JMS messages on GEnie, July 1995. Collected by Steven Miale . ------------ Category 18, Topic 1 Message 393 Thu Jul 06, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:39 EDT Actually, all B5 crew get the jacket; difference is, only a few of us are entitled to wear the Battle of the Line patches. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 1 Message 421 Fri Jul 07, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:52 EDT I hear there's even going to be a jms card in the first batch of 120 cards. (I have now achieved something, I am now a trading card.) There will be cards for every episode, in chronological order, and they can trace some arc elements and stuff. They look to be gorgeous, all based on photographs, many never before published or seen. People entitled to wear BotL patches: me, Michael O'Hare, and John Copeland. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 1 Message 434 Fri Jul 07, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 22:52 EDT Haven't seen the poster yet, but I hear it's cool. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 1 Message 453 Sun Jul 09, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:18 EDT Mike, would *love* to see a copy of that review; could you send it to me at 14431 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 260, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423? I would *very* much appreciate it. (If you could include the cover, that'd also be great.) jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 1 Message 466 Mon Jul 10, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:38 EDT We're still negotiating for the release of the tapes. We may have to bring in former president Carter to finalize the negotiations. The cards will be fall-ish; the CD regular edition is currently available. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 1 Message 513 Sun Jul 16, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:13 EDT Y'know...we despair here about how the media (viz: TV Guide and others) can only think to describe B5 by comparing it to ST, why can't they get it together...I just blipped over to the category for NASFIC, the US proxy Worldcon...and there are panels on Star Wars, on the Fox shows, including X- Files, all this...and you know the only B5 panel I found? BABYLON 5 VS. STAR TREK. sigh.... jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 1 Message 526 Sun Jul 16, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 18:47 EDT We're doing a bit more here and there on merchandising, just enough to keep it going and provide quality assurance. BTW, in the ongoing saga of Big Bang Screwups...heard today that, in addition to Michael O'Hare getting stiffed the $5,000 remaining on his fee, Mark Hamill's check for the balance of his fee (a remainder of $10,000) has bounced, this on top of a previous check to reimburse travel expenses ALSO bouncing. These people are unbelievable.... jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 1 Message 555 Mon Jul 17, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 23:49 EDT ....birthdays.....pfthpft..... jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 1 Message 570 Tue Jul 18, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 21:01 EDT My hair doesn't change much in length, so I'm not sure there's any real difference. (Now *quantity* of operational follicles, that's a different story....) jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 1 Message 583 Wed Jul 19, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:50 EDT The shadows know that Kosh knows, because the Vorlons *always* know; they also know (or think) that they're in a superior position because if Kosh should tell the others, either a) most wouldn't believe him, or b) the shadows would move aggressively now, costing untold lives. They're more worried about an alliance between lots of races than the Vorlons alone. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 1 Message 585 Wed Jul 19, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:40 EDT Okay. Look. I'm gonna make this *real* simple. Somebody gives me the cheat codes for DESCENT, and nobody gets hurt. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 1 Message 603 Thu Jul 20, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:13 EDT BTW, keep forgetting to mention...I've just finished a VERY lon (long) B5 article for FOUNDATION, an academic review of SF published out of Britain. It'll be out and available at Worldcon, and elsewhere. It's about 7,600 words/28 typed pages, a mix of pro and personal stuff. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 1 Message 610 Thu Jul 20, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 17:58 EDT Our pilot got one emmy nomination (won that one); season one got two noms (won one), and our third season has just gotten three Emmy nominations, with the possibility of one or two more to come. We got noms for makeup, hair and cinematography. Nominations for directing, music, EFX and a few other areas will be out in the next couple/three weeks, when the last of the ballots are counted. Nothing for the cast or writers, alas, but that's typical for SF. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 1 Message 625 Fri Jul 21, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:46 EDT It didn't share an emmy, no, but in that category, more than one can win (EFX). DS9 also got an emmy that year, but TNG did not, the first year in a while that they hadn't. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 1 Message 648 Sun Jul 23, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:04 EDT To some extent it falls into a steady rhythm, except that each year we try to get more ambitious than the year before, so we're constantly pushing the envelope and looking for new ways to do things, and ways to make those things even bigger and better. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 1 Message 656 Mon Jul 24, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:10 EDT The BG is a sculpture; they were clipped into the image. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 1 Message 732 Sun Jul 30, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 23:04 EDT What Earthdome told us was that the Minbari were beaten back by our defenses, and sued for peace rather than walk into a buzzsaw. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 2 Message 544 Sun Jul 16, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:47 EDT WB will be putting out a bunch of new images/avi files/wav files to usher in the new season. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 2 Message 548 Mon Jul 17, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:17 EDT Script #5 completed, "Passing Through Gethsemene." jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 2 Message 559 Mon Jul 17, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 23:52 EDT For most of our history with WB, the shield's attitude has been sort of lackluster when it comes to PR. Particularly for the first year or so, during their trial of a new concept in TV: stealth programming. You do as much as you can to make the show invisible to eye, ear, radar, sonar and infrared, lest god forbid somebody should write an article about it. We had *constant* battles with them over this. We think the situation is finally, slowly improving. A great deal of the problem comes from the fact that we're a) not a network show, and b) not a Warners in-house series, like Kung Fu or the other PTEN shows. We're an independent production company, and thus we tended to get orphaned/neglected a lot. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 2 Message 578 Wed Jul 19, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:51 EDT Good heavens; I think the "Gethsemane" story *you're* seeing is much more interesting than the one *I* came up with.... Not to say that that theme won't recur down the road anyway.... jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 2 Message 604 Fri Jul 21, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:44 EDT Bear in mind also that this is a TV Guide photo, done by them, not an official B5 production cast photo, and it's who was available and in town during the hiatus. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 2 Message 615 Sat Jul 22, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:57 EDT As I recall, what they did was shoot the background, then shoot individual shots of the actors, and they may have put them all together later. Don't know if a single was shot of all of 'em or not. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 2 Message 637 Wed Jul 26, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:54 EDT Stan, y'know the only thing that kinda bothers me? I see you over here, on AOL, elsewhere, posting all these spoilers...and that's all you seem to do. I don't see you engaging in discussions, it seems to me as if your main interest is in just grabbing the information and racing to all the forums to be first with spoilers. I find this rather peculiar. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 11 Message 516 Fri Jul 07, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] (Forwarded) Except, of course, that I'd specifically asked for people NOT to post that info; if this has been done, then this is the first time that request has not been honored. I've done these screenings in the cooperative sense that it will be kept to the crowd and not posted publicly; even gotthe audience to agree with it. If this promise has been broken, I may have to reconsider the screening process. ------------ Category 18, Topic 11 Message 517 Fri Jul 07, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] (Forwarded) PS. So in other words, Stan, if you want to post this material all over the place, on an episode that hasn't yet aired yet, totally not respecting my wishes on the subject, as the creator of B5, because you believe your right to post this is greater than my polite and respectful request to the fans who attended NOT to publicly post such things, then do as you wish, knowing that you kill any future screenings for other people. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 11 Message 524 Sat Jul 08, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] (Forwarded) AND FURTHERMORE, *Stan*....I just checked AOL. The synopsis one person wrote there was *never* posted publicly insofar as I could see, and was noted that if anyone wanted to see it, it would be sent via email to that individual. Why? Because the person who saw the ep understood and respected my request, and didn't want it posted publicly. If that person had, it would've been. So you're even going against the wishes of the person who WROTE the synopsis. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 11 Message 538 Sat Jul 08, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] (Forwarded) You know, Stan, it's really very sad when courtesy is no longer a valid reason for doing something. "Well, show me where it breaks THE LAW to do this," "I would love to see a legal challenge on that one," and "taking a magazine or newspaper to court." This is one of the reasons our society is so totally screwed up. "Because I ask you, as a favor, and as a personal courtesy," is not a good enough reason for some people. I was not required to show that episode. Nobody made me. Nobody was entitled to it. I did so as part of a compact between me and the audience that we will keep the details between us, privately. I have done literally dozens and dozens of conventions, exercised this compact dozens of times, and to date, not ONE PERSON has ever violated that gentleman's agreement. Except you. Who wasn't even THERE, and took the message out of private mail...why? Because you want to be FIRST. Because in the on-line community, knowledge = power. And because you want it, and unless you get what you want, you're going to stamp your foot and carry on cranky and scream and yell that everybody else should change the rules to accommodate you. This is not a censorship issue. GEnie is a *private corporation*, just like a newspaper. And any newspaper can choose, for itself, what it selects for publication, or not to publish. It has the right, and the responsibility, because it provides the venue. Freedom of speech in the press or the electronic media is a function of who's paying the bill. You can't go around screaming "I'm being censored" because a magazine saw your letter and decided it was dopey and didn't publish it. It's their call. This is GEnie's call, and the call of those who work for GEnie. Constitutional free speech means if you can't publish it in one place you can go and do it yourself. You can set up a BBS of your own somewhere and publish this to your heart's content. Nobody's going to stop you, this isn't about laws, or rules, or ratings, it's a simple request from me, and the courteous agreement to that request by others. You are trying to negate what they and I have agreed to, because you want to. Because your perception of your "rights" (which do not exist in a service like GEnie which is not a democracy, is paid for via a corporation privately owned) is that it matters more than my rights to make this request, more than the sysops to honor that request, more than the structure of GEnie, more important than the wishes of the users here, more important thjan the future convention goers who might find no further screenings.... Because you want to be *first*. Very few can actually DISCUSS the episode, because it hasn't aired. Only the relative handful in the room. So there's not much they can really add to it. You weren't even THERE. You just want to run into the room waving the synopsis because you feel it gives you some kind of status. And the hell with everybody else. Some studio types don't like episodes being screened ahead of the broadcast; so I try and keep a low profile on this to avoid causing them headaches. Which is, essentially, what I said at the time, and was known and understood by everyone who was there, of which you were not one. So in your ignorance of the situation, you potentially complicate things further...because you wanna this, and you wanna that. It's a sad world when the only thing you respect is the sound of your own voice. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 11 Message 550 Sun Jul 09, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] (Forwarded) Stan, your application of the definition of censorship just doesn't wash. When the dictionary says "remove or suppress," it means from the society at large. It also refers to the government. If a newspaper chooses not to publish an article, it's not censorship, it's the choice of a publication. The right to make that choice is one of the prime tenets of freedom of speech. By your definition, any service or publication which chooses for itself what it will or will not publish is a censor; and in so doing, you create the error of accepted cliche which in time wears down the specific meaning of censorship by generalizing it to an insupportable level. People who scream censorship at the drop of a hat become like the little boy who cried wolf; pretty soon, the serious and real cases get ignored in the whiten noise. (white noise, that is) One suggestion: study a little communications law. Because you really don't understand what it is you're addressing here; a two-line definition in the dictionary has little to no bearing on case law, the history of governmental censorship, or much of anything else. I've spent considerable time studying communications law; you should try it before you go off like this. Also copyright law, and free speech rules. We'll continue this after you've finished your homework. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 11 Message 566 Sun Jul 09, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] (Forwarded) I was going to make one last reply on this, until I saw the line, that I'm "supporting the use of force to thward the dissemination of information." Force? WHAT force? You keep quoting the dictionary, Stan, WHAT force? Look it up. Has somebody come to your door, kicked it in, taken you to a prison and attached electrodes to your genitalia and I wasn't informed? Excuse me, Stan, but you have just passed into the totally ridiculous. Your statement here is offensive to me and anyone who knows how writers have been tortured and harrassed and killed in the process of their work. I have donated literally *thousands* of dollars to PEN and other freedom of speech/protection for writers organizations, people who in Latin American and Eastern European countries know what *force* means. No force was used of any kind, Stan. You're gibbering. You got your little message deleted, you got hysterical, and you're blowing this out of all proportion. I have nothing further to say to you. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 12 Message 299 Sat Jul 15, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 22:27 EDT The TV Guide issue with the B5 feature story should be hitting newsstands on the East Coast today (reaching LA on Monday). Anybody out there got a copy for a quick review/heads-up for us out here? jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 17 Message 378 Wed Jul 12, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 05:08 EDT Some places list the CD under Chris Franke's name, not B5, oddly enough. You can also get it via Tower Records phone order, at 1-800- ASK-TOWER. Many folks have reported getting it quickly that way. Yes, insofar as I know, these are licensed uniforms. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 26 Message 622 Mon Jul 03, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:20 EDT The assaulted dealer has required hospitalization and there are some concerns about his vision in one eye. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 26 Message 656 Sun Jul 16, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 18:41 EDT Is Trace Bileau (I misspelled that, I know) going to be doing the honors? jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 26 Message 659 Mon Jul 17, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 17:23 EDT No, that happened just before the pilot was aired, and just after it was finished. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 26 Message 670 Sun Jul 23, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:01 EDT Both Bruce and Pat Tallman were at MOC, and apparently everybody there was very much won over, from reports I've seen. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 38 Message 230 Tue Jul 04, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:17 EDT All issues through 11 will come out; we think we've got things in place to go beyond that as well, as some elements have improved. More on this as it develops. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 38 Message 242 Thu Jul 06, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 23:35 EDT I've just been told today that the comic has been extended through issue #24. So it's clear for over a full year yet to come. There should be something official about this out soonish. This should give it a decent shot at finding its audience, which is already building (40,000+ copies per month ain't bad). jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 38 Message 300 Mon Jul 17, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 23:44 EDT David's story for DC is based on an episode script he'd done for us (outline, actually) for the first season, which would've been just about impossible to shoot. jms ------------ Category 18, Topic 41 Message 12 Sat Jul 15, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 22:24 EDT I think the idea of a fan-run con is great. And be *sure* that wherever you do choose has a) adequate transportation in and out, b) something to do when the con's not in session, c) good hotels centrally located to the convention. I like Tom's approach above; it gives all the various departments a chance to get their moment in the sun, AND provide solid info on those aspects of making the series that would be of interest to different people. What we have here, really, is the chance to re-think and re-create the convention process a little, make it more active, and inter-active, and more interesting. One thing to be advised about: actors are paid to perform. This is performance, however one might choose to consider it otherwise. So any cast members brought in are going to require some kind of compensation, travel and the like. Just a reminder to keep in the back of your head(s) as you plan all this stuff out. jms ------------ Category 19, Topic 43 Message 314 Thu Jul 20, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 18:02 EDT Negative. That was never intended. Sakai would not have had this encounter with the shadows. And remember, we *saw them* in year one, so they were already out, about and awake. It's not just a matter of transposing names. jms ------------ Category 19, Topic 46 Message 4 Wed Jul 26, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:55 EDT There is a topic here for spoilers from the UK, Stan. Use it. Also, what is this obsession you have with posting every single detail of a story just to get it out there? jms ------------ Category 19, Topic 46 Message 9 Wed Jul 26, 1995 STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 06:08 EDT It's just that the sysops have *specifically* set aside topic #1 here for "The British Aired Final Four Episodes." The DL info came from one of the British Aired Final Four Episodes. It seems to me that one would wish to respect the wishes of the sysops who created that topic for that express purpose, the same way one puts discussions of B5 science into 18/13. Why is it you seem to feel that the sysops needs are subordinate to your own? Nobody said you couldn't post the spoilers, they merely said that the topic over *there* is the right place for them, THIS one is for the spoilers that take place after they've aired here in the US. jms