lurkers-guide/ftp/Usenet/jms98-02-usenet

JMS (and coproducer George Johnsen) Usenet messages for February 1998.


Date: 2 Feb 1998 09:20:32 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS - TVLNoLM

>You have come so far in the last five years.
>
I do hope so...we've learned a lot doing B5 over the years, and this kind of
intense writing tends to teach you a LOT in a very short amount of time.

>And what's really amazing is I'm pretty sure you're going to top it at 
>some point this year!

Hope so again...that's the other part.  I think we all have to keep challenging
ourselves on a daily basis, or what's the point of going on?

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 2 Feb 1998 09:43:01 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN:  JMS - Medium question

It would've been 'way outside our budget capacity to produce it as an episode.


 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 2 Feb 1998 14:43:44 -0700
Subject: Re: The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari ( *Spoilers* )

























Re: the idea that Londo has "apologized" before....

Remember G'Kar's comment: that in other circumstances, Londo wasn't sorry he
DID it, he was sorry he got CAUGHT.  That was the point of the exercise.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 2 Feb 1998 17:03:24 -0700
Subject: Re: The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari ( *Spoilers* )


Bill is still on the show; there's a bit of a break as his character is off on
anla-shok training, but he does come back, and in fact has a rather substantial
arc of his own at a certain point later in the season.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 3 Feb 1998 09:50:50 -0700
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: Upcoming titles

Yeah, I've used that quote in other places, back to CP days, so it was in the
back of my head.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 3 Feb 1998 09:53:45 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Resolution

>Now that you are in the process of writing the final script, I'd just
>like to ask has the season shaped up the way you wanted it? And will 522
>provide the same sense of resolution that 421 did?

Yes and no...the last part of the season is very tight, 17-19 are very much of
a piece, 20 sets up one final thread, then 21 and 22 are more designed to *lead
up to* the held-over 422.  That's one of the main differences...if it'd aired
at the end of S4, it would've been a bit of a jump, but now can lead up to it
more smoothly.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 3 Feb 1998 09:53:30 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: comment on "TVLNoLM"

Thanks...we're slowly bringing Londo full-circle, and what an odd little voyage
it's been.  And so much sadness yet to come.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 3 Feb 1998 09:53:51 -0700
Subject: Re: Attn: jms  - How was the directing for 517?

Haven't seen the director's cut yet, but Goran did a great job, based on
dailies.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 3 Feb 1998 09:53:59 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS- semi-silly No Comprimises question.

That would be *terribly* self indulgent of me....

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 3 Feb 1998 13:43:14 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: cats, CTS and clubs

>Cats- I've always assumed that you don't like felines but a recent posting 
>made me wonder if maybe you do.  So.... do you like cats?

Absolutely.  But with all cats, it's half affection, half psychological
warfare.  Goes with the turf.

>CTS - are you still suffering? 

It comes and goes.

>Clubs - can members of the UK fan club access "thestation" site?

If by that you mean members in the UK of the B5 official fan club, then yes;
but membership in the UK fan club (a separate organization) is not membership
in the official organization.  But of course anyone can access thestation.com,
it's just that fans get certain areas and discounts others don't.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 4 Feb 1998 00:10:37 -0700
Subject: Re: Attn:JMS Whatever happened to George Johnsen?

George was a NDEI employee who worked with us on Babylon 5, and after spending
4 years of no sleep getting the show together, decided to move on and pursue
other opportunities, of which there are many.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 4 Feb 1998 15:03:26 -0700
Subject: Re: Chrysalis Credits Intact!

TNT has pledged to show one episode per season with out any kind of voice-over
or crunching, as a nod to the fans.  Usually the season ender.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 4 Feb 1998 15:43:27 -0700
Subject: from jms: life meets art?

Check out this site:

http://www.cnn.com/TECH/space/9802/03/holliman/

The photo of Node One, part of Nasa's new space station -- a city in space,
they call it -- looks kinda like B5's core design. 

Just a little frisson...kinda fun.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 4 Feb 1998 15:53:56 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Writing old ST:TOS comics

I was always a fan of the original Trek, and really felt I had a handle on
those characters; always wanted to write for them.  So I managed to talk my way
into the gig.  It'sa favorite of mine, one of the better comics I did.  

