lurkers-guide/ftp/Usenet/jms98-05-usenet

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


Date: 1 May 1998 07:01:13 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS  Big Screen Directors?

I wouldn't want to say anything on this issue that might preclude any
discussions; everything is fluid at this time, since nothing is set.

 jms

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

Date: 1 May 1998 07:06:35 -0600
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: Did cast changes have a real impact in the arc?

No disrespect intended, but I have answered this question about as many times
as I intend to.

 jms

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

Date: 3 May 1998 12:17:48 -0600
Subject: jms at MIT Monday

For those in the Boston area, I'll be speaking at MIT this Monday (the 4th)
from 7-10 p.m.

 jms

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

Date: 3 May 1998 12:43:04 -0600
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: Did cast changes have a real impact in the arc?

>No problem at all.  Most of us (who count ourselves as fans) won't consider
>your answers to be evasive.  However, in light of our perception of "The
>Business", I pray you'll forgive us our cynicism.  Just please don't be put
>of by our perceptiveness.

You don't seem to understand the issue here.

Practically every person who gets on and finds this group (or others like it)
believes he or she is the first to ask a given question.  I have now answered
this question, in stultifying detail, at least two dozen times by now, and it's
all in the faq files and on the lurker's guide and elsewhere.  Why should your
cynicism compel me to retype again what I've already typed 24 times before? 
The implication seems to be that your time is worth more than the time required
to look it up in the faq file or the lurker's guide, but my time is such that I
*must* repost the info for the 25th time or somehow appear suspect.

I suggest you get your priorities straight.

 jms

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

Date: 5 May 1998 11:06:41 -0600
Subject: Re: Attn. JMS.  I quoted you in a sermon.

Very cool....

 jms

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

Date: 6 May 1998 07:28:24 -0600
Subject: Re: JMS: Year 5: To Arc or Not to Arc?

This was always a five year story.  All I did was move 4 episodes out of season
5 into season 4 so we could close up the Earth Civil War story and provide
closure to that part of it if there wasn't a season 5, isolating what was to be
in 5 a bit.

Once we got the go ahead for S5, I knew that this might be my last chance to
experiment without anyone looking over my shoulder, in case Crusade didn't go
and I ended up back at one of the networks (where intrusion and formula is the
key).  I wanted to do off-format shows like The Long Night of Londo Mollari,
and The Corps is Mother, and A View from the Gallery.  

The ony way a writer learns is to try new things, and take the parts that work
and add them to his toolbox.  I saw here some opportunities to experiment, to
try new things, to mess with the format...to change the show, and the show is
ABOUT change.  So I did so, and I'd do it again.

There's always ALWAYS been a lull between major arcs in the show.  Always.  You
need it in particular when you go to a daily strip syndication situation, for
pacing.  The problem is that on the one hand you have a lot of adrenaline
junkies who think that unless there's a whole lot of stuff blowing up nothing's
happening, and those who think that unless they know in advance that this is an
arc episode, it's not an arc episode...unless you telegraph it literally and
hugely they dismiss it.  

These are the same yahoos who were saying in year 1 that there was no arc at
all, kept saying it right up until Signs and Portents, when finally I whacked
them hard enough that even they could see it...and then, on the reruns on TNT,
are now saying that the pieces were all there from the very, very start, they
just didn't see them before.  

And they're falling for the same thing again.  

Without what's going on in the first half of the season, the major stuff that
happens in the second half of the season won't matter, wouldn't play as well,
and wouldn't have the same impact.  They are part and parcel.  This was what I
wanted to do with the fifth season, this is precisely what I worked out, and
once again it has to do with process, and change, and how one new set of events
rises out of the ashes of the last one.

So basically, my reply to the hysterics and the whiners is this: when this
season is over, and you see how it all lays out...then we'll talk.  To say it
ain't there before you know what's there, before you see the connections, is
just plain stupid, and if they can complain to me about no arc, I can complain
about their shortsightedness.

Frankly, the remaining episodes of this season represent some of the very best
work we've ever done, maybe even the best work we've done, but they wouldn't
have NEARLY the impact they will have if we hadn't done what was done in the
first half of this season.

 jms

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

Date: 9 May 1998 14:18:10 -0600
Subject: Re: JMS Convention Schedule ATTN:JMS

No, I'm still planning to attend the Calgary convention.

 jms

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

Date: 9 May 1998 14:18:55 -0600
Subject: Claudia Confirms She Quit

To those folks who have been ragging on me when I said that Claudia was the one
who quit the show, that she was NOT fired, and calling into question my honesty
and my forthrightness...I point you toward the Summer issue of Sci Fi Invasion,
containing an interview with Claudia wherein she confirms, point blank, without
equivocation, that she quit the show.  

I would hope these same individuals would now have the spine to apologize, but
I very much doubt it.


 jms

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

Date: 10 May 1998 14:34:44 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Questions about Crusade Casting

Though nothing has been set yet about Crusade, I would expect at least guest
appearances by some or many of our previous B5 cast here and there.

>P.S. About Garibaldi...havent you had enough fun with him? 

Not by half.

 jms

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

Date: 10 May 1998 14:35:02 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Time Warners Synchronicity

> To make the experience of viewing TNT programming
>less painful for your fans, have you considered writing some
>storylines for TNT Monday Nitro?  TKO was considered a less-
>successful episode -- could you "redeem" yourself here?

>The wrestler Sting appears to be a Crow knock-off.  Are you open to the
>possibility of professional wrestlers dressing as Narns or Minbari?
>How about the Nitro Fly Girls dressed as Centauri slaves?  I think
>someone wrestling in a Vorlon encounter suit would be interesting.
>
>

So...have the drugs worn off, or are they just kicking in...?

 jms

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

Date: 10 May 1998 14:35:09 -0600
Subject: Re: Finishing book 9, are there anyothers?

Del Rey Books will be coming out with a novelization of ThirdSpace in a little
bit (also by Peter David), Yvonne Navarro has just started working on the
novelization of The River of Souls, and John Gregory Keyes is doing the first
planned original B5 trilogy around the birth of the Psi Corps (it covers about
100 years), based on my outlines.  More are also in the works, including
another trilogy based on the fall of Centauri Prime.

 jms

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

Date: 10 May 1998 14:35:31 -0600
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: Media blitz for end of series?

I don't know, no one's said anything to me about it yet, but it's a bit early
for that.

Personally, I think that a build-up to the end of the show would be great,
although "Sleeping in Light" isn't exactly a big-bang lots of explosions kind
of episode, so it might not be as promotable in that sense.

 jms

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

Date: 10 May 1998 14:35:23 -0600
Subject: Re: A message for JMS on usenet

It's a good idea...but River and Sleeping are very different in tone and
attitude, and frankly, putting them together would work to de-emphasize certain
special aspects of both.  And Sleeping, as the culmination of the 5 year story,
really does merit a night of its own.  And as I look at that story, I think
that the Wednesday before Thanksgiving may actually be the perfect time for it.

 jms

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

Date: 10 May 1998 14:35:43 -0600
Subject: Re: article on JMS's MIT visit

>Occurs to me that I can't think of a current scifi show that does. Nope.
>Thinking about no scifi show currently in production has "cute kids and
>robts as regulars." It's pretty wierd that JMS empahsizes this when it is
>true of every show on the air. Even the ones that are worse than B5 has ever
>been.

Sisko's kid son in Deep Space Nine, and the Ferengi kid in the same series.

That's two kids in the same show.

Maybe the problem is not in the proposition as advanced, but rather in your
thinking.  

 jms

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

Date: 11 May 1998 09:47:49 -0600
Subject: Re: a message to JMS

>Anyway, I home school and my mom wanted me to write this. What she wanted
>me to ask is why you like the poem Ulysses. Sinclair quoted it twice in the
>show and I read it was a favorite of yours.

Poems -- any incarnation of the writen word, really -- speak to us at various
points in our lives, and at different ages we derive different things from
them, meanings and subtleties and subtexts that we did not perceive before, but
which become apparent as new layers are added to us.  It's not that the work is
different, it's that we change and are able to see more in it.

Ulysses was always a poem that spoke profoundly to me of new beginings and of
endings, and of the ways in which we can, and perhaps should, face them...the
stubborn nobility of the human spirit that does not surrender despite pain and
overwhelming odds and the infirmity of age.  It is, at its heart, a *brave*
poem, and it stirs me like little else.

>Oh yeah, I also wanted to ask if you like comics, and if you do, which
>ones?

I've kind of gotten out of the comics habit lately, mainly because I've been
busy, and for a while comics kind of went south, the writing was falling apart.
 Now there's some good stuff being done, the Uncle Sam miniseries from DC, I'm
also intrigued by what they're doing in the new approach to Superman (using
many of the classic allusions and structures), and the new (to me) Martha
Washington books from Gibbons and Miller, and the new Mage book from Matt
Wagner, who has always been one of my favorite writers.  I think things are
starting to look up again a bit for comics.

 jms

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

Date: 11 May 1998 09:48:18 -0600
Subject: Re: Claudia Confirms She Quit

>My
>question is Did she quit after the "Marcus sacrificing himself to save her"
>part was filmed?  

Yes.  It was after all the season 4 episodes had been filmed.

 jms

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

Date: 11 May 1998 09:48:43 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN jms: Idees Fixes (was: Claudia Confirms She Quit)

>... and you'd think the new photos of the Cydonia region from the Mars
>Surveyor might lay to rest the stories about the face/city/pyramids that
>sprung up from the Viking photos. 

Difference is this time we have a note from the Cydonia equivilent stating the
unequivocal truth here.  If we sent a camera over Mars and there was a big huge
5 mile long sign saying IT AIN'T A FACE, OKAY, IT'S JUST A DUMP FOR OUR OLD
PEPSI CANS, I think that would go a long ways toward resolving the situation.

>Can you tell us whether we'll find out more about the Fourth Question
>   in the next group of episodes? or do we have to wait until the ones
>   being held back for fall are aired?

It's in the last batch.

 jms

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

Date: 12 May 1998 08:17:35 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS:  Landing on your feet


Some of it's landing on your feet, some of it is a conscious decision from day
one to allow the random incidents of real life to affect the show, whether it's
an actor leaving, someone breaking a leg, whatever.  It adds a sense of
realism, rather than recasting or just ignoring the situation.  It's a
challenge, no mistake, but it leads in some very cool directions.

 jms

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

Date: 12 May 1998 08:17:44 -0600
Subject: Re: Comments of New Fan since TNT Aired B5


Thanks, and like you, I look forward to the next bunch of guys who'll take what
we did, and do it better.

(And with any luck, it'll be us.  But I'm okay with it even if it's somebody
else.)

 jms

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

Date: 12 May 1998 08:33:00 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Questions about Crusade Casting


>The no-B5-regulars-in-crusade demand was made by TNT.  Someone said that
>Bruce Boxleitner made some *choice* comments about that but I dont know
>about that part for sure.
>But im pretty sure JMS confirmed the TNT part of
>it.  Check with Lurkers because something was put up on the nwes or crusade
>guide page about it.  Again, I think JMS said something but I cant remember
>if I found it here or elsewhere.

Absolutely, positively untrue.

 jms

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

Date: 12 May 1998 09:26:41 -0600
Subject: Re: Crusade: A Fiscal Repackaging of B5


You are obviously posting this to try and throw back my words at me about DS9,
made several years ago, being without any new vision behind it.  Because that's
all you're really capable of, trying to come up with new cheap shots.

My message at the time dealt specifically with a context which you ignore: TNG
was created by Gene Roddenberry (with some considerable help from David
Gerrold); those who followed then took those elements and repackaged them into
DS9 without actually *inventing* much: it was all made by someone else with a
vision (Roddenberry, who also had the original ST vision).

It was a new show, but not a new vision, because that vision was created before
then, by others.  Hence, my comments at that time.

In this case, the person who created the original vision of the Babylon 5
universe (which would be me) is still alive.

That's why the context in such a discussion is everything; the single message
from me out of the context of the whole discussion results in missing the
entire point: my feeling at that time that those making DS9 didn't bring much
new to that show that was not created by others, who were no longer alive.

And by the way, if you're going to steal my words, and put them in your message
(while twisting the context) and pretend that they're your own, that's called
plagiarism.

Why don't you just give it a rest, Cronan?  And by the way, why don't you post
your real name some time?  You sit there and snipe from the shadows constantly,
attacking me and others in this forum, many of whose names are known...it takes
a certain kind of coward to do this kind of crap from behind the safety of
anonymity.  If you feel so strongly about your opinions, which you shove around
as if they mattered, then you should be prepared to stand behind them.  You
search out my posts by my name and twist them around, why not give us the same
luxury by giving us your real name?

