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The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5
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Date: 01-May-96 01:19:39
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Theresa Kinney <70751.3262@compuserve.com>
Subject: <A Late Delivery>
Theresa Kinney <70751.3262@compuserve.com> asks:
> Who else could it have been?
> perhaps we'll see more of the Narn Resistance in the future,
> redesigned under the "Round Table" framework?
Actually, what I'd said was that these 2-3 eps between big arcs
were NOT arc stories per se, but breathers. Just to clarify....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 01-May-96 12:35:15
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <Ship of Tears Alien?>
{original post unavailable}
Nope.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 01-May-96 12:35:16
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <Ship Of Tears>
{original post unavailable}
Thanks, I look forward to your feeling it's an ongoing quality
show.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 01-May-96 19:59:56
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Andrew Bradbury <100777.747@compuserve.com>
Subject: B5Sword Logo
{original post had no questions}
Depends on where you got it from.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 01-May-96 19:59:58
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: SysOp Dupa T Parrot <70040.104@compuserve.com>
Subject: HOMer Award: B5 TCoS
{original post had no questions}
That's great. Thanks to all who voted. It's a good episode,
and the recognition coming from CIS is especially gratifying given
our/my longstanding relationship with this forum.
So, like, is there a statue or anything that goes with this...?
jms
------------------------------
Date: 01-May-96 20:00:01
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Ship of Tears>
John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com> asks:
> But does this mean that the allies of Light are going to start
> recruiting from among Psi Corps? Which character was she?
> Can you tell me if there was anything that you told Andreas or
> Mira about playing out this sequence, or was it pretty much an
> actor playing to another actor kind of thing?
Thanks. That's one of the things about the show that makes it
very appealing to write; you can go from fall down funny, broad comedy
in "Vir" to something more emotional, almost lyrical but serious in
"Avalon," then right into something vaguely horrific in "Ship." You
get to use all your muscles, not just the same ones over and over. I
like to stretch, try something I haven't tried before. Which means
from time to time I fall on my face, but that's okay; it's the only way
to learn. I have absolutely no qualms about making an ass of myself
and failing if it means that the next time, I can do it right.
I didn't give Mira or Andreas any instructions on that scene
except what was in the script, which was minimal. When you have two
performers that solid in the room, just give them the lines and run
like hell.
Speaking of going back and rewatching episodes...part of this
goes right back to the *pilot*, where, you'll recall, G'Kar tried to
seduce Lyta, mentioning that there are no Narn telepaths, and they feel
very strongly it's important to their survival that they start breeding
them at the first opportunity.
Ding....!
jms
------------------------------
Date: 01-May-96 20:00:05
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <Ship of Tears- Narns?>
{original post unavailable}
No, because that would mean doing a story without our main
characters, since G'Quan's story took place about a thousand years ago,
and I don't think I could sell that. (Unless I did another time travel
number, and I only intend to go to that well once, with the B4
storyline.)
jms
------------------------------
Date: 01-May-96 21:37:11
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Kudos from Tampa
{original post had no questions}
Thanks for the good words, and the encouraging news about how
the show is doing out there. Much appreciated.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 05-May-96 22:01:43
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Robin L. Small <76640.2012@compuserve.com>
Subject: Poisoning Kosh
Robin L. Small <76640.2012@compuserve.com> asks:
> Has the poising Kosh thread from the pilot ever been completely
> addressed? any answers??
What's really left to address? The reasons given were the
reasons; the Minbari warrior caste were very much against the Babylon
project; an extremist clan within that caste decided to frame Sinclair
for murder, using what little info they had on the vorlons, in an
attempt to destabalize or defeat the goals of B5.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 05-May-96 22:01:45
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Simon Grierson <100407.2075@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<Talia/Abbut Qs>>>
Simon Grierson <100407.2075@compuserve.com> asks:
> Did Kosh know about the hidden personality within Talia Winters?
> Does he simply distrust Telepaths?
> Will he ever get to use this Data chrystal?
> My memory seems to recall him giving the chrystal to Garibaldi ?
> Abbut said somthing along the lines of "Nice doing business with
> you Mr Kosh, A pleasure as allways" - did this mean Kosh has had
> a lot of Telepaths scanned?
> - If so, did he know what Lyita knew - but didn't know what
> Telepath was used, so had a number of them scanned?
Kosh certainly knew more about her, and almost certainly her
second persona, than anyone suspected.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 05-May-96 22:01:46
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Jeff Sinclair
{original post unavailable}
If you write to the fan club, you can get the form; and yes,
Sinclair returns in this month's two parter.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 05-May-96 22:01:48
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Brian Kornfeld <75703.1340@compuserve.com>
Subject: Bester and... Bester
Brian Kornfeld <75703.1340@compuserve.com> asks:
> have ANY bearing on your Bester?
Yes, it's certainly a tribute to Alfie, a giant in the field.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 05-May-96 22:01:51
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <Women on B5>
{original post unavailable}
It's got nothing to do with second class citizenship. I'm
sorry, but when lives are at stake, *any* justification is acceptable
for saving them. When a ship goes down at sea, as much as possible it
tends to be the rule that women and children go first. It's not
putting women and children on the same social level, that's silly and a
misstatement of fact. The notion is that often men are physically
better suited to taking care of themselves in a physically dangerous
situation *as civilians*. Now, if you're talking military, you need
only to watch the same episode, "Severed," and you see women combat
soldiers slugging it out, and getting stabbed, and killed, right along
with the male soldiers.
Some people seem to feel that if one shows compassion for any
group, that somehow you are saying that's a lower or second class.
It's sad when compassion can become warped around to mean something
else. It's also illogical.
If the position is that women are second class citizens in this
case, then the cry would be, "Don't fire, we've got men down here."
Because that would imply that the men are more important; you'd get
"men first" on sinking ships because, as first class citizens, men
would be more important, and thus more worth saving, yes?
In a crisis situation, where people are going to die, you try to
get out those for whom you care, and to whom you give status. Those
which are important, and may be less able, physically, to deal with
great stress or danger.
So, basically, no, the statement did not come from any agenda;
your analysis, however, *did*.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 05-May-96 22:01:55
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Ivanova vs. The Markab
{original post unavailable}
I'd rather leave the question of what Delenn saw open for now.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 05-May-96 22:01:56
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Catherine Becic <73414.2603@compuserve.com>
Subject: season finale in October
Catherine Becic <73414.2603@compuserve.com> asks:
> Is this set in stone?
> Can nothing be done?
> Must we really be tortured again?
> And will the UK get the end of season 3 before we do again?
I haven't heard this myself yet formally, so I really can't
comment until I know more.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 05-May-96 22:01:59
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Ship of Tears>
John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com> asks:
> How difficult do you find it to change emotional strides when
> writing stories like this? By the way, any chance I can get the
> spelling for the two Narn words that mean "mindwalker" and
> "destroyed" that Garibaldi mentioned at one point in that
> discussion?
No, it's never difficult for me to go from horror to romance to
comedy to action; they're just different colors in the artist's
toolbox...you go from red to blue to green to yellow, and it's not
difficult doing it, just in knowing *when* to do it, and *how* to do
it.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 05-May-96 22:02:00
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <Ship of Tears>
{original post unavailable}
Yes, Minbari telepaths can also have an effect, as we'll see
soon.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 05-May-96 22:02:02
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Rick Sharon <76416.2213@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Ship of Tears>
Rick Sharon <76416.2213@compuserve.com> asks:
> would he?
> would he?
> Not even HE is that devious, is he?
> could he??!?
> he couldn't, could he?
> will he?
> (Hmmmm, B5 repair kit?
> The newscaster wasn't visible "below the waist", was she wearing
> hip-boots? are the Shadows consumers and we're just consumables?
> He's a busy man, who has time for that sort of thing?
> But, correction Sheridan, it's not "now we have a weapon", it's
> "now we know what kind of weapon could work" - where is Sheridan
> going to find an Army of telepaths? could you please arrange to
> distribute/broadcast a new B5 episode every 2-3 hours? Whatever
> were you thinking? DO YOU HEAR ME???
> Anxiously looking forward to next episode (but, one week?
