Messages from Babylon 5 executive producer J. Michael Straczynski on the Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5. Date: 1 Jun 1995 03:28:01 -0400 Subject: JMS: Season really delayed, or The last four eps of this season are being held by PTEN until October, yes. jms Date: 1 Jun 1995 03:33:58 -0400 Subject: Attn: JMS - Any plans for a Se A "secrets of B5" kind of one-hour special would be a great idea, if we could convince WB to go for it. But right now, we're still waiting on the series go, let alone anything else. jms Date: 1 Jun 1995 05:56:22 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: The First Ones She was speaking of species, not individuals. jms Date: 1 Jun 1995 03:33:47 -0400 Subject: JMS: Space Cooties at Zha'ha'd To Jim Jones: the shadows on Z'ha'dum are no more a tribute to the Cooties than your name is a tribute to new and fascinating uses for Kool-Aide. jms Date: 1 Jun 1995 21:11:45 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Larry DeTillio leav There's really not much *to* tell. Because I wrote 15 out of 22 this season, and I held virtually all of the writers meetings, and personally created and handed out the stories to freelancers, there wasn't a lot for him to *do*; he spent a lot of time when he wasn't doing his scripts more or less sitting on his hands. Larry's a world-builder, coming from a gaming background, and this world was already built. There wasn't that much for him to do, and his skills were being wasted. He'd never have a chance to shine and come out from under the jms shadow to be recognized for what he can do. (Very often, stuff in his scripts would get credited to me, often incorrectly.) This situation would only get worse in later seasons, with more and more arc stories, pre-determined, coming into the foreground. So it was really for the best. jms Date: 1 Jun 1995 21:41:54 -0400 Subject: JMS: Triluminary an Artifact? "There is good reason to believe the Minbari Triluminary device is an artifact not created by the Minbari." DING*DING*DING*DING*DING*DING*DING*DING! jms Date: 1 Jun 1995 21:27:11 -0400 Subject: JMS: Does Ed Wasser smoke? Not insofar as I know. jms Date: 1 Jun 1995 21:07:06 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: short season? No, the sliding of 4 eps toward fall wouldn't affect the length of a third season. jms Date: 1 Jun 1995 21:07:34 -0400 Subject: Re: Attn: JMS - C&L and QoM - It should also help in all these discussions to remember the way the machine functions; it's not so much an alien HEALING device as an alien LIFE TRANSFERRAL device. If someone is actually dying, or close to it, the only way to save that person is to take the life from someone else. So you really don't gain anything (which was why they used condemned murderers for the original device). jms Date: 1 Jun 1995 21:31:56 -0400 Subject: Britain - last,best hope thwar Okay, folks, CALm DOWn. Ch 4 hasn't gotten the last batch yet only because we're finishing the last bits of tweaking. "Twilight" is totally finished. "Divided Loyalties" is getting the final EFX put in this week, and will probably be delivered to WB on Friday. (This would be the first up of the last batch.) "Confessions" is finished and scored absent 2 EFX shots, which will be in tomorrow, and we'll probably deliver on Monday/Tuesday, with "The Fall of Night" delivered about a week after that. They'll have the episodes in time to play them. jms Date: 1 Jun 1995 21:32:54 -0400 Subject: JMS: What is the Legend of the I think I'll perhaps leave this question be for a little while.... jms Date: 2 Jun 1995 04:35:38 -0400 Subject: Re: Britain - last,best hope t RE: my mention of "Confessions" in the final four...I misspoke, and meant to say "Comes the Inquisitor." Soon I'll be saying tire when I mean to say bisquit. jms Date: 2 Jun 1995 04:37:48 -0400 Subject: Technobabylon Michael, you're confusing your terms. You can't say that because B5 has rotational artificial gravity that therefore this equals technobabble. Science fiction -- note, SCIENCE fiction -- relies on elements of technology. You cannot have SF without some element of changed or new technology. Thus your notion that ANY technology = technobabble means that ALL SF is technobabble. In so doing, the term loses all meaning. Technobabble specifically refers to paragraph after paragraph of dialogue explaining how the neutrino filters invert the tachyon field distancing array and corrupt the magnetic flow systems into an inert state...which is later solved by MORE technobabble. The operative word here is BABBLE, which in this case means to go on and on. jms Date: 2 Jun 1995 04:38:00 -0400 Subject: Re: Britain - last,best hope t Wait...I wuz wrong. We checked personally with the Channel 4 programmers, who are out here on the West Coast for an international TV big-deal, and apparently they *are* going to hold up on the last four just 2-3 weeks, specifically because to air it would be to put it up against the Tour de France, and nobody would ever see the darned thing. Just a slight delay, a couple/three weeks...hey, could be worse, could be October. jms Date: 2 Jun 1995 21:06:09 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: The Planet... What' We'll see Draal and the planet below B5 in the last batch of new eps this season. And the plural of Minbari is Minbari, as the plural of Moose is Moose. jms Date: 3 Jun 1995 00:00:33 -0400 Subject: JMS: Comes the Inquisitor? "CtI is the only episode in the last four that we know nothing about." And if I figure out how I happened to achieve that (short of just keeping my big yap shut), I'll do it some more. There should be some surprises, yes? And it's an arc story, yes, but in a very odd way. jms Date: 3 Jun 1995 00:00:06 -0400 Subject: Re: Mirrors and reflections Yes, there is a reason for the mirror/reflection motif, and for Kosh's comment. What is a reflection? jms Date: 4 Jun 1995 04:03:57 -0400 Subject: JMS: Official request for tra Isn't it more fun to leave the piece untranslated? Shouldn't some things be left to the imagination? jms Date: 3 Jun 1995 23:59:15 -0400 Subject: TREK IS BEST Dear Ryan: regarding your comment that DS9 and the other ST shows are superior because they use "real models" instead of CGI...they DO, in fact, use CGI ships in all their shows, including Voyager, and they use THE SAME COMPANY WE DO, Foundation Imaging. (They just finished doing a Solar Sailing vessel for, I think, DS9.) In short...you don't have a clue what you're talking about. jms Date: 3 Jun 1995 23:59:24 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS -- Quick question... Yes, I slipped a reference to B5 into an old episode of Captain Power called "Final Stand," and into my second novel, OtherSyde. jms Date: Sun, 4 Jun 95 08:29:00 UTC Subject: Why are you here (rastb5)? The notion that I'm asking for no story ideas to be posted so that I can rip off story ideas is the most lame-brain statement I have heard in 10+ years of being on the nets. Saying "no story ideas" doesn't kee anyone from suing; it just keeps useable ideas out of where I can see them, period. I have said, often, and repeatedly, and clearly, why I am here. The problem is that you have one or two absolute mindless conniving distrustful fuckheads who have no perceivable life other than to try and ride my ass about one thing or another, swinging from one stupid theory to another to another with as much astonishing speed and illogic as the Simpson defense team. They will seize upon anything, ANYthing, and try and twist it around to try and convince others that somehow, somewhichway, I'm getting away with something, I'm conning people, I'm lying, I'm actually Reichminister Goebbels who set up a twin for the little WW II misunderstanding and am currently trying to sneak back into the United States disguised as Rondo Hatton. Loonies and feebs and creeps, oh my. Okay, you want it straight up? Here it is. I'm here for a number of reasons. 1) I like to get kind of a sense of the room; I'm not going to change anything, but writing for TV is like writing for a vacuum; you nevr (never) get to see the reaction. This is the ONLY chance I get to get a reaction to something I've written and produced, and maybe it's ego, maybe it's just that I work very hard to make something effective,and want to see if it had the desired effect. Writers and artists and singers are like that. 2) I think that TV producers in general get a very skewed sense of who's in the audience. This exchange gives access to people across the country to someone who makes TeeVee, and lets me hear them. How often would someone in Clearwater, Oklahoma, have the chance to express an opinion to someone in LA making a TV series? Not bloody often. And that is in large measure, I think, why TV has become so insular. And so unresponsive to its audience. So I'm kind of a test-case volunteer for this, in the hopes of luring more producers onto the nets and creating a more open exchange, making producers accountable for what they make. 3) I've dedicated over 15 years of my life to trying to demystify TV production and writing. I've written columns and columns, reams of articles, a book...all trying to help people understand how this medium works, because you can't control or influence something unless you truly UNDERSTAND it...why things are done a certain way. This is part of an educational project that I've been doing for over a decade, a natural outgrowth of that process. By the time this is all done, there will be an online document of hundreds of archival pages -- maybe thousands -- covering the development, birth and ongoing creation of a TV series at a depth never before chronicled, which will be available to students and universities and ordinary folks. I think that's a valuable experiment. Finally: 4) I'm an SF fan. I think SF fans are, overall, the most exploited bunch around. They're expected to line up, buy the toys, watch the show and shut the hell up. I think it's time some respect for that audience was shown by allowing them a voice. This is part of my sense of personal obligation to the field that spawned many wonderful years of reading. My request has always been just that, a request, and a simply stated one. You can talk about story ideas all you want. But I simply cannot be here if you do that. I will not run the risk of being sued, or having the show that I've labored over for, now, eight years being victimized by some crazed yahoo who posts something and then decides I've ripped him off, despite the fact that this material has been sitting in my computer for YEARS. And a Crazed Yahoo (tm) doesn't have to win, doesn't even think he may have a chance to win...but defending a case can run hundreds of thousands of dollars, thanks to our wonderful legal system, and can tie up episodes for years. You cay some of these people think the chances of a lawsuit are "ignorable." Yeah, for them. They're not the ones at risk. If they're wrong, it's "Oh, huh, guess I was wrong." For me it's several years of courtrooms, lawyers, depositions and the like. It's frankly not their call to make. It's mine. Warners knows I'm here, and I periodically have to reassure them that I'm keeping the promise about not exposing the show to risk. And I have to maintain that stance, or vanish. I would remind a very few of the feebs I noted before that in fact, there WAS no rec.arts.b5 area until I showed up on the alt group. At that point, membership jumped *dramatically* enough to merit the formation of a rec.arts group. I have no particular infatuation with my own sense of importance -- much the contrary -- but I do know that my being here is in many ways directly responsible for there BEING a B5 rec group. Now I'm being told, "Hey, why make special rules for him, who cares, let him blow off if he doesn't like it." Not a special rule. Just courtesy. Plain and simple. Why is it that one can no longer simply make a request out of courtesy? Instead one must now back it up with lengthy treatises about legalities and laws and risk factors...and one's own personal motivations are challenged and questioned and suspected and put on trial and smeared by a callous few to whom the very concept of "courtesy" is a foreign idea, and who exist only to bring grief to me and the bulk of users here. There are PLENTY of ways for people to suggest story ideas to one another without exposing them to me...email lists, private groups, whatever. The theory, as I understand it, is that people are coming up with story ideas because they like the show. Why, therefore, would they choose to *endanger* the show by posting them where I can see it? I had this recently with a fanzine publisher who turned down a B5 fictional story because I'd asked, politely, that none be published until after the show had ended. The writer got very upset and said, "Well, who CARES what he wants?" The side-product was more important than the creation that spawned it. I've made my motivations clear from day one. Anyone who wants to challenge them can go fuck themselves, I don't have to answer to them or give them any credence whatsoever by even acknowleging them. It's in all the faq files from the beginning; let them go do some research, it's all there. They pick on this today; tomorrow they'll move onto something else, because they don't actually CARE about the truth. They care about being hyenas, and biting at people who didn't bow down and kiss their respective asses. And frankly, that to me has become one of the most wearing aspects of being online; the wackos and creeps who just live to make trouble. For that reason alone, I sometimes think, "Fuck it, I don't need this, I don't need to go to bed angry, I don't need the distraction when I'm trying