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 5 Feb 1998 23:43:13 -0700
Subject: Re: Declaration of Principles -- Spoilers for Paragon of Animals

> No matter the pain
>  No matter the darkness
>  No matter the loss
>  No matter the fear
>We are one, here, gathered together in common cause.
>We agree to recognize this singular truth
>  and this singular rule:

Just a typographical correction: this should be, at the midway point,

No matter the fear:
We are one.
Here, gathered together in common cause,
We agree...(etc)

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 5 Feb 1998 23:59:04 -0700
Subject: Re: from jms: life meets art?

>Seriously, though... if an ant saw Node One, then asked another ant "What
>was that?", what would the second ant say?
>
>
>

RUN FOR IT!

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 6 Feb 1998 07:04:27 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: S5 script writing

Peter and Bill's script didn't work out.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 6 Feb 1998 07:04:20 -0700
Subject: Re: WHERE'S LOCHLEY?

>Still, she's the new captain -- where is she?

Settling in on station stuff...this is all Alliance stuff.  

She'll be in a run of several starting next week.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 6 Feb 1998 07:06:47 -0700
Subject: Re: ATT JMS:  Is Harlan going

While we're not doing the Demon story this season, Harlan has co-story credit
on two episodes this season.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 6 Feb 1998 22:15:53 -0700
Subject: The Paragon of Animals ( *Spoilers* )

Spoilers for The Paragon of Animals

























White Stars are not invulnerable.  If they saw what they were told were a
friendly fleet coming in, to join them in an offense, they would have their
defenses down.  And a full-scale Drazi fleet would also somewhat outnumber the
White Stars.  A Pearl Harbor style attack on White Stars would effectively
decimate the fleet before they would have a chance to respond.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 6 Feb 1998 22:21:45 -0700
Subject: Re: Attn jms : Where is SiL?

>who has the copy of SiL, Warner Brothers, Bab. Productions, or TNT?

To make sure it didn't get out accidentally, we've held onto it, and have not
yet put in the CGI to make sure it didn't get aired by accident.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 7 Feb 1998 10:15:55 -0700
Subject: Re: attn jms:  You've had a lot of fun writing these,

If it weren't fun, wouldn't be no point in doing it....

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 7 Feb 1998 10:16:44 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Last 3 titles

>Now that you have written the last 3 episodes, could you reveal their
>titles?

I could.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 7 Feb 1998 10:17:18 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: How do you feel?

>Now that a major portion of your work
>will be over are you not going to know what to do with all that free time?

What free time?  

>You must feel relieved, sad, euphoric, and proud because that's what you've
>done to me in just the first few episodes this season.  I bet you'll be able
>to identify with how Sinclair would have felt if he'd stayed after year one,
>being outside the action a little more. 

Certainly all those emotions and still others raced through me when I finished
typing the last words of episode 522 a few days ago.  There's no way to
describe it.

>So what's left to do as Executive
>Producer these next few weeks?   

Writing the next 2 movies, to be shot in April/May; doing all the other
production stuff (working with the various departments -- costume, prosthetics,
CGI, sets, directors, actors), post production stuff (doing the editing,
working with the composer on music, others on sound, more CGI, other stuff),
dealing with the mountain of licensing approvals that has piled up on my desk
due to being more interested in the show than that stuff, and (one hopes)
shortly gearing up for Crusade.

Also just had a new 4-hour miniseries that I wrote optioned by a major company.

Other than that, not much going on.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 8 Feb 1998 11:30:24 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS:  Curious phrasing

No, I phrased it that way only because it isn't the last episode of the season,
that's "Sleeping in Light," shot last year.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 9 Feb 1998 09:19:01 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS

>-In season 2, we had all these cool 'exterior' kind of shots into
>Sheridan's Office and Earhart's.  (Ex: the shot of Londo at the window
>of Sheridan's office in "Geo. of Shadows")  What ever happened to them?
>
>

Bottom line...I keep forgetting to write them in.

