996 01:37:22 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: CD-ROM?

"...hello from Starfire Sacramento, a sci-fi club that adores your work."

Hello back.  I assume this refers primarily to B5?

"Are there any plans for a CD-ROM game or somesuch based on Babylon 5? "

Doug and I acquired the rights to do a B5 informational CDrom, which we're
now in the process of developing for next year.  It's going to be a bit
more than a guide, very subversive and funny in its way.

There have been a number of inquiries about a game for CDrom, but so far
no one has really come up to the plate in a serious fashion.


 jms





Date: 18 Dec 1996 01:39:42 -0500
Subject: Re: Little Boxes (was Re: Women and B5)

"I know, that you've quit jobs before over this, and that gives me the
trust I need to keep watching, but I'm still a little nervous and I see no
reason not to say that.  Or to stop from analyzing Delenn's character any
more than I've done with anyone else on the show."

Couldn't agree more.  Never said or implied otherwise.


 jms





Date: 18 Dec 1996 01:34:54 -0500
Subject: Re: JMS: any more StarFury battles coming up?

"Will we be seeing any more of that kind of battle this season?"

(Insert Beavis and Butthead "huh-huh-huhhuh" sound here)

Oh yeah.


 jms





Date: 18 Dec 1996 15:16:47 -0500
Subject: Re: Television vs. Theatre

"For JMS' background in theatre check out the Snow White threads"

Actually, there's an awful lot more than that.  I used to be a theater
reviewer for the Daily Californian and KSDO Newsradio, as well as having
written a number of other produced plays.  The last one I did was "The
Apprenticeship," a full length turn-of-the-century pseudo-British comedy
which ran for about 16 weeks at the Marquis Public Theater in San Diego.


 jms





Date: 18 Dec 1996 15:38:06 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS

Yes, Ghar, and we all know what a bastion of patience and tolerance you
are, and that your tastes are the norm and nobody else could possibly
enjoy something if you do not unless they are an idiot, we've been down
this road before.  

You are free to have your opinion.  And I am free to hold mine.  And in my
opinion, the Jeanne Cavellos book is probably the best one of all the Dell
books to date.

One reason for the difference in these next batch of books is that I got
deeply and intensively involved with the books this time around, which
time didn't permit me to do in the past.  I made the time, because I felt
that they needed improving.  I worked closely with Jeanne on the backstory
(Anna's experience leading up to, and on, the Icarus), made sure she got
scripts prior to airing so she'd know what was being done, and so on.  The
third book (based on an assigned premise) follows Sinclair to Minbar and
starting up the Rangers, and though I haven't seen the manuscript yet,
it's easily the most comprehensive tie-together of the B5 universe that
I've seen yet.  The second book (this is in order of publication) by Al
Sarrantino is also based on an assigned premise, set on Centauri Prime
around the time of the first 4 episodes of season 4.

In the past, it's been a question of outside writers coming up with a
notion or a scientific idea (expressed poorly or well is a matter of
opinion), and then trying to work that into the arc, or as a stand-alone. 
This time the three books all fit tightly into continuity, and there
aren't any based on goofy nonscience notions.  (The Sarrantino book is a
little off the mark in terms of the way the characters speak, and I sent
it back with some notes, whereas Jeanne's book went back without one
single, solitary note.)  

In the past, the books have been primarily about the guest characters,
since that's what outside writers want to write about, the characters they
introduce.  This time I insisted that our characters had to be at the
*center* of the story, not the periphery.

So overall, these three books are the best, especially Jeanne's.  Now,
based on what went before, you may want to prejudge these.  Such is life. 
But I do object to you smearing Jeanne's ability or accuracy without any
information whatsoever on the content of the writing involved...she spent
a great deal of time researching archaeology and anthropology to use in
the background for Anna and the mission, and I think she's done a bang-up
job.