Either you believe in the rightness of your opinions, in which case you should
have no problem standing behind them, or you do not, in which case you are a
coward.  Which is it?

 jms

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

Date: 12 May 1998 09:34:18 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Feeling Delphic?


I've said plenty about what's coming...now it's time to let the episodes speak
for themselves.

 jms

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

Date: 12 May 1998 09:34:34 -0600
Subject: TV Guide Vote


For anyone interested, TV Guide is doing a poll about departing shows.  It's
over at:

http://www.tvgen.com/farewell98/vote.htm


 jms

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

Date: 12 May 1998 11:57:02 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS:  Film vs. Video

Videotape is always cheaper than film, but looks flatter, so you only use it
when you want to create a sense of a different kind of image or processing
system, or to give some things a sense of immediacy.  The physical production
requirements are about the same for film or video.

 jms

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

Date: 12 May 1998 12:00:28 -0600
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: A great cascade of words

"Of course everything has already been said.  But since no one was listening,
we must begin again."  I don't recall the source of the quote offhand, but it
applies here.

There are billions of published words out there.  But no two people put them
together in the same way.  That's the important difference.  You can't measure
yourself against others in that respect; you can only figure out what you want
to say.  If you say it interestingly, others will read it; if not, not.

 jms

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

Date: 12 May 1998 15:07:02 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS  Babylon 5 Models

I understand that Revell will be doing more beyond this, so this may become a
big area for them.  To get a license, you have to have both the manufacturing
and distribution capability to make it worth WB's while.

 jms

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

Date: 12 May 1998 15:09:24 -0600
Subject: Good Schedule News

For starters, for those who haven't heard yet, there are 4 new episodes to air
starting May 27th.  They culminate in a hell of a dilemma at the end of the
four, and in many ways they are the first four in a five parter.  

The airing of The River of Souls has been pushed up to November 8th to allow it
and Sleeping in Light (November 25th) to be given more individual attention and
special promotion by TNT, so one won't get lost in the other.  It also means
less of a wait.

Also, when TNT starts rebroadcasting the whole 5th season starting the first
week of July, that will correspond with their debut of their new satellite
system, which will allow same-time broadcasts for both coasts...meaning the
fifth season episodes will be on at 8 p.m. on both coasts...AND they're adding
an 11 p.m. rebroadcast the same day to give folks the most flexibility with the
show, something that many of you have asked for.

TNT has been listening.

 jms

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

Date: 12 May 1998 15:12:25 -0600
Subject: Re: Crusade: A Fiscal Repackaging of B5

Another flaw in this argument -- other than the fact that Cronan totally misses
the point of the entire original message of mine he took as his own and
misappropriated, because it is in his vested INTERESTS to miss the point -- is
that in point of fact, Crusade is going to cost MORE than B5.  DS9 was planned
to cost less than TNG going in, that was one of the points at hand (whether or
not it actually did cost less, I don't know, but that was the apparent intent).

The first year budget on Crusade is substantially more than for B5's last
season, and all the previous seasons (and we're going back to a 7 day shooting
schedule), because in this case we're going to a lot of new alien worlds and
locations, and that costs more.  So the premise of doing another show because
it wiil cost less is invalid on the face of it.

Not that matters to Cronan, because nothing matters to Cronan other than Cronan
and his obsession with riding this show and looking for any possible
opportunity to rag on it, me, and those who enjoy it.  

It's getting old, Cronan (or whatever your real name is).  I don't know what
your problem is, but get over it.  

 jms

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

Date: 12 May 1998 18:01:22 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: LA OR NOT (OFF-TOPIC?)

For TV you have to live in LA; for films, you can go in and out.

 jms

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

Date: 12 May 1998 20:52:34 -0600
Subject: Re: Crusade: A Fiscal Repackaging of B5

There is no point in replying further to you, Cronan, because the replies would
mean nothing to you because you don't care about the content of the replies. 
You say that you're here as a fan of the show, but in fact in the unmoderated
group you've been ragging on B5 and its fans and jumping in with Holland and
Theron and Ford and the rest of the dysfunctional gang over there for a long
time before you decided to stick your snout in here. 

You don't care about a reasoned discussion, you don't want a reasoned
discussion, you're here simply to troll, to get a rise out of people, myself
included.  

Since you found it amusing to call up my own post, I decided to pull out your
public replies from the unmoderated group concerning all this.  Do we see here
the comments of someone generally concerned abou the show?  Or do we see here
someone who is enjoying getting a rise out of people, someone who is doing this
only to cause upset?

I quote (the non-bracketed comments are your own words:
*********
>But look at all the willing little fishes, with their open gulping mouths!

Silly boy.

>Personally, I would have avoided introducing any "new" words of my own into
>JMS', just to keep it purer, for a stronger backlash when the critics come
>snarling along behind.  But that's just me, and you do P&SC better than I
>ever could.

If I didn't do Cronan and you didn't do Infinity then we'd have serious
problems, wouldn't we. 

>But look at all the willing little fishes, with their open gulping
mouths!

You people are out to embarass me.

> ...why no AFT-S cross, you poop?  Was it something I said?  ;-)

Well this wasn't the kind of thing that you usually goes to AFT-S...
it is funnier than I'd hoped, BTW.

*********

You think it's funny.  You enjoy that your comments get these sorts of
reactions from the "little fishes."  You say you're being quite open here about
who you are, that it has nothing to do with your comments...and then you say
that if you "didn't DO Cronan" you'd have serious problems.  Hardly the sort of
thing one says about one's own name now is it?  I find that a very interesting
statement, and a telling contradiction.

A fan of the show?  No.  A troll?  Yes.  

And I have far more interesting things to do with my life than deal with
trolls.  Go find another target, Cronan.  I'm not buying, and I'm not  playing.

 jms

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

Date: 14 May 1998 10:19:54 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: LA OR NOT (OFF-TOPIC?)

>> For TV you have to live in LA; for films, you can go in and out.
>
>For *United States*-oriented TV, maybe.
>
>For example, things have improved in Toronto since your last visit here.

Yes, well, when the person asked about LA, I assumed they were interested in
matters pertaining to the United States.

 jms

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

Date: 14 May 1998 10:47:18 -0600
Subject: Re: Fed up with S5 naysayers

Bottom line for me is, I don't shy away from criticism.  Frankly, the things
I've said about my own episodes have often been harsher than anything anyone
else has ever said or will ever say.

But what you have to be careful about is this kind of statement:

>Was the fiasco known as A View from the Gallery planned well in
>advance?  I hope not.  I prefer to consider it the result of being in
>a rush to complete the writing for the season.  At best, maybe an idea
>that sounded good at the time (and it was a damn good idea), that,
>like Grey 17, just didn't get pulled off.

This comes under the heading of "In my opinion."  All too often these things
are stated as *facts*, which they are not, rather than *opinions*, which is
what they are.  In point of fact, there are a LOT of people who enjoyed AVFTG
enormously, some even considering it the best of the last year or so.  (In
fact, interestingly enough, the British fans seemed to have across the board
liked it far more than the US fans...I'm still parsing that one to figure out
why...and many of them can't figure out why some folks here had such a
reaction.)

Anyone who has ever been involved with a writing workshop knows that there is a
difference between constructive criticism and destructive criticism.  The main
difference is the person who says "This sucks," rather than saying "This is why
this story didn't work for me."  The former is a unilateral statement that does
not allow for anyone else to hold different viewpoints; the latter allows you
to more constructively address the elements that didn't work for you, and may
not work for others.

You didn't like View.  Fair enough.  I loved it, and still do, and many others
do.  Also fair enough.  Doesn't mean it's bad, doesn't mean it's good.  Either
way, it's precisely what I wanted to write, and in this show, I write what I
want, what I enjoy, what I want to see.  If enough others like it that we stay
on the air, then I'm doing it sufficiently well; if not, not.

 jms

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

Date: 14 May 1998 11:04:35 -0600
Subject: Re: *S5 Spoilers* What is the proper order of "DotD"?


It was originally intended to be set after "Phoenix Rising."

 jms

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

Date: 14 May 1998 11:12:57 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: A follow-up question to "A Defining Moment"


>Which scene, which line or which moment tears your heart out emotionally or
>otherwise affects you as powerfully? Or is it yet to come in the remaining
>episodes?
>
>
It's yet to come.

 jms

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

Date: 15 May 1998 00:09:25 -0600
Subject: Re: JMS: Question on a convention

The primary folks running the Voice of the Resistance con are the same ones
behind the Wolf conventions, which I'm actively boycotting until a) I hear from
the fans that the way fans are treated there has improved, and b) until I get
the promised accouting from the two conventions I attended, both of which were
supposed to turn over the profits to local charities, both of whom were
supposed to provide accountings when requested, neither of which has yet been
done.  I want to be sure that the funds raised went where they were intended,
in the full amounts.

 jms

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

Date: 15 May 1998 00:13:42 -0600
Subject: Re: Attn: JMS: Crusade and Lip Gloss

I agree, and this is something we try to watch, to keep the show looking
properly military, and not fall into cliche.  We'll definitely continue trying
to do this in future with Crusade.

 jms

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





From zofran@deepthot.ml.org Fri May 15 00:07:36 1998
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Subject: You have my support!
Subject: You have my support!
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From: zofran@deepthot.ml.org


Agreement.

-Simo Aaltonen


From zofran@deepthot.ml.org Fri May 15 00:07:40 1998
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To: b5mod-moderate@deepthot.ml.org
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Subject: OT:  Words to live by
Subject: OT:  Words to live by
Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 14:24:58 -0400
Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 14:24:58 -0400
Organization: Wayne State University
Lines: 48
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From: zofran@deepthot.ml.org

One of my favorite great makers of a century past
had these things to say that give me a reality 
check when I need it.  And I think we need it here.

Oscar Wilde (alledgedly) said:

"The truth is rarely plain and never simple."

"There is no sin except stupidity."

"Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things
are corrupt without being charming.  This is a fault."

"The well-bred contradict other people.  
The wise contradict themselves."

"It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. 
People are either charming or tedious."

"It is only the intellectually lost who
ever argue."

"All art is quite useless."

"We teach people how to remember, 
we never teach them how to grow.

"Life is far too important to be taken seriously."

And, of course:

Custom's Agent:  Do you have anything to declare?
Oscar Wilde:  Only my genious.

Rebo's definitely got a good taste for his 
quotations.

-- 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
  Kathryn L. Morton            k.morton@wayne.edu    
  Enrollment Systems                  
  Wayne State University
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++    
    All of us live in the gutter,    
    but some of us are looking at the stars.	            
				                                                     
				-Oscar Wilde	                                        
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


From zofran@deepthot.ml.org Fri May 15 00:07:47 1998
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Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com
References: <6jcuqo$616$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>
Subject: Re: Attn: JMS: Crusade and Lip Gloss
Subject: Re: Attn: JMS: Crusade and Lip Gloss
Orig-From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5)
From: zofran@deepthot.ml.org

I agree, and this is something we try to watch, to keep the show looking
properly military, and not fall into cliche.  We'll definitely continue trying
to do this in future with Crusade.

 jms

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





From zofran@deepthot.ml.org Fri May 15 00:07:50 1998
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References: <6j07vj$8au@bgtnsc03.worldnet.att.net> 
    <1998051001252400.VAA28635@ladder01.news.aol.com>
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Questions about Crusade Casting
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Questions about Crusade Casting
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 19:21:46 -0400
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 19:21:46 -0400
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From: zofran@deepthot.ml.org


Diane K De wrote in message
>When did JMS say THAT?  To my knowledge he has never said such a thing.
Where
>does this stuff come from.
>
>>That
>>said, could someone please tell me if Jason Cartier's Departure from the
>>show was on good terms.  If so, is he willing to do (or has he done if Ne1
>>knows) Guest appearences on B5 or Crusade.

I spent two days with Jason at the Pittsburgh Comicon. (Time with him is a
real experience) ;)  He always corrects people when they say his character
is dead.  Marcus gave his life-force for Ivanova and was subsequently frozen
in Medlab.

I don't think he's too happy about it, but he seems to understand that's the
way things were going to be.  He did joke about how in the future, JMS is
going to let everyone go and play every part in the Babylon 5 series
himself.

Funny guy, he said that his two sons in England are big Star Trek fans.  I
don't think that he's kept up with the show since he's left, but if Marcus
ever returns I don't he would have either.