>-I'm a columbia house guy, collecting all the tapes -I wonder what
>versions of the shows you are using.  For instance, in the US, we lost
>the "Whole Garden Maze" in the ep with Londo and Morden in the Garden.
>Are we gonna get the complete UK version or the US version?

The US version was only for the first airing; all subsequent airings have been
correct, and should be correct here (they told us they burned the incorrect
master...we'll see).

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 9 Feb 1998 09:35:58 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: How do you feel?

>About which, of course, being the modest person you are, you will not tell
>us anything unless we specifically ask.
>
>Hint? Itty bitty spoiler? even an "eep", huh, prettly please, huh? :-)

Because it's based on a true story, and I'd rather not have anyone else jump
the claim here, I'll be quiet for now.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 10 Feb 1998 14:27:29 -0700
Subject: Re: I've got the B5 merchandise blues.


You can also order all this stuff from thestation.com, and we'll get it out
fast.

But I'll send a note to Sonic about your situation.


 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 10 Feb 1998 14:27:49 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: your projectss


>Vocabulary lesson, please.
>"Optioned" means that a major company can make the miniseries, but doesn't
>have to, correct?

An option is the standard protocol in deal making.  It is a fee paid to the
writer allowing the studio or network to hold onto the material while it puts
together the rest of the deal.  Consider it a downpayment.  Once the deal is in
place, the rest of the money follows.  

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 12 Feb 1998 06:30:00 -0700
Subject: A View from the Gallery ( *Spoilers* )

Spoilers for A View from the Gallery

























>In one scene Byron and friends combine to turn away an
>invading soldier, but in another scene Byron alone places images into the
>mind of the maintenance worker, Bo. Why did Byron need help with the
>soldier but not with Bo? 

Because there's a substantial difference in will and intent in making a person
who's come to murder you turn around, and creating a momentary illusion in
someone's head.  It's the degree of effort involved.  

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 14 Feb 1998 09:00:45 -0700
Subject: Re: Attn JMS Gallifrey?

Yeah, I'll be blipping into the Gallifrey convention Sunday afternoon for an
hour-plus presentation and some autographing thereafter.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 14 Feb 1998 09:00:57 -0700
Subject: Re: Lockley's hair   was Re: First Take - A View from the Gallery

Scoggins did exactly what you suggest, Diane.  She figured, "This isn't about
hair."  She was awakened, and had to get to C&C fast, she ain't gonna do her
hair, just ponytail it back.

She didn't realize, in making that choice, that it would make her a) look that
severe in the uniform, since she was still getting used to it, and b) give her
the Ivanova "peanut-head" as she used to call it.  She later realized this was
a bit of an error, and has never done it since.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 14 Feb 1998 09:01:16 -0700
Subject: Re: A View from the Gallery

>Remember, with the gravity produced by the station's
>rotation, portholes must be in the floor.  Hence, in _The Long Dark_,
>Schultz's character appeared to be looking through a floor drain.  For
>Bo and Mack to have looked out the porthole in the lower wall, they must
>have been walking down a rather steep incline.

Nope.

Look carefully at the station.  It is in segments; and at the outer wall of
each of those segments, as with the sanctuary, you can get an outer view.  You
can see the lights from some of these areas that have portholes in the station
when it's dark.  

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 15 Feb 1998 09:42:49 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Claudia line...direct hit! ("AVFtG" spoilers)

Correct;  it was never meant as a shot at Claudia, but rather at the folks out
there whose only interest is in rumors, and starting trouble, and feeding
feuds.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 15 Feb 1998 09:42:59 -0700
Subject: Re: Where is B5 getting all its starfuries/

This issue comes up in about a week.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 17 Feb 1998 22:16:44 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Now that it's all over...

>How do you feel?
>
>

I've felt pretty much everything since finishing 522...but most of all, I guess
I feel relieved that we actually did what we said we were going to do, and went
the distance.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 17 Feb 1998 22:16:59 -0700
Subject: Re: To jms: Babylon 5 and other science fiction shows

>You have mentioned on many occasions
>that one of the things you wanted to do with this show was deviate from
>more "traditional" American science fiction, such as Star Trek. Do you 
>actually not like these shows, or did you just want to make
>something different? 