But like all things B5, the book will stand or fall on its own.  And this
one will stand.  


 jms





Date: 18 Dec 1996 22:49:16 -0500
Subject: From jms re: year 4 or 5 or both

There's been a fair amount of speculation and concern about the fifth
season, and how the story is laying out to handle the possibilities of
renewal vs. no renewal.  Though the ratings have continued to improve
despite the shifts and changes in the syndication marketplace -- it's a
very different market than it was when we first debuted -- nothing is
certain yet about a fifth season.  Some at WB say yes, some say no.  My
job is to pick my way through this minefield and make it all  work, and
assure the story ending where is was meant to end.  So how does one do
this?  

Here's the skinny.

First, you have to understand that writing is a *process*, and that
process is constantly changing.  Ask any writer, and they'll tell you that
many times they've been working on a short story, or a novel, and they
have to edit for space.  This applies to both fiction and nonfiction
writers.  Sometimes it's done by the writer, sometimes by the editor.  On
my second novel, the editor told me at the halfway mark that we'd have to
keep the book down to 100,000 words, which was about 75-100 pages less
than I'd been planning on, so the story had to be adjusted to fit.  As a
journalist, I've often walked into the office with a story in hand and
been told, "Okay, you've got 15 column inches," or 25 column inches, or 10
column inches...and you just learn to write to fit.  Every writer goes
through this.  

And in most cases, the average person never knows.  Done properly, it
should be seamless.  Look at Stephen King's The Stand, cut by almost 25%
by the editors at first, then later released with all the ancillary
material replaced.  I've read both, and the latter is not appreciably
better than the former...if you didn't know the material was there, you
would never have missed it.

This also happens on a per-episode basis.  At LosCon, I showed a finished
scene from 405, and the daily of the master shot of the same scene, which
had another minute or so of material cut from the finished scene.  We cut
material all the time; if you added up all the material cut from the third
season, you'd have enough for almost two episodes.  And we often slide
manterial from one episode into another; we slid Ivanova's scenes in 402
into 403, and another scene from 405 into 406...we've done that in prior
seasons as well.  Sometimes you go back and you *add* material.  Again,
it's all part of the process.

(Interestingly enough, I just bought the new laserdisk of "Young
Frankenstein," which has about 15 minutes of material cut from the movie
for time.  I watched it the other night, and of those 15 minutes, 13 were
easily expendable...only one scene was fairly interesting, but not really
necessary.)

Okay, so how does all this relate to B5?

My obligation as a storyteller is to get to the end of the story in a
satisfying way.  So after we got the year 4 renewal, and knowing that the
PTEN business situation had the potential to impact us (when the network
that supports you is no longer there, so now your entire structure is shot
out from under you...you've got a problem), I looked at the structure for
the story, and began planning adjustments so that it could go either way
without padding anything, and without shortchanging the story.

First thing I did was to flip out the stand-alones, which traditionally
have taken up the first 6 or so episodes of each season; between two
years, that's 12 episodes, over half a season right there.  Then you would
usually get a fair number of additional stand-alones scattered across the
course of the season.  So figure another 3-4 per season, say 8, that's 20
out of 44.  So now you're left with basically 24 episodes to fill out the
main arc of the story.  

Now, that arc is very intensive, and has three primary threads: the
resolution of the Shadow war, the situation regarding Earth, and a series
of smaller sub-threads that feed off those main threads.  But if you
charge right from one to the other, it's going to feel rushed, you're
going to need some breathing room between major movements, particularly
after the shadow war.  Not so much stand-alones as episodes that let you
begin to rearrange your pieces for the next major movement.  So now you're
back up to about 27.  

Okay, so *now* what do you do?  The solution to that came in several
unassociated pieces.  