to write, I'm doing this to do a Nice Thing. Period. And if all I'm going to get is a few relentless assholes bitching at me 24 hours a day, then the hell with it." Then the sane part of me remembers that the word FEW appears in that sentence. And that these few jerks are irrelevant, despite their attempts to create relevancy for themselves by attacking others. And I calm down, and after a bit, log back on again. To continue the experiment, as outlined above. And that's the sum and substance of it. It's really a question of which people prefer: having access to the producer of Babylon 5, or blowing out huge story ideas. There can be one, but not the other. It ain't the best case scenario, but it's the only workable one. It's my show that would be at risk otherwise, and I'm sorry, but on that count noboty (nobody) else gets a vote. Nobody else is entitled to determine the risk factor, or determine if it's relevant. That's my call. And should enough people decide their story ideas are what they really want to discuss, or even a few (it only takes a couple to pose sufficient risk), then I'll simply have to fade outta here. Because the experiment will continue, on other systems. Compuserve, GEnie, others...where the understanding is respected, and courtesy rises above self-interest or unwarranted personal attacks. And AS HAS BEEN THE CASE HERE, I should point out, since this thing began. If a few people want to change that, well, that's their right. I just can't be here if it happens. That simple. And yes, you can repost this, but if you do in the public forums, do so in toto. The usual band of self-styled critics/hatchet folks will get all bent out of shape because I used a couple naughty words here and there, and because I got all bent out of shape simply because they did something as innocuous as impugning my motives and implying theft on a daily, consistent basis, but y'know what? Fuck 'em. jms Date: Sun, 4 Jun 95 09:02:00 UTC Subject: Why are you here (rastb5)? A postscript to my previous note. I debated including this, because it sounds self-serving, but it also happens to be the truth, so after thinking about it, I'm going to add it anyway. I don't get paid to be here. Nobody asked me to be here. Nobody's forcing me to be here. (And a few here would, apparently, love nothing more than to drive me off here so they can say whatever they want without the inconvenience of the target for their attacks disagreeing with them with anything as unfair as facts.) I'm a voluntee I am, insofar as I know, the ONLY television producer to be on-line to this extent, creating what is really an interactive experience. This is a great experiment, one which will probably go down in the record books when people look back at the history of the net. There have already been huge articles about this in books and magazines. We're pioneering something here. And a lot of other producers I know are looking on to see how this all shakes out. If it works, others will come on-line. If not, if they're just going to get hammered and slandered and abused, they're not. Maybe the problem is...I'm free. And you respect something to the extent you pay for it. My consulting fees are in excess of $100 per hour. I spend 3 hours per day just on the internet. That's 21 hours a week, 2 and a half work days per week. Most of that I spend not in forwarding my own ego, or selling merchandise, or making money...I spend it answering questions. Who was this actor? What did this mean? Why are CGI used? How long does it take to make an episode? What does a producer do? How do you write a character? How do you sell a show? It's the kind of information you can't get anywhere else unless you want to take one of those triple-damned McKee seminars and spend, oh, about $500 for one weekend doing so. I read and I read, 500 messages per day slip past me, some in detail, some less so. I provide a service. I provide information. I answer questions. I don't do it for the ratings, beause if you added up all the people who read this group, which I think is about 10,000 people, they won't even show UP on the Neilsen ratings. I do it, in addition to the reasons given a moment ago, to provide a service. Were I providing this service to a studio, or as a consultant on another project, it would cost them a couple thousand bucks a week. I do all this without asking for money, or gifts, or even respect (he said with a glance to the people riffling their papers in the back of the room and tossing spitballs). I have only ever asked for *one thing* in exchange for this service: no story ideas. And I honestly don't think that's a terribly high price for the hours and days I spend here when I should be writing, or trying to relax a bit, or maybe going out to dinner once in a while. I'm chained to the keyboard when I write scripts; and then volunteer to stay up here, until 2 or 3 or even 4 a.m., dead-tired, answering one more ATT: JMS note, because I think maybe, just maybe, it's important, and right, and honorable, and respectful. I don't think most folks understand what this takes out of me on a daily basis. And I suppose they shouldn't have to. It's not their problem. It's my choice. I don't even like bringing it up, because it sounds self-serving. But with all this going on, I figured maybe it SHOULD get mentioned. Because it's the truth. Anyway, enough. It's now 2:03 a.m., and I have 248 Internet messages in my mailbox to get through before I crash tonight. jms Date: 4 Jun 1995 05:28:16 -0400 Subject: Re: Someone's Impersonating jm Only because it's late, and I'm kinda pissed off anyway (see the note which Vinay will be reposting any time now), let me dive into this with one or two comments which, I hope, will end this discussion. (And I won't even mention my sense that those who seem least to understand the need to protect one's name are the ones who don't have much of a name TO protect.) Lemme bring you up to speed on something a few of you know about, but the majority probably don't. There have been a couple of other cases of people impersonating me. One of the most serious was someone who, saying he was me, using my address, began logging onto certain sex-oriented alt and rec groups and began leaving messages that were...disturbing, to couch it delicately. Suffice to say they involved minors and let it go at that. I found out about this when messages in response to this began showing up in my mailbox. Other equally disturbing messages were brought to my attention by a few others here who log onto some of the other parts of the internet. (They can step forward if they so choose.) One of these individuals is now facing criminal charges. Lawyers brought into this made it *absolutely clear* to me, in NO uncertain terms, how this should be dealt with. At the first hint, I must send the person a message asking to cease and desist. This will help to root out which are impersonators with fake addresses, and which are real people with the same name. I note someone here (in a reply quoting it) bitched, "Well, why didn't Joe try to contact this person here?" I did, you idiot. And the message bounced back. At that point, Orders From Lawyers #2 kicked in. You must hit them as hard as you can, as fast as you can, as publicly as you can. Don't wait. If it turns out to be benign, you can always apologize later. If you DON'T, any time that you don't respond but know what's going on can be taken as permission or agreement. Two great ironies strike me here: 1) that one or two of the people who have most implied that maybe this isn't really me (one of the ten zillion nutty conspiracy notes they flash around) seemed to find no problem with a system -- automated or manned by a person -- which might further fuzzy up what's me and what's not. 2) Citing the person who got accidentally bombarded with notes, a situation which BEGAN with a threat of a harrassment lawsuit aimed against me (something which the person here conveniently forgot). I don't care if it's automated. I don't care if it's a person. I have a name, and a reputation to protect. Naming a bot morden.bot is not the same thing as jms.bot because jms is a real person and morden is not. It has the same end result of blurring the lines. In any event, there has to be a forceful, hard response at ANY time an impersonator emerges or seems to emerge, as fast as possible, because of several other rather ugly incidents that have taken place. And if ANYbody has a problem with that, I really don't care, because it's my name and reputation that's at stake here, not yours. jms Date: 4 Jun 1995 19:34:18 -0400 Subject: Why I'm Here: Addendum Only because I'm an idiot, and I forgot, and I thought it was implicit in the message I wrote, but sometimes implicit isn't sufficiently clear (certainly not when I'm behind the keyboard).... The other aspect is that you're all (well, mostly) a bunch of cuties. Occasional nincompoops notwithstanding...I see more well-considered, substantive, bright and funny comments here than I can count. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't sit here and perk up at a particularly insightful message, or laugh at the latest Top Ten or whatever. The majority of messages here are nothing less than terrific, and I hope that that implication was clear enough in my message(s); if not, take it from this one. As for the few weasels...my spousal overunit has a great saying: "Don't fight the rabbits; the lions'll get you." jms Date: 5 Jun 1995 19:14:56 -0400 Subject: Re: Why is joe here (rastb5)? To Eric Wampner: Vinay DID have my permission to repost the material publicly; said permission was even included within the post, if you read it thoroughly. So I think you owe him an apology. jms Date: 5 Jun 1995 17:22:31 -0400 Subject: JMS: Music tastes? Actually, I listen to just about every kind of music there is, except hard-core country-western, which I can't abide. I have a fairly large collection of music, and stuff goes in and out depending on my mood and what I'm writing. In rock, I'm partial to Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Melissa Etheridge, Meatloaf, Indigo Girls, Billy Joel, Enya, Slade and a lot of others. I always go for strong individual voices and strong writing. I'm a sucker for the kind of music that makes you start pounding your arm on the arm of your chair and makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Bonnie Tyler stuff. Other than that...classical, a *little* new wave, Celtic, Japanese (KODO music in particular), Aboriginal music, medeival music, jazz, big-band (LOTS of big band), musicals, soundtracks...you name it. jms Date: 5 Jun 1995 17:39:21 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: CGI question In that scene, the door to the Copernicus was real; the CGI wa wrapped around it. jms Date: 5 Jun 1995 18:06:08 -0400 Subject: Top Ten Reasons Joe Reads the Now THAT'S comedy.... jms Date: 5 Jun 1995 18:10:28 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Have You Gotten Ever Yeah, there was one thing I didn't get, only because those involved kind of imploded. The final revelatory scene at the end of "The Long Dark" was supposed to be one HELL of a lot more impressive than it was. I really wanted to see something extraordinary. What we got...wasn't it. That's the only case that I can remember. PTEN has never come to us and said, "Joe...it's too weird." Performance wise, I think the part of Inspector Cranston in "Hunter/Prey" could've been better executed. But overall, I have to say I'm very satisfied. jms Date: 5 Jun 1995 20:11:27 -0400 Subject: YAGGGH! I'm getting two copies of EVERYTHING via my gateway! Is anyone else having this problem? jms Date: 6 Jun 1995 03:20:50 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Starfury name origin The 'fury comes from the conventional air force useage in general; star is self-explanatory. But yes, it does have its roots in tradition. jms Date: 6 Jun 1995 00:38:32 -0400 Subject: Attn JMS: putrid pun that must That has to be the best/worst title I've ever heard.... jms Date: 6 Jun 1995 03:20:39 -0400 Subject: Re: YAGGGH! No, it's *still* going on. Your message to me (to which I'm now replying) is also doubled. EVERYTHING is coming in twice except for private mail. jms Date: 7 Jun 1995 04:35:10 -0400 Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Have You Gotten "That admission was impressive!" (Ross Bench) Not really. Kinda wish it was, but it ain't. You have to understand, for all the criticisms on this or any other net, there is nobody -- NOBODY -- harder on this show than we who make it. Nobody gets spared. Opinions are not withheld. This is a show where one of my producers, John Copeland, for instance, can walk into my office after getting a new script and say, "Joe...it sucks." (Most notably, this happened on the first draft of "Soul Hunter," which I knew didn't work as soon as I finished it, but still put it into the pipeline because I wasn't sure of my own opinion at that very early stage in the first season, decided I was right after all, and yanked back the script from all parties with a note simply explaining that I had been momentarily possessed by an idiot.) We're all very open about this stuff. What I guess maybe doesn't always come through is that if you ask me a straightforward question about the show, or behind the scenes, I'll give you a straightforward answer. I've never been big on politics or self-preservation. Which ep disappointed me with the EFX? The Long Dark. Which do I consider my worst ep? Infection, and it's entirely my fault; if it ain't on the page, it ain't on the stage. Is there anything I'd like to re-do? Yeah, probably parts of Voice 2. Happily, of all the stuff we've done, there's only