Bob Barker




From zofran@deepthot.ml.org Fri May 15 00:07:55 1998
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Date: 14 May 1998 00:39:50 GMT
Date: 14 May 1998 00:39:50 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
To: b5mod-moderate@deepthot.ml.org
Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com
References: <35572250.60A44BF4@mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: Season 5 so far(minimum spoilers)
Subject: Re: Season 5 so far(minimum spoilers)
Orig-From: alisane@aol.com (Alisane)
From: zofran@deepthot.ml.org

<<Subject: Re: Season 5 so far(minimum spoilers)
From: Susan Phillips <vampry@mindspring.com>
Date: 5/11/98 9:38 PM US Eastern Standard Time
Date: 5/11/98 9:38 PM US Eastern Standard Time
Message-id: <35572250.60A44BF4@mindspring.com>

I really don't know why I bother except that I care for the show so
much.

I still cannot understand how someone, anyone, can take a part of a
whole and decide that the whole is bad because that part is.  If you
find part of an apple with a worm in it, do you get rid of the whole
apple?  (I try not to, myself...but perhaps that is just me.)

No, not every episode of season 5 has been slam bang whizzo!

But that's no reason to conclude that the rest of the season will be
bad.  It's also no reason to keep harping on the fact that *you* (and
I'm using this in the general, not the specific) don't like the season. 
You don't.  Okay.  

I do.

There are things coming up, I'm sure, that will knock people's socks
off.  Too, this is a whole different type of show.  Personally, I'm
applauding JMS for taking risks.  Not all of them succeed but that's the
nature of risks, isn't it?

Sue>>

To pick a nit, the only "you" that said the season was 'shite' because of the
bad eps is Cronan.  Others, myself included, have expressed concern/criticism
about the content of some of the eps in S5 based on literary, technical, and
artistic observations.  I don't think anyone besides Cronan has stated that
they didn't like the season, merely that they were mildly disappointed that it
did not seem to contain the same amount of attention to artistic detail that
most of the rest of the series has.  NOONE has said anything about them not
containing arc and therefore being bad.  If you examine the criticism/critiques
in the light they were offered, perhaps you will see that it is because we DO
care that we make them.  I personally LOVE B5 be it S1 or S5. I just know it
might have been just a wee bit better, but the nature of producing  a series is
enough of a challenge for even the best. Producing and writing is an
increadibly herculean effort.  I have nothing but admiration for anyone who
tries, and nearly religious awe for anyone who suceeds like JMS has. This fact
does not blind me to minor flaws, however much I may admire JMS and his series.

Alisane the InSane


From zofran@deepthot.ml.org Fri May 15 00:07:58 1998
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To: b5mod-moderate@deepthot.ml.org
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Subject: Re: Good Schedule News
Subject: Re: Good Schedule News
Date: 14 May 1998 12:42:26 -0400
Date: 14 May 1998 12:42:26 -0400
Organization: Shore.Net/Eco Software, Inc; (info@shore.net)
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    <6jb147$4mb@bgtnsc01.worldnet.att.net> <355A2BDF.674506F4@ibm.net>
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Orig-From: Adina Adler <adina@shell3.shore.net>
From: zofran@deepthot.ml.org

John W Kennedy <jwkenne@ibm.net> writes:
> Bob MacAdu wrote:
> > 
> > Jms at B5 wrote:
> > >
> > > TNT has been listening.
> > >
> > 
> > To what? The bitter hostility of the fans - ie the people they lied to
> > when they said they *cared* about this show and that they would run all
> > 22 episodes of S5 without a break? Hardly.
> 
> They never said that.  JMS said once that someone from TNT said that
> they hoped they could do that.  Somehow that little story has expanded
> into an oath sworn on the True Cross by Ted Turner himself.

Actually, what JMS said was:
"The plan for now is to air one new S5 ep per week every week for 22 weeks."

(found in DejaNews, posted to rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated on 1997/07/02.)

And, what he said about the NBA finals was: "[TNT] came back to us
with the notion that we would continue new episodes until hitting
#100, break for the NBA games, then come back (starting with another
possible half-hour special) afterward at the same time to finish the
season."

(found in DejaNews, posted to rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.info on
1998/01/23 as part of message "JMS CIS Digest: 22-Jan-98 11:46 through
23-Jan-98 12:41 (19 msgs)"

So, my problem is this: 

First we're told we'll get 22 episodes in a row.

Next we're told that there will be a break for the NBA games and then
we'll get the rest of the season.

Now we're told that, after the break for the NBA games we'll get 4
episodes, and then, at some time in the fall after all the other
series have started their new seasons, we'll get the last 5 episodes.

Where does it end? I think the series has suffered a lot from this
bizarre practice of saving the last 5 episodes for the next
season. Those episodes don't feel like part of any season because so
much time has gone by since you last saw new episodes. Why does it
keep happening? I can't think of any other series that does this.

Frankly, I hate what all series are doing these days (showing 4
episodes, then repeating them, then showing 3, then repeating them,
etc.) I'd love it if everyone went back to the system of showing all
the new episodes, then repeating them once, then showing summer
replacements. It was a lot easier to keep track of things.

--Adina



From zofran@deepthot.ml.org Fri May 15 00:08:03 1998
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To: b5mod-moderate@deepthot.ml.org
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Subject: A call for peace
Subject: A call for peace
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 19:39:37 -0400
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 19:39:37 -0400
Organization: Columbia University
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Orig-From: Maia  Bernstein <mb210@columbia.edu>
From: zofran@deepthot.ml.org

Am I alone in the impression that this newsgroup is rapidly devolving into 
a war zone?    Flames, trolls, counter-flames, counter-trolls,
counter-counter-flames....ad nauseum.    Both sides believe that the other
side is responsible for all the ugliness.   "He started it, I'm just
defending myself!"...makes me think of the Centauri and the Narn.   
Does it matter anymore, who started it?   What matters is that it is
destroying the newsgroup.    Might I suggest a truly innovative response
to truly offensive posts:   ignore them!   You might find that silence is
a _most_ effective last word.


Maia
*******************************************************************************
	I will arise and go now, for always night and day
	I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
	While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavement gray,
	I hear it in the deep heart's core.

                           --From "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" by W.B.Yeats
********************************************************************************




From zofran@deepthot.ml.org Fri May 15 00:08:07 1998
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To: b5mod-moderate@deepthot.ml.org
Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 19:49:13 -0600
Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 19:49:13 -0600



From zofran@deepthot.ml.org Fri May 15 00:08:10 1998
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Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Time Warners Synchronicity
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Time Warners Synchronicity
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Orig-From: "Jon Cohen" <Jon1856@email.msn.com>
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From: zofran@deepthot.ml.org

    [The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set]
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JMS-Sir-'thank you, thank you, thank you-please-no WCW et al in any of your shows!!!!   

-- 
Jon
To reply, use my link below.
Jon1856@bigfoot.com
ICQ # 948660
Let us go in: The fog is rising.
Emily Dickinson's last words-1886
Jms at B5 wrote in message <1998051008114100.EAA28227@ladder03.news.aol.com>...
>> To make the experience of viewing TNT programming
>>less painful for your fans, have you considered writing some
>>storylines for TNT Monday Nitro?  TKO was considered a less-
>>successful episode -- could you "redeem" yourself here?
>
>>The wrestler Sting appears to be a Crow knock-off.  Are you open to the
>>possibility of professional wrestlers dressing as Narns or Minbari?
>>How about the Nitro Fly Girls dressed as Centauri slaves?  I think
>>someone wrestling in a Vorlon encounter suit would be interesting.
>>
>>
>
>So...have the drugs worn off, or are they just kicking in...?
>
> jms
>
>(jmsatb5@aol.com)
>B5 Official Fan Club at:
>http://www.thestation.com



From zofran@deepthot.ml.org Fri May 15 00:08:14 1998
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To: b5mod-moderate@deepthot.ml.org
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Subject: Re: Harlan Ellison's input to B5
Subject: Re: Harlan Ellison's input to B5
Date: 10 May 1998 23:13:50 -0400
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From: zofran@deepthot.ml.org

In <6j3ape$4n6$1@news7.ispnews.com> xocxoc <paul@xocxoc.nu> wrote:
[. . .]
: I do not know if this story was written before or after  Ellison
: started working on B5, but the concepts of telepathic love making, brain
: scans, brain wipes, and telepathic background noise are all very similar to
: B5

These are all old tropes in science fiction, going back past THE
DEMOLISHED MAN, past SLAN.  



-- 
-- 
Copyright 1998 by Gary Farber; Web Researcher; Nonfiction Writer, 
Fiction and Nonfiction Editor; gfarber@panix.com; B'klyn, NYC, US


From zofran@deepthot.ml.org Fri May 15 00:08:17 1998
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Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com
Subject: SF Cruise Officially Off
Subject: SF Cruise Officially Off
Orig-From: whocruiser@aol.com (WhoCruiser)
From: zofran@deepthot.ml.org

Dear Friends-

Sadly I have to inform you that the decision has been made to call off the
Sci-Fi Sea Cruise for 1998.  So what happened?  The detailed cancellation
announcement appears on the cruise web site (listed below), along with a fan
survey that we hope you will respond to in order to help us decide how best to
go about any rescheduling efforts for the future.

Most sincerely- Dan Harris

************************************************************************
WhoCruiser's Personal Home Page: http://members.aol.com/WhoCruiser

Read about The Sci-Fi Sea Cruise at: http://members.aol.com/SFCruise


From zofran@deepthot.ml.org Fri May 15 00:08:21 1998
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Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 09:29:13 -0600



From zofran@deepthot.ml.org Fri May 15 00:08:26 1998
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Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Time Warners Synchronicity
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Time Warners Synchronicity
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From: zofran@deepthot.ml.org

On 10 May 1998 14:35:02 -0600, jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) wrote:

>> To make the experience of viewing TNT programming
>>less painful for your fans, have you considered writing some
>>storylines for TNT Monday Nitro?  TKO was considered a less-
>>successful episode -- could you "redeem" yourself here?
>
>>The wrestler Sting appears to be a Crow knock-off.  Are you open to the
>>possibility of professional wrestlers dressing as Narns or Minbari?
>>How about the Nitro Fly Girls dressed as Centauri slaves?  I think
>>someone wrestling in a Vorlon encounter suit would be interesting.
>>
>>
>
>So...have the drugs worn off, or are they just kicking in...?
>

Whatever, the Narn Chapter of the Betty Ford Recovery Center stands
ready to help in his detoxification.  

Only they use the Wood, not Gold, Cure to drive out the toxins...
--
*Begin Subliminal Message*
*You will use only virgin paper.
*You will find uses for whale blubber.
*You will drive large, gas-guzzling cars.
*You will never, ever, recycle.
*End Subliminal Message*


From zofran@deepthot.ml.org Fri May 15 00:08:28 1998
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Subject: Re: article on JMS's MIT visit
Subject: Re: article on JMS's MIT visit
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From: zofran@deepthot.ml.org

And did you happen to catch this weeks DS9 episode?  Well o.k. they did kill off
all
but one of their crew, so they are redeemed in that sense.

As a kid from the 80's (I do find it troubling actually considering that there is
an
entire generation that has no conception of the implications of that fact.  Truly
a frightening time to grow up, of course this younger generation will probably
have
it tougher, what with power rangers, barney, spice girls, hanson and the rest
of their ilk, yargh) I watched much of the japanimation that made it through to
american TV.  At this time, those programs became the definition of popular
Sci-Fi.  These shows stuck to a specific formula for generating their characters.
(Dashing hero, Rouge/Smuggler, Princess, Big Guy)  As a part of this formula
there was always a kid, usually he wore glasses and was some sort of prodigy,
typically the kid would have some a robot as a companion, sometimes there
would be some furry alien pet or mouse involved.

    "Speed Racer, the Mach 5 vs. Racer X showed us the way."

No, after living through all that, you're going to have to do a lot better than
denial to
convince me that B5 hasn't challenged a genuine stigma attached to SF.  It may
not seem contemporary, but it's still fresh in my mind.



Interesting and his dog Spot, what was your favorite Force Five story?