Thanks for that...well, for *all* of that, as there was much
good stuff and kind words therein. Just got in from Ohio, so I'm
bushed, but still very appreciative.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 05-May-96 22:02:05
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Bruno Melancon <102647.3222@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Ship of Tears>
Bruno Melancon <102647.3222@compuserve.com> asks:
> - Delenn-G'Kar confrontation - Bester helping the cause?
> - The War Room - Humans (or telepaths) merging with the Shadows
> ships - The telepaths-weapons against the Shadows? About that last
> point, can you tell me the name of the colony that is attacked by
> the Shadows? Is it a human colony?
> Clark be upset with the Shadows?
That's Brakiri space they attacked; more on that in the next
episode. (They're a League world.)
jms
------------------------------
Date: 05-May-96 22:02:06
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Rebecca Eschliman <76072.2345@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Ship of Tears>
{original post had no questions}
Thanks...it's a great episode. And they get better.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 05-May-96 22:02:09
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <Ship of Tears-Bester>
{original post unavailable}
Logically, he can't just go away indefinitely, and it's going to
take a long time before they can get Carolyn in shape. A very long
time. If he stays, he'd be noticed and hunted down by the Corps, which
ends his usefulness. His staying served no purpose.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 05-May-96 22:02:10
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: michael kazalski <72357.2642@compuserve.com>
Subject: ExcellenceInBroadcasting
{original post had no questions}
Thank you very much for those kind words; we work hard on the
show, and that sort of feedback is appreciated.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 05-May-96 22:02:14
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: JMS: Quick Question
(blocked) asks:
> When Sheridan and Ivanova are off galavanting about aboard the
> White Star, who's minding the store on the station? Does
> Garibaldi, as head of Security, run things, or would it be Delenn
> as she's Sheridan's co-commander of the Rangers in that quadrant?
> Just what is the heirarchy of command on Babylon 5, now that it
> is an independent state?
Yeah, generally it would fall to Garibaldi; it's no longer a
rank thing as much as a "who can we trust?" question. And Delenn
maintains control of the Rangers in their absence.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 05-May-96 22:02:15
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Rebecca Eschliman <76072.2345@compuserve.com>
Subject: <...Avalon> further
Rebecca Eschliman <76072.2345@compuserve.com> asks:
> Are there any myth-legend cycles that you are (or later became)
> acquainted with that you wished you had room for in B5, but
> couldn't fit in, for one reason or another?
Dunno...I don't really make a list of what I'd like to do; it's
all just one big melting pot in the back of my head, and it all sifts
together.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 05-May-96 22:02:17
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: David Cerreta <72630.3433@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<Interludes...>>
David Cerreta <72630.3433@compuserve.com> asks:
> Were there any hints?
> Why halfway through our story do the Shadows show their hand?
> What is that agenda?
> Are the Shadows independent operators or do *they* answer to
> somebody?
Good points. In general, you always know when I'm going to
start answering a question, because I begin to point at it in episodes;
I'm now beginning to point to the shadows and ask, "What do THEY want?"
The answer is coming.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 05-May-96 22:02:19
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: B5 Renewal
{original post unavailable}
We'll know later this month. No word yet either way.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 05-May-96 22:02:23
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Toni Muller <75223.1575@compuserve.com>
Subject: >>Interludes<<
Toni Muller <75223.1575@compuserve.com> asks:
> I felt frustration and confusion at his situation (how did it get
> this bad? why didn't he get help sooner?
> Question: Can Londo hear the Shadows now because he has turned
> toward the darkness, or was he allowed to hear so he'd be
> intimidated? Our phone rang right after that scene, and I debated
> on whether or not to answer it because I was afraid the person
> would ask me, "What's wrong?" That battle between the Vorlons and
> the Shadows was a joy to watch (can battle be "a joy?"
Thanks. The Kosh stuff, his scene with Sheridan, and his
passing, is very moving. I showed it at Marcon this weekend in Ohio,
and many folks, including Patricia Talman -- who hadn't seen it yet --
were in tears at that. That, to me, is the moment when you know you've
done something, when you can make people *feel* something. Not just a
plot exercise, but you hit down deep where it hurts, or can make
someone laugh. It's all about touching emotion...or what's the point?
jms
------------------------------
Date: 05-May-96 22:02:23
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Interludes questions>
Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com> asks:
> could it be that the Shadows technical advantage lies in the
> field of propulsion? First, why didn't Kosh flee the station and
> go into Vorlon space before ordering the attack on the Shadows?
> Were Shadow vessels haunting hyperspace in the region of the
> station ready to destroy him if he tried to leave? Why didn't he
> ask Sheridan and Delenn for Ranger bodyguards? Would the Shadows
> have simply killed them and then pressed their attack on Kosh or
> would bringing things that far out in the open have left the
> Shadows with no more reason not to directly attack the station?
> Why was Kosh able to order the Vorlon fleet to attack the
> Shadows? Was his position in the Vorlon hierarchy higher than the
> title of ambassador would indicate? was he, like Delenn was
> originally, part of some kind of governing body? Why did Morden
> and the Shadows automatically know that when the Vorlon fleet
> attacked them that Kosh was behind it? And most importantly, why
> are the Vorlon still "too few" to directly engage the Shadows? So
> again, why aren't they ready? Why are the Shadows, who had to play
> catchup in a big way, able to field a navy that has the
> "thousands" of ships that Londo saw in his vision while the
> Vorlons are still "too few"?
Because I think, on some level, Kosh knew it was inevitable; a
price had to be paid. In a way, Lincoln had the same feelings...why
was he to live when so many had died? In a way, he knew he wouldn't
live much longer. Also, it would mean running...and the Vorlons don't
run. If he fled, another would pay the price...and that also wouldn't
be right.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 06-May-96 13:27:48
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Mark D. Smith <70254.107@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Ship of Tears-Bester>
Mark D. Smith <70254.107@compuserve.com> asks:
> Will he continue to or begin to covertly assist B5 while Carolyn
> and the rest of the teeps are on board?
Yes, that'll be something Bester will do now.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 06-May-96 13:27:49
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Toni Muller <75223.1575@compuserve.com>
Subject: >>Interludes<<
Toni Muller <75223.1575@compuserve.com> asks:
> If that is so, then how did Morden know about her before he
> talked with the man Vir made the arrangements with? Or was it
> something else - something to do with Kosh? Is this because of
> what she is hiding - like knowing what the Shadows want? How did
> Kosh know what would happen to him if the Vorlons fought the
> Shadows? Since he is the link between the Vorlons and the army of
> light, did he simply realize that the Shadows would move to sever
> that link, or is there more to it? And why couldn't Kosh
> successfully defend himself? Was he outnumbered three to one, one
> Shadow being equal in strength to one Vorlon? His response: "Why'd
> you have to tell me that?
The "crystals" were diamonds, he was bribing various people to
let him in and otherwise do things for him. And yes, Delenn's holding
back some information still, and Kosh was outnumbered.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 06-May-96 13:27:51
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <Ship of Tears>
{original post unavailable}
There's no relation between the aliens working for the shadows
and the Streib. The ones you saw in the flash were "doctors" of a sort
doing the work; there was no abduction required except of course the
covert kidnapping from the Psi Corps Re-education Center. As for
Bester's look behind, he was just looking to the guards behind him, and
the ones in front of him.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 06-May-96 13:27:52
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <Women on B5>
{original post unavailable}
True, a woman's added body fat layer can help them cope with
the temperatures, but if the sea is roiling and choppy, it takes a lot
of upper body strength to stay afloat.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 06-May-96 13:27:53
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Trent K. Johnson <71020.1052@compuserve.com>
Subject: >>Interludes<<
Trent K. Johnson <71020.1052@compuserve.com> asks:
> Geez, how many of Morella's "chances" did he blow *this* time?
Thanks. Yes, I don't think Sinclair would've handled that
scene in the same way; it needed someone who'd go toe to toe with
something very old and dark and dangerous in his way. He had to get
under Kosh's "skin," as it were. Needle and outrage and upset him until
he got through...whatever the cost.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 06-May-96 13:27:55
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Bert Johnson <102476.201@compuserve.com>
Subject: >>Interludes<<
Bert Johnson <102476.201@compuserve.com> asks:
> I think it is incredibly symbolic that Kosh visited both Sheridan
> in Interludes and G'Kar in the previous episode as their fathers
> The one thing that bothers me is that now the Shadows and the war
> are out in the open as of at least two episodes, why why why do
> they let Morden walk around the station at will?