about 5-10% that sometimes glitches. Mostly, it's light years beyond anything I could have hoped for. And lemme tell you...in advance...for those who thought "The Coming of Shadows" was something, I've seen the final version of "The Long, Twilight Struggle," and it's even better. Better than "Z'ha'dum." It's probably the best we've done. I've poked and prodded that one all over, and it's solid. jms Date: 7 Jun 1995 04:46:46 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: B5 multimedia CD Should we get the final word on renewal, I'd expect the cd-rom to be out by about Christmas. jms Date: 7 Jun 1995 04:55:11 -0400 Subject: Is it safe to come out? Of *course* it's safe to come out. Silly girl. Much better. Hmmmmmm? Light switch? *What* light switch? Perhaps there's a problem with the fuse box. I think I'll go check with my new friends, Mr. Black and Mr. Decker...just wait right there... jms Date: 7 Jun 1995 05:04:46 -0400 Subject: Re: YAGGGH! All better now. Ron fixed it. jms Date: 7 Jun 1995 05:16:15 -0400 Subject: B5 CD and Drum Corps? Any tho Yeah, I love drum corps stuff. And yes, a lot of Chris's stuff would work well in that form. "A member of the JMS militia." Somebody around the office came up with a great name for this...the Joe Corps. jms Date: 7 Jun 1995 05:18:23 -0400 Subject: Re: Someone's Impersonating jm I never see Fulleristic messages directly, because I kill the notde (note) as soon as the name appears on my screen, but seeing this small quote in Wayne Humfleet's message about DF calling the B5 production office...I'm pleased to see that admission. Basically, the call was to complain to the office about me, read what I'd been writing on the nets in answer to DF's attempts at glossalalia (not *entirely* sure I spelled that right), in an attempt to make trouble and get me off the nets. This is the difference between us. I do not call her office, or her school, or her employers, to complain about the nutty, libelous thnigs (things...fingers are tired) she says here. But folks like her, and a few others, because they can't win on the merits of their arguments, they seek to shut the other person down. They fax complaints to Warner Bros., they call my place of work and complain. It is, frankly, the very lowest form of net behavior I've ever seen. If you can't win, try and silence the opposition. But hey, it worked for the brown shirts, right...? jms Date: 7 Jun 1995 18:05:43 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Babylon Music The deal for the music was only for the pilot; you can't mix and match composers once you get to series. jms Date: 8 Jun 1995 06:35:46 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Comic Cancelled? We've not yet heard the final, definitive word on this. jms Date: 8 Jun 1995 07:00:20 -0400 Subject: Re: Why I'm Here: Addendum Zafaran (and Travers)...thanks. We'll muddle through. jms Date: 8 Jun 1995 07:00:32 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Those Pesky Prophets Nnnnnnoo, not really; the Centauri don't actually have an equivalent to G'Quan or Valen. Believe it or not, this one answer may add another layer to a scene in one of the last episodes of this season. You can infer it backwards once you see it, but now you'll have it going n. Or in, as the case may be. (Gotta stop typing before 3:45 a.m.) jms Date: 8 Jun 1995 07:00:40 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: You and Latex I have direct control/approval over every aspect of the show, but I try as much as possible to leave the talented people alone to pursue their vision of the show. In the case of prosthetics, when a new race comes aboard, the elves at Optic Nerve will generally come up with several or just a few sketches. I review those sketches, and if there's one they prefer, I go with that one, unless I feel strongly otherwise. Other times they have no real preference. Once approved, they proceed apace, and I'll see it one more time when the sculpture's finished, then not again until it's on the stage. jms Date: 8 Jun 1995 07:00:48 -0400 Subject: Re: JMS: Music tastes? "Will you marry me, Joe?" Robert Hayden Not until you shave, stop wearing that terrible cologne, and divorce my sister. jms Date: 8 Jun 1995 07:00:57 -0400 Subject: Question on emmys We received an Emmy for Best Special Effects for the B5 pilot (beating out TNG that year), and a second Emmy for Makup for the first year of the series. We've also received the Cult TV award from England for Best New Series, the Space Frontier Foundation Award for Best Vision of the Future, and the Jewish Televimage Award, plus the pilot wsa nominated for a Hugo. jms Date: 9 Jun 1995 00:19:39 -0400 Subject: Re: OFFICIAL RENEWELL!!!! Re: "A RIGHT BLEEDIN BASTARD." Now, now. You can't fault people for their enthusiasm, and Brett was reporting what he heard, without elaboration. Let's all play nice, shall we? jms Date: 9 Jun 1995 00:19:58 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Jump gate sideways? Yeah, we'll probably get around to showing that one of these days. jms Date: 9 Jun 1995 04:00:32 -0400 Subject: JMS IS RUINING TELEVISION! Jeff....thanks, that means a lot. jms Date: 9 Jun 1995 03:51:59 -0400 Subject: Re:Vir to die before season en "Do I understand you correctly?" Timothy H. god, I hope not.... jms Date: 9 Jun 1995 03:52:15 -0400 Subject: Re: JMS: Music tastes? Yeah, it's mainly the Nashville stuff I can't abide. Bluegrass is quite good, I'm partial to the Red Clay Ramblers, so that stuff is fine. jms Date: 9 Jun 1995 03:52:33 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Chicago Comicon My plans for the con aren't finalized yet. jms Date: 9 Jun 1995 17:27:18 -0400 Subject: "Infection" revisited, was Goo Yeah, I kinda guess that "Grail" would be my alternate for worst ep; I guess I'm generally just harder on eps I wrote myself. BTW, given the reasons you cite for liking "Sky," I think you're gona (gonna) LOVE "Comes the Inquisitor." jms Date: 8 Jun 1995 01:42:07 -0400 Subject: OFFICIAL RENEWELL!!!! Well, this is all well and good, but what's odd is that as of the moment I'm writing this, NOBODY has said *boo* to us about renewal being official yet, from Warner Bros. I have a vague suspicion that something is rumbling around the corporate WB offices that involves PTEN in some way, but I have no clue whatsoever what that is, or even IF it is, could just be swamp gas. It's certainly a good omen, but it ain't official until somebody calls us from WB or PTEN, tells us, and we're authorized to exercise our option on cast and production staff for year three. jms Date: 8 Jun 1995 01:43:54 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: How's the finale? How does the finale compare? Hmmm...depends on what you're looking for. "Inquisitor" is primarily a character piece, virtually no EFX, but very intense. The story is kind of straightforward, with a few kickers along the way. "Twilight" is a heavy story episode, that zips all over the B5 landscape, between the Narns, the Centauri, and elsewhere (he said vaguely). The finale, "The Fall of Night," is actually kind of deceptive; it starts out fairly calmly and tightens fairly fast. The story is not as back-and-forth or layered as Twilight or Coming, it's really about one thing. Visually, it's the most ambitious thing we've done to date, and probably the most ambitious EFX stuff done for a TV series *ever*. I don't think you'll feel left wanting after the episode is done. jms Date: 8 Jun 1995 01:45:36 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Ganya Ivanov Questio We learn a bit more, but you're right, it wouldn't hurt to learn a little more about him. Maybe I'll do this. jms Date: 9 Jun 1995 18:07:07 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: The great stories.. I actually don't think there are only X number of stories. I've heard this theory, and don't subscribe to it. There are as many stories as there are people. Then again, someone once wrote, "Of course everything has been said; but since nobody was paying attention, we must begin again." jms (My usual definition of a story: what does A want, how far is he willing to go to get it, and how far will someone else go to stop him? That makes every story individual to the person's background.) Date: 9 Jun 1995 18:07:23 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Question about show Merchandising isn't factored against ratings; ratings are of use to advertisers in determining how much to pay for an ad. They don't care if there are Londo dolls, how many people wll see their commercials? The merchandising is good for WB, but not if the ratings drop so that the show can't be sustained by advertising. jms Date: 9 Jun 1995 18:12:46 -0400 Subject: ATTN: JMS Ivonava's Collar Traditional women's fashion, clasping on the reverse side. jms Date: 9 Jun 1995 04:25:38 -0400 Subject: Re: Why many Trekies dislike B Karen Cravens: funny thought...one could also read your note a different way and with one minor distortion, come away with "He who lives by the Trek will die by the Trek." jms Date: 9 Jun 1995 04:34:09 -0400 Subject: From jms....We Got Year Three Since apparently this has broken on AOL via John Copeland before I could post it...yes, I can confirm that we've been renewed for Year Three. I got the call late today, and have spent part of the evening doing Producer Stuff, part trying to push through a bit of a bug that hit last night (and thus took some of the edge off the news), and only late this evening was able to get on-line to confirm. It's a full order for 22 episodes, and we begin shooing July 31st or thereabouts. Thanks in particular to all of Babylon 5's "netted" friends, who have held the Line alongside us for the preceding two years, and with whom we hope to continue sharing the foxhole for the next three. jms Date: 9 Jun 1995 04:29:43 -0400 Subject: End of Series=End of War?? It'd be foolish, I think, to try and extend the shadow war across 3 years of the B5 series; I think it'd get redundent real fast. I'd say there has to be more than that, wouldn't you? jms Date: 9 Jun 1995 04:29:58 -0400 Subject: Attn JMS : A thank you Carolyn: your words are kind, and highly appreciated. Thanks. jms Date: 10 Jun 1995 04:21:30 -0400 Subject: from jms: my address changed I don't *quite* know why, but for some reason my address seems to have changed to firewall rather than genie. Until we get this fixed, y'all may want to copy me at both addresses for private mail. Weird.... jms Date: 10 Jun 1995 22:18:06 -0400 Subject: The Big Cat in the Hat . . . Melody.... Wow. Holy smokes. That was an amazing message. I've saved it to disk for the archives. Excellent points, all. (And I share some of your concerns about the paying conventions.) Really well done. jms Date: 10 Jun 1995 22:20:05 -0400 Subject: JMS: The shape of things to co Well...some of what's coming in year three can be deduced from the last four eps; let's have those first, then we'll talk. jms Date: 10 Jun 1995 22:20:10 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Renewal/stripping I imagine they probably won't strip B5 until much later, maybe not until we've finished our run. jms Date: 10 Jun 1995 22:31:24 -0400 Subject: Re: From jms....We Got Year Th It's our understanding that ch4 in England will show the third year in *letterbox format*, from preliminary discussions taking place with them. jms Date: 10 Jun 1995 22:31:29 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Who speaks for you h Well....erm...uhm...*I* speak for me. And some folks, who remember what I said, sometimes repeat it. Unlike those who simply ignore it, or distort it. What gets me is when somebody says, "Well, who are YOU to post here to defend him?" Well, who are YOU to post here and attack? Everybody's an equal when it comes to speaking up. If one can make someone else's business your own enough to attack, how is that different from making someone else's business one's own enough to defend? This is absolutely illogical, and can only, I assume, proceed from a desire to have me respond personally to them. Which I have absolutely no intention, or desire, to do. You will note the very important sentence that comes up frequently: "If what I wrote wasn't important, then why all these reactions?" That's the key, and it's very sad. To respond directly, WHATEVER you might say, creates the sense that they are important. And they LIKE that. The more furor, the more angry messages get provoked, the more important they feel. If you respond directly, you're doing *exactly* what they want you to do, and feeding the fire, and soon the conversation becomes about the conversation, rather than the substance that provoked it, and it spirals off and away into madness. They are petty, and venal, and I have absolutely nothing to say to them. If others choose to talk to them, well, why should they complain, since it's that very action that makes them feel important? It's a logical contradiction. But then, logic has *nothing* to do with this. jms Date: 10 Jun 1995 04:27:33 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Shadow Archetypes? How Jungian are the shadows? Hrrmmmm...that's a hard one to answer, because in part it requires revealing more than I want to at the moment. To varying extents, yes, certainly. But there are also some elements of Joseph Campbell, the Old Testament, and Freud. jms Date: 10 Jun 1995 05:22:30 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Starfury Problem... Some new starfuries will be arriving at B5 next season.... jms Date: 11 Jun 1995 05:04:46 -0400 Subject: The Great War Never said the shadow war would be over in one year. Only that it wouldn't last three. jms Date: 11 Jun 1995 05:04:58 -0400 Subject: Re: Are B5 Scripts