First came the word of the two B5 TV movies for TNT, which were envisioned
as taking place within the arc of our main story.  Suddenly I had 4 hours
into which I could slide some of this material.  One sub-thread I'd been
planning on was a 3-episode arc that would look at how the Earth/Minbari
War started, and Delenn's situation at the start of the war, joining the
Council, that sort of thing.  Now I was able to split that out.  So in the
series I can, in an episode, get into Delenn's role in the war and go into
the background of how she got to know Dukhat, how she got into the Grey
Council, and so on...all the stuff you'd need to see prior to the war. 
Then the two hours covering the rest, the progress of the war itself,
could be covered in the two-hour movie.

With the *benefit* that we'd have a little more money for the movie than
we would for two conventional hours, so we could do *more* in the way of
EFX, production value, and so on, which you're going to need to really
sell the E/M war.  So strangely enough, and as tends to happen, this has
put us in the position of doing it *better* than if I'd dropped it into
two standard-budget episodes, as was my original plan.

Another sub-thread wouldn't have been introduced until late in year 5, in
part to set up the possibility of a sequel (which, as I've stated from the
very earliest days of the show, was always in the back of my head) and
which would stand on its own in any event; a thread designed to illustrate
the notion that the duration tends to be a lot longer than the war. 
(You'll understand that one later.)  That sub-thread would've filled about
3-4 episodes.

Now, again, having the second 2-hour movie lets me slide that piece of
story into that category and cover nearly all of that ground in doing so. 
The remaining material could (and will, one hopes) be covered in the
actual sequel itself.  (If the sequel never ends up going, the material
will be sufficiently stand-alone to still work on its own.)

Then, finally, you take the stand-alones you pulled out earlier (which
nobody would miss, not knowing what was in them), and the final couple of
sub-threads (not yet introduced or implied in the main series) and slide
them into the sequel series, CRUSADE.

So if we *had* to collapse everything into a fourth year, it would all fit
perfectly.  If word came that there *was* going to be a fifth year, you
commission some scripts early, drop some of the stand-alones back into the
slot, and bring up the sub-threads that would otherwise have been
transferred into the sequel.

Bottom line is...you're covered either way.  You end up where you wanted
to end up, the main threads get dealt with, secondary or tertiary threads
have other venues in which they can be dealt with...you're solid.

There's nothing particularly extraordinary or amazing in this...this is
how all writers work, since there are always going to be varying
constraints in length or venue.  Writing is a process, and that process is
such that it is infinitely variable while still proceeding where you want
it to go.

So that's where I am currently.  If I know the fate of the fifth year by
late February or early March, I can then flip either way and get out
cleanly.  Worst case scenario is that I might have to write alternate
scenes or alternate endings for scenes in the last few episodes if the
word comes much later than that, just to give me the flexibility to adjust
the story in editing, which would definitely take place after we wrapped,
at which time we have to have word by contract.

None of this could've been done in three seasons...we had to have a
minimum of four to give us the flexibility of cutting either way.  There's
no point to reading a book that leaves you hanging for an ending, and B5
was meant to have an ending.  At this juncture, finishing off script 15, I
feel very comfortable with the way all this is laying out.  The flow is
there, and I know we'll get where we need to.  No matter what happens,
we're covered.  We can handle year 5 without padding, and handle year 4
without shortchanging the storyline.  Granted it took only slightly less
planning than the invasion of Normandy, but it works, and that's the
crucial thing.

Anyway...I've gone on for longer than I'd intended.  I hope that this will
answer some of the questions and concerns raised about the situation, and
explains how you do some of the planning for this kind of thing.  Again,
this online experiment is about letting people understand the process of
telling a story like this, and of making a TV show in general.  As I've
noted before, telling a story of this nature for television, with all the
exigencies and real-life surprises involved, is like doing an elaborate
step-dance while people are throwing live chickens and chainsaws at
you...but I knew that would be the situation going in, and it was only a
matter of whether or not the story was worth the grief involved in telling
it.