They would do so, but since the fall from Earth, as Susan
mentioned, they've had to hire guards who may not be above bribes, as
we saw in the teaser. And Morden is good at covering his footsteps.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 06-May-96 13:28:00
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com>
Subject: Poisoning Kosh
Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com> asks:
> Why did Kosh cooperate with the effort to poison him?
Kosh extended a hand...because he recognized Sinclair.
Which is all I'll say for now.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 06-May-96 13:28:01
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <Women on B5>
{original post unavailable}
Okay; understood, thanks.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 06-May-96 21:44:17
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: JMS: gun port=respect?
{original post unavailable}
Bottom line, Steven...what you're doing is applying not only
just Earth norms and standards of behavior to aliens, you're applying
distinctly Western modes of behavior, conduct and mentality. You're
expecting them to think and act like we do, in the way we consider
logical. You can't even apply that criteria to other countries right
here on Earth, let alone outside. Is it logical to one day just walk
away from all your possessions, just leave them where they are, and
start walking, not coming back? Here we consider that abnormal
behavior, abandoment...in Australia, among the Aboriginal culture, that
principle is called "walkabout" and is quite common and accepted
behavior. The idea of ritually mutilating a young woman's genitals is
a hideous, terrible notion to any sane person in this country...but in
many African nations, it's practiced quite commonly, on an everyday
basis as part of their notion of coming into womanhood.
Part of having *alien* aliens is that they don't think like us.
One big adjustment Americans rarely make when they go overseas is that
they expect everyone and everyplace to be just like home in attitude.
But there are huge differences...and those differences can start wars.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 06-May-96 21:44:18
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Robin L. Small <76640.2012@compuserve.com>
Subject: Poisoning Kosh
{original post had no questions}
It didn't have to get past the encounter suit; he was distinctly
shown extending a portion of himself *outside* the suit.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 06-May-96 21:44:22
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Jeff Sinclair
{original post had no questions}
It was a great convention, thanks.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 06-May-96 21:44:24
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: season finale in October
{original post unavailable}
All episodes of B5 are closed captioned as a rule, unless
something goes wrong at some point.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 06-May-96 21:44:26
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Ed Passarella, Ziff-Davi <72241.505@compuserve.com>
Subject: Delenn and G'Kar
{original post had no questions}
Thanks...it's a nifty little scene.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 06-May-96 21:44:28
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Babylon 5 on video?
(blocked) asks:
> Do you have any plans to release Babylon 5 on video?
In the fullness of time.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 06-May-96 21:44:33
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: JMS: Quick Question
(blocked) asks:
> Are the former EA personnel now part of the Rangers -- or are
> they still separate from the Rangers themselves? Or is it just
> kinda mish-mashed together with Sheridan technically being in
> command of both entities, with Delenn as official co-ommander on
> the Ranger side of things and Ivanova his second-in-command on
> the former EA side of things? What do they call themselves now
> anyway -- Rebels?
The patch signifies their alliance with the Rangers, yes.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 06-May-96 21:44:35
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Troy Starr <74752.3172@compuserve.com>
Subject: <ISN News>
Troy Starr <74752.3172@compuserve.com> asks:
> Dare one ask what's happened to the two reporters that were
> broadcasting from the ISN news center when "ISN pulled it's own
> plug to stop the fake trasmission?" Would people believe that
> their (well, his) report was a fake? Finally, is ISN the only
> channel out there?
ISN is one of the only interstellar networks bounced via the
tachyon relay systems from Earth to the outer colonies and beyond.
There are lots of other channels back home, but to get this far out you
need the support of the government.
The other two reporters are, to say the least, in deep guano.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 06-May-96 21:44:38
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Kevin P. Kenney <104102.352@compuserve.com>
Subject: JMS: 'Drop Dead' Date?
Kevin P. Kenney <104102.352@compuserve.com> asks:
> When is that date this year?
> Any word if you'll be presenting at the San Diego Comic Con this
> year? Any suggestions?
I believe the true, honest, drop-dead date is June 10th, which
is when we have to pick up the actors' contracts. If it's after that,
we lose our options on the actors.
Re: Red Clay Ramblers...I'd suggest their album "It Ain't
Right," from Flying Fish Records in Chicago. It's got some of their
best stuff in it, from the title song to "Ezekiel in the Valley of the
Dry Bones" (which was on as I wrote "Ceremonies"), and a wonderfully
sick, twisted and funny song called "The Merchant's Lunch."
jms
------------------------------
Date: 07-May-96 00:41:41
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Christian Vitroler <100042.662@compuserve.com>
Subject: Ivanova vs. The Markab
Christian Vitroler <100042.662@compuserve.com> asks:
> Any comment on the frequent mangling in German episodes?
> So you can wonder, if he (JMS) gives us the voice beyond any
> doubt why doesn't he show us her? But is there no such thing as
> sort of quality control from the Executive Producer? you're out
> once and for all once it's sold?
There is absolutely nothing I can do about this except be upset
by it.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 07-May-96 00:41:45
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Scott Miller <70562.3656@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Avalon and 3d age>
Scott Miller <70562.3656@compuserve.com> asks:
> Why would they not have their own names for this place--why does
> everyone (seem to) universally use the Minbari name?
No, it's not a Minbari name, any more than automobile is a
Spanish word, even though it's used in the Spanish language (albeit the
pronunciation varies just slightly).
jms
------------------------------
Date: 07-May-96 18:41:43
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Jimi Vigotty <72316.2103@compuserve.com>
Subject: Babylon 5 !!@***!!@*%^**
Jimi Vigotty <72316.2103@compuserve.com> asks:
> Are you aware of any plans to release the series on Video tape?
Thanks, and tapes will doubtless come out in the fullness of
time.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 07-May-96 18:41:45
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Gail Marsella <71551.3200@compuserve.com>
Subject: JMS: gun port=respect?
Gail Marsella <71551.3200@compuserve.com> asks:
> I think she's right - was slavery acceptable just because it was
> common, we practiced it for a long time, and a large number of
> people found it convenient? Was foot-binding in China acceptable
> just because it was always practiced on young girls who had no
> way to say "no"?
"However, neither is it appropriate to view all alien behavior as
acceptable just because it is different....."
Never implied it was. In general, on the B5 station, though, if
an alien acts toward one of its own kind in a cultural oddity (to us),
we tend not to interfere unless so requested; if, however, an alien
turns that cultural oddity toward one not of its own species, then the
B5 staff would definitely intervene.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 07-May-96 18:41:47
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Bill Hirst <104106.431@compuserve.com>
Subject: JMS: gun port=respect?
{original post had no questions}
True, though the female version of this, as practiced in some
countries, is extremely debilitating and far more violent or severe.
Much as we are all attached to our respective genitalia, I'd suggest
that snipping the foreskin is not quite so severe as taking a razor
blade and cutting OFF the clitoris and parts of the labia major, as is
done in some places.
But you're right, the practice on either side is certain of a
piece (so to speak).
jms
------------------------------
Date: 07-May-96 18:41:50
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: John Ganofsky <73354.1057@compuserve.com>
Subject: Centauri Hair
John Ganofsky <73354.1057@compuserve.com> asks:
> They were wondering how the makeup folks do the Centauri hair?
All I know is that each Centauri hairpiece is hand-woven into
the fabric at an angle; you can't just take a wig and get it to stand
up, you have to *hand weave* it. It's a fairly difficult and expensive
process.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 07-May-96 18:41:51
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <JMS: Quickies...>
{original post unavailable}
I think probably most races that have to evolve through a
superstitious phase, at some point enter a religious phase (which is an
organized system of superstition by strictest definition) until such
time as the tools are there for the more scientific description of the
universe. So within that context, yes, most cultures would have at
least one major figure in that area in its history.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 07-May-96 18:41:54
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com>
Subject: JMS: 'Drop Dead' Date?
Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com> asks:
> Does the fact that one of the prizes in the recent "Mystery Alien
> Contest" was the chance to play an alien in an upcoming episode
> mean that they are more likely to renew the show?