Available? Recognizing that some folks would like to examine the scripts (hell, if I were out there, I'd be kinda curious), once the B5 Fan Club gets up and running (we're nearly there to getting the darned thing approved after negotiating with WB for nearly a year), there are plans afoot to release a limited number of B5 scripts for sale through this venue, so they're properly authorized and complete. The word "complete" is important because in, oh, 95% of the cases, some dialogue ends up on the cutting room floor. Sometimes it's only a few lines or words, sometimes it's a short scene, or several paragraphs worth of dialogue which add to the scene, but when we got into editing, felt weren't *absolutely necessary* (and we're always long on our eps, from my sense that it's better to have more story than time than more time than story). (And no, expanded episodes won't ever be available on tape or disk.) All that material will be available in these scripts. Give us another couple months on this one. jms Date: 10 Jun 1995 05:32:17 -0400 Subject: ATTN: JMS ABOUT BRUCE B... Bruce knows stuff only on a season-by-season basis. jms Date: 11 Jun 1995 05:29:15 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Wishlist for season In looking at the story breakdown for year three, there isn't much on that wish list physically, except for one big addition to our little B5 universe. Beyond that...we're going to make some modifications to C&C that I've wanted to do for some time now, add a couple of recurring characters, do a bit more CGI than we're doing now...but the rest of the pieces are all there. Now it's time to just focus in on the story. jms Date: 11 Jun 1995 05:29:26 -0400 Subject: Q vs Jason Ironheart I see we've worked our way back to the "Who would win in a fight, Jesus Christ or Superman" thread.... jms Date: 11 Jun 1995 22:16:56 -0400 Subject: JMS "We need the Bab5 equivilant of a tribble." That would be me, yes. jms Date: 11 Jun 1995 22:17:22 -0400 Subject: ATT: JMS: Will Season 3 *end* You're asking me to try and predict the actions of PTEN a year in advance. Me, I'd rather bet on the horses.... Odds are better. jms Date: 12 Jun 1995 02:39:42 -0400 Subject: ATTN: JMS - Unresolved Psi stu I think some of the loose ends of which you speak will be dealt with by this season's end.... jms Date: 12 Jun 1995 02:53:14 -0400 Subject: Re: Are B5 Scripts Available? The long cuts exist only in the computer; there was never a fully extended, on-film ep cut down for time. Once we make our cuts on the computer, the film is assembled only once, for the final product. We'd have to go in and re-edit EVERYthing to make it work. jms Date: 12 Jun 1995 02:55:27 -0400 Subject: a quote Bingo. As I mentioned before, the "long twilight struggle" title is a quote; you correctly identified the source in the JFK quote. jm(wish I had a toaster to award)s Date: 12 Jun 1995 03:05:05 -0400 Subject: B5 descriptive narration for t I don't really have an answer for you, but I'll try and look into it. jms Date: 12 Jun 1995 05:24:44 -0400 Subject: JMS: Price of Three Trilumina [Would we be on the right track if we guessed that the triluminaries were given to the Minbari in exchange for a promise to help out in the next war against the Shadows?] "Would we be on the right track?" Not really. jms Date: 12 Jun 1995 05:48:51 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Which age of mankind is it NOW? It would be fair to say that this is the second age of mankind, yes. jms Date: 12 Jun 1995 19:50:04 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Background questions I just can't imagine myself writing that much info on Minbari clans without my brains exploding and then running screaming out into the night. jms Date: 12 Jun 1995 19:56:01 -0400 Subject: JMS: A quick question. Bear in mind, the 200 pages of notes aren't per se a straightforward outline; as I worked out bits of the story, I added it to the material as I went along, so sometimes you have year three stuff right alongside year five stuff. Each season I go through my notes, pull out the stuff relevant to that season, put it in the right order, and fill in any gaps in-between. jms Date: 13 Jun 1995 00:56:07 -0400 Subject: Re: JMS "He's a little too big to be held easily in the palm of one's hand." Bless your heart.... jms Date: 13 Jun 1995 01:02:04 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: WB studio question The signs are for shows WB *produces*. They don't produce B5, Babylonian Prods. does that. jms Date: 13 Jun 1995 18:21:53 -0400 Subject: ATT JMS RFD: Moderation I imagine that the odds of my continuing are pretty much the same for options 2 through 4; option 1 will eventually cause a problem, I think, the way things are going. While the group was of resaonable size, it was easier to influence things; with the mammoth increase in membership, and the increase in plot speculation, eventually the limit on what I can afford to be exposed to will have to be hit. jms [In reply to: Holy Valen! So the warrior caste has been ticked off for 1,000 years. No wonder they're so scary. They've held a grudge against Valen for that long. Now all their scoffing at the prophecy and the religious caste makes sense. Personally, I think these guys killed Dukhat to ruin Valen's prophecy -- Revenge motivation (of course the humans could have gotten VERY lucky and I'm wrong). Delenn refuses to help the Children of Time because someone interfered with Minbari religion and the results have caused her and her people to avoid doing so to others. Valen is said to return. So 1,000 years ago, how did Valen do his coming and going? I'm beginning to seriously wonder is this Valen guy was a Minbari at all. Someone subduing a violent caste sounds like manipulation. And those prophecies do hint at more knowledge than the Minbari had at that time. Of course he could be a Minbari with powerful friends so he could maintain control and reign in the warrior caste AND set up the new Minbari government. Or he could be powerful himself. Perhaps he had the help of three triluminaries; I'm sure their powers, creatively applied, could go a long way. Christopher Novosad] Date: 13 Jun 1995 18:53:25 -0400 Subject: Holy Valen! Christopher: save this message of yours and keep it at hand going into the second season, around the 10th episode or so. jms (sigh...I meant third season, wrote second...still dealing with the renewal.) Date: 13 Jun 1995 03:25:02 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: The warrior caste was subdued by the coming of Valen, who brought the law about not killing other Minbari, and formed the Grey Council. The Rim is the edge of known space. The absolute bottom/rim gravity in B5 is about 1.2 G; the C&C gravity is about 1/3rd G. jms Date: 14 Jun 1995 01:03:16 -0400 Subject: Babylon 5 avaliable for video. With all the inquires about video, I thought I'd inquire of WB. Much to my astonishment, after I made my way through the complex web of studio people, the person at the other end of the phone told me that apparently there ARE no immediate plans to release the videos, because there is concern that if they're available, it'll bring down ratings; also because WB and the PTEN stations own the shows jointly, and some kind of complex negotiations would have to take place to sell the show domestically. I pointed out that the cassettes are for sale in the UK, and doing very well, and that if WB wasn't going to air the first season for a long time, then why not release THAT one cassette for now? No clear answer, but I've got another name to speak with (upon his return from out of town), and we're going to push for this from other directions. I'm sure we'll get it done, but it may take a bit. jm(perpetually astonished)s Date: 13 Jun 1995 03:28:48 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: "Coming of Shadows", It didn't show up in the script, and probably won't, but the Emperor probably did have a vision of his death, and the Vorlon. jms Date: 13 Jun 1995 05:18:56 -0400 Subject: Attn JMS: The future of B5 if. If something happens to me...nobody gets the notes. The whole POINT is that this is a personal story, told out of a personal vision. So if you want to see this story finished, it behooves y'all to keep my sorry ass alive for the next 3 years. jms Date: 14 Jun 1995 01:15:32 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: The flow from Season No, the last ep of this season wasn't per se a cliffhanger, though it does tip over a few things, so it flows from 222 to 301 fairly smoothly. jms Date: 14 Jun 1995 05:18:45 -0400 Subject: JMS, Top ten signs your addict You're welcome. jm(tap-tap-tap-tap tap-tap)s Date: 14 Jun 1995 05:18:29 -0400 Subject: Re: Holy Valen! Whether one becomes religious, warrior or worker caste is something that arises early on, not through birth or genetics, but what you are called to do, or feel called to do. If you believe that you are calleed to the religious life, you go to that part for a time, a few years, and that is determined by you and to a certain extent, others. If you seem not suited toward that, they may work with you to find what you are more suited for (and perhaps you felt *expected* to be called a certain way, but that's not really where you're best suited). jms Date: 14 Jun 1995 17:59:11 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: a question about wri Writing for the page and writing for the stage are considerably different processes; what looks good in a book sometimes sound bogus coming out of someone's mouth. Which is why it's so hard to translate much of Bradbury's stuff to the screen; the language is lovely on the page, but the second someone starts saying it, something goes wonky and it sounds off. The only real key that I've ever had is to try and make yourself stop writing and start listening; create the characters, make them as real to yourself as you can, then get out of your own way and try to listen to what they say and do, rather than trying to force them to behave the way you think they should. jms Date: 14 Jun 1995 01:03:28 -0400 Subject: ATTN: JMS Minbar We'll see Minbar at least once in year three, perhaps more. jms Date: 14 Jun 1995 17:50:42 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: question about PTEN PTEN is a business consortium between Warners and the stations that air B5. jms Date: 15 Jun 1995 02:07:03 -0400 Subject: One eensy moderation concern.. I don't get the alt. group. I get only this one internet group, through the good offices of Ron Jarrell. I deliberately don't accept any of the free Internet offers that are occasionally made, and don't slip out into other areas. This is the only one I get, via my GEnie mailbox. jms Date: 15 Jun 1995 02:07:17 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS - A few questions.... We *somewhat* compose for standard aspect ratio, but often our directors frame quite a bit off center, or have stuff going on over in the edges, or otherwise work to make the whole thing interesting when it's returned to widescreen format. You will see B4 again in year three, yes. Interesting about the war in DS9, that's all I'll say on it. jms (Except that we'll do it better.) Date: 15 Jun 1995 02:25:45 -0400 Subject: Mr. JMS: Media Bias? How can "Word" be a commentary on current allegations of bias (which I think are out of all proportion) since the media is now supposedly anti-government (nonsense), and the newscast in ""Word" was more than just a bit spoon-fed government propaganda? jms Date: 15 Jun 1995 02:26:03 -0400 Subject: Mr. JMS: Shadows - Why? Of course we're going to find out more about why the shadows are doing and what they want; it'd be kinda pointless otherwise, no? jms Date: 15 Jun 1995 02:35:44 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: On conspiracy theori A very good and well-reasoned analysis. jms [Steven Orso's "Unified Field Theory of Conspiracies." The Shadows and Vorlons are battling to control what their successors will be like; the Shadows want to cull out weakness, and are behind all the conspiracies, which can all be viewed as strong people edging out weak ones. The mind control in comic issue #7 suggests that Takashima's participation in Sinclair's frameup in "The Gathering" might not have been a conscious choice; she served on Mars, where Garibaldi and Sinclair saw what they saw.] Along with John Miller's examination, this has to be one of the most well-thought-out analyses yet. I'd say that a lot of it holds water. (One nice side-element...I noted a while back that the comics were not necessary to follow the series, as anything there would be at some point mentioned in the show if it were important; here, you've used it correctly to presage and four-wall the series and deduce some very good stuff.) Splendid work. jms [The attack on the Narn outpost] Date: 14 Jun 1995 17:51:02 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: CGI -- art Thanks. That scene in "Coming of Shadows" is one of my favorites; it does, as you say, convey that sense of wonder which is one of my main goals with this show. Until "The Long Twilight Struggle," nothing else has come close to that scene for me. But there's some stuff in there that finally manages to surpass it. Just gorgeous and scary and awe-inspiring. jms Date: 15 Jun 1995 04:21:42 -0400 Subject: Babylon 5 Prayer (Humor, of co Forgive them, Kosh, they know not what they do.... jms Date: 15 Jun 1995 04:21:56 -0400 Subject: JMS: Is it getting easier? Easier? It never gets any easier. (Nor should it. The minute it becomes something you toss off quickly, easily, is the moment you should get out of the business.) If anything, it gets harder, because you're constantly trying to out-do what