And it most definitely has been.


 jms






Date: 19 Dec 1996 03:10:34 -0500
Subject: Re: An Open Letter to JMS

And this really isn't about setting records, that ain't the point, only a
byproduct.  The emphasis has to be quality; quantity means nothing if it's
a lot of bad TV.

(If one chooses to really quibble, 92 TZs are mainly half-hours, so you're
looking at about 50 hours, and the number of jms B5's have already
exceeded that number.  But again, this is really a rather silly
discussion.)


 jms





Date: 19 Dec 1996 03:12:00 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS  New sets?

Well, let's see...more Earth sets, a lot of stuff on and in Mars, Minbar,
some more on Narn...we've got quite a few coming, actually.


 jms





Date: 19 Dec 1996 03:30:25 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Viacom on the Rampage

Actually, WB and I have already had discussions about this (along with
John C. and others in B5 production).  What we proposed, because of the
unique relationship between us and the online community, was that WB *not*
go after the fan web pages AS LONG AS they attached the proper copyright
info to any graphics or other material that's owned by WB.  This prevents
the material from falling into the public domain, which is the main
concern here.  (Most folks don't know that you can lose your copyright if
you do not make best, concerted efforts to defend it.)

It's a sane and sensible policy, and thus far it seems to be working.


 jms





Date: 20 Dec 1996 02:52:52 -0500
Subject: Re: Season's Greetings, jms!

"But is there an original holiday greeting which applies to an atheist?"

Yes.  Bah, humbug.

Works for me.

jm(are there no workhouses? are there no prisons?)s


Date: 20 Dec 1996 02:53:54 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS:  Syndication order Q

"Do you folks hand them to them as a package?  Or does WB?  If the former,
will you just hand them everything, as in "here's the show, here's the
listing, here's the order, etc."?"

WB handles all distribution, and they'll be given the airdate schedule,
most likely, and that will become the template.




 jms





Date: 20 Dec 1996 02:55:27 -0500
Subject: Re: From jms re: year 4 or 5 or both

"I for one appreciate your forthrightness, and the insight into how you
handle the writing of such a huge arc-story was fascinating!"

Thanks...again, that's part of the reason for all this, so people can
better understand why things happen the way they happen when making a TV
series.  There's so much misinformation and bad mythology out there...if
this can ameliorate that a bit, all the better.


 jms





Date: 20 Dec 1996 02:57:54 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS:  Chanting for enlightenment

Like most things one writes, the only real answer is, "A little of both." 
One part of your brain says it's nifty, the other part sees the
significance.


 jms





Date: 20 Dec 1996 02:58:52 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN. JMS?? Did Harlan get his silver "5" pin from San Diego?

Yes, I believe I did...though I don't recall his response...they're
utterly gorgeous, though, and I've often worn them.  Thanks again for the
gift, it's lovely.


 jms





Date: 20 Dec 1996 02:56:59 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: What was that? (* FTA Spoilers

The idea was to short out and "crack" the suit, getting the vorlon out, so
the last of Kosh and Lorien and Sheridan could deal with him in a weakened
and more vulnerable state.


 jms





Date: 20 Dec 1996 03:04:51 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS The end

"What this boils down to is... is the ending you invisioned at the start
of Babylon 5 the same today as it was then?"

For the most part, yeah...it's gotten a bit refined over time, the way it
always does the closer you get to it...it's like seeing a mountain from a
great distance, then closing in until you can make out the details.  But
basically, yeah.


 jms





Date: 20 Dec 1996 03:04:08 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS

Nothing is set yet.  See my recent note on this.


 jms





Date: 20 Dec 1996 03:05:17 -0500
Subject: Re: JMS: Fave charities

"I know you don't do Christmas. Any favorite charities you'd like to
encourage fans towards, instead?"