Doesn't really affect the odds either way; there's always an out
in these kinds of things.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 07-May-96 20:44:05
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Douglas Files Fox <74020.3260@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Ship of Tears>
Douglas Files Fox <74020.3260@compuserve.com> asks:
> Had Geribaldi's "found pin" suffered the same fate as Bester's
> pin? Is the addition of the Cyber- Implants, the "Preparation"
> Delenn was refering to in "Messages from Earth"? The crew members
> of the Icarus, who didn't go along, were they used as Shadow ship
> "Central Cores"? So I was wondering if Sheridan's wife could have
> been used as a "Core" of one of the Shadow Ships?
Yes, the implants are part of the preparation process Delenn
referred to in "Messages." As for the rest...only time will tell,
cause sure as hell I ain't....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 07-May-96 20:44:06
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <Ship of Tears-Bester>
(blocked) asks:
> While we're on the subject, when was this little change of heart
> for Bester planned? Was it at the start, when you did Mind War, or
> something just this season?
Yes, this was definitely intended from the start with Bester.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 07-May-96 23:44:08
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Vicki Mitchell <76234.1317@compuserve.com>
Subject: Cheers for Mira
Vicki Mitchell <76234.1317@compuserve.com> asks:
> Would you please relay to Mira Furlan our highest compliments on
> her scene with G'Kar in "Ship of Tears"?
I'll tell her when next I see her; thanks.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 07-May-96 23:49:24
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Richard M. Perry <76461.2737@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Ship of Tears>
Richard M. Perry <76461.2737@compuserve.com> asks:
> What's next, little miniture Shadow ships painted on the side or
> will we see the jackets first? BTW, did someone at WB get a clue
> (or replaced by RMES)?
Thanks, and that's great to hear about the station's reaction.
It's a very hopeful sign, as is the increased advertising from WB.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 08-May-96 02:15:21
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <Bester>
{original post unavailable}
"If the theme of the relationship is "All Bester needed was to love
and be loved, or he wouldn't have been the slimeball he is today", I
will be a bit disappointed."
Then you won't be.
"It's just a little too simplistic."
Absolutely.
One mongoose can love another; that won't change its attitude toward
pythons.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 08-May-96 02:18:47
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Trent K. Johnson <71020.1052@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Ship of Tears>
Trent K. Johnson <71020.1052@compuserve.com> asks:
> Do you happen to know what this refers to?
> Is this something you do in post, or is that done at the feed
> site?
"Noticed on the takeboards from the sat. feeds for this and a couple
of other episodes: Textless at 1:05. Do you happen to know what this
refers to?"
Some of the cassettes provided have the opening sequences in a
separate section at 1 hour 5 minutes without the titles over them, so
that they can be used in promos by the stations.
"Also, they say "Color Corrected". Is this something you do in post,
or is that done at the feed site?"
No, color correction is done in post, to make sure that all the colors
are true, and sometimes to enhance one element or another.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 08-May-96 18:01:51
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com>
Subject: Poisoning Kosh
John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com> asks:
> I suspect that we'll learn more about this in "War Without End"?
Yeah, it's fair to say you can imply more about this after
"War."
jms
------------------------------
Date: 08-May-96 18:01:52
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com>
Subject: <ISN News>
John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com> asks:
> Why am I not surprised?
> That right or am I still off?
Yes, the ISN person was Alison.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 08-May-96 18:01:53
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Ship of Tears>
John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com> asks:
> Can you tell me which spelling on the name is right, please?
It's Brakiri.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 08-May-96 18:01:55
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Automedia, Inc. <70530.2521@compuserve.com>
Subject: B5 in Sac
{original post had no questions}
That's great to hear...the message is getting through. Thanks.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 08-May-96 22:18:42
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: John M. Graham <74166.3727@compuserve.com>
Subject: JMS: gun port=respect?
{original post had no questions}
"Different (alien) doesn't mean illogical in my book."
I can think of a number of Zen schools of thought that you would
consider vastly illogical...but quite human. There are many things we
would consider illogical to a western mind that are perfectly
reasonable elsewhere.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 08-May-96 22:18:43
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Robin L. Small <76640.2012@compuserve.com>
Subject: Upcoming EP:Walkabout
Robin L. Small <76640.2012@compuserve.com> asks:
> Will "Walkabout" deal with the Vorlons' motivations???
That would be telling....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 09-May-96 01:35:58
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Michael Grabois <74737.2600@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Ship of Tears-Bester>
Michael Grabois <74737.2600@compuserve.com> asks:
> I mean, out of all the people on the ship, they just happen to
> find the one person who is significant to Bester? I can see what
> you wanted to do, but couldn't it have worked better if, say, he
> had been brought a list of people who were in the ship?
Yeah, they could've brought him a list...and he'd have seen the
name instantly, and wouldn't have been hit with his own "blip" careless
attitude right in his face...also, she needed to be already being
defrosted at that point, and you can't defrost all of them at once.
Yeah, it was a coincidence. Synchronicity. It happens. It
doesn't happen much on this show, hardly ever. I figured she'd be one
of the last in, and thus the first out. Synchronicity and coincidences
*do* happen. How many times have you reached for the phone to call
someone to find the phone ringing, and it's them on the other end?
What're the odds of Oedipus killing his father and marrying his mother
out of all the possible kingdoms in the area? It happens. As long as
it doesn't happen to excess, it's not something I'm worried about.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 09-May-96 22:04:20
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Lynne Caulfield <101647.2616@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
Lynne Caulfield <101647.2616@compuserve.com> asks:
> Where did you get this information from?
Yes, Mara is correct. I'm an atheist.
You got a problem with my personal beief system?
Tough. You don't get a vote.
And if that's enough to make you not watch the show...well, the
problem is entirely yours.
I leave my personal beliefs *out* of what I write for TV. I
don't try to impose my attitudes or conclusions on others, or penalize
others for what they think.
You ought to try it sometime.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 09-May-96 22:22:05
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Chad Underkoffler <102512.1310@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Rage's Thots: Teeps>
{original post had no questions}
No, it means that the person has to be in their line of sight;
they don't have to look into the person's eyes or anything as silly as
that. It doesn't matter if the person's head or body are covered, as
long as there's a definite "focus" for them.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 09-May-96 22:22:06
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Kosh's Appearance/Form
{original post unavailable}
Only similarity is that the same EFX person designed Kosh as
designed the aliens in the Abyss.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 09-May-96 22:22:08
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Mike Hoffmann <100321.2604@compuserve.com>
Subject: Using B5 names and place
Mike Hoffmann <100321.2604@compuserve.com> asks:
> My question is, whether such usage would fall under fair use or
> be prohibited by trademarks or if it is possible to gain
> permission from you or WB to use such a name, by giving a
> guaranty that any sites under that name would not deliver data
> that falls under these new indecency laws? There already happens
> to be a vorlon.com, did they just use the name or did they gain
> permission from WB first?
If you make it a .com name, you will eventually run afoul of WB.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 09-May-96 22:22:11
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Michael Grabois <74737.2600@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Ship of Tears-Bester>
Michael Grabois <74737.2600@compuserve.com> asks:
> By the way, any thoughts on the B5 presentation at the San Diego
> Con this year?
Yes, I'll be at comic con, and will likely bring nifty stuff to
show, as usual.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 09-May-96 22:22:12
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <<Interludes...>>
{original post unavailable}
Let me answer this way...whenever I'm going to unveil something
on the show, I begin to point to it in upcoming episodes. I've begun
pointing to the question of what the shadows want, and why they're
doing it. So, logically, I'm now going to have to follow up on
that....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 09-May-96 22:22:15
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: >>Interludes<<
{original post unavailable}
B5 is still a place of considerable commerce, access to lots and
lots of other races and diplomats...it serves Londo's purposes for now,
and there are probably lots of Centauri back home who would prefer he
stay here. As for the rest...better the devil you know than the devil
you don't. At least on B5 they can keep somewhat of an eye on him.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 10-May-96 00:25:17
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: John Lawless <70262.363@compuserve.com>
Subject: >>Interludes<<
John Lawless <70262.363@compuserve.com> asks:
> Since Kosh knew in advance that he would be Morden&Co.'s target,
> why didn't he prepare defenses? Or, failing that, why didn't he
> get in his ship and leave for as long as Morden remained on B5?