you did last week. jms Date: 15 Jun 1995 18:26:30 -0400 Subject: JMS: Screen savers? Yes, there will be a B5 screensaver out from Sound Source later this year. jms Date: 15 Jun 1995 18:26:54 -0400 Subject: Re: JMS retire???? Certainly George R.R. Martin and Melinda Snodgrass are looking to do more producing; Morgan and Wong from X-Files are off doing Space; so there's hope. jms [Dates unknown, but sometime in June] Interestingly enough...yes, Warners does seem to take an interest in where the series is going. The one comment I hear most often is that they enjoy seeing where the stories are going, and that they're not really like the stories being done elsewhere. This is the only one of the PTEN shows to pick up even one Emmy, let alone the two we've received. There were a number of folks at WB who initially really weren't sure about us, who have subsequently come around and have been very supportive. Two of the main folks who've taken an active interest and supported us are Dick Robertson and Evan Thompson, between them the two Main Men of PTEN. Without them, there wouldn't BE a Babylon 5 series. jms If you still have a copy of that article, and write-up, could you send it along to me for my files at the following address: 14431 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 260, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423? The line "most Trek-like" is hysterical; well, I think THEY think in terms of, ST is successful. Thus another show in space that succeeds is most ST like. War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Jesse Helms is human. jms Haven't had the time to watch ANY of the Outer Limits, I'm afraid. jms IF it's an established and well-attributed quote, then it's okay to mention it, yes, as "the long, twilight struggle" is a partial quote. jms Yes, the Centauri/Narn war is a very handy distraction, which the shadows could use. That's one of the two reasons they helped set the whole shebang going. jms The Narns believe the Centauri are perfectly capable of doing this on their own; they've done it before, after all. jms I hope the reaction would be both; what a ride, and that's deep (though I probably wouldn't use that exact wording). It should also create the sense that you've gone off and lived somewhere else, and somewhen else, for five years. When I got finished reading the Lensman books, my sense wasn't really either of those expressed above, but a sense that I had visited a real place, and lived through massive changes, empires that rose and fell, and seen a genuine saga with massive repercussions. It should really have the sense of finishing a good book, one which one would like to go back and reread again later. There are a number of philsophical undercurrents to the story, of course, some of which are apparent now, some which will become clearer later, and certainly a lot of action...but I'm shooting for something I can't really define for you, except to say that it should somehow be more than the sum of its parts. jms [Vir to die before season end?] Now, what kind of storyteller would I be if I actually answered that question? Hrmmmmm? jms Sure, I can tell you what happens in the last four eps. Really Awful Stuff. jms [What kind of jazz do you like?] Jeez, I like a lot of it...Cout Basie, and Glen Miller, and Arty Shaw (though some of his later stuff got a bit derivitive of the earlier material), Tommy Dorsey, Gershwin...there's a CD came out a few years ago, a reconstruction of a number of performances debuting new material for the first time, and there's Gershwin playing (for lack of a better term) the beta version of "Rhapsody in Blue," with *riffs he later discarded*, and you can hear the differences, and understand why he made them. Cab Calloway...dynamite. jms Yes, the theory is to show the last 4 eps in October, and go right into year three eps the next week in November, no break, so you'd get about 8-9 eps in a row, rather than the usual 5 or so. jms Never said the shadow war would be over in one year. Only that it wouldn't last three. The long cuts exist only in the computer; there was never a fully extended, on-film ep cut down for time. Once we make our cuts on the computer, the film is assembled only once, for the final product. We'd have to go in and re-edit EVERYthing to make it work. jms : "Now the trumpet summons us again: not as a call to bear arms, though arms we : need; not as a call to battle, though in battle we are; but as a call to bear : the burdens of a long, twilight struggle--year in and year out, rejoicing in : hope, patient in tribulation--a struggle against the common enemies of : man--tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself." : John Fitzgerald Kennedy : Mike Daniels Bingo. As I mentioned before, the "long twilight struggle" title is a quote; you correctly identified the source in the JFK quote. jm(wish I had a toaster to award)s Date: 16 Jun 1995 01:03:29 -0400 Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Why No B5 Covera The English press has *always* been very receptive to B5, ranging from the genre/fan press to such publications as Time-Out and even the London Times, which has spoken well of the show. It's mainly here in the States that the problem manifests itself. jms Date: 16 Jun 1995 04:50:08 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Name of 3rd Season I'd rather wait a bit before making that declaration official. jms Date: 16 Jun 1995 04:24:11 -0400 Subject: JMS: Minbari Prophecies & War? There was the prophecy, but they didn't know specifically to which race it pertained until much later. jms Date: 16 Jun 1995 04:27:27 -0400 Subject: Re: DS9 establishes a new nadi Ehhh....every year, DS9 promises something new, big stuff brewing, there was war talk last season...people fall for the okeydoke...it doesn't happen...ten months later, they're back with more hype and promises...seen it, been there. jms Date: 16 Jun 1995 21:22:48 -0400 Subject: Re: * * * JMS Nude!... * * * I don't think there should be any further revelations about me nude; I wouldn't want to be inadvertantly responsible for anyone being struck blind. jms Date: 16 Jun 1995 21:22:27 -0400 Subject: Re: JMS "Cassandra falls in se "Cassandra fell in service with the Greeks." Yes, but which in particular? jms Date: 16 Jun 1995 21:23:11 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: political Q's While most of the major powers have their-race colonies, each of them has client worlds inside their jurisdiction that are not their own species. jms Date: 16 Jun 1995 21:27:59 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS - "Cobra" bays? The exterior launch bays are narrow along for some distance, then flange out into a kind of diamond shape; they resemble cobras, hence, cobra bays. jms Date: 16 Jun 1995 21:30:44 -0400 Subject: --Why I'm upset with DS9 and V An aside to the discussion: I often hear folks who defend DS9, and some *with* DS9, say they can't do much action because they can't afford it. I have *no* idea why this should be so, as a) both the current ST shows use a hell of a lot more stock footage than we ever do, and b) both ST shows have roughly twice the budget we have per episode. jms Date: 16 Jun 1995 21:57:20 -0400 Subject: JMS?? Re: RFD: rec.arts.sf.tv. I was asked if I wanted to be part of the discussion on this, and I opted out, because I don't want to be in the position of unduly pressuring anyone; I also barely understand the internet structure, and couldn't add much of substance anyway. Just end up muddying the waters further. Nor would my feelings on this be of much use, since they are totally conflicted. I like the free-ranging discussion that comes with an unmoderated group. On the other, there are more and more story ideas being posted in the course of speculation. One or two that I stumbled across scared the hell out of me, though fortunately they ended up going off in directions I had no intention of going in. I don't generally access internet through any other venue than this one, provided by Ron Jarrell through my GEnie gateway, which minimizes my contact with the net. My hope was that in not influencing the discussion, those minds which understood the situation could come to some reasonable compromise situation. I do think that Jay has come down a tad harder than I would have in similar circumstances, but that does not negate the core of the concerns; I did not initiate this whole moderation debate, but it was bound to become an issue sooner or later. What I've told Ron, and Jay, and others, is that I want a solution that affects/impinges on others as little as possible. This is, fundamentally, MY problem, and I've always felt uncomfortable making others compensate for my problem. So I simply, honestly don't know what to do. (I know that Ron has some ideas he's going to call about next week, so maybe he'll have a solution.) There are times I do think it'd be better and simpler for me just to withdraw from internet, since after all I can still be reached easily via email, and my address is on the nets, so folks wouldn't have a hard time reaching me. But I don't know if that's right either. All of which should give you some idea of why I'm not doing much in this discussion; I can pretty convincingly argue just about every point of view. jms Date: 16 Jun 1995 22:30:44 -0400 Subject: Attn JMS: When do we get to see defensive mods on B5 You'll see some of them in use by the end of this season. jms Date: 17 Jun 1995 02:27:35 -0400 Subject: Attn JMS: Little Lost Delenn Well, it's about TIME somebody noticed that little exchange in "Confessions and Lamentations." Sometimes I stick stuff so obviously in the foreground that I'm afraid it's going to be too blatant, and then nobody seems to notice it, looking instead at the tiny stuff in the background. Unfortunately, all I can say for now is that it is significant to Delenn's character and growth, and her sense of being special, and called into the religious caste. jms Date: 17 Jun 1995 02:29:42 -0400 Subject: JMS: A Kosh Question "Have we seen Kosh lie?" With Kosh, who can tell...? jms Date: 19 Jun 1995 02:00:48 -0400 Subject: Re: DS9 vs B5 comments *sigh*...my screw-up. I was thinking Jake Sisko, when I should have thought Ben Sisko. Mea culpa. jms Date: 19 Jun 1995 02:01:02 -0400 Subject: Re: Attn JMS: Little Lost Dele Interesting how many B5 viewers know the lyrics to JC Superstar.... jms Date: 19 Jun 1995 04:48:32 -0400 Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: How are you trea A lot of TV execs don't know from SF. Or SF concepts. So it became useful to have some nice, friendly, non-threatening pictures to show 'em to introduce them to the concepts behind the show. jms Date: 19 Jun 1995 04:48:22 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Merchandise in Santa From the description, I can't tell if it's legit or not; so I guess you may as well just assume the best. jms Date: 19 Jun 1995 05:17:31 -0400 Subject: Re: Attn JMS: Little Lost Dele "This is the second time you've mentioned chainsaws in as many weeks. Is there anything you'd like to talk about???" ... You've never worked with actors before, have you? jms Date: 19 Jun 1995 18:39:48 -0400 Subject: JMS: Bureau 13 game?(!) No, the Bureau 13 rpg precedes our show; we weren't aware of it at the time we did the episode. jms Date: 19 Jun 1995 18:39:20 -0400 Subject: Re: Attn JMS: Little Lost Dele Actually, the stage version of JC Superstar was just released on gold CD, as well as being available on regular CD, so it's slightly better for the audiophiles amongst us. jms Date: 19 Jun 1995 18:43:16 -0400 Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: How are you trea I think Max Headroom was kind of uneven; much of it I liked, some of it fell flat for me. Overall, though, I liked more than I didn't. jms Date: 19 Jun 1995 18:43:36 -0400 Subject: Channel 4 - Right to Reply. If you have the opportunity, please convey to Channel 4 the following from me: My undying thanks to everyone at Channel Four who have supported Babylon 5, and who have demonstrated remarkable patience with what has apparently been a flood of messages, phone calls, letters and skywriting incidents. (Well, okay, I made up the last one.) From the proverbial horse's mouth...we have now delivered to Warner Bros. two of the remaining four episodes. The first was delivered three weeks ago, the second about a week ago. The third should be in their hands this week, the last a bit thereafter. I have no clear understanding what the airing arrangements might be between C4 and Warners, but any support that we can provide is there for the asking. We sometimes allow ourselves the conceit that Babylon 5 has a very British feel to it, as much of the better SF has come from the UK, and its tone is not far from what we do. We are thus inestimably pleased by the great support C4 has shown for the series, the friendliness, courtesy and patience of its staffers, and we look forward to a long and productive relationship. Now, about that six p.m. timeslot.... sincerely, J. Michael Straczynski executive producer/creator, BABYLON 5 Date: 19 Jun 1995 18:43:59 -0400 Subject: Re: Attn JMS: Little Lost Dele The Phantom of the Paradise CD is very hard to get; I grabbed two copies while in the UK, and have since only seen one other here in the states. (Got Paul Williams to autograph both of them for me while he was here.) jms Date: 20 Jun 1995 01:38:12 -0400 Subject: Re: DS9 vs B5 comments Ted: I think your note is even-handed and well considered. For me, any one of the items you discuss being present isn't a big deal; it's the cumulative effect of all of them being present in both shows, at the same time, airing within weeks of one another. The