Jms at B5 wrote in message <1998051008343200.EAA03335@ladder01.news.aol.com>...
>>Occurs to me that I can't think of a current scifi show that does. Nope.
>>Thinking about no scifi show currently in production has "cute kids and
>>robts as regulars." It's pretty wierd that JMS empahsizes this when it is
>>true of every show on the air. Even the ones that are worse than B5 has ever
>>been.
>
>Sisko's kid son in Deep Space Nine, and the Ferengi kid in the same series.
>
>That's two kids in the same show.
>
>Maybe the problem is not in the proposition as advanced, but rather in your
>thinking.
>
> jms
>
>(jmsatb5@aol.com)
>B5 Official Fan Club at:
>http://www.thestation.com




From zofran@deepthot.ml.org Fri May 15 00:08:33 1998
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To: b5mod-moderate@deepthot.ml.org
Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 20:09:54 -0600
Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 20:09:54 -0600



From zofran@deepthot.ml.org Fri May 15 00:08:42 1998
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To: b5mod-moderate@deepthot.ml.org
Subject: For JMS
Subject: For JMS
Date: Sat, 9 May 1998 23:38:15 -0500
Date: Sat, 9 May 1998 23:38:15 -0500
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From: zofran@deepthot.ml.org

Great Maker,
I am a loyal B5 fan, having watched from the very beginning. A work the other day 
I was listening to the ABC new the Item they were talking about the US envoy being sent to the Middle East trying to finalize a peace agreement.  They said that this agreement was "The Last Best Hope For Peace".  Babylon 5 is affecting the language of the world much like Star Trek has.  Others might have heard and reported it to you already, but just in case no one has I though you would like to hear about it.   

I love the show, your writing, an also appreciate your diligence in keeping B5 a top quality show.  I really enjoyed "The inside B5" show where we finally got to see your face, love the beard.  We have something beside B5 in common, I love watching Dennis Miller Live.  His rants come pretty close to the truth (IMHO) most of the times.  I don't miss a show if I can help it.  Malia

Date: 15 May 1998 01:31:45 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: status of  the non-Babylon work

>It's been a while since you've said anything about it, but are you going to 
>get the time (with Crusade approved) to finish that other novel you were 
>talking about?
>
>

I'm working and have been working on a number of other, non-B5 projects (such
as the short story that just came out in a mystery anthology), but they're all
long-term projects that proceed at a page or two a day, as I have time for
them.  There's a novel, a short story collection, a play, other stuff...but the
show has to come first, so it'll be a while before anything happens to them.

 jms

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

Date: 15 May 1998 01:25:42 -0600
Subject: Re: Intersections - Is there truth?

One way or another, it's always about truth.

 jms

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

Date: 15 May 1998 10:00:50 -0600
Subject: B5 Fan Club Addition

As the fan club has expanded and been reworked, we've worked to play catch-up
on orders, improve the site, and increase the numbers and quality of in-house
products.  To that end, we've just brought on someone who will run the thing
full time, instead of all of us pitching in part-time.  

The new addition is Julie Walker, previously head of the MST3K fan club. 
Knowing both the fan area and the environment, she should be a huge help in
getting us to the next level.

 jms

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

Date: 15 May 1998 17:16:54 -0600
Subject: Re: JMS, Your Voice from the Past

Thank you; and for me, it's enough just to be *mentioned* in the same message
with Shakespeare.  


 jms

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

Date: 15 May 1998 17:26:42 -0600
Subject: Re: B5 Fan Club Addition

>Just wondering, what kind of background, schooling, experience and
>such is normally needed to fall into this line of work?  Any idea?  It's easy
>to
>guess what kind of background a secretary, doctor, lawyer, etc. needs - I
>just am
>curious about this kind of work as a profession

It's an odd mix...one has to have a knowledge of the fans that is based on real
experience, but not be a "fanboy" (if I can use that term) where it can become
about self-aggrandizement...you have to want to serve the needs of the fans,
and the company.  Also you have to be a business manager, able to pull together
a real, honest to god company and expand it.  Sort of a fan technomage.  That
she had been involved with a fan club based on a TV series, and made it into a
going concern, was crucial to her selection.

 jms

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

Date: 15 May 1998 17:26:59 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS Season 6 B5?

No, TNT has never announced there was going to be a sixth season; they have
acceded to my wishes on this.  

 jms

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

Date: 15 May 1998 17:28:37 -0600
Subject: Re: B 5 thoughts

Thanks...for me, it's been a covenant with the fans, to keep my promises when
made.  I've been on the other end of broken promises by guys promising the
moon, the stars and the sky, and don't want to do it to fans in return.  

 jms

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

Date: 17 May 1998 15:09:52 -0600
Subject: Re: B5 Fan Club Addition


>Um, what happens to Sandy Bruckner? She was working with the Fan Club.

Nothing.  Sandy was never involved with the business operations of the fan club
on a day-to-day managerial level.  Sandy's work for the club continues, in the
same areas as always: cons, thestation.com and Universe Today/Headline News.

 jms

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

Date: 17 May 1998 15:09:42 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Harlan Ellison vs Frank Sinatra encounter?


Yeah, I've heard it, but the details are fuzzy, and fairly elaborate, so it's
best for me not even to try and recount them.

As for the address to use for me...the B5 mail drop is fine, though soon I'll
be shunting all that over to the main B5 fan mail address.  For now, send it to
my attention, c/o Babylon 5, 14431 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 260, Sherman Oaks,
CA 91423.

 jms

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

Date: 17 May 1998 15:11:10 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS:  "Babylon" by A.G. Stephens


Never came across that one before...how totally, massively cool.

 jms

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

Date: 18 May 1998 11:40:15 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: My $.02

Thanks...the whole process of making this show has meant a great deal to me,
and I suspect it will continue to be a major part of my life for years to come.
 Sad and triumphant does kinda cover it, doesn't it?

 jms

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

Date: 18 May 1998 17:37:13 -0600
Subject: Re: Claudia Confirms She Quit

But see, this is where I lose all respect for this kind of discussion.  Just
about every time we introduce a new character, some folks say he or she is
wooden...then, later, this is a good character and THAT character is wooden.

But then there's that word, which is the core of it for me.  These days,
over-acting is taken as acting...acting which has any kind of subtlety or
reality is termed "wooden" when it's simply not chewing up all the scenery in a
room.

On a strictly technical basis, my personal feeling is that Tracy is a better
performer than Claudia; that's a non-biased appraisal, said in the same way
that I can say that Andreas on a strictly technical basis is a better performer
than Stephen...though I'd rather not use such words as "better," which gets
into subjective appraisals, when some things -- extent of training, skills one
brings to the job -- can be more objectively explored.

Bottom line...Ivanova was a yeller; Lochley is a thinker.  They are two
different characters.  You can't look at Lochley and expect her to be the same
character or act like Ivanova.  That would be an insult to both the character,
the actor and the audience.  

 jms

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

Date: 18 May 1998 17:39:47 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Sequel theories/Pros & Cons

I already answered this in the course of my initial reply, by putting it into
the context of what was the situation before, and what is different now.

 jms

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

Date: 19 May 1998 14:25:22 -0600
Subject: jms/jc TV Guide Online Tuesday


John Copeland and I will be doing a chat on the TV Guide Online site tomorrow
at 7:00 p.m. Pacific, 10:00 p.m. Eastern.  Just FYI.

 jms

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

Date: 19 May 1998 14:27:25 -0600
Subject: Re: Arc of JMS


Let's play a game for a moment.  Let's say there are 30 people out there who
don't like you.  For whatever reason.  They don't like your work, your face,
whatever.  30 people out of a much larger universe of people.

Now, those 30 people go online, where you hang out, and they leave dozens --
literally dozens -- of messages attacking you, every day.  They put out
absolute and downright lies, total fabrications...they cite contracts that
don't exist, they put out the word that you've had a heart attack just so the
switchboards at your office get flooded and people get upset, they send you
trojan horses and viruses, and impugn your ability, your credibility, your
honesty, your relationships with your co-workers.

And they do this day after day, week after week, month after month...for six
years.  Unflaggingly, untiringly, just one nonstop series of attacks.  Yeah,
it's 30 people out ofa much larger universe, but over time, even a whole human
being can be eaten by ants.  They have an impact substantially greater than
their numbers or real influence would warrant.

And you cannot hit them, you cannot strike back (it's okay for THEM to say
whatever they want about you, but if you do it back somehow that's wrong), so
your hands are tied unless you want to spend several hundred thousand dollars
suing them (which mind you, you're not entirely ruling out), all you can do is
take it, and take it, and take it.

And then one of these jokers will come up with "Well, if you can't stand the
heat..." and you vow you will make them eat their lower molars.  It's not heat,
it's pathology.  It's netstalking.  It's a genuine mental aberration, a
sickness, an obsession...these are the cyber equivilents of those who stab
Theresa Saldana, or shoot John Lennon...the person who threw a cup of warm
vomit in the face of an SF writer at a convention, the person who fills in fake
magazine subscriptions to another SF writer, or stakes out their house, or eggs
their house...only the weapon of choice varies.  Here it is the computer, the
lie, the net.

There's nothing wrong with criticism, I've said it a thousand times, I don't
care if someone's opinion is positive or negative.  That has nothing to do with
obsessive, destructive personalities...who use that smoke screen to divert
discussion away from the fact that they're just plain nuts...and because there
are little or no safeguards on the net, it drives away civility, it drives away
real discussion, it dries away those who are tired of being attacked for daring
to express a positive opinion about something...and in the end, it drives away
people like me.  I know too many producers, directors and actors who just won't
go on the nets because they don't need the grief that comes from the genuinely
disturbed  personalities who hang out waiting to jump on them.  Just because
someone can buy a computer and plug it into the wall doesn't mean that they
themselves are wired up right.

It's these types of individuals who are the main reason that I will be pulling
back from the nets after B5 is over.  Had I not promised to stay here for the
duration of B5, such that I do not make false promises, I would have been out
of here long, long ago.  

When people talk about taking better care on these newsgroups to keep out the
loonies, the Free Speech issue comes up.  But what about the free speech of
those who are, over time, intimidated and libeled and endlessly attacked by the
fanatical few, derided and abused until they finally decide that it just ain't
worth their time anymore to put up with the grief?  What about their free
speech?  If an area is rendered toxic by a small handful of users...who
benefits?  Where is the freedom to express oneself?

I've seen one person come into a group, and leave vicious attacks to just about
everyone in the group, and then to everyone who defended everyone in the group,
until it's all just one huge brawl, with the abuser at the center of it,
*glorying* in all the trouble he's caused, because now suddenly it's all about
him...it's all how he did this, and he said that, and how dare he this, and it
gives them a sense of importance.  They batten on it, they feed on it, and do
all they can to make it worse.

If you were standing in the street, and someone walked up to you discheveled,
with madness in his eyes, clearly deranged, and began shouting at you two
inches from your face, would you stand there and say, "No, it's okay, it's his
free speech."  No, you would walk away, or help someone who was being assaulted
verbally by this person.  (And before somebody says "it's just words," the
Supreme Court and every court in the land has found that words have power to
hurt, to defame, to abuse, and to incite.)

Thing is, on the net, you can't see these twists for who and what they are. 
Which is how they manage to get by.

So yes, to the point of your message...they have taken a toll on me over these
many years, to the point where I will be moving a bit off-net when B5 is done. 
And I don't much like it; but there really isn't much choice.  Sure, I could
keep on going toe-to-toe with them for the *next* five years, day in and day
out...but to what end?  For what purpose?  To explain myself to them?  They
have no interest in explanations.  If you counterattack, you just feed them; if
you ignore them, they take it as permission to continue doing so, and others
take it as implicit endorsement of what they said.  

This group was founded not to be a criticism free group, but mainly to be a nut
free group.  It has largely, though not consistently, succeeded at that.  Even
so, stuff slips in under the radar nets that would never be allowed to stand in
a paying system, which can provide some measure of security against the more
serious brain-damage cases.  Point being that until and unless the newsgroups
can find ways to deal NOT with critical posts, but with the genuinely, truly
disturbed people who are attracted by certain forms of entertainment, it's
always going to be a hostile place for people like me to enter.  So you're not
going to get many folks who're willing to put up with it.  Fewer people to
express opinions, or offer facts.  Which again seems rather contrary to the
goal.

Which, in some ways, is what the netstalkers want.  What matters to them most
is their own opinion, and their own importance.  Neil Gaiman, in conversation,
once rightly pointed out that these are the same folks who, at his signings,
will position themselves next to the autograph table, and begin expounding
their opinions as loudly as they can, to no one in particular, just to hear the
sound of their own voice, and to make sure everyone else hears them.

And there is one crime which they will never forgive: if you come at them with
a fact that contradicts their opinion.  If they believe that everyone in
Hollywood is a certain way, then they will do all they can to prove this of
you, whether it's true or not, because they can't tolerate any other
possibility.  Contradict them, and they will go after you forever and chase you
away, because they don't want anything interfering with their view of the
world.

Free speech is a great concept.  I make my living at it.  But free speech is
only possible with *accountability.*  If someone publishes an article that is
defamatory, or abusive, you can go after them in court, and pursue legal
penalities.  The nature of the net makes that far more difficult.  So there is
no accountability: no peer pressure, no ostracism, no penalties...and thus, no
free speech.  There is nothing in the constitution that guarantees that you can
say anything you want about anyone you want, without ever fearing for the
consequences if you're wrong, or malicious, or abusive, or destructive.  