Because he knew a price had to be paid, and if it wasn't him,
it'd be someone else. Because he knew there was no getting around it.
He's too prideful to run.
Remember Gethsemane....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 10-May-96 00:25:18
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <Interludes - Name>
{original post unavailable}
Yes, you'll see more of Franklin, as he tries to deal with his
problem. At first it's not too bad, but with time....
Re: titles...yeah, you got to watch out with this show,
sometimes I put on deliberately dull titles when I want to sneak up
behind you quietly. The more innocuous sounding, the more you should
worry....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 10-May-96 00:25:20
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: carrie foreman <76400.1170@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<I&E: Soundtracking>>
carrie foreman <76400.1170@compuserve.com> asks:
> What might have caused the ghosting of a soundtrack?
It was probably caused by your local staion taping the show on
the satellite downlink over the same tape they used for "Avalon." They
likely didn't degauss the tape first.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 10-May-96 13:17:46
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Harvey Mitchell <71172.1220@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<I&E>>
{original post had no questions}
Thanks...it was a very moving moment for someone whose true
face we've never seen.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 10-May-96 13:17:48
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: >>Interludes<<
{original post unavailable}
Thanks....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 10-May-96 13:17:50
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Lynne Caulfield <101647.2616@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
Lynne Caulfield <101647.2616@compuserve.com> asks:
> You're mad aren't you Joe?
"...you have so many who never question your show that you're
not gonna miss me!"
Lynne...here is where you show your stripes repeatedly in this
discussion. There is a certain type of poster who is under the
curious assumption that only he or she questions me, or this show, and
everybody else is just a follower, never questioning.
And it ain't true. Believe me, I see more questions, go
through more heated drilling about this show than you can possibly
*begin* to imagine; no one here is in the least shy about expressing
their opinions if something doesn't strike them as being correct.
Your comment here, as all have been to date, is
self-congratulatory when no such basis for congratulations exist.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 10-May-96 13:17:51
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <Interludes comments>
{original post unavailable}
Yeah, certainly the flash of light was an echo of Lyta's mask.
As for Delenn, I think she was just stunned, just emotionallly worn out
over this.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 10-May-96 13:17:53
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: >>Interludes<<
{original post unavailable}
One can certainly argue that Franklin's actions were hasty,
that he is basically running away from the *consequences* of the
problem he has, as much as from the problem itself. This will, of
course, have to be dealt with.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 10-May-96 13:18:00
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: I&E Support
{original post unavailable}
Thanks...I'm just waiting for some nit to come out of the
woodwork and announce that the real reason for what happened to Kosh
was that Kosh had a contract dispute over money or walked off the
show....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 10-May-96 13:18:01
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Steven L. Wiser <102633.3171@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
{original post had no questions}
Thanks. Like I've said..if I *had* any answers, I'd be happy
to give them in an episode. But all I have are questions.
Television, as well as entertaining, should try where possible
to get us TO think, not tell us WHAT to think.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 10-May-96 13:18:02
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Chad Underkoffler <102512.1310@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Rage's Thots: Teeps>
Chad Underkoffler <102512.1310@compuserve.com> asks:
> So Bob the PsiCop *can't* scan someone behind them?
> What about through a closed door?
> Could Bob scan Mike if he knew Mike was in the next room over?
> Would Bob know it was really Jill instead of Mike in the room?
> I guess the ultimate question is, if I sneak up behind Bobin the
> hallway, wearing a chameleon suit and really quiet shoes, will he
> know I'm there Psiwise? If so, will he be able to scan me?
> What if I duck behind a corner, outta LOS; can he still scan me?
> Is it "seeing" or "knowing"?
No, if the person is behind a door, or otherwise can't be
located visually, it's difficult to impossible to scan.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 10-May-96 14:01:14
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Laurence Moroney <100546.50@compuserve.com>
Subject: JMS: Arc a Fake?
Laurence Moroney <100546.50@compuserve.com> asks:
> What I cannot help but come up with is, magnificence of the
> series and storytelling aside, are we being had? Have we been
> subject to sales banter and are still expecting to see what we
> expected? Have we been distracted from our original impressions by
> the sheer brilliance of the show? (i) How come Ironheart who 'knew
> everything' didn't see the fake personality? (ii) We saw
> interaction between Kosh and her in (was it?) 'Deathwalker' which
> resulted in Kosh recording something of her - what ever happened
> to that?
It's a fair question. I'm going to try and deal with it as
best I can. The problem, first and foremost, is trying to explain the
craft of writing to someone who isn't a writer. This isn't intended as
a slight; if a brain surgeon tried to explain his work to me, I'd be
about as much in the dark. I have no idea where music comes from; I
can sit with Chris Franke for hours, trying to understand that process.
I never will. I'm not hardwired that way. I *am* hardwired for
writing. So it's not a judgment, just a minor truth.
The creative process is fluid. Has to be. Consider for a
moment the position in which I find myself. Let's say I'm writing a
novel. I start with a fairly clear notion of where I'm going. Six
chapters in, I get a better way of doing something, so I go back and
revise chapters 1-5, so it now all fits; you never see what went
before. Now, compare that to a situation where you're publishing each
chapter as you go, and you can't go back and change anything. (This is
pretty much the situation Dickens found himself in, as he published his
works chapter by chapter; you can never back up, only go forward.)
At the same time, because we're using actors who have real
lives of their own, to whom things happen -- broken limbs, health
problems that may preclude appearing in a given episode, sudden career
changes, you name it -- you have real-life obstacles constantly in your
way.
The closest thing I can compare this to...is if you're on
stage, in front of a large audience, and you have to do a very
elaborate dance...and all the while people are throwing bowling balls
and chainsaws at you. You either learn how to accommodate all that,
and keep pretty much on rhythm, or you're dead.
This show was originally conceived in 1986/87. About 10 years
ago. Back then, all TV episodic stuff was done pretty much from one
person's point of view, your nominal hero. Yes, you'd occasionally
dive outside that for a quick scene with other characters, usually to
set up something, but for the most part, it was about that one person.
In MURDER, SHE WROTE, Jessica Fletcher was always at the heart of every
episode; you had the occasional guest character with whom she'd
interact, and the recurring supporting cast, but none of them ever
changed, and none of them ever really took center stage for more than a
few minutes at a time. That's how TV has been done up until now.
Novels, on the other hand, are often omniscient in narrative
structure, and you blip in and out of multiple points of view. THE
STAND, for instance.
Now, I've done both; I've written novels and I've written TV.
When it came time to pull together B5 initially, you go into the "okay,
who is the TV point of view character" question. Which was Londo's
narration, and which was the way I'd learned to write TV all these
years. Once the series got going, it quickly became apparent that I'd
have to learn a whole new way of writing TV that was a lot more like
what I'd been writing in my novels, which were multi-POV huge stories.
It's a kind of writing that's never really been done before for
American TV; and I had to somewhat invent that style or form of writing
as I went, in front of millions of viewers.
You can't prepare for something like this, as much as you try,
because it's never been done before.
(On reflection, probably the closest thing to what I've been
doing here was the miniseries The Winds of War, in terms of the
multiple viewpoints involved.)
Also, in the last 10 years, I've become a better writer,
learned more about my craft, added more tools to my toolbox. That
means being able to perceive better ways of doing things now than I
could've seen before.
So here we are. I sit at my word processor with my notes from
1986, and I see a better way of doing something from those notes...do I
go with what's there, or do I strike off and do the better approach,
PROVIDED that it still takes me where I want to go in the arc? To
ignore it is to be inflexible.
I've stayed fluid. It's the same way I write a novel. You're
just seeing the *process* acted out right in front of you, a process
which normally the public never gets to see. That, I think, is some
part of what you're reacting to.
Also, you have to be careful in how you define an arc. There
have been definite arcs of character all through this. Look at Londo
when we first met him...and look at him now. Same for G'Kar, Delenn,
Franklin... look at Sheridan when he first arrived: happy go lucky,
smiling, glad to be there, fresh fruit and a hot shower, able to take
care of anything and everything, how bad can it be?...and look at the
dark, haunted, almost overwhelmed figure we see now.