It's the latter.  To do something differently isn't to say that it wasn't done
right before.  It's not a good/bad issue.  I wanted to do something that
nobody'd done before, in part BECAUSE nobody'd ever done it before...where's
the challenge otherwise?

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 19 Feb 1998 08:42:42 -0700
Subject: Re: Attn. JMS: Many thanks for your help

>Thanks much for helping out with my question a week or two ago regarding
>Sonic Images' customer service.  My friend got his Christmas gift at last,
>with apologies (and a little something extra) from the gang at Sonic Images,
>and justice is done.

I live to serve.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 19 Feb 1998 08:42:50 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS:  No liscensed White Star models?  What's This...?

It is most definitely and emphatically NOT licensed, and NOT official, and
anyone buying this is being ripped off if they are being told otherwise.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 19 Feb 1998 08:43:02 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS Re: TNT Cuts scene from V-in W part 1

Yes, this is true...an engineer punched in the wrong time-code on the act-in.


 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 19 Feb 1998 08:43:12 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS:  The New TNT Movie Story Ideas

They asked what I'd like to do in a couple of movies...I thought about it, and
sent on a couple of brief premises...they read 'em said they loved 'em, and to
go and do.  Creatively, they're leaving us completely on our own, something
we've earned with them.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 20 Feb 1998 13:19:24 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Marcus Cole

There are no current plans for anything further from Marcus this side of the
grave.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 20 Feb 1998 13:21:18 -0700
Subject: Re: Learning Curve ( *Spoilers* )


























> please
>please please don't throw in a typical jelousy-based story line with the
>little woman mad about a prior relationship. Geeeez. 

It's amazing to see how many people (not speaking directly to you, but the
flood of email and public posts on this) who go right for cliche in how
something like this would be handled, and then have jumped to the conclusion
that that's what would be done *here*.

Believe me, that aspect ain't what this thread is about.

jms
 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 22 Feb 1998 01:11:00 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Another Quickie on further TNT movies

Thirdspace is set in the 4th season, about one-third in.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 22 Feb 1998 01:15:23 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: My Take on Season 5

Charles, at risk of being terribly unproducerish...will you for chrsissakes
relax?

Everything you're saying about Lochley here -- and I mean EVERYTHING -- was
said about Claudia Christian when she came on board as Ivanova.  "Oh, she's
wooden, she's trying to hard to be tough, get rid of her and bring back
Takashima."

I told people to give her time, they'd learn that there's more there than meets
the eye.  They said I was making excuses for a poor casting choice.  So let's
all just give the woman and the character a chance, okay?  You've seen her now
in a total of 3 episodes, which were designed to put her toe-to-toe with
Garibaldi.  There's more there.

And yeah, I wanted to give viewers a rest-up for a bit after the excesses of
S4.  Okay, so you can't see where it's going.  That's okay by me (you don't see
the coming telepath situation, for starters?)...people were saying in seasons 1
and most of 2 that they didn't see it then, either...then they saw it when I
chose to let it be seen.  

This year has one of the most intense series of arcs we've ever DONE.  And by
the end of it you'll be happy you HAD these few lighter episodes because I'm
going to kick the crap out of the viewers.  We have not just one, but two and
maybe (depending on how it comes out) three episodes this season I'd put toe to
toe with Coming of Shadows for intensity, for arc, for major shifts.

Further:

People saw "By Any Means Necessary," and said it wasn't an arc episode...it was
just about a strike.  But later, after what came up, this was seen as the FIRST
EPISODE in the real turn-around and reversal of Londo/G'kar...here Londo was
being the bad guy for the first time, and here G'Kar was showing a spiritual
side.  That one episode marked the absolute start of that reversal...which only
became clear well AFTER the fact.  DURING the fact, I had to put up with people
assuming that it had nothing to do with the arc.

How can you say you don't think it's going anywhere when you haven't seen where
it's gone?  

Y'know if I were just an audience member, I'd be sitting back and enjoying this
show and wondering where it's going to go without making judgements based on
ZERO information on where it is or isn't going.  Have you read the scripts?  Do
you know what's in 518?  