The net also allows people to fairly well conceal their identities, and with
anonymity you further lose accountability...you can say anydamnthing you want,
and they can't track you down,or at least it becomes massively difficult, and
more difficult still to prove in court.  And so it goes on.

Which is why, in the end, it will have to go on with me in a vastly reduced
capacity.  The difference between me and them is that my name is on everything
I write; I stand behind everything I write.  If I *ever* put out a provable lie
-- and all lies are provable sooner or later -- it would come back to haunt me.
 So I have to be honest.  They do not.  And you can't exist in a situation
where it's not a level playing field, where both sides aren't playing by the
same rules.

And frankly, what would be the point?  Twenty years from now, who in hell is
going to care what five or six guys in a usenet group said to each other in
bagging on the show or myself?  The show is the show is the show; nothing they
say can ever change that.  So why put up with it?  Some will say, "Just ignore
them."  But you can't.  It doesn't work that way.  And that's the *problem*. 
Too much gets ignored, and they don't go away, they only get louder.

So all of this is what weighs on me every time I log on; and, I would suggest,
weighs on more than a few users as well, given the multitude of emails I get
that begin, "I hate to bother you in private mail, but I'm tired of being
attacked every time I say in public that I like B5, so..."

I guess you could say this is all about evolution and change, as you note.  I
suppose you could even point to my messages, and note the changes there,
wrought by five years of being dogged by the pathologically unstable.  It takes
a toll, I won't lie.

But at the end of the day, it ain't evolution and change.  It's just the usual
bad apples messing up the barrel for everybody else.

See, some things *never* change.

And some people never, ever evolve.

 jms

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

Date: 19 May 1998 14:45:02 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Home Video question


>I think I saw in one of your
>digests that they're may be a widescreen/letterbox version.  Is this
>true?  and if so why would a show designed for television use movie
>screen sizes?
>
>
We've tried to stay ahead of the technology curve where possible.  So all of B5
except for the pilot was filmed widescreen, and cropped for regular current TV
aspect ratios.  Why?  We just think like that.

 jms

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

Date: 19 May 1998 15:00:59 -0600
Subject: Re: Attn. JMS: Stephen Furst.


Your information is not correct: Stephen Furst has not been signed to Crusade;
there are no current plans to have him as a regular character, though we do
hope to have him as an occasional guest star, and possibly to direct some
episodes.

 jms

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

Date: 19 May 1998 15:25:49 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: The answers to the questions.


There is no single answer; we each have to find our own.

 jms

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

Date: 19 May 1998 22:39:41 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Where's Vir?

He's around...you'll see him quite a bit more in the new episodes to come.

 jms

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

Date: 19 May 1998 22:57:53 -0600
Subject: Re: Arc of JMS

>I want to clarify something from my earlier post, and the reply from
>JMS.
>
>It was not intended as an attack that the man has changed over time in
>his public responses on the net.  It was an observation that the tone of
>his posts has changed, nothing more.

I never took it as anything else.

 jms

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

Date: 20 May 1998 09:33:10 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS... B5 Fan Club

Yeah, I'll definitely try to stop by there when I can, now that we've pretty
much overcome the software glitches, which kinda kept me away for a bit.

 jms

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

Date: 20 May 1998 09:33:52 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Sequel theories/Pros & Cons

>This reminds me of the response given during Prime Minister's Question Time:
>I
>refer the right honourable gentleman (or woman) to the response I gave some
>moments before.
>
>A very civilized response.

Which is about where the civilized part ends...having watched a fair amount of
Prime Minister's Question Time on CSPAN, I have to say it beats professional
wrestling any day of the week.

I understand only about half of what's under discussion, but it's pretty damned
entertaining nonetheless.

 jms

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

Date: 20 May 1998 09:39:10 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS - Babylon 5 Wars and Babylon Project

One of the things we've begun doing is to start coordinating more closely all
the licensees, and there are going to have to be some revisions in the game
books to bring them into line with the overall story, and other licensees.  We
just recently brought on a reference editor whose job it is to catalog every
bit of information between licensees, and between B5 and the licensees, and
start making it as canonical and consistent as possible.  It's a hideous job,
but we're determined to do it.

 jms

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

Date: 20 May 1998 09:39:05 -0600
Subject: Re: The Death of Civility

>Here's a novel idea.  Once you've identified the people you consider
>trolls, why not just killfile them and save yourself the aggravation?
>The same principle applies here as it does out there you know.  If you
>don't like what some people have to say, ignore them. 
> I'm not willing to infringe on the rights of
>others to freely express themselves just to protect him from the
>verbal barbs and personal slights that we all endure on a daily basis.
>Just remember,  there's always that killfile option. 

Okay, Morgana, let's try an experiment.

Let's say that somebody logging on under a pseudonym posts a message,
identifying you by your true and complete name, and says that you have a
criminal record for child molestation.  Since you have killfiled that person,
that information zips on out there, unchallenged, until it gains common
currency...and begins to come back at you from other sources.

So by your lights, that's okay?  It wouldn't bother you in the least?  That's a
good thing?

It's one thing to killfile somebody because you don't care about their
comments, their opinions...but what these people tend to have their opinions
about...is me: personally, creatively, even legally.  

And the scenario I posted a second ago, incidentally, is a valid one.  I have
had people impersonating me on pedophile areas, another charged me with murder
on another national system; yet another briefly suggested that I should be
murdered.

It's real easy when it's just a subject being discussed; but when it's you, by
name, it ain't so easy, Morgana.  

So I suspect that if the above scenario took place, you would not be quite so
sanguine about it.

 jms

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





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Message-Id: <1998052007292100.DAA13156@ladder03.news.aol.com>
Date: 20 May 1998 07:29:21 GMT
Date: 20 May 1998 07:29:21 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
To: b5mod-moderate@deepthot.ml.org
Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com
References: <6jsvum$9b9$1@Jupiter.Mcs.Net>
Subject: Re: Att JMS, please
Subject: Re: Att JMS, please
Orig-From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5)
From: zofran@deepthot.ml.org

>One, this week's _Zocalo_ quotes you as saying that the last bit of work
>was done on B5 the Series as of May 15. 
>
>Congratulations! and thank you again for being living proof that a person
>with a plan *can* beat the system, if they are willing to make the
>committment and the sacrifices

Thanks...it's been tough, but worth it.

>n a recent post, you
>mentioned that Usenet tolerates pathological behavior which the "paying
>services" are less likely to put up with. 
>
>Does this mean that you'll be more active on the private nets than this
>public forum, although in a reduced amount in all places, due to time
>constraints?

Dunno...haven't really thought that far ahead yet.

 jms

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

Date: 20 May 1998 09:39:51 -0600
Subject: Re: DVD required for PC98 Standard

Actually, I have a DVD drive in my new system, from Dell, and I have to say
it's maximum coolness.

 jms

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

Date: 20 May 1998 09:40:19 -0600
Subject: ANOTHER poll...?

This one's cool...apparently ABC News is holding a poll for what the new Space
Station should be named, and Babylon is holding at position #4.  

The url for the poll is:

http://www.abcnews.com/sections/science/DailyNews/spacestation_name980510.html

This could be funny....

 jms

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

Date: 20 May 1998 09:41:35 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN Jms: This still true

>Are we being whammed and not even knowing it?

That's kind of what I've been saying for a bit...the whole Byron thing, for
instance, ain't just a throwaway, ain't just there for what we saw.  It's a
trigger for a series of things.

But you'll see that soon enough.

 jms

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

Date: 20 May 1998 12:12:04 -0600
Subject: Re: Att JMS, please

>One, this week's _Zocalo_ quotes you as saying that the last bit of work
>was done on B5 the Series as of May 15. 
>
>Congratulations! and thank you again for being living proof that a person
>with a plan *can* beat the system, if they are willing to make the
>committment and the sacrifices

Thanks...it's been tough, but worth it.

>n a recent post, you
>mentioned that Usenet tolerates pathological behavior which the "paying
>services" are less likely to put up with. 
>
>Does this mean that you'll be more active on the private nets than this
>public forum, although in a reduced amount in all places, due to time
>constraints?

Dunno...haven't really thought that far ahead yet.

 jms

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

Date: 20 May 1998 17:01:20 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Voice of the Resistance Con - "Economical" with the 

Nope.  I said exactly what I meant.  I said that I would not have anything to
do with any Wolf-associated convention virtually the week we got back, and
announced it on the nets.  Now you say that 

>the
>decision was made (I believe) not to invite you to any more of their
>conventions. This was some time before your public outburst at the
>committee.

This would seem a bit like time travel, since it happened right after the
convention.  Also, I see you include "I believe."  So in fact you don't know
for a fact that any such decision was ever made.  And if it had been, it's
highly unlikely that it could've been made prior to my announcement.

So having already said that I would not be involved with any Wolf convention or
Brian Cooney until they got their act together in terms of their treatment of
the fans, I wouldn't exactly expect to be invited, since I've already *said* I
wouldn't go to any of them.  So your point is completely moot.  

>To your credit (and to maintain truthfulness on my part) you did apologise
>publically on the UK B5 group for your bad manners at the convention, but I
>do not expect that this will make any difference to the committee's
>decision - I know it made no difference to the unpaid volunteer stewards
>that you upset.

No, what I said on the group was that I was often in a bad mood at the
convention...because of the utter incompetenced, ineptitude and gross stupidity
I saw in the running and operations of the convention that started right from
the top.  

So the stewards were upset...well, then, perhaps they would not be upset if I
hadn't had to yell about fans standing FOR THREE AND FOUR HOURS AT  A TIME to
get the autograph of an actor only to find that the actor was no longer there,
if I hadn't had to see people *literally* close to passing out from overheated
conditions and long lines, if I hadn't had THE HANDWRITTEN OUTLINES FOR THE
FIRST FEW SEASONF IVE EPISODES THROWN OUT at my hotel by staff when Wolf
convention didn't take care of the room properly and my stuff got moved when I
was away at the con, costing me several weeks worth of work.

Yeah, I was in a bad mood...deal with it.  I kept it away from the fans, and
directed it where it was most appropriate: at those who were involved in the
day to day operations of the con, from the top to the bottom.  It was the
single most incompetently run convention that I have attended in over a decade
of convention going.  I was told, "Well, there are just too many people." 
Crap.  I came to the last Wolf convention after WesterCon Seattle, which had
JUST as many people, and was probably the BEST run convention I've seen in a
long time.

I'm sorry it upset a few stewards...but when I see fans in literal physical
distress, when I see this kind of incompetence and abuse for people who paid a
great deal of money to be there, when I ask for but do not receive promised
statements that would set my mind at ease as to whether or not the money
supposedly raised for the convention actually GOT where it was intended to go
(information thta I have *still* not received, despite being told that it was
both available and forthcoming)...I get pissed, because at core, I'm a fan, and
I won't see fans being abused in this fashion.

What I said was that I won't have anything to do with any Wolf associated
convention until such time as I hear from the fans that the conditions at these
cons have improved.  

Deal with it.


 jms

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

Date: 20 May 1998 17:21:10 -0600
Subject: Re: The Death of Civility

Tim: sure, you can just choose to ignore it when someone does you a disservice,
when they malign you or smear you...that's an option.

Only problem with it, is that it doesn't work.

For instance: over on the other group, a particular net-kook posted a message
citing a supposed contract between me and AOL in which I would be paid to be
exclusively on AOL and thus would not be contributing anything to any usenet
group, and that THAT was the reason that I left the unmoderated group.

It was, of course, an unvarnished lie, of the kind I've come to expect from
such individuals.

The problem is that this isn't a big, obvious lie...it's a subtle one.  And as
a result, it got propagated and picked up around the nets, and I had to answer
a couple dozen angry email messages from users saying that I'd sold out to AOL.
 So tell me, how does ignoring that kind of thing solve anything?  

You say ignore 'em.  I say you can't just ignore this kind of crap, or you end
up condoning it by silence.  Difference in philosophy, that's all.

 jms

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

Date: 20 May 1998 17:23:47 -0600
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: Movie scripts

Actually, I think where my episodes have had problems has been where I've had
too much time to think about them, and second guess myself.  The more time
between starting it and finishing it, the more I tend to lose the fingerprints
of the characters and the situation.  Both the examples you cite, for instance,
were that way, and suffered from too MUCH tinkering on my part, frankly.