result of all this nearly killed B5 in its early stages, which I think was the desired effect. You must understand that when B5 was announced in the trades for the first time in November of that year (2-3 months prior to the announcement of DS9), in articles that described it pretty succinctly (space station, rogues, renegades, all the usual H'wood hype), it was often referred to as Warner's attempt to create a space franchise (see above re: hype). There has *long* been bad blood between Paramount and Warner Bros. Particularly since Paramount was then already setting the blocks in place to create its own network, and PTEN was being birthed right then, setting the stage for major conflict. The number of syndicated stations is very small, and the hours available per station equally small. Faced with that kind of scenario, big guns tend to be pulled out. Whatever the sequence of events might have been, the result was that I ended up sitting in meetings with Warner execs who said, "How am I supposed to sell this show? It's *identical* to DS9 in any way that matters, the syndicated market can't sustain two identical shows like this, and they've go the Star Trek name to entice station owners. Nobody knows from 'Babylon 5.'" Understand, since the debuts, the shows have gone off in different directions, but we're talking the first season and the pilot. Nearly all the articles described them as nearly identical at that stage. And the details of character don't often play to TV execs who only see the broad strokes, the "quick concept." The fact that the two shows were so similar at that time, one a nobody show from nowhere, the other bundled with the STAR TREK (tm) name, came within an inch of killing Babylon 5. (Which wasn't helped by A Certain Studio telling advertisers that B5 was going to be crap, cheaply produced, and not to bother.) That's one of the main reasons why it took nearly a period of four months before we finally got the go order for year one, after everybody crunched the ratings, and the demos, and decided to take a chance on it. And even THEN we were told, "The syndie market can't sustain two shows like this; you're gonna get creamed." Through the clipping service, I saw one newspaper/magazine article after another calling B5 a "clone" of DS9. Because they considered them identical. Many ST fans felt the same way, and said so, openly. "Jeez, they copied EVERYthing," one noted. Now, when we point out which really came first, suddenly some of these same folks say, "Nah...they're not alike at ALL. Don't be silly." One could get whiplash from such a thing. To step back a second, the reality is that this sort of thing happens in hollywood all the time. When "The Abyss" was being produced, several other films with identical concepts were rushed forward (remember Deepstar 7 or 9 or whatever that was?). Consequently, one of the things you most protect are the details of your project. You don't want a possible competitor to know what you're doing. Unfortunately, right there in the files at Paramount was every last detail about how we were going to do B5, the station, the stories, everything. Now, I'm sure that the Paramount execs said, "No, no...we won't look at it, we won't open the drawer, we'll remain pure and virginal and even though we're trying to beat Warners in creating a new network, even though they're threatening to break our monopoly on space/future shows, we won't open that file drawer, no sir." They could not possibly have said, "Okay, open the file drawer. Let's take a peek at what they're going to do. We won't copy it, exactly, but knowing what they're doing will allow us to co-opt a little of their franchise, enough to cut them off at the knees in the marketplace. We won't tell Berman or Pillar about this, because they would never go along with it, but we'll just *guide* them here and there. We give notes all the time in development, who's to know where they came from?" And just to be clear, so the sarcasm doesn't get in the way: I have never, *ever* felt, or believed, or thought, that Berman or Pillar EVER saw or knew about the B5 information. Had anyone suggested anything of a less than straightforward nature, they would have refused; of that I have no doubt. No sarcasm, that's what I think. jms Date: 20 Jun 1995 01:55:55 -0400 Subject: B5 Cancelled rumor Any newsletter that identifies itself as "Mr. Data's" ANYthing can generally be construed as being wrong as it pertains to any info re: B5. jms Date: 20 Jun 1995 01:01:48 -0400 Subject: Re: Attn JMS: Little Lost Dele Bruce: saw "Chess" in London after it'd been around for a few years; was surprised that they'd softened some elements from the sountrack stage. jms Date: 20 Jun 1995 01:12:33 -0400 Subject: Paramount swipes B5 idea! Actually, I would be very happy to let Voyager be the one to own the notion of holding back the last four eps if we could just air ours NOW. jms Date: 20 Jun 1995 02:00:17 -0400 Subject: JMS: Up Front Again? (Season Yup, just keeping that thread alive, since it's going to come up in a major way in the last four episodes. jms Date: 20 Jun 1995 05:20:32 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Weird Question Valen is the Minbari pronunciation. jms Date: 20 Jun 1995 05:24:34 -0400 Subject: ATTN: JMS Re: Talia Leaving? Brutwug: ah, but you WILL see Pat Tallman again on B5; this season, no less. We live to serve.... jms Date: 20 Jun 1995 05:28:31 -0400 Subject: Do actors _like_ doing cons? Insofar as I know, *all* of our cast enjoy going to cons, perhaps mainly because they do NOT see it in terms of "drooling SF geeks" or "holy reverence." This is their show as much as mine; they work hard, and they respect and appreciate their audience. Ask anyone here who was at Babcom in Birmingham. Or at Marcon in Ohio. Peter was always accessible, friendly, hung out; we all went double the allotted time to make sure everyone got an autograph (we signed 3,000 in two days, probably more). Richard and Jerry hung out with fans at the Marcon, in the bar, the lounge, the green room, room parties. Theydo seem to honestly enjoy the exchange. jms Date: 20 Jun 1995 05:48:28 -0400 Subject: Re: evolution in B5 universe RE: the bone crests on the Minbari, the notion expressed by David Sueme detailing evolutionary notions omits the most rudimentary fact about such things when he says it's illogical from a birth perspective: They're not BORN that way, any more than elks are born with full-length horns. Like any other species that grows bony-matter outside the head (deer, cows, bulls, certified public accountants), it's either not there at birth or nascent. It gradually grows out. Ditto for the Minbari. There are elaborate rituals of shaping and honing and cutting as one's crest grows. Some crests are shaped more in tune with the military caste than the religious caste, for instance. It grows out to create a protective sheath around the back of the head, where the internal skull can sometimes be fragile, to provide added reinforcement. jms Date: 20 Jun 1995 05:48:42 -0400 Subject: Re: Smoking Guns?(fountain pen Re: Patricia Swan....AH! Another pen-lover. Dittos all around. I love pens. All kinds pens. But clearly the fountain pen is my favorite. For my money, the Parker fountain pens are always the best. I tried the Mont Blancs for a while, didn't work for me. But the Parker Centennial, the Sonnet and the Duofold are terrific pens. (Did you know they're discontinuing the Duofold? Rushed out and picked up two more when I heard that.) In the category of "This is god's way of telling you you've got too much money," I noted an ad from Nakimi for a fountain pen made of layers of Japanese Urushi lacquer, carved maple, ornately wrought designs of 18-karet gold and hand-wrought silver. A strikingly beautiful pen. Price? $6,000. You gotta be outta your mind.... jms Date: 21 Jun 1995 01:34:22 -0400 Subject: Centauri first encounter When they encountered us, the Centauri empire was already shrinking; we were off the beaten track and had little of value, or strategic interest. We were a curiosity, with some nice cultural stuff for trade. jms Date: 21 Jun 1995 01:33:50 -0400 Subject: JMS: What have we missed? If I told you *everything* that seems to have been missed, I'd be highlighting things that will come and should be surprises.... jms Date: 20 Jun 1995 17:24:54 -0400 Subject: ATTN: jms 3 Questions How I got Walter is, basically, I know him, and I asked him. Not much more to it, really. The psi symbol is taken from the greek letter. And don't have much info on cons at this point anywhere in that area, I'm afraid. jms Date: 20 Jun 1995 17:25:22 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: What's the office Actually, my office ain't much to write home about. Main thing is, where all of the offices and walls in the office area here at the B5 studios are white, mine is painted battleship grey. Brown desk, black sofa and cabinet, TV and small stereo. A few B5 items here and there,,q\, including a model vorlon transport made and hand-painted by Ron, a couple of awards. On the walls: not much, a woodcut of a skeletal dwarf riding a flying pig and carrying a scythe; a shot of the B5 station; the season two/three B5 poster; calendar; and my schedule board where I keep track of scripts, which is adorned with huge (1.5 foot by 3 foot) boards, one on either side, which contain individual quotes. I swap out the quotes on a regular basis. On now: "To define is to kill, to suggest is to create," Mallarme. "The point of no return; that is the point that must be reached," Franz Kafka. jms Date: 21 Jun 1995 05:59:21 -0400 Subject: ????? G'Kar is not leaving the show. jms Date: 21 Jun 1995 01:57:14 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: How does Vir know? Vir was there when Londo summoned him to do the hit on the Narns in "Coming of Shadows," as seen in the ep. It's quite clear he knows what Morden is all about. jms Date: 21 Jun 1995 01:59:31 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Why Io? Putting the jumpgate near Jupiter makes it harder to detect by long range weapons systems, given the energy output from Jupiter. jms Date: 21 Jun 1995 02:04:42 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Banana ice cream! ...nuts got no business being in any self-respecting ice cream, banana or otherwise.... jms Date: 21 Jun 1995 02:03:41 -0400 Subject: JMS: New Theme Music? Narration will be shorter. Music will be more aggressive, more martial. Interesting things coming. jms Date: 21 Jun 1995 02:04:01 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Finished the last 4 Haven't heard a final decision on this yet. jms Date: 21 Jun 1995 02:04:23 -0400 Subject: JMS: Perth Conventions Haven't ever been to a Perth convention, but from your note I look forward to trying it out one of these days. Thanks. jms Date: 21 Jun 1995 05:55:23 -0400 Subject: Mr. JMS: SAG regs on clips.... There is a clip rate for actors, don't have the figures before me. jms Date: 22 Jun 1995 03:28:53 -0400 Subject: Re: The Last 4 (Question) I got some *very* interesting information today re: the UK airing of the Final Four, and I'll be verifying it over the next few days. If what I've heard is correct, this will be *very* cool for UK viewers, who will NOT have to wait until October. Watch this space for updates. jms Date: 22 Jun 1995 04:50:31 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Series Title Questio In other words, basically, you want me to tell you the end of the story. notachance jms Date: 22 Jun 1995 04:15:56 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS : A Spaceship... Sure. But you have to promise to blow it up real good. jms Date: 22 Jun 1995 04:20:05 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Number Of Stations C Insofar as I know, the number of stations has stayed fairly stable, +/- a couple here and there, for which others have usually taken up the slack. jms Date: 22 Jun 1995 04:20:24 -0400 Subject: Attn JMS: How are the Centauri According to the latest reports from the front, the Centauri are generally doing fairly well, though Narn reports continue to insist that they are holding their own. jms Date: 22 Jun 1995 04:20:53 -0400 Subject: Re: DS9 War? Yeah, the bit where Sinclair gets his link/hand tangled in his coat was scripted that way. He wasn't sure about it at first, didn't know if it would look goofy or not, but it looked real, and that's what I wanted. Invariably, when a new script comes out, one or another actor reacts with, "He wants me to do WHAT?" (fill in the blanks...sing a Gilbert&Sullivan style libretto, orgasm on camer, do the hokey pokey) But it nearly always works out. jms Date: 22 Jun 1995 04:21:08 -0400 Subject: Re: The One little thing about The ant was paid strictly according to SAG rules (Screen Ants Guild). jms Date: 22 Jun 1995 04:25:53 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Opening credits Placement in the credits is determined by contracts with actors. And I held off using "ambassador" in each credit because it looked too repetitive. jms Date: 22 Jun 1995 04:35:35 -0400 Subject: ATTN: JMS The Coming Od Shadow I approve all casting, so yes, I approved Turhan Bey as the Centauri Emperor. He did a lovely job. Re: broadcasting B5 wide in the US, this won't happen until HDTV is widespread. jms Date: 22 Jun 1995 04:50:50 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Models????? No models have yet been licensed. jms Date: 22 Jun 1995 04:51:08 -0400 Subject: JMS: Another Long-Range Set-U Yes, part of the reason for the QoM episode was to set up the notion of an implanted personality as acheivable tech. jms Date: 22 Jun 1995 05:06:40 -0400 Subject: From JMS: What Exec Prods Do Every couple of days, as today, I get one or another message saying, "In this episode, did you have anything to do with, or were you involved with...." and it's the script, or an actor, or whatever. All legitimate questions. In thinking about this, it occured to me that maybe it might be a good idea to go over what an executive producer actually *does*. So file this under "How I Spend My Days," by J. Michael Straczynski, Age 12 1) I write scripts. 