Have you seen the shot where a tearful Delenn embraces Londo for what may be
the last time?  Have you seen the phoenix that rises out of Byron's actions? 
Have you heard about the bombing of Psi Corps back home?  Have you seen what's
living under the palace on Centauri Prime?  Have you seen what the regent sees
when he looks up on the very last night of his life?  Have you seen the
terrible darkness that Lennier discovers at the worst possible moment of his
life?  Have you seen the REAL other side of Lyta, and what she can do?  Have
you seen the Drazi homeworld, and the terrible secret they're hiding there?  

Have you?

Because that's only a FRACTION of what is coming this season, the smallest
part.

Maybe you're getting reruns of episodes...I'm getting reruns of comments from
past seasons...which were shown to be wrong then, and they're wrong now.

Let's talk about Season 5 as a whole once you've actually SEEN it, shall we?


 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 22 Feb 1998 23:18:27 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: My Take on Season 5

As long as I'm being unproducerish....

>Still,
>continuity is earned and not promised; it develops organically and not
>merely retrospectively. Insisting that there is an arc on the basis of
>future developments amounts to a cheat, and an embarassing one on the part
>of a writer of JMS's stature.

I'm sorry, but this comment ranks in the top ten percentile of astonishingly
paralogical remarks I've ever seen.  What you're saying here is that the ONLY
thing that constitutes an arc is if the audience sees it before it happens, if
it's told it's there...as opposed to an arc that becomes clear in the light of
FUTURE EVENTS.

But an arc IS A STORY THAT GOES INTO THE FUTURE EVENTS.  That is the very
DEFINITION of it.  How many people here said they started watching B5 in its
first season and didn't know there was an arc until "Signs and Portents?" 
Plenty, I've seen them.  So unless it's *predictible*, unless you've been
briefed ahead of time that something's coming, paying it off in the future,
which is how I'm writing it, doesn't count.

Yes, I referred to future developments because THAT IS WHAT AN ARC IS, future
developments.  

This is the most astonishing conversation I've had on the nets in months.

Excuse me, I think I'll go get a ball peen hammer and bang myself between the
eyes for a couple of hours, it'd be easier and less painful in the long run....


 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 23 Feb 1998 11:45:03 -0700
Subject: Re: Strawmen, irritation with

Russ:

You're setting up just as many strawmen as those you cite.

Basic and fundamental truism: if somebody doesn't like an episode, I'm
absolutely okay with that.  Some episodes, like the Mack and Bo show, the
coming Psi Corps show, Deconstruction, those are written with the full
knowledge that it's going to divide people's opinions.  I *expect* that it'll
be cleanly divided between those who hate it, and those who love it. 

Basic and fundamental truism #2: No show, no single episode, will appeal to
everyone.  It's a bell curve: some at one end will hate it, some at the other
will love it, most will be generally in the middle.  It's if that bell curve
starts to skew one way or the other that you have to watch.

All that I and others have been doing is pointing out realities to those who
have, in essence, said that something isn't there when it is.  How many times
lately have I read, here or on other nets, "Now that we're in reruns we see all
the threads that tied the show together that we didn't see before, all the
foreshadowings of what was to come."  

There's a lot of stuff seeded in these early episodes that will, as with the
first several seasons, be more apparent in retrospect.  That's ALWAYS been the
case with B5.  

I'm also trying to provide a historical perspective.  People jump on Lochley
saying she's wooden (meaning she doesn't overact and chew the scenery as with
so much of what passes for TV acting)...and preferring Ivanova...completely
forgetting that for most of the first season, and then some, people were
complaining that Ivanova was wooden, they didn't like her Russian accent (which
she didn't even have), they said "dump her."  They did the same thing with Vir.
 "Flounder in space!  Throw him out an airlock."

Then, later, as the characters continue on, the opinions change.  This has been
the pattern from the very first day of this show.  I see nothing wrong with
noting this.  If it's proper to critique the show, and it is, good or bad, why
is it bad to critique the criticisms and bring a historical perspective to the
discussion?

Look...if somebody doesn't like an episode, I'm fine with that, always have
been.  It's when it enters into the sweeping generalizations category,
paralogia or downright silliness about the season as a whole, which nobody's
seen yet, that I finally have to say "c'mon..."