As for the feature...that one is going to be the object of some considerable
attention from me.  I'll probably do what I tend to do for special stuff
(should it get into development): noodle it and play with it and outline stuff
until finally it refuses to wait any longer, then take a week or so and do
nothing else but burn through the draft, then stick it in a box for another
week, not look at it, then come back and pretend somebody else wrote it and
tear it to shreds, then rebuild.

 jms

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

Date: 20 May 1998 22:32:31 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS - So-Cal cons

I'll definitely be at LosCon in November; that was where we first debuted B5
footage and news, and this one will take place 2 days after the very last
regular episode of B5 airs.  I'll be there.

 jms

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

Date: 21 May 1998 09:50:02 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: The Official Guide to J. Michael Straczynski's Babylon

>1) Why the guide contains no Government\Alien data on Vorlons or
>Shadows?
>
>2) Why the guide contains no character reference to Morden, Bester,
>Kosh, Lorien, Sinclair all crucial characters but does contain data on
>Timothy Chase and Ashi Van Troc - each of whom had a 2 minute segment
>in one episode (Long Twilight Struggle and Dust To Dust resp.)
>3) Why the guide contains no pictures of Vorlon or Shadow ships?
>
Because the guide is set in the time period of the fifth season; it is a guide
to B5 *as it is in the fifth year* of the show, at which point the Vorlons and
the Shadows are all gone.  We had to choose which year in which to set the
thing, because of folks going in and out of the story.  We took the conceit
that this is the kind of thing that someone arriving at the station would
reasonbly or conceivably get.  It isn't a guide to the history of B5, it's a
guide to the station, and who's in it, in season 5.


 jms

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

Date: 21 May 1998 09:50:35 -0600
Subject: Re: B5, JMS and the net

>	As far as I can see, we are no longer talking about a place
>where JMS is free from personal attacks.  We are beginning to discuss
>a place where he is free from _creative criticism_.

Show me one post where I have said that.  You and Charles both.  Just one post.
 Any post.  Where?  

This is a straw man argument; I've never said it, have said exactly the
opposite on numerous occasions, and wouldn't want it.

Nor am I asking anyone to change anything here.

The topic came up.  I responded about what things are like at this end.  That
was the end of it.  Frankly, I've already heard from some in the satai mailing
list, and have told them I can't see what if anything could be changed, and
that I'm not *looking* for anything to get changed.

I was just talking about what this has been like.

Can we please stop the unjustified, unmerited straw man arguments now?

 jms

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

Date: 21 May 1998 09:50:44 -0600
Subject: Re: Arc of JMS

BTW, Laura, congrats on the starfury art thing...I went to check it out, looks
great.

 jms

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

Date: 21 May 1998 09:55:02 -0600
Subject: from jms re: the debate

If I can be allowed a moment's indulgence...this won't take much longer than
that.

This whole discussion began when someone posted a message noting that some of
my messages of late have not been as chipper as those posted in earlier days. 
I responded, and in some considerable detail, pointed out some of the
shortcomings and problems in being on-line.  

Never once in that note, or any of those that followed, did I say one word
about not wanting criticism.  Not wanting to be stalked, sure, not much liking
it when I get deliberately sandbagged or lied about or ambushed, absolutely. 
But not one word about criticism.  I did not ask for changes in the moderated
group, did not ask to have anyone booted, did not ask for a new charter or
group, did not suggest that criticism be eliminated...did not do any of those
things.  I have only said that, because of the problems that exist, after B5 is
over, I would be pulling back (though not eliminating) my online presence,
which is, after all, my right.  There is no written contract requiring that I
remain on the firing line forever...let the next guy take his or her turn in
front of the sniper nests for a while.

But it's nothing to do with honest, fair criticism.

For six years, I have answered honest criticism fairly, evenhandedly, and as
objectively as I could.

Those raising the flag in this current fracas, however, do not seem so
inclined.

It's like this: do I, or do I not, share the same right to free speech as
anyone else here, especially those who raise that particular banner at a
moment's notice?

If so, then do I not have the same right to express a critical opinion as
anyone else here?

I have, for six years now, announced to anyone within listening range the
benefits and the positive aspects of being on the nets.  I am not, however,
blind to the faults and flaws of said correspondence, and said so, when someone
asked.

I raised a critical opinion.

And for that, any number of folks have jumped up and down loudly announcing
that this is somehow unfair, or a sign of censorship, or just generally, garden
variety wrong...dumping all over that original message.

Or, to quote Franklenstein's monster, "Criticism good.  Criticism of criticism:
bad."

So it seems to me that we have a logical contradiction going on here, in which
it's okay for people to voice critical opinions of me or the show or anything
B5...but it is NOT as right to voice a critical opinion of the nets and/or some
of the people and/or gatekeeping processes involved.  Frankly, if I had been as
brittle and quick to fire off flames in response to simple criticism as those
here have done in answer to my opinion about the nets, I wouldn't have lasted
five minutes.  

So I would suggest that these same individuals try to apply a little of the
patience toward criticism that I have had to show.  I've had to put up with
positive and negative comments for six years, surely you can do so for a few
days, in relation to the nets.  Or should no one criticize these things?

It's real simple.  Either I have the same right to a critical opinion as
everyone else, and the same right to express same, or I don't.  If I do, then
those who argue in favor of open criticism should have nothing to complain
about...unless they're upset because it's their ox being gored instead of mine
for a change.  If I don't...then I would suggest that that is massively unfair
and totally inappropriate to a free and open exchange of ideas.

It's either a level playing field, or it's not.

Let me know when you've decided.

 jms

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

Date: 22 May 1998 09:44:38 -0600
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: Dumb Question Time (S1/S2)

>That being the case (and here's where it gets dumb), was there an
>overwhelming
>reason why the switch was done *right* at the S1/S2 break?  As opposed to,
>say,
>keeping Sinclair on the station for one episode, maybe two, enough to make
>the
>fans think that it all was just a bad rumor -- and *then* yanking Sinclair
>off
>the board, using your patented
>sneak-up-behind-the-viewers-with-a-sockful-of-sand (TM) technique?

Several reasons.  For one, Michael is basically a New Yorker, and wanted to be
back there to pursue some stage opportunities.  We went our separate ways in
May, and filming for S2 didn't start until July/August, so he would've had to
uproot himself twice to do a few eps at the start...also, contracts being what
they are, we had to either renegotiate his contract, or renew it for all 22,
contractual terms don't allow for you to bring on the actor like that for only
a couple if the contract requires 22.  And, finally, it was just cleaner that
way.

 jms

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

Date: 22 May 1998 09:46:57 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: about DofS and Phoenix Rising (very very mild spoiler)

>I just saw the reairing of DofS and ive got a question: did you already
>shoot "phoenix rising" when you put together DofS or did you use the footage
>of the Garibaldi hostage scene from DofS in "Phoenix Rising". 

The latter.

>also, i saw the promo for the next ep of season five.  Was Lennier lying
>down in the minbari fighter or is it just the camera angle?

The former.

 jms

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

Date: 22 May 1998 09:47:14 -0600
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: Many Thanks

Thank you; it's funny how synchronicity puts the right lessons in front of us
at the right time, if we're willing to notice them.  And those questions are
the ones we all have to wrestle with, and answer, sooner or later.  Good luck
on your new journey.

 jms

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

Date: 22 May 1998 09:47:21 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS et al: Accountability - A Call to Revolution?

You're being far too reasonable, thoughtful and progressive.  Stop that, you
know the rules....

Thanks.  Good stuff.

 jms

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

Date: 22 May 1998 10:01:02 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS:  Question and Thoughts regarding show continuity and

>Is there some sort of endemic problem with actors' contracts or long-term
>script coordination which makes the unique quality of your show impractical
>to implement in most other shows?  It would be truly sad if this was the
>case.

Nope, it's a philosophical thing, not a business thing.

 jms

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

Date: 22 May 1998 23:09:58 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Some Self-Indulgence

>I was wondering what's it like for you as an sf
>books/movies/TV fan when people mention you or talk to you in
>the same breath as Gene Roddenberry or George Lucas and tell
>you that what you've done in creating a universe that has
>affected so many peoples' imaginations will probably be as
>well-remembered and well-loved as the STAR TREK and/or STAR
>WARS universes? 

My first reaction is generally pretty much the same...I cringe, because on some
level, it ain't me, it's the show.  (This ain't falses modesty, it ain't
looking to be contradicted, I know and fully understand my role in the show
*intellectually*, I'm talking about the *emotional* response.)

To me, Lucas is LUCAS, all caps.  He's a big deal, a celebrity, a truly
creative force of nature.  In my head, he's seven feet tall.  I'm just me.  So
it's hard to look at myself in the same fashion.

Which, I suppose, is a good thing.  It helps me avoid the whole ego inflation
thing which, in my view, is what's ruined a lot of Ray Bradbury's work (for me)
in recent years.  It's as if he's not as much interested in telling real
stories as in being Ray Bradbury.  I don't know that that's the case, but that'
s how I perceive it.  I think the moment you buy into your own public image,
you're dead.

>When you set out, did you have it in the back
>of your mind,  "Y'know, one of these days, my universe could
>well be up there with the others!!"

I don't think I let myself think that far ahead; if I had, I would've frozen
up.  The other day, somebody referred in a message to the Straczynskiverse, and
I about fell over....

 jms

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

Date: 23 May 1998 00:42:31 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: In The Beginning Merchandise

>I was wondering if there were plans for releasing an
>In The Beginning musc CD, since a lot of the music was amazing stuff.

We've talked about it, and I know he'd like to do it, so it's a matter of time,
I suppose.

>Is Franke also creating a large
>score for the B5 game?

Yup.

 jms

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

Date: 24 May 1998 11:20:16 -0600
Subject: Re: Arc Discussion Maelstrom?

As I noted in my private reply to you on this...ain't nothing wrong with asking
questions.  You only get pertinent information by asking impertinent questions.

 jms

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

Date: 24 May 1998 11:23:42 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS - Grief

I think those are very good points...thanks for making them.

 jms

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

Date: 24 May 1998 11:20:08 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Royalties question

> a one second clip of the Babylon 5 station.  So my
>question is: who gets paid for this use of WB copyrighted material, how
>often do they get paid (one lump sum, every time the image is shown, etc.)
>and about how much would they get paid?

If I recall correctly, they asked for and received a waiver, so as far as I
know, there's no money involved at all.

 jms

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

Date: 24 May 1998 11:23:58 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Many Thanks

Thansk; in addition to that....

>Thanks Joe, for all the truly
>outsanding writing!  Not just on TV, either.  I have loved your
>postings where you let out a little of yourself... the chocolate
>loving, Parker pen using self... the opinions on music and the
>off topic stuff all add to making it a fuller experience

Four words: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.  If you liked Cherry Poppin' Daddies (and who
wouldn't?) you'll LOVE Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

 jms

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

Date: 24 May 1998 11:24:11 -0600
Subject: Re: Plotline Arcs in Television Series

>Now that Babylon 5 has used the
>plot-arc, and has shown that it can be done quite successfully, have any
>other shows currently in production begun to use a predetermined arc?
>One example may be Earth: Final Conflict; it definitely has an arc in
>its development, but is the storyline for the series predetermined like
>Babylon 5's?
>
>
Dark Skies was announced as using a five-year arc, and in a recent interview
with the producers (Starburst? TV zone?  one of those) of the Stargate series,
they've said they're trying to do a B5 arc approach, though not quite as
intensive.  I think it's great; the more we can add new tools, the more
diversity we get as viewers.

 jms

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

Date: 24 May 1998 11:24:22 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Defining Episodes?

It's hard to say...I think Deconstruction may be a defining episode, certainly
Sleeping in Light is that way, as is 519.  Hard to say why until they air....

 jms

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

Date: 24 May 1998 11:27:22 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: The back burners

>But...how easy is it for you to switch gears?  While writing itself is
>simply telling a story, each medium calls for a completely different set of
>rules and processes.  
>	Do you find yourself, for example, saying "I think I'm in my
novel-writing
> mood today"..?
>Or do you, being a somewhat obvious workaholic who just loves what he
>does, find it easy to pick up any of these projects at any given time and
>jump in full steam?

What happens is that my main goal for the evening is, say, writing a B5 script.
 I'll come to a point in it where I'll have to sit back and stew over what
comes next, how to pull it off.  It's often easy to know WHAT you want to do,
it's the HOW that's hard (worse still if you want to do the HOW *well*.)

That's strictly subconscious stuff, letting the brain chew on it, so while
that's going on, I'll go work on something else, or jump on the nets, whatever
it takes so I *don't* leave the keyboard and go watch TV, since I can lose
several hours that way.