I'd say your local charities should come first: battered women shelters,
AIDS hospices, and the like.  If you need something national, I'd say the
Red Cross, or the Boy's and Girl's Clubs (which kept me off the streets
and out of trouble for more years than I want to think about), or if you
want a good political group, Norman Lear's People for the American Way or
Harry Chapin's World Hunger Year.



 jms





Date: 20 Dec 1996 03:13:09 -0500
Subject: Re: An Open Letter to JMS

"Jerry 'Garibaldi' Doyle (sp) recently stated in an interview that he was
looking to leave mid season this year (season four).  Whether the writer
of the article (the interviewer) made it look like Doyle (sp) was unhappy
or if Mr. Doyle real is unhappy, it came across that way.  He seems to
blame the writing (you in this case) for not developing his character
more.  To add fuel to the fire, the rumor mill has been grinding out that
Bester will be reappearing soon and Doyle's character will be leaving on
the same show.  How do you as the semi-sole writer of the series respond
to an actor who believes that his abilities are not being fully used."

First, I've never seen Jerry say that in print, and he's not leaving
mid-season year 4, and in fact he's had more to do this season than he has
in a long time.  He has a huge arc this season.  B5 is an ensemble show,
so there's always going to be some times when actors get more or less to
do, that's part of the job.  

I commend to you the article that just came out in (you'll pardon the
expression) Starlog this month...it's an interview with Jerry that
addresses all of those points, and disputes all the commentrs you just
made here.  

"If WB in the US wouldn't sell the tapes to us and the UK is selling them.
 Would it be possible to have a studio (anyone who has the equipment) over
here set up to buy the tapes from the UK (which is done on PAL) and pull
them off and record them back on to VHS standard without violating the
copyright laws?"

Nope.

"Rod Sterling and the Twilight Zone will be mark that few writers and even
few producers will ever be able to hit."

It's Rod Serling.  If you're going to use the name, learn how it's spelled
(you got it wrong each time you typed it).  On the matter of script
numbers, I replied to that elsewhere.  On the rest...Rod is one of my
icons, so believe me, I know his work far, far better than most people.  I
have read his original scripts (many not available anywhere but via CBS),
have collaborated with him posthumously on the Twilight Zone v2.5, I know
his wife, Carol, and his neice, Sandi Serling, is one of our publicists. 
Believe me, I know from Serling.  


 jms





Date: 20 Dec 1996 03:15:18 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS:  The Christmas Thing - A Modest Proposal

Thanks, but no, the best gift you can give me is to get involved locally
with the charities and causes that will directly affect your life and the
lives of those around you.  Change the world before someone else does it
for you.


 jms





Date: 22 Dec 1996 22:37:06 -0500
Subject: Re: An Open Letter to JMS, Part #2

"My momentary laspe of mispelling doesn't take away from the fact that the
path now being traveled by JMS was cut by people who came before him. 
Remember that in the early 60's, News shows were from 15 minutes to 30
minutes, your average show was only 30 minutes and no one was doing hour
long SF shows.  RS was on the cutting (bleeding) of writing and networks
were always ready to cut him loose. He didn't have an expensive budget for
FX."

He had an expensive budget for FX *for that time*, not in comparison to
now in terms of dollar-for-dollar.  

And yeah, we all stand on the shoulders of giants...so what's your point? 
Before me there were others, like Rod...and barely preceding Rod there was
Paddy Chayefsky and Reginald Rose and Arch Oboler...and on and on and on.



 jms





Date: 22 Dec 1996 22:38:12 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: TV Rating System (an obvious question)

"What rating will B5 receieve under the new TV Parental Guidelines system?
TV-PG, right?"

I have no idea.  Syndication may not come in for the same hits as the
network shows.  

I favor TV-RFI...TV-RUN FOR IT!


 jms





Date: 23 Dec 1996 17:42:16 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Tnak you for your wonderfull book

Thank you.  I understand that the book is doing extremely well, and the
reaction so far has been very positive.  Thanks again, and good luck.

jms


 jms





Date: 26 Dec 1996 21:10:25 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS Second Favourite show on TV

I'd say probably either X-Files or 60 Minutes, which are starting to
resemble one another more and more these days....


 jms





Date: 26 Dec 1996 21:10:25 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Change of heart regarding the WB Network?