The story has also arc'd, peeling off layer by layer. The
Minbari war leads to the secret of the Grey Council, which leads back
to the first shadow war, which leads to the current shadow war, each
really on a direct line one from the other. The slow corruption of
Earthgov, the death of President Santiago, the rise of Clark, the fall
from Earth...all of it a very definite arc.
It's not just a matter of "living in interesting times." What
makes a story is *causality*. A sequence of linked events. "The king
died, and then the queen died" is not a story. "The king died, and
then the queen died of grief" is a story. It is an arc, however small.
Finally, I'd just note the posts -- public and private -- from
folks who have sat down and watched the *whole show* as a unit, once
per day, or several per day...and the linked aspect, the real *arc* of
the show, becomes far more apparent when watched that way right now.
It's there.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 10-May-96 22:08:06
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Arisians and Vorlons
{original post unavailable}
No, I really hadn't been thinking of the Arisians in either
direction when I came up with the Vorlons...just what they were, not in
relation to anything else.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 10-May-96 22:08:08
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Cathy Holley <75204.1515@compuserve.com>
Subject: I admit I'm an idiot
Cathy Holley <75204.1515@compuserve.com> asks:
> Now, anybody know where I can get videos of the first two
> seasons? How about the pilot?
Welcome to the party. Videos aren't currently available, though
the second and third season episodes can get rerun over the coming
year.
And you can always disagree with a decision...and explain why.
Around the stage, we have a simple policy...anybody can go up to me and
say, "Joe, it sucks." And tell me why. And if they're right, they get
to stay....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 10-May-96 22:08:11
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Interludes>
John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com> asks:
> What was going on, who was this fellow, and what happened to him?
> Who were these two species, have we seen them before, and are
> they part of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds (given the hints of
> their proximity to Brikiri space)?
Thanks. The two aliens in the start of the episode were a
Brakiri and a Gaim.
"Interludes" for me marks a slight transition in the story, from
one "shape" to the next up...the demarkation between the hero-cycle and
the myth-cycle in the arc.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 10-May-96 22:08:13
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: I&E Support
(blocked) asks:
> Was this the thing you did that caused everybody to avoid you at
> lunch for two days?
Yeah, it's funny, out of all the awful terrible things I've done
to our characters over these 3 years, the one that honked off the whole
crew was the Kosh development. On one level, they loved it...loved how
it tightened the screws...but they still didn't want to know from me
for a day or two.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 11-May-96 01:35:27
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <<Interludes>>
(blocked) asks:
> Sheridan tells Kosh, "How do we know it's even you in that
> encounter suit? Wow, is that foreshadowing or what?
> * Is the last voyage or duty of Kosh's ship something we'll see
> in more detail? * My husband wants to know if you're going to get
> Dick Sergeant to play the new Kosh?
Thanks; there's a lot in the episode that plays very well on all
the levels you mention. A lot of meat there.
As for Kosh's ship...it headed for the nearest star, the local
one, and basically dived into it....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 11-May-96 01:35:28
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Larry Rosenblum <72122.1555@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<Interludes Question>>
Larry Rosenblum <72122.1555@compuserve.com> asks:
> Why did Londo not mention Adira since his original fling with
> her, before this episode?
> F
Basically because it's hard in an episode to just bring up
something out of the blue unless you're going to use it. You're stuck
with, "Boy, I wish Adira were here...so what's for dinner?" Which will
mean nothing to the folks who didn't see the first season unless you
then talk more about her, show her...and then suddenly you REALLY have
to deal with it or it's intrusive.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 11-May-96 15:55:31
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Julia E. Linthicum <73114.3530@compuserve.com>
Subject: B5 article in paper
Julia E. Linthicum <73114.3530@compuserve.com> asks:
> Lennier as the "gentle alien"?
> And Ivanova as "Sheridan's serious and comely colleague"?
Thanks, actually it's an AP article that's appeared all over the
place. One can quibble with the details, but it's actually a good
piece.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 11-May-96 15:55:33
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: John Hardin <74076.22@compuserve.com>
Subject: Interludes question
John Hardin <74076.22@compuserve.com> asks:
> Could you please post this note to either JMS, or to the
> moderated info notesfile? Was that man Morden, or Sinclair?
It was Morden. If it were Sinclair, the actor would've been
noted in the credits.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 11-May-96 15:55:37
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <Interludes - Name>
{original post unavailable}
No, it's not B4.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 11-May-96 15:55:39
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Arline Williams <102551.2346@compuserve.com>
Subject: <I&E Support>
Arline Williams <102551.2346@compuserve.com> asks:
> People are upset because you've killed off a main character?
> One question: Will we be seeing the Monks again?
Yes, you'll be seeing Brother Theo in the next batch of new
eps...and thanks.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 11-May-96 15:55:41
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <I&E Support>
{original post had no questions}
Darn, you went and told...now it'll be all OVER the place....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 11-May-96 16:10:59
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com> asks:
> PS - Remember after the episodes about the soul hunter and the
> one where the Minbari's belief that their souls were
> transmigrating to Humans was revealed how all the rabid atheists
> jumped down Joe's throat and said that if there was any room for
> the objective existence of a "soul" in his story that it stopped
> being science fiction and became fantasy and that he would lose
> them as viewers?
"The atheist is also denying the existence of God on faith since the
statement that there is no God anywhere in the universe is equally
impossible to prove (all universal statements are impossible to prove
and therefore inherently unscientific)."
That's a well phrased analysis of the situation...the only problem
with it is that it ain't so.
By your reasoning, if you say that there are green penguins at the
north pole, and I refuse to believe it until you prove it, then I am a
believer in non-green-penguinism. I am, therefore, a believer in the
negative concept of everything in the universe that has not yet been
conclusively proven. At which point the very notion of belief becomes
utterly meaningless.
If someone comes up to you and offers you a job if you move cross
country, wouldn't you want a contract, some proof that the offer is
real? Until it's provided, are you believing in non-contractosity?
Bottom line, Daniel...if you or anyone else makes a statement, the
burden of proof is not on me to *disprove* it, it's on you to *prove*
it. Until that point, the question of belief doesn't enter into it.
Is it or is it not provable? If not, then it isn't recognized as a
real thing. Belief is irrelevant. Once you've shown me my new car,
and I've driven in it, it doesn't require faith or belief to know it
exists. For my money, no one has yet proven the existence of a supreme
or minor deity...so for me, it simply doesn't exist. Again, belief has
nothing to do with it.
(I used the phrase belief system only because I didn't want to get
into a prolonged discussion of it, and that seemed the simplest way of
stating it. That'll teach me not to go for the precise terms, even if
it means another few paragraphs of explanation.)
jms
------------------------------
Date: 11-May-96 16:11:01
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Laurence Moroney <100546.50@compuserve.com>
Subject: JMS: Arc a Fake?
{original post had no questions}
The other thing to bear in mind is that I can't really be
responsible for what expectations you bring to it, since I can't see
inside your head. (Or if I could I wouldn't tell you...and stop that,
you'll go blind.) All I can do is tell the story that's in my head.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 11-May-96 16:11:02
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Elyse M. Grasso <70302.3304@compuserve.com>
Subject: <I&E Support>
Elyse M. Grasso <70302.3304@compuserve.com> asks:
> When it was over and I was breathing again, I wondered, was this
> the death where the actor asked "why me?"
This was the "now me" episode. The "why me?" episode is yet to
come.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 11-May-96 22:28:00
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com> asks:
> On another matter, are scripts from already produced episodes of
> B5 available commercially from any source?
Daniel, you're on a slippery slide into sophistry. Of *course*
one can make a blanket statement about some things. Many things, in
fact. I can declare, in no uncertain terms, that there are in fact no
Minbari. They are a fictional creation. So right off the bat that
negates your thesis.
And, again, you miss the point...the statement is not "X does
not exist," that's the usual argument brought out to try and make
someone prove a negative, which is nearly impossible. I repeat: the
burden of proof is NOT on the person saying "show me," the burden of
proof is on the person making the assertion. You say there's a god.