12 the first year, 15 the second. When you see my name on a script, every action and dialogue was written that way. My scripts are very detailed. There is very, *very* little improv allowed on the show, not necessarily because I think each word is golden but because a changed word can mess up an important sentence that foreshadows something 4-6 episodes down the road. If an actor is having a problem with a line, which happens occasionally but rarely, and wants to substitute one word with another, somebody comes from the stage to my office, 15 feet away, and checks to make sure it's okay. 2) I work with the prosthetics/makeup people in conceptualizing and approving makeups. I partly sculpted the original version of Delenn's headpiece in the pilot. Prosthetics folks read the script, come up with several designs, run them past me, and I approve one or the other. 3) I work with the costume designers, again with final approval on all elements. Sometimes if I have something specific in mind, I'll try and sketch it out. (I can't draw for squat, and our costume designer finds my pathetic scribblings very amusing, and...."cute." I once drew a kitty on the same page as a costume note, just to show her i was improving my range. She stuck it on her wall. Argh.) Usually she comes up with designs, runs them past me, I make some notes or suggestions of varying coherence, and she runs with it. 4) I approve all set designs, and again, once in a while, will get into the act with a rough sketch of one sort or another. Any artwork, posters, signage, set dressing, props...all go through my office for personal approval. 5) Along with the director and a few others, I sit in on all casting and have final right of decision, along with Doug, and we rarely disagree. 6) I approve all directors and writers for the show, and work with both. In the case of directors, we speak about the episode many times, and have "tone meetings" just before shooting in which we go over every page to discuss the visualization and make sure we're on the same track. I try to slip out onto the set when possible to make sure we're still on the right track. If I see something that may not be what I had in mind, I'll either defer if it works, or if I'm concerned, I'll pull the director aside for a quiet discussion, and let the director relay my notes to the actors. (On the set, there can only be one voice, and that is the director, in terms of relaying instructions to crew and cast.) 7) I work with the composer, determining in- and out-cues for music, and where I have something in mind, expressing it to Christopher. 8) Working with the CGI folks on exactly what given sequences should look like, and how long they should be. 9) After the director makes his/her cut, John Copeland and I go in to make the producer's cut. We sometimes re-edit every frame, or do a light dusting. Generally I work more with the character stuff, and he's good at action stuff (hence my nickname for John, Captain Action). We sometimes spend as much as two days going over every single frame, to tighten and make it stronger. When you have a crew and cast as talented as we do, a lot of the preceding stages amount to basically saying "yup" a lot, and in all of this, John Copeland is my good right arm; I rely on his judgment implicitly. (John is also our resident military expert, and he does a lot to keep us in line with tradition. I think when the B5 history is eventually written, his importance to the show will really come through.) jms Date: 22 Jun 1995 18:54:40 -0400 Subject: B5 CDROM What Happened? The CD rom was put back when Compton's cut back its list of titles from several hundred to 38. We're now renegotiating with several other companies who are actively pursuing the license, and hope to have this locked down soon. jms Date: 22 Jun 1995 19:53:44 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Thanks for doing GRO I'd have to go back and check, but I'm pretty sure it was a row of stars or a row of ships going around Earth. And thanks. jms Date: 22 Jun 1995 19:58:09 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS : Should I Buy Unlice For reasons that are probably self-evident, I really can't comment on any of this...though I wouldn't mind getting the address for the person selling these PPGs and stuff.... jms Date: 22 Jun 1995 20:06:39 -0400 Subject: JMS: "What I really want to d I dunno...I keep going back and forth on this. For my purposes it's easier to find directors who see the show my way, and hire them; and not the ones who don't. I sometimes consider directing -- mainly because it makes John Copeland get all twitchy every time I broach the subject, and I like to watch him vibrate into another dimension -- but mainly...it'd require getting up WAY too early. My agent says I'm nuts for not taking the opporunity, which is there, if I wanted it. But so far...ehhh..... jms Date: 23 Jun 1995 04:18:28 -0400 Subject: Dissapointed with the Soundtra Err...both main themes ARE incorporated into the soundtrack, one at the top of track 10, the other earlier. jms Date: 23 Jun 1995 04:18:41 -0400 Subject: Re: Holy JMS-Re: DS9 establish Excuse me, Michelle, but I resent your message. I have absolutely NO control whatsoever to the airing schedule of Babylon 5; I can help set up which episodes within a given period will air, in what order, but when PTEN decides that NO episodes are going to air in that period, there ain't squat I can do about it, and believe me, I tried; I can't count the numbers of phone calls I made, to no effect. To take a situation over which I have no control, which I didn't know when I was writing or producing the episodes, about which I am *very* upset, and try to make me responsible for that, and therefore that I am a hypocrite for holding back the great war, is just about as low as one can get. Further, you're operating out of what you think the war is. It's one large war that spirals into another. The Narns and the Centauri are at war. You can't just dismiss it as the trigger; thousands of Narns and many Centauri are *dying*. And the last four episodes are planned to escalate the hell out of this. I'm sorry if it's not sufficiently nasty at this point to satisfy your bloodthirstiness. jms Date: 23 Jun 1995 04:18:55 -0400 Subject: Re: ATTN JMS:Harlan Ellison o What I have to say about Christopher Priest and his piece of crap Deadloss Visions, little more than attempted literary assassination, from a personal vendetta aided and abetted by Groth and Feeley, would fry your modem connection and violate just about every provision Congress just slapped onto electronic communications. jms Date: 23 Jun 1995 04:18:16 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Hyperspace effects Yes, the mass energy shown in the gates shows why Explorer craft like to conserve energy. And you're pretty much on the beam about how Shadow vessels move in and out of hyperspace. jms Date: 22 Jun 1995 20:00:27 -0400 Subject: Re: DS9 vs B5 comments Why on earth am I suddenly getting a zillion rerun old messages with the Fidonet notation at the end of each one? jms Date: 22 Jun 1995 18:17:21 -0400 Subject: Star Trek vs. B5 It's also worth mentioning that one of my hopes in doing b5 is that it will encourage others to pick up the ball when I've finished playing with it and do other linked/novel-structured stories, so far from thinking that ST is "ripping off" anything by adapting to a long-term structure, I'd be quite pleased. I'd rather it weren't *my* story, but anything else...terrific. jms Date: 22 Jun 1995 18:55:24 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS:Harlan Ellison o Unfortunately, Bob, you are one of those people of whom Harlan speaks when he says you have no sense of the real history of the story behind ST. He did more than just write "City"...he brought in ohter SF writers, rewrote them on the QT in some cases, fronted ST to SFWA and vice versa; he was the one who fronted a mass mailing to leading SF pros and other urging them to do all they could to keep the show on the air when it looked like it was going to be canceled at the end of its second season. He did more beyond that, but that's a start. So on that count, you are absolutely wrong and ignorant of the facts. Item #2, he has never "cheated or swindled" the authors involved with "The Last Dangerous Visions." Each author was paid, with a fee that covers X-amount of time. At the end of X-amount of time, he sends another check to renew his right to publish those stories. Any author who wants to pull his story, can do so, and some have. Most haven't, and are content to wait. The paralogia you exhibit in your message is blatant and sad. You try to attack his statements on ST with false and uninformed opinion, then drag in TLDV as if to somehow verify his lack of character in speaking his mind about Star Trek. Using anything, however false or irrelevant, to discredit the messenger who's saying stuff you don't want to hear. Tough. jms Date: 23 Jun 1995 00:52:22 -0400 Subject: JMS : Ivanova Romance Questio There will be an Ivanova romance...but not necessarily with whom you might expect. jms Date: 23 Jun 1995 04:26:39 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: *Is* B5 History Bein The closest thing to a history is something I've been working on a bit here and there, trying to put together a daily (or twice-weekly) journal on the making of the third season, filling in backstory along the way. We'll see if I can keep this sucker going throughout the season. jms Date: 23 Jun 1995 16:28:39 -0400 Subject: JMS: Season Three, Episode Te I think it's a bit early for me to be giving out spoilers for ep 10 of year 3. jms Date: 23 Jun 1995 16:29:03 -0400 Subject: Re: DS9 establishes a new nadi The problem with the competition discussion is that it doesn't address the issues from an industry standpoint. It's not an issue of "Well, DS9 isn't sweating because they're getting better ratings than B5." It's not per se a competition on that level. What worries Paramount is ANY other show like B5 even existing, because it dilutes their monopoly on this kind of space show, which has existed for 30 years. Also, over time, DS9's ratings have gotten very soft; a number of their folks have drifted over to B5. Given their huge expensive budget, even while they may stay way ahead of us in the ratings, if they drop below a certain point it's going to cause them problems. jms Date: 23 Jun 1995 16:29:22 -0400 Subject: Re: ATTN JMS:Harlan Ellison o Please cite for me, Rob, those stories you've heard about literary assassination by Harlan. I would like to see them. Invariably they are total fiction of grossly exaggerated by those who want to do harm. As for not delivering a book manuscript for X-years...this is not a big deal, frankly, and it's not the business of anyone not directly involved. Hell, I've been trying for the last six years to finish the revisions to the scriptwriting book; I've said I was just about finished, only to get hammered by something and time slips. It happens to every writer. And the same people who say, "Why hasn't he finished his work?" are the ones who chivvy and harrass him, send him abusive mail, subscribe him to magazines he doesn't want, start organizations like Enemies of Ellison, and do everything they can to wind him up to the point where nobody could get ANY work done. That he's delivered as much as he has, equal to or more than my output on any year, is amazing, given that this is ALSO the man with Epstein/Barr (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) and has had two heart attacks and two surgical heart procedures. Gee, I wonder why he's distracted. Priest and the rest of his ilk should get a fucking life and maybe do some work of their own instead of harrassing Harlan. jms Date: 23 Jun 1995 16:32:51 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Will the original sc Well, we'll see if there's enough interest at that time. jms Date: 23 Jun 1995 16:40:47 -0400 Subject: Re: ATTN JMS:Harlan Ellison o Except, again, you're characterizing a twisted, biased hatchet job by someone with an agenda as a legitimate report, and basing your reactions on that assumption. It ain't. jms Date: 24 Jun 1995 03:21:59 -0400 Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: What's the off Oh, hell, I forgot the one pre-eminent feature in my office: a framed MST3K picture of Mike and TV's Frank and Dr. Foresster and the 'bots, all signed by the relative charcters, living or robotic. It was a present for my birthday, and in return I sent 'em a box of B5 caps. jms Date: 24 Jun 1995 19:18:46 -0400 Subject: Re: From JMS: What Exec Prods I don't think *any* topic is off-limits when it comes to discussing B5, because no topic is off-limits when it comes to *making* B5. So questions/discussions of costumes, makeup, EFX, philosophy, mathematics (not Joseph's skill, however), set design...whatever. I may not always have an answer, but I'll either find one or come up with a reasonably plausible alibi. jms Date: 24 Jun 1995 19:19:06 -0400 Subject: Illuminati invade B5 The handclasp used in "Coming of Shadows" was a traditional clasp used by Romans, usually in order to check if the other person was carrying a knife. jms Date: 24 Jun 1995 19:18:56 -0400 Subject: Re: DS9 