I don't think the WB network is a likely candidate in any event, so it's
kind of a moot point.


 jms





Date: 27 Dec 1996 20:56:04 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: The other door in "Z'Ha'Dum"

In a way, I was going more for the visual, the image...the whole show is a
matter of what door you choose to go through, and the door not taken.  If
you wanted to take the scene *absolutely* literally, then since that room
adjoined Justin's, the shadows were inside.  Or you can take it a little
more metaphorically.


 jms





Date: 27 Dec 1996 21:00:41 -0500
Subject: Re: Joe's Relationship with B5 Viewers

"...do any other producers maintain this level of dialogue with their
viewers?"

None that I'm aware of.  Some maintain a presence on-line on an occasional
basis, or on one or two services, or have someone filter their
messages...but none at this level that I can name.  

"But there must come a point when you turn away from the keyboard and
laugh "it's just a tv show"."

It is...?  Good heavens...then what's that Vorlon doing in the living
room...?




 jms





Date: 27 Dec 1996 20:57:23 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Frightening Speech in Summoning (spoilers for same)

Certainly there will be some people who will wonder exactly the same thing
you do, within the context of the show...and wonder if Sheridan's gone too
far, gotten too messianic in his approach....

Ah, the fun never stops....


 jms





Date: 28 Dec 1996 00:44:48 -0500
Subject: Re: Inquest magazine spoils season 4 title (*spoiler*)

"Into the Fire"

Nope.  That ain't it.

It's the title of a script that nobody's seen yet.



 jms





Date: 28 Dec 1996 04:47:26 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Wanna bet? NO!

Actually, the Star Trek lottery scratchers are already out here in
CA...someone gave me one a few weeks ago, astounded that Trek had now
become part of legalized gambling...but with the ST casino going up in
Vegas, a scratcher doesn't seem like that big a deal.


 jms





Date: 28 Dec 1996 23:21:27 GMT
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Wanna bet? NO!

Actually, the Star Trek lottery scratchers are already out here in
CA...someone gave me one a few weeks ago, astounded that Trek had now
become part of legalized gambling...but with the ST casino going up in
Vegas, a scratcher doesn't seem like that big a deal.


 jms





Date: 28 Dec 1996 23:42:04 -0500
Subject: Re:  ATT:JMS WAS Joe's Relationship with B5 Viewers

"You've said that you're still afraid that you'll give a presentation and
no one will come -- do *you* sometimes go home and think, "Boy, that was a
dumb thing to say", "Geez, I didn't put that at all well" etc.?"

The question is have I ever done a presentation and *not* thought that
afterward.  I invariably will ask someone I know, if present, "Was that
okay?  I really muffed that part before the tape...and I didn't get this
guy's question, but now I see what he was trying to ask now that I'm off
the stage..."  I always have this kind of grunge feeling that I muffed it,
did I provide enough for the people who came all this way...on and on and
on.

So yeah...ALL the time.


 jms





Date: 29 Dec 1996 00:34:48 -0500
Subject: Re:  ATTN JMS: Are B5 crew "Rangers"?

Yes, the second patch on the B5 command staff is a Ranger patch; the
theory is that there's the League/B5 alliance on one side (one patch), the
Minbari and the Rangers on the other (second patch), and the B5 command
staff holding them all together.


 jms





Date: 30 Dec 1996 04:24:31 -0500
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: *only* 3 billion people on Centauri Prime?

Basically, I figured with a culture in decline, often the birth rate goes
down; it's also a fairly small world, all things considered...and a LOT of
them live on other colonies, they've been spreading out a lot longer than
we have...and of course they have always been sensible about birth control
and population growth, one of their few wisdoms, and one we could learn
from.


 jms