Show me objective, scientifically verifiable, quantifiable, repicable
evidence of same. Otherwise, I can say that there is no evidence in
it, therefore I don't believe it.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 11-May-96 22:28:02
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Rage's Thots: Teeps>
John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com> asks:
> Now one could attribute this change in Lyta's abilities due to
> the Vorlons (since she has undergone some changes), but are we
> going to find out more about this and Lyta's abilities later this
> season?
It's fair to say that Lyta has been...aided, slightly, in her
abilities. But I'm not ready to pull the trigger on that one for a
while yet.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 11-May-96 22:28:03
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Rebecca Eschliman <76072.2345@compuserve.com>
Subject: JMS: Arc a Fake?
Rebecca Eschliman <76072.2345@compuserve.com> asks:
> Don't we have here a really good example of the Heisenberg
> Uncertainty Principle shifted from the laboratory to the
> storytelling platform? Are you ever astonished at the
> interpretations applied like a varnish over the story as you see
> it?
Yes, I'm often intrigued -- don't know if I'd say astonished --
at how the story is sometimes interpreted. But that's the interactive
part of the process, what the viewer takes away is sometimes only
indirectly the result of what's actually *there*. Take modern art for
a moment. You show me a white canvas broken only by a single red dot
in the lower left hand corner, I see a single red dot in the lower left
hand corner of a white canvas, nod and walk away...somebody else takes
a look at it, and sees a telling commentary on isolationism and the
Communist scare of the 50s and man's basic inhumanity to man.
Anything that passes for art reflects the work's creator, and
the viewer; it's a mirror that works in two directions, and neither
reflection holds the totality of the work individually. Art happens in
the moments in-between.
jm(could I possibly sound more effete?)s
------------------------------
Date: 11-May-96 22:28:07
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Guntis Glinavs <72411.1421@compuserve.com>
Subject: Toronto Star B5 Article!
Guntis Glinavs <72411.1421@compuserve.com> asks:
> Again there are a few inaccuracies - did 500,000 fans really show
> up to a B5 con in England?
Thanks for letting folks know; I just heard about it myself, and
am having a copy or two sent on to me for the files.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 11-May-96 22:28:08
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Ray Pelzer <70475.1263@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Interludes>
Ray Pelzer <70475.1263@compuserve.com> asks:
> Are you giving out answers today?
I meant you'd see Vorlons as Vorlons, not necessarily Kosh; I
think I phrased it that way initially.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 11-May-96 22:28:11
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <Interludes - Name>
{original post unavailable}
Thanks, and glad to have you on board for the ride....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 11-May-96 22:28:14
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: SysOp Dupa T Parrot <70040.104@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Interludes - Name>
SysOp Dupa T Parrot <70040.104@compuserve.com> asks:
> Why did Morden have to open the door to Kosh's quarters before
> his Shadowy friends could attack Kosh? Are the Shadows a variety
> of Teep?
No, they're not a variety of teep.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 11-May-96 22:28:14
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Automedia, Inc. <70530.2521@compuserve.com>
Subject: WwE Part 1 Question
Automedia, Inc. <70530.2521@compuserve.com> asks:
> Is it supposed to be a Shadow beam or some other race's?
Sigh...no, it's a piece of stock footage from "Sky." We don't
make the promos. On the other hand, they've been doing a much better
job lately, so I'm not about to complain.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 11-May-96 22:59:28
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com> asks:
> In other words, who's challenge will you accept, Mark Twain's or
> Pascal's?
"This is a discussion that *has* to take place on two different
levels. One is the purely empirical where saying "there is a God" and
"There is no God" are both statements of nonsense devoid of real
meaning because they both claim to describe some aspect of reality yet
no test can be devised (again short of dying) that can falsify either
of them."
Once again, your knowledge of logic is faulty. The attempt in logic,
debate or science is not to "falsify" or disprove anything; the goal is
to PROVE something. Repeat after me: you cannot prove a negative. The
burden of proof of any statement belongs with the person making the
assertion, NOT the person receiving it to disprove it. You are simply
misstating how science and logic work in order to make a debating point
that doesn't hold up under scrutiny.
"Without a transcendent God imposing a transcendent morality upon man
there is no basis for rights save the state. Without a source of right
and wrong that exists outside of the human race there is no basis,
except for fickle human opinion, to say that Mother Teresa is better
than Adolf Hitler."
Another debating trick that also doesn't hold up to close inspection.
The notion of a monotheistic god -- *GOD* -- is fairly recent in human
terms. The Greeks managed to build an entire civilization that was
known for its arts, its philosophy, its advancement in all areas
(military included) using a host of household and minor deities who
were in NO way ANY kind of guide to what was right and wrong; half of
them were capricious and just plain nuts, the the other half were off
mating with human women and then writing off their kids.
Yes, in time Greece fell. But so did Rome, the spearhead
(figuratively and literally) for Christian propagation worldwide in its
early history, so I wouldn't necessarily throw *that* into the mix.
Very, very, very few people decide not to murder because God wouldn't
like it. They don't murder (assuming they choose that) because they're
afraid of being apprehended and sentenced under the laws made by humans
in order to facilitate cooperation and progress and safety. (If
anything, people have proped up the notion of god as rationale for
murder for centuries on all sides of the theological coin.)
I'm not saying that religion is per se bad, it's like any other human
artifact, including technology, it's what humans make of it. But at
the same time it's self-indulgent in the extreme for folks who believe
to write off the whole of human history and say that if it weren't for
their particular deity, we wouldn't know right from wrong, or positive
from negative, that we'd just be staggering around blindly...when the
notion of that sort of god is extremely recent in human consciousness,
and prior to then we did okay; not perfect, we had wars and bloodshed
and the like...and we still do. Most of it by believers in one thing
or another.
When was the last time you heard of an atheist car bombing an embassy
because he thought it would bring him closer to the void? When was the
last time you heard of an atheist murdering his entire family because
he *didn't* hear the voice of god talking in his head? When was the
last time you heard of an atheist declaring a crusade or a jihad or a
pogrom? (And don't even try to bring the old soviet union into this;
that was a political madness that had less to do with belief systems
and more to do with the accumulation of personal power at the expense
of EVERYthing, that wouldn't allow for ANY divergence from what they
considered the norm.)
You can write off "fickle human opinion" all you want, but from where
I sit we haven't done too badly, all things considered.
If my tone seems to imply I took some small offense...the operative
word is "small," because I'm used to this. On the one hand, I pretty
much don't have a problem with anything anybody believes so long as
nobody's hurt by it. On the other, religionists tend to mutter darkly
that if it weren't for some god-inspired notion of right and wrong, if
we don't have that, well, we're just anchorless, as prone to murder a
child as give somebody a gift. That it's all caprice.
Well, I happen to be an atheist, and I *can* tell the difference
between Mother Theresa and Hitler. And your inference that one can't
is simply wrong and condescending. As an atheist, I view every life as
*incredibly* valuable because we only get one turn around the merry go
round, and then it's over; no backsies, no second chances, no heavenly
choir to sing one into the pearly gates no matter how terrible or
abusive a life one's led as long as at the end one chooses to Believe.
Every life is rarer than the rarest diamond, and since the only future
we have is that which we make, the only signs we were here are that
which we create, life must be preserved, nourished and given the chance
to grow.
Because those Greeks -- you remember, the ones who didn't believe in
your particular god, with its rules for right and wrong -- actually had
the audacity to once define happiness. Not in terms of right and
wrong, but in even larger terms. I noted them at Macon. To wit: "The
exercise of vital powers along lines of excellence in a life affording
them scope." It's about the only creed I live by.
Not bad. Bet they could even figure out this whole Mother
Theresa/Hitler thing, too....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 12-May-96 13:58:18
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Chris Croughton (UK) <100014.3217@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
Chris Croughton (UK) <100014.3217@compuserve.com> asks:
> Joe, are there any other TV people who believe that?
Yes, there are definitely other TV folk who feel that way;
difference is, you just don't hear about them a lot.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 12-May-96 13:58:20
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Automedia, Inc. <70530.2521@compuserve.com>
Subject: B5 Act Structure
Automedia, Inc. <70530.2521@compuserve.com> asks:
> Is this something that's common in TV drama?
> Have I just not noticed it before?
> Or is this something uncommon that you've adopted?