Which one I pick depends on who I want to play with that day.  This week I've
been spending my "thinking" time on my play, just a page or two here and there,
no rush.

 jms

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

Date: 24 May 1998 11:30:43 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Thanks, comments, and some mild disagreements

First, thanks for all the nice things.  >That said, I do disagree with a few
things. As a Las Vegas
>resident, I was disappointed a few months ago when you said that you
>didn't feel that Las Vegas was a suitable place for a B5 Theme
>attraction. Las Vegas is a fabulous place for such an attraction. Star
>Trek the Experience is incredible. 
>With the addition of a multitude of
>attractions, we're a family destination as well as just a gambling
>mecca. And, having driven through LA, I find Vegas much less offensive.

On the other hand, Las Vegas as a family destination is made possible by and is
a subset of the gambling.  Take it as read that a great many families and nice
people live and work there; that ain't the issue.

Vegas exists for one reason: to separate you from your cash as fast and as
efficiently as humanly possible.  You feel it the moment you get off the plane.
 Gambling is a real problem for a great many people, otherwise there woudln't
be so many billions of bucks floating into Vegas every year.  At minimum,
you'll leave Vegas a few hundred bucks poorer.  But at worst, particularly with
compulsive gamblers, it provides a venue for the destruction of lives, the
bankrupting of families, the sacrifice of college funds and pensions.  I've
stood there and watched rows of people at the slot machines, most of them women
(I don't know why the slots tend to attract more women than men, as opposed to
other forms of gambling, but that's my perception of it), none at a glance much
able to afford it, dropping dollar after dollar into the slots, from huge
buckets, a buck a minute, minute after minute, hour after hour after
hour...frankly, it creeped the hell out of me.

See, I *know* what it is to be an obsessive-compulsive personality.  I get
addicted to stuff real easy, which is why I have made it a painstaking process
to stay away from drugs, alcohol, smoking and gambling.  I'd be lost if I EVER
got into any of those things.  Writing is the ONLY addictive activity I allow
(well, that and chocolate).  So it's extremely easy for me to put myself into
that mindset, to know how it must feel to get lost in the activity of pulling
the arm, listening to the whirring slots, the clicks, drop another dollar,
pull, watch, drop, pull, watch....

I've seen it destroy people.

Yes, there are now many cool exhibits in Vegas...but if you pulled ou the
gambling tomorrow, could they be self-sufficient?  They exist to pull in
families, so the kids can play *here* while their inheritance is being placed
on Red Seven over *there*.  If anything, it makes the whole place even MORE
cynical, if that's possible.

A while back, a license for B5 shot glasses slipped past me in an overall
glasses-licensing deal.  I couldn't cancel the license legally, but I asked WB
to intervene and ask the licensee to stop making them as a courtesy to me
(which they did).  They sold out their inventory, and that was that.  They set
a tone that I could not support morally.

Similarly, I cannot morally justify any B5 association with Vegas.  I know a
lot of folks don't find Vegas offensive, as you note above, and a lot of others
thought the stance regarding shot glasses was overkill...but I have to follow
my own conscience.  It's okay not to agree with it; it only has to keep me on a
straight line, your straight line may vary.

Sometimes it gets into some very grey areas.  For instance, one licensed shirt
has "The Zocalo: Our Last, Best Chance for a Stiff Drink."  I puzzled over that
one for almost two weeks before I finally decided whether or not to let it go
ahead.  On this one, I felt it would be inappropriate to pull it, because in
fact that's what one DOES in the Zocalo, I do show drinking there, and no one
on Earth currently can get to the Zocalo to get a drink there.  (And if you
*can* get to that Zocalo, you've had one too many.)

If the Zocalo was a real place, or if it mentioned a real name of a drink, then
I think I couldn't have approved it.  This is a reference to the activities
that take place in a fictional universe, so it made it through on a
technicality...though I'd be lying if I said I was still entirely 100%
comfortable with that decision.  I go back and forth on ths one on an almost
daily basis.

(My problem is that I can argue 9 sides to any 8 sided argument.)

>My other disagreement is in music. After seeing numerous posts
>about the group "PortisHead", I broke down and bought an album.
>Fortunately I had a gift certificate. Sorry, but I find loose fan belts
>more enjoyable. Oh well, everyone's taste is different. 

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.  Trust me on this.

 jms

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

Date: 24 May 1998 16:20:12 -0600
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: In awe of your post re"free speech"


Thanks....

 jms

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

Date: 24 May 1998 16:41:37 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS:  Have I missed this?


Nothing has been set yet re: the music.

 jms

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

Date: 25 May 1998 00:03:08 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN. JMS:  Cookies?

I like oatmeal cookies, oatmeal/raisin cookies, chocolate cookies, mud pie
cookies, and chocolate chip cookies.  Not big on biscuits or hard cookies.

However, that said...sometimes folks very generously send me packages of
cookies and the like, but unless I know the person sending them to me VERY
well, they have to go out, because you should never put anything in your mouth
unless you know where it came from.


 jms

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

Date: 25 May 1998 00:04:14 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS Desires Engendered by DoFS

This is one of those imponderables that fits into the category of, "If I ever
have enough time, I'll think about it."

 jms

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

Date: 25 May 1998 00:05:30 -0600
Subject: Re: Att JMS, pls: "writing" question?

>what part of "writing" are you referring to here? The "smashing words
>together to see what happens" (another paraphrase, I think, but close
>enough) or the storytelling part?
>
>

I can't really separate them out.  There's foreplay and there's sex, and in a
way they're both the same thing, same process, so to me it's all the same
thing.

>If you had to stop writing fiction, would you turn to a) writing
>non-fiction, or b) some other form or storytelling? or are the two so
>closely entwined that neither would satisfy you without the other, and
>we'd be left with that "JMS-puff of smoke"?
>
>

I'd find something.  If not scripts, then novels; if not novels, then short
stories; if not stories, then articles; if not articles, then songs; if not
songs, then plays...I get nervous when I ain't writing, and one way or another,
I'd find something.

 jms

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

Date: 25 May 1998 00:09:41 -0600
Subject: Re: Crusade Newsgroup - Moderated

>An example in B5 context:  what if I posted "JMS, I think the
>overall quality of Season 5 has suffered substantially because of
>a lack of good dialogue editting."  Is that a flame?

Nope.

>What if I said,
>"I think JMS suffers from Tom Clancy syndrome sometimes, and the
>quality of the show would improve if someone less personally attached
>to every word of dialogue were brought in to edit."

Annoying, but not a flame.
> Or what if
>I said "The ending of the Shadow War sucked!  Why on earth would these
>two exceedingly powerful species suddenly start listening to our
>opinions and meekly taking our suggestions?  Totally ruined my
>suspension of disbelief!"?  Is that a troll?

Nope.

 jms

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

Date: 26 May 1998 10:09:13 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: The arc, the whole arc, and nothing but the arc...

Eventually I may do a book about the whole making of the show in general...but
it's going to have to wait quite a while....

 jms

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

Date: 26 May 1998 10:11:58 -0600
Subject: Re: Attn Jms : Crusade Production Questions

>As my understanding goes, which may well be fallible, when a new
>production starts it is the producer and the production designer who
>get together to decide the feel and visual look of the show. 

Your understanding is correct.
>John
>Iacovelli (spelling?) was production designer on B5. Will he occupy
>the same role on Crusade or will a new perspective be brought to the
>table to freshen things up and provide something a little different?

No, John is still with the show, though we've brought in some new designers and
graphics people to work alongside the folks we've had from day one, so there's
definitely new blood (and the old blood ain't bad either).  

I've stood on, and we've shot in, the set for the Excalibur, and I think it may
be the coolest starship *I've* ever seen on film for TV, frankly.  

>Also, how do things proceed from an outline\idea to fleshing out a
>fully fledged production? How do the producer and production designer
>pull everything together? How will the use of more virtual sets
>influence what you guys are doing now?

It goes from the scripts.  For instance, the first script written will be the
third one produced, to allow more time for production design on some of the
elaborate set and other requirements.  And yes, we'll be doing more with
virtual sets.

>Will you be using a script editor in Crusade, similar to the way Larry
>De Tillio was used in seasons 1 and 2 of B5 before you started writing
>all the episodes yourself?

Even when Larry was on B5, I ended up rewriting the script to one degree or
another, not to correct anything Larry did, 'cause he's one of the best, only
to bring it into line with my view of B5, which is eccentric and subjective at
best.  So at this point, there's no need to bring on a story editor, though
I'll be keeping my eye out for possibilities to serve in that capacity on later
seasons, once I find out who can write for this show and who can't.

 jms

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

Date: 26 May 1998 10:12:05 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: too may arc shows?

>So does that mean we will never see a B5type experience-show anywhere. 
>That sort of thing, I would pay real money to see

We've gone back and forth on a possible B5 Showscan ride that would be used in
amusement parks, but we'll have to see.

 jms

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

Date: 26 May 1998 10:12:51 -0600
Subject: Re: vetoing glasses & Calvin and Hobbes

Resisting the impulse to just merchandise the hell out of the show from day
one, particularly in questionable areas, has certainly been ironic (and costly)
since the ONLY area I get an actual, real (if small) percentage of the show
(the studio will always work the books so it never shows a profit on paper) is
in merchandising.

>And has there been any fake B5
>merchandise spotted?

Plenty.  If you've bought a link or an EA insignia at a con, it's a fake.  All
patches sold other than through the B5 fan club are fake.  There's a huge
amount of fake 4th season posters that flooded in from Germany (you can tell
the fakes by checking the poster: if it's unusually heavy photoreproduction
paper, and the B5 logo is blurry...it's a fake).  The White Star models that
are out there are unlicensed...it goes on and on....

 jms

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

Date: 26 May 1998 10:13:08 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde

No, my version -- done for Shelley Duvall's Nightmare Classics -- starred
Anthony Andrews and Laura Dern.  The cassette can be found here and there at
some places.

 jms

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

Date: 26 May 1998 16:11:29 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS: god, I had no idea...thanks for sticking with us

Thanks..it's been a trial, no mistake, but in the long haul, worth the effort.

 jms

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

Date: 26 May 1998 20:37:22 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS:  Claudia at BayCon

>I didn't actually make it to BayCon this weekend, here in Silicon Valley,
>but I saw a flyer indicating that Claudia Christian was supposed to be
>present.  Do you have an opinion on her appearing as a "B5 representative"
>at conventions?

I've never had a problem with it, though she obviously represents B5 as of the
first four seasons, not the fifth or thereafter...sort of the ghost of
Christians past....

(couldn't resist)

 jms

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

Date: 26 May 1998 20:47:05 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: fake merchandise? was Re: vetoing glasses & Calvin and

>Does this include the stat bars/EA insignia (etc) sold by Janet Lawn
>Costumes here in the UK? I know the uniforms she makes are authorised
>(or were?) and just took the badges as part of the deal...

No, those are okay, I was referring to the American scene.

 jms

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

Date: 27 May 1998 08:47:17 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Voice of the Resistance Con - "Economical" with the

>I have just re-read the thread, and what you say is untrue.
>
>I'll explain my problem here in the simplest terms possible.
>
>Conventions invite guests. Not the other way around. If a convention
>invites a guest who then refuses to go, then the convention can be said to
>be "boycotted". If a convention does not invite a guest, then the guests
>opinions of the convention, it's organisers, and anything else to do with
>it is irrelevant.

No, it's not.  Are you sure English is your first language?

I said, immediately after the last Wolf, that I would not be involved with any
Wolf or Cooney convention until they got their act together in their treatment
of fans and their organization.  You can call it whatever you want...I made it
quite clear that I would not be receptive to any invitation until they fixed
the problems, so of course they're not going to issue an invitation having been
told that I won't go.  

What part of that is unclear?

There are many concerns in how the fans in the UK are being treated and
exploited.  For instance, Warner Bros. DONATED their theater in London for the
purpose of a *free screening* for B5 fans as a gift.  Warner Bros. Legal
Affairs has just discovered that those running the convention (which would be
Bryan Cooney and other Wolf folks) are charging TWENTY POUNDS PER PERSON for
what was set aside as a gift to the fans.  There was never supposed to be any
admission fee charged for the screening.  (Suffice to say WB is investigating
further.)

And the beat goes on....


 jms

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

Date: 27 May 1998 08:53:35 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: BEST ways to say thanks? (longish)

Thank you for those wonderful words.  If fans of this show can carry some of
what they find here out into the real world -- building communities, asking
questions, building the future *consciously* rather than letting others do it
for you -- then that is the best testament, and the only thanks, that could
ever be required.

 jms

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

Date: 28 May 1998 00:18:48 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: fake merchandise? was Re: vetoing glasses & Calvin and

>She apparently wasn't having enough business or wasn't making a large enough
>profit to make it worthwhile.  Also, the license she had to make uniforms had
>expired and in order to renew it WB was asking for a great deal of money.
>After hearing that, I lost a great deal of respect to WB.