establishes a new nadi Yeah, the new "Space" series should further take SF from being a one-show monopoly and making it into a regular genre like any other, IF it proves successful. Given that Morgan and Wong (from X-Files) are behind it, I have great hopes, and wish them nothing but success. jms Date: 24 Jun 1995 19:36:02 -0400 Subject: Re: Holy JMS-Re: DS9 establish Ted: you're comparing apples and oranges (again). There is a profound difference between PTEN (to use your term) "meddling" with what dates to SHOW the program, and Paramount "meddling" with what goes INTO the program. Further, I've seen just as many people here hitting critical mass about the PTEN delay as those discussing Paramount/ST, probably more. "Does this mean that people like Franklin who criticize Trek writers for Paramount decisions but don't criticize jms for PTEN decisions are being hypocritical? Absolutely." Ted...what the fuck are you talking about? I'd like to know because this doesn't parse on any level; it doesn't touch reality at any two contiguous points. A writer is responsible for only one thing: what goes into the script. You might as well blame the writer for some station airing the show at 11 p.m. vs. 8 p.m. Which is sheer madness on your part. There is creative meddling with the program's contents, and scheduling meddling which all happens after the contents are completed. These are as different as night and day. A writer is responsible for the contents of his/her scripts; and is NOT responsible in any way, manner, shape or form for the scheduling of that episode. I'm sorry, Ted, but this is one of your more extraordinarily dumb postings, and there've been some real whoppers, lemme tell you. jms Date: 24 Jun 1995 20:48:50 -0400 Subject: JMS: Franklin's religion and m ...okay, Rebecca, I'll bite...what were the deconstructionist interpretations of Franklin's speech? jms Date: 25 Jun 1995 02:45:04 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: CGI in GROPOS That was all CGI, yes. jms Date: 25 Jun 1995 22:24:46 -0400 Subject: JMS: Did it work? There are still about 3 shots left to come on "Fall," but yeah, so far it looks like it's gonna work. jms Date: 25 Jun 1995 22:25:04 -0400 Subject: JMS:Why Babylon? The name was mutually arrived at by the nation/sponsors of B5, and the man who initiated the project, looking back at the original story of Babylon as a place where different languages came together. I'd started to do a story about the founder of the Babylon Project, but it kinda got shoved aside; I'll do it eventually. jms Date: 25 Jun 1995 22:53:02 -0400 Subject: ATTN:JMS Chicago Comicom Yes, I do plan to be at Chicago ComicCon. jms Date: 24 Jun 1995 02:54:38 -0400 Subject: Giving JMS Feedback on last 4 Actually, the writing of the next batch of scripts has very little to do with reaction to the last four; the story is the story. And, as it happens, the first three are now written, and I'll be starting on script four next week. By the time the first episode airs in the UK, we will hvae (have) 5-6 scripts in-hand. jms Date: 25 Jun 1995 22:50:05 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Ranger-hood One could certainly argue the position that those who become Rangers are drawn to Minbar for that purpose, and speculate about what might be propelling that. jms Date: 25 Jun 1995 22:50:26 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: when do we get to se There is nothing special about the spots on Na'Toth's forehead, and we may or may not see her again. jms Date: 25 Jun 1995 22:53:18 -0400 Subject: ATTN, JMS: Lyta-Talia question Different character, different story. And you'll see Lyta in the final four, and probably in year three as well. jms Date: 25 Jun 1995 22:53:47 -0400 Subject: UK showing end of Season 2 bef The showing of episodes in the UK won't have any effect on US ratings, as the few copies that work their way back here won't be in sufficient numbers to affect the Neilsens. jms Date: 25 Jun 1995 22:53:59 -0400 Subject: JMS: Interzone #97 talks about Jeannette: yeah, if it's a good piece on the show, send it or a copy along. BTW, got the music. All very nice, but especially like Roy's stuff. Some of his little tirades are quite impressive. jms Date: 25 Jun 1995 22:53:32 -0400 Subject: Re: Holy JMS-Re: DS9 establish Alex, I never said I *wasn't* bugged about the delay in episodes; only that it's not something within my control. I would much rather they were shown in July. I've always said that. Schedules are not the writer's jurisdiction. jms Date: 25 Jun 1995 23:05:31 -0400 Subject: From jms: Harlan Merchandise Most of you may not be aware of the existence of the Harlan Ellison Record Collection. Harlan Ellison, besides being Conceptual Consultant for Babylon 5, and a leading writer, is also an amazing performer on stage, and when reading his own material. One of his recordings was recently nominated for a Grammy Award. All prior releases from HERC have been on LP (and they are all terrific, recordings of "I'm Looking for Kadak" and "Jefty is Five" and a collection of his appearances such as "On the Road with Harlan Ellison"). Well, now his first CD is out, his reading of the award winning story "Paladin of the Lost Hour," which was also done as an episode of The Twilight Zone, guest-starring Danny Kaye. If you've never heard Harlan read, you've got to check this one out. He doesn't so much read as *perform* the story, playing all the parts, with inflections and accents and a wonderful dramatic flair. As with all the rest, it's a joy to listen to. This brand-new, first-time ever release of "Paladin" is 55 minutes in length, and the price is $16.50 plus $2 for postage and handling. Again, this is the CD. There are discounts for those who join HERC which for a yearly membership fee of $8 gets you the HERC Newsletter, with bits from Harlan, edited by his wife Susan Ellison, and access to all of his previously published books *and* prior HERC recordings. (For HERC members, btw, the "Paladin" CD goes for $15 with $2 postage and handling.) The address, for those interested, is: The Harlan Ellison Record Collection, P. O. Box 55548, Sherman Oaks, CA 91413. (Checks or money orders only, no plastic.) I've been meaning to pass this info along for a while now, but the release of "Paladin of the Lost Hour" gives me a good opportunity to do so finally. For those who like audio books, radio drama (some of the recordings incorporate some elements of production, and sound effects, though minimally), performance art, storytelling...this is definitely something you'll want to consider. (If anyone wants to add this info to any of the WWW pages out there for future use in the archives, that'd be a Nifty Thing.) jms Date: 24 Jun 1995 03:27:51 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Who checks your scri Generally speaking, not that much checking needs to be done; I try to write from what I know, or can research on my own. In a few cases, we've brough in advisors in specific areas; military advisors for GROPOS, medical advisors on "Confessions", that sort of thing. jms Date: 26 Jun 1995 01:27:53 -0400 Subject: Re: DS9 compared to B5 Actually, I think we broke RoTJ's record for ships on-screen in the pilot; Ron was rather pleased about it at the time. jms Date: 26 Jun 1995 03:50:50 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Congrats from Austra Thanks, and I'll pass this along to David Gerrold. jms Date: 26 Jun 1995 03:50:59 -0400 Subject: ATTN: JMS Idle curiosity... Actually, yes, it does have a name, but the darned thing is in my notes, and I'd have to go digging it out. jms Date: 27 Jun 1995 06:51:16 -0400 Subject: ATTN, JMS: Jumpgate question You might as well ask who invented the computer. The principles have always been there, written in the universe for people to decode, as we have been doing throughout centuries. At various points, races stumble upon items like jumpgate technology the same way they stumble upon fire, or radium, or the piston engine. jms Date: 27 Jun 1995 06:51:31 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: No Na'Toth? But you No, I never said that the character of Na'Toth was needed to relay information to another character. (It would be infinitely better if the tens of thousand of people you cite who memorize every comment checked the actual statement, 'cause often it's misphrased from memory, and then I get held accountable for it.) I said that she had to have certain information, period. Specifically, when G'Kar came back, I needed someone there who he could talk to about the shadows, and get us into that part. Someone who knew he'd been gone, and why. Otherwise, he'd be spilling his guts to a total stranger, and he wouldn't *do* that. Hence, you need Na'Toth. jms Date: 27 Jun 1995 06:51:51 -0400 Subject: ATTN, JMS: Literacy No plans for a READ poster at this time, no. jms Date: 25 Jun 1995 03:23:00 -0400 Subject: Re: Attn.: Big Bang Con Atten J. Potts...your report reflects exactly what I'd been afraid of, that the event was going to be an organizational disaster. The cast were game to go for the fans, and I'm glad to see that they did okay in that regard, but they can't do much about how the con is organized. This all pretty much confirms that my concerns were justified. jms Date: 28 Jun 1995 03:50:19 -0400 Subject: JMS:Delenn's age She is between 60 and 70, which in Minbari terms is a very young woman. (amend that, not *very* young, as 18, but equal to a human female in her 30s) jms Date: 28 Jun 1995 03:50:45 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Ideas to help newbie We broached the idea of a one-hour "Mysteries of Babylon 5" special to PTEN; unfortunately, it seems problematic. Fox can set aside a block of time because it's a true network; PTEN would have to go to each station individually and sell the one-hour show, and that is apparently very difficult. jms Date: 28 Jun 1995 04:05:29 -0400 Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS--EA gives B5 to Hardin: the key issue, always, is the introduction of new plot elements and actions not previously introduced. It's the difference between saying what something may *mean*, and suggesting something that may *happen*. The more precise the suggestion, the more problematic it becomes. jms Date: 28 Jun 1995 04:26:53 -0400 Subject: JMS: Plausable deniability? I have made considerable mention that I don't access the internet any other way. Proving access is key to any legal problems. If I'm here posting regularly, that de facto proves access. If I'm not, it becomes more difficult to prove. Second, the material *is* all put away, and dated, but the key isn't just winning the case, which would happen; I just would rather not spend the next 2 years of my life subsequent to a problem in depositions, and hearings, and more hearings, and closeted with lawyers in the course of defending myself against somebody. jms Date: 28 Jun 1995 03:51:09 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: Writing Software Que I used to use Wordstar, with macros to adjust dialogue margins, almost constantly in writing scripts. Then the last two places I worked, including Universal and "Murder, She Wrote" went over to Movie Master, which is basically a no-brainer script program that has all the margins and formatting set up. After learning that one, it kinda stuck, and that's the one I use now for B5. jms Date: 28 Jun 1995 03:55:24 -0400 Subject: JMS Club You're going to hell for that, you know that, don't you? jms Date: 28 Jun 1995 04:05:07 -0400 Subject: From jms: ComicCon Schedule For those in the Chicago area, my schedule at the Chicago Comic Con, held this weekend at the Rosemont Convention Center, Rosemont IL has been firmed up. Here it is: FRIDAY: 3-4 p.m. jms w/bloopers and other stuph. 4-5 Michael O'Hare gives an acting seminar. SATURDAY: 11 a.m. Michael O'Hare Q&A session. 1:30-3:00 special jms presentation (*be there*). 4-5 p.m. jms writing for TV seminar. There will be some kind of informal B5 reception in the evening, somewhere, with jms, Michael, and Peter David. SUNDAY: 1-2 p.m. B5 panel with jms, Peter David and Michael O'Hare. jms Date: 28 Jun 1995 04:20:43 -0400 Subject: JMS----Jumpgate colors??? Don't know if my prior note got through; it's due to red shift. jms Date: 28 Jun 1995 04:21:07 -0400 Subject: First Blood There does seem to be some symbolism in that, though I think it came more subconsciously than consciously; the Narns and Centauri classify the other as the deadly enemy, but the visible fights and woundings have come from their own kind. We are always our own worst enemies. Though that will change, shortly. jms Date: 28 Jun 1995 04:21:20 -0400 Subject: Re: JMS----Jumpgate colors??? The colors correspond to red-shift. jms Date: 29 Jun 1995 03:54:39 -0400 Subject: Attn: JMS - Ivanova Question ( Yes, Ivanova brought a secret with her to the station. But, who didn't, after all? This IS Babylon 5. jms Date: 30 Jun 1995 00:53:01 -0400 Subject: ATTN JMS: If you could be a B5 I'd probably choose Delenn. jms Date: 30 Jun 1995 00:57:14 -0400 Subject: ATTN: JMS - Babylon5 on Armed We're investigating the issue; we're very popular with the military, and are trying to find some way to work it out. jms Date: 30 Jun 1995 01:36:59 -0400 Subject: ATTN: JMS - fan mail by proxy That's really very gratifying to know. I'm please that there is sufficient there to merit her attention. My regards to her. jms Date: 26 Jun 1995 17:27:32 -0400 Subject: JMS: Who all knows the Arc? Nobody knows every aspect of the arc; I release enough each season so our crew can plan ahead. A couple of people have seen a brief 10-page synopsis of where it's going, but that's very vague. And I intend to keep it that way. jms