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 24 Feb 1998 11:34:41 -0700
Subject: Re: To jms: Babylon 5 and other science fiction shows


I've actually heard from some other folks on other SF style shows that our
tendency to push things has make it a bit easier for them to get tougher
stories through.  This is a Good Thing.  The more quality SF series, the better
for everybody.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 24 Feb 1998 11:43:25 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS - Seven Days In May and the Earth arc


Thanks...Seven Days in May is an excellent movie, one of several that, if I'm
channel-surfing and come across, I can't *not* watch it.  They did a more
recent version of it for cable -- HBO, I think -- but the original will always
be my favorite.  

And yeah, Rod had an amazing way with words...still holds me in awe.

BTW, if you liked that one, I commend Fail Safe to you as well as The
Manchurian Candidate.  

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 24 Feb 1998 11:43:47 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: What are you hiding?


> WHAT ARE YOU HIDING?

That would be telling.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 24 Feb 1998 11:43:57 -0700
Subject: Re: Attn: JMS:  Silly questions


>- My husband wants to know if there are really 10 Zathrai, or whether it is
>just one that has been time travelling *way* too much.

Yes, there are ten Zathri...despite the restraining order.

>- I was wondering if you could explain a bit more about how you manage to do
>things like bring in new major characters. You have said that you know what
>threads need to be continued somehow, so I imagine you start with that.
>What
>needs to be accomplished and can any of the regulars take that over? If not,
>I
>picture in my mind your going to the B5 universe and saying " I need someone
>who can, for example, run the station, keep the major characters on their
>toes
>and handle emergencies with minimal violence - who do we have that can handle
>it?" Then a few people show up and you pick the one that suits your needs
>best.

That comes pretty close...it's a matter of looking at the logistics and
backgrounds of people and, if a thread has to be adjusted ("What do you MEAN
Wayne Alexander just got hit by an asteroid?!) you look at the next logical
person in the show whom you can then beat up even further.  

It's not quite "one of you step forward," but it's close.

And sometimes it's a situation where you know that actor X hasn't had as much
to do as might've been the case, and an opening in thread A lets you do more
with that person.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 24 Feb 1998 11:44:07 -0700
Subject: Re: Very Interesting Experiment/Suggestion


What the experiment also does, which you touch on, is to show how changing an
angle on an actor, making it a close-up rather than a long shot, can make the
scene more or less dynamic...how you can get out of scenes earlier than in the
first version, and thus pick up the pace.  

It is, as you say, most educational.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 25 Feb 1998 14:06:29 -0700
Subject: Re: attn. jms: one pass viewing or 2 pass?

>When you write the episodes with foreshadowing and other such puzzle
>pieces to be clarified later, do you do so with the intent of the viewer
>watching reruns of old episodes on a second pass and seeing how all the
>pieces fit together, or do you write with the intent of the first
>viewing pass, with the foreshadowing  having more of a subliminal effect
>preparing for the further denouement? You couldn't have known that TNT
>was going to pick up the show and run all the back episodes could you? 
>
>
Whether it was TNT or someone else, it was inevitable that someone would pick
up the reruns of the show; so I put stuff in to work both ways, as
foreshadowing, and things you could pick up on later, on re-viewing, that
suddenly jump out at you.  

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 26 Feb 1998 15:47:31 -0700
Subject: Re: Attn:  JMS - History - Season 5 spoiler (sort of)

>Will we get to learn more about the history between Byron and Bester?
>
>

A-yup.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 26 Feb 1998 15:47:41 -0700
Subject: Re: Nothing in this place is as it appears.

>But then again, he could be the cigar who's just a cigar.

I thin Corwin's more of a tiparillo....


 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 27 Feb 1998 00:55:15 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: SR song

No, I came up with that song for the episode, and designed it to sound like any
of a zillion other such songs out there, so it'd sound familiar.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

Date: 28 Feb 1998 18:12:08 -0700
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: When is the final day?


>1. When is the final day of Season 5 shooting?
>
It's either March 20th or 21st, I forget....

>2. If the existing B5 cast is appearing in the currently planned movies,
>when are they scheduled to finish shooting?

We'll likely shoot in April through May.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com