The problem is that she was, in essence, a one-woman business, and the number
of costumes she could put out was *very* small, meaning that most of the fans
who wanted them wouldn't be able to get them.  Letting the license go to a
larger entity means that more people would be able to get them.

 jms

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

Date: 28 May 1998 00:21:29 -0600
Subject: Re: Attn Jms : Crusade Production Questions

>This is my point, how did you and the production designers work on
>this. Did you give them an outline of a few points and discuss the
>feel \ look or did you give them a broad brush to be creative and come
>up with something seriously cool?

It's hard to define...it's a long process of give and take.  John Copeland and
I both knew we wanted something different, a new kind of look, and we went back
and forth discussing it between us until we were ready to talk to the
production design folk.  We told them in general terms what we were looking
for...then they went away, and came back with several preliminary designs.  We
sat and talked about them, made revisions and suggestions, threw one thing out,
kept the other thing, got another version done, and on and on until there was
something that we felt worked.  Ditto for the CGI version (for which there is a
very early version on the B5 fan club site).  The final look of the CGI is much
sleeker and more refined.

>What about costume design and alien design. Again is this a case of
>you setting a rough overall position on what you want or is it more
>hands on?

Same process.  I discuss with Optic Nerve and the costume folks what I have in
mind.  They go away and come up with drawings.  They submit those drawings;
John and I go over them, pick the ones we like, suggest modifications, toss out
what we don't like, and the process of refinement continues.

 jms

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

Date: 28 May 1998 00:19:21 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: An Unusual Thank You

>I pondered that for a long time, and finally I came to see that the
>*truly* important bits of writing are integrity, honesty, craft, and
>heart.  I bought your scriptwriting book, which both reinforced this view
>and made me see that there are a lot of interesting stories I could tell.

You can tell a good story in just about any venue, provided you approach it
with, as Balzac said, "clean hands and composure."  What matters is what you DO
with the form, not the form itself.

> I and my guests had fun, the actors had fun, and ... the audience
>laughed themselves silly, threw marshmellows, booed, cheered, and fell in
>love.  I'm getting paid for this, and hope to sell it to a play-publishing
>company in the next few weeks.

That's the real key: have fun with it, and do what you want, and the rest tends
to take care of itself.

Or to quote AnthonyHopkins quoting somebody else, "Be bold, and mighty forces
will come to your aid."

 jms

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

Date: 28 May 1998 07:29:30 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: How Do You Read a Book?

>1) How do you approach reading -- do you read novels differently
>than manuals?
>
>
Not that I'm aware of consciously, no.  I guess I go to a manual looking for
information, and I go to *enjoy* a novel.

I have to be careful doing research, because after a while I find that the
facts get in the way of the *telling*...it's like, "Okay, I just spent $300 on
books about this stuff, and now YOU'RE going to pay for it!"  I have to leave
it alone for a while until the notes go away and the sense of it remains.

>2) How did you transform the passage in _Le Morte DArthur_ to the
>poignant counterpoint in B5?  Did you read the Cliff's Notes?
>Was there some other play, book, etc. (i.e., _Excalibur_) that
>moved you?

I guess the difference is that a writer of fiction or scripts has to put him-
or herself into the scene, to feel what someone else has described in technical
terms.  From that comes emotion, from emotion comes contact.

 jms

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

Date: 28 May 1998 07:29:02 -0600
Subject: Re: Meditations on the Abyss ( *Spoilers* )

Sounds like voodoo psychology to me; never heard of it.

 jms

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

Date: 29 May 1998 11:59:46 -0600
Subject: Re: Meditations on the Abyss

>How can someone who claims to be an atheist write so eloquently and
>profoundly about God?

Only Nixon could go to China.

 jms

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

Date: 29 May 1998 17:36:59 -0600
Subject: Re: How much does an actor cost?

    [The following text is in the "ISO-8859-1" character set]
    [Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set]
    [Some characters may be displayed incorrectly]

>I'm now reading that the �14000 paid to Wolf for the ITB screening is the 
>fee for getting the actors to appear. This still seems rather a lot, but 
>maybe Americans have different expectations? It seems a US actor gets 
>paid more than a UK one. Does this kind of money seem extortionate to 
>Americans, 'cos it does to me.

That is absolutely not the case.  The actors are being paid their main fees by
the convention, for the convention, has nothing to do with the screening.  They
were offered a *small stipend* to also show up at the screening.  Again, I
can't break the confidentiality of the actors, but I can say that if every
person who came paid about 2-3 pounds, it would cover the whole nut.

Which has nothing to do with the fact that Wolf *cannot* charge for this
screening, which was set aside to be free for the fans, and as far as I know,
will not be allowed to do so.

 jms

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

Date: 29 May 1998 17:37:16 -0600
Subject: Re: Meditations on the Abyss ( *Spoilers* )

>When Dr. Franklin explained his religious beliefs to G'Kar, he
>said what I have always believed.  When you boil down all the 
>religions currently known, they all come back to the same
>basic tenets of good and evil.  It is only money and politics
>that distort religion.  So, now I know I am a "Foundationist".

>For years, I have been looking for a way to define my 
>beliefs.  (I was raised in a very fundamental Bible-thumping
>way as is typical in the southern states.)  And in a few minutes
>of dialog you made it all so clear. 

Thank you.

The first meeting is July 17th, 2005.

 jms

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

Date: 29 May 1998 17:38:16 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS  About you....

>The biggest benefit for me from all of this is developing consistency.
>Watching you being consistent and true to your word and your past is a great
>inspiration.  Now, more than ever, I do my best to be like you in this
>matter.  That way, my past never 'catches up to me', so to speak.

Thanks.  One of the few things a person has of any real value is his word. 
Once given, you have to keep it.  That's a big deal with me.  And I tend to
expect the same from others.  I guess it comes in part from having gotten a lot
of promises as a kid growing up, which never came to fruition.  Promises were
made to assuage guilt and soften disappointment.  I vowed that if I gave
someone my word, then by god I was going to keep it.  

Similarly, I try to repay the other side of things.  One of my other beliefs
(could there be ANYthing more tedious than this, he thought, looking back over
the last couple of self-indulgent paragraphs) is that I never forget a kindness
given, or an injury received.  Probably not the most well-balanced of all
philosophies, but it works for me.  

>I know you occasionally fly off the handle, but who doesn't?  Not only have
>you created a great story, but you've shown that someone can really be a
>solid, unmovable rock in a harsh storm of senselessness.  And sometimes, you
>have to throw that rock at a few people.

I like that, and I may steal it for myself.  Thanks.

 jms

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

Date: 29 May 1998 17:39:33 -0600
Subject: Re: Noble Dignity in Meditations

>I know an episode of B5 ranks high when I not only laugh, but I also get
>that combination of chills and teariness that uniquely expresses that
>deep quality I call Noble Dignity. (Think of Patrick Doyle's "St.
>Crispin's Day" music in Branaugh's "Henry V".)
>
>That's what Lenier and Montoya managed to evoke in me in MotA.
>
>And it makes me wonder, Joe, what it is in your life and readings that
>has provoked so much of this quality in you. It shows up so often in B5
>that it clearly functions as a core element in your soul.
>
Another one of those questions where I'll have to go for the "I" reply, which
should always be viewed with suspicion as any answer given will be self-serving
and massively one-sided.  That disclaimer aside:

Understand that on the one hand, I am a massive and unrepentent cynic.  I've
seen all the worst characteristics of humans toward one another, and have
generally accepted it as common coin.

And yet....

And yet every day we hear stories of incredible self-sacrifice and
selflessness.  There is -- on the other hand that is twin to the one above -- a
stubborn nobility about humans that can't be denied.  At our worst, we are very
bad indeed; at our best, we can be truly quite amazing.  I put those words in
Delenn's mouth, long ago...that we are better than we think, and nobler than we
know.  Usually, those qualities only tend to really come out when our backs are
against the wall...then somehow the pressure turns lead to gold and tin to
iron.

It's the kind of thing I try to apply in my own life, usually with mixed
results, occasionally failing, even occasionally pulling it off once in a
while.  I think you have to fight for what you believe, that you can't ever
back down and let a casual evil pass (and the casual ones are the really deadly
ones), that you have to push every day to be somehow just a little better than
you were the day before.  

Lots of so-called religious groups try to force us to accept that we are by
nature sinful and bad.  I don't buy it.  Any race that can split the atom, walk
on the moon and write a sonnet has nothing to apologize for.  We do the best we
can with what we've got, and on balance, allowing for the flaws and the
occasinal Ayatollah, we've done pretty damned good, and we should be proud of
that instead of beating ourselves over the head.  Yes, we still have a hell of
a long way to go, yes there are problems, no we can't ever stop trying to
address and fix the problems that exist, we can't get complacent... but we've
beaten most of the microbes and the diseases, conquered the air, given birth to
Mozart and Buddy Holly, and we ought to once in a while allow for a moment of
quiet pride in that.

Because you can't build on what you ain't proud of having done in the first
place.

 jms

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

Date: 31 May 1998 02:50:46 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS:  Looped dialogue for the Drazi merchant?

It got revoiced because the actor ended up sounding almost exactly like the
cowardly lion....

 jms

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

Date: 31 May 1998 02:51:00 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Crusade - throw us a bone please

We've cast one or two actors who will be in the series; the physical set for
the Excalibur is built; the refined CGI Excalibur is nearly finished; costumes
are being designed; and we have what we think is a pretty cool series logo.

 jms

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

Date: 31 May 1998 02:51:26 -0600
Subject: Re: Philosophies

>>     B5 has been very refreshing. Besides being a wonderful story, for me
>> very remeniscent of the first time I read the Lord of the Rings, I have
>> found in the treatment of religion an the acceptance of its place in the
>> human condition.

Here's a funny aside.

I got an email not long ago from a female pastor out in the midwest, who said
she had just come back from one of these multi-faith, interdenominational
retreats where everybody tries to find some common ground.

Apparently the first day went pretty slow, lots of false starts and stops, then
that evening, at dinner, somebody mentioned B5...and in short order you had a
bunch of pastors, preachers, rabbis, priests, buddhist monks and others all
pitching in with their own reactions to the show, and their interpretations.

I think that's kinda cool.

 jms

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

Date: 31 May 1998 02:52:40 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Music Critic par excellence

Thanks.  Music is very important to me, and I love finding really cool stuff
(and if you like that stuff, don't forget Red Clay Ramblers, for a more
bluegrass sound).

 jms

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

Date: 31 May 1998 02:53:06 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS:  Your alter ego???

>My question is this -- was G'Kar always intended to be such an articulate
>and wise character?  

Yeah, he was always set to grow into this.

> Does he serve as your favorite mouthpiece and alter
>ego?

Sometimes.

>And if so, is this because the character resonates with you, or does
>Andreas' superb acting skill have something to do with it?

I think it's both.  Making G'Kar more of a writer, I've been able to get out
some of that...and knowing that whatever I write, Andreas can bring to life is
a big plus.  

>In short, is it the character or the actor which seems to draw the best
>writing out of you?  Over time I assume that you start writing to actors'
>strengths...

If you held a gun to my head, I'd have to say that of the scenes I write, the
ones with both G'Kar and Londo are the ones that somehow just sing...I could
write about those guys nonstop, and never get tired of it.  There's just some
dynamic that comes into place more when they're together than seperately.

 jms

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

Date: 31 May 1998 02:53:19 -0600
Subject: Re: Noble Dignity in Meditations

>Now 
>I have returned to read this, with the rhythms of Corwin still ringing in my 
>ears and through my veins -- and what I hear is one of Corwin's spiritual
>sons at work while at leisure, here on the Net!  

(allows a quiet smile)

There are a number of us who call ourselves Norman's Kids; we who drew on his
inspiration and his words.  Others who have so identified themselves in one way
or another are Ray Bradbury, Rod Serling, Charles Kuralt, Edward R Murrow,
Walter Cronkite, Stan Freberg and many, many others.

Every once in a while, I'll think that something I've done reads a little bit
close to something Norman Corwin would've written, and excusing the hubris of
that, it's a tough goal to hit.

 jms

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

Date: 31 May 1998 23:40:26 -0600
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS:  Silencing the voices

>If the characters speak to you inside your head, is killing them off the
>only way to silence them?  I just had this scary thought that you might
>want to shut them all up in order to move on.
>
There are other ways.

 jms

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