It's actually something I had to fight for; a number of folks at
WB weren't sure about the notion of using the tag (which you refer to
as the last act) in quite the way I use it. So yeah, it's a bit off
the usual.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 12-May-96 13:58:22
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <I&E - special ship?>
{original post unavailable}
Not special per se, just to establish that they have more than
one design.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 12-May-96 19:02:05
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
{original post had no questions}
"One of the bedrock elements of science is that for a theory to be
taken seriously it must be falsifiable."
Nope. If that's what you're thinking, then I suggest you go back and
check, because that's not correct in any respect. To take the green
penguins at the north pole scenario again, I can search for 165 years,
and not find any, and you can say, "Well, I guess you just missed them,
but they're there."
It is not the purpose of scientific endeavor to *disprove* every
assertion, only to prove them.
Your statement is simply false. I'm sorry. Saying it's so doesn't
make it so. So everything that proceeds from that is equally flawed.
Any scientist or logician here will back me up on this. You may not
want to hear it, Daniel, but you're simply wrong on this.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 12-May-96 19:02:06
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Joe an atheist?
{original post unavailable}
No, I'm an atheist. I prefer to define myself.
I don't say "maybe there is, maybe there isn't." There isn't.
There is no proof to this statement.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 12-May-96 19:02:09
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Joe an atheist?
{original post unavailable}
No, see my note to the, er, feeder...not an agnostic, an
atheist.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 12-May-96 19:02:12
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com> asks:
> Since you don't believe in God what standard do you use to judge
> Mother Teresa better than Hitler if it isn't human? Without a
> viewpoint that exists outside of the human race what basis do you
> or the Greeks have for saying that one is ultimately better than
> the other that doesn't finally come back to human opinion?
Daniel, I hate to burst your balloon, but *everything* comes
down to a human standard, to human opinion. Christianity as it's
practiced today is nothing like what was originally there around 100
AD.
For a long time, the church had no problem with the concept of
slavery. Even used sections of the bible as proof that it was a proper
activity. Only later, after society began to change, did they come
around. Why? Because they reacted to changing human opinions. Once,
the proper way to deal with heretics was to burn them at the stake, or
press them with stones. That changed as society changed.
And I'm sorry, but I've *read* the bible, twice, cover to cover,
and I don't see any perfect guide or example of right and wrong there.
I see a fictional deity that is capricious, slightly insane, petty,
inconsistent, vindictive...jealous, by its own admission, a trait we
would deplore in ourselves.
The whole Adam/Eve thing was a mean-spirited setup. The tree
was the tree of knowledge, remember; the penalty was death. But
insofar as we know, nothing died in the garden, certainly no other
people had died. So to say "you shall surely die" was a meaningless
concept. They were children, they didn't know what the penalty meant.
And the kicker is...if the tree truly *were* the knowledge of good and
evil, and they didn't have that knowledge until after they ate the
fruit...then THEY DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS WRONG WHEN THEY DID IT. They'd
only know it was wrong AFTERWARD.
And for this they and their inheritors across ten thousnd
generations were sentenced to pain and death?
This is the example of transcendental rightness you would hold
before me?
Thank you, but I'll apply elsewhere.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 12-May-96 19:02:16
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Marte Brengle <76703.4242@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
{original post had no questions}
Here's a little interesting aside...I used to write for Madeline
Murry O'Hare's magazine, AMERIAN ATHEIST, back when I was in college.
I did a humor column, the occasional article, that sort of thing.
But over time, I came to the conclusion that she wasn't just
trying to push for rights for atheists, but in fact was working to
*eliminate* religion, which I had a moral and ethical problem with.
The constitution is there to allow anyone to believe, or not believe,
whatever they choose. If the day comes when certain relgions are
banned, I'll be right there on the front lines with everybody else
fighting for the restoration of those rights (though I have a quiet
suspicion that the same might not happen if the situation were
reversed). I felt that this was supremely wrong, and resigned as a
result.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 12-May-96 19:02:19
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Michael Beemer <71551.1670@compuserve.com>
Subject: JMS: Arc a Fake?
Michael Beemer <71551.1670@compuserve.com> asks:
> Why would he?
No, actually, there's a much simpler answer to the Ironheart
question than that.
If we all remember the episode, he was trying as hard as he
could to control himself, lest his abilities tear the place apart. He
was deliberately and with great pain trying NOT to use his abilities in
any way, manner, shape or form. He was also in great physical pain,
was later shot, and became transcendent...which tends to kind of
distract one....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 12-May-96 19:02:22
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Arline Williams <102551.2346@compuserve.com>
Subject: <JMS: Arc a Fake?>
{original post had no questions}
Thanks. The voice-over is something I mentioned here a few
months ago as a tool I was adding to my toolbox to use as counterpoint,
or segue, in ways I hadn't tried before. I use it again here and
there, though the key with any new tool is not to go nuts and use it
all over the place when a better one, maybe the one you already had, is
better suited to the task.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 12-May-96 19:02:25
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Scott Miller <70562.3656@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Religon on B5>
{original post had no questions}
I think the nature of the debate is using the wrong language
here; I think when people are saying I'm "open-minded" it's possible --
and I'm only suggesting this, not to put words in anybody's mouth --
that the word being searched for is actually "fair." Am I open minded
about the possibility of deities? No, in that you're correct. Am I
fair and/or open-minded in the treatment of religions on the show, in
saying that for many people, it's a good thing *for them*? I like to
think so. And that may be what's under discussion.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 12-May-96 19:02:28
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: David Cerreta <72630.3433@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<War Without End>>
David Cerreta <72630.3433@compuserve.com> asks:
> Apparently every encounter suit is not the same, neh?
> The message from Ivanova is beginning to come through
> because...of the temporal rift AND because there was no guarantee
> that the Whitestar would go 6 years into the past to save B4 from
> the Shadow attack, right? Then was the vision Sinclair had of a
> future B5 being attacked by a much stronger Shadow fleet a vision
> (again) of an alternate future, where he never became ambassador
> and remained on B5?
Thanks, and yep, you nailed the timeline just right.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 12-May-96 19:02:30
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Philip Hornsey <74053.2101@compuserve.com>
Subject: <I&E>
{original post had no questions}
"I hate you."
Why, thank you...then the episode had its desired effect....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 00:04:40
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com> asks:
> At what point does anything you said address my point that a
> standard that isn't divine must therefore be human? Otherwise what
> stops me from decreeing that I have a "right" to everything you
> own and backing up that claim with the fact that I am better
> armed than you?
"Otherwise what stops me from decreeing that I have a "right" to
everything you own and backing up that claim with the fact that I am
better armed than you? Rights must be granted by some force greater
than the individual. That leaves God or the state."
And, of course, this is exactly what happened on a regular basis
throughout human history until only the last couple of centuries.
If it was god doing this granting of rights...where was he for the
last six thousand years? Snoozing off in a corner somewhere?
No, the rights you speak of were won by humans, fighting for their
right not to be trammeled upon by greater forces, and bonding together
in common cause to make sure it doesn't happen again in this place.
While many of the "founding fathers" were believers, many others were
simply deists, or freethinkers...they didn't do what they did because
suddenly they figured god had given them the right, but because they
got pushed to the wall, and we were 3000 nautical miles away from King
George, and they in their very human way got fed up with being pushed
around and decided it was time to push back, and create a set of laws
that would prevent the tyrant from trying it again, or rising from
within.
Sorry, Daniel, we did this on our own. God's a credit jumper.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 00:04:43
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: BRIAN COONEY <100551.1656@compuserve.com>
Subject: UK Titles
BRIAN COONEY <100551.1656@compuserve.com> asks:
> After the opening, the actors names and eps title are in a
> different text any reason way?
I suspect that this is because we provide textless sections in
the beginning to foreign markets for various languages, so they set
them in a different type. I guess....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 00:04:44
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: SysOp Lee Whiteside <76711.2660@compuserve.com>
Subject: Radio & TV Museum
SysOp Lee Whiteside <76711.2660@compuserve.com> asks:
> Do they only include things that they get as part of a festival
> or something or can some producer or studio offer them some tapes
> to make available for viewing?
I hadn't even thought about that aspect...it's certainly one
that should be pursued, I agree.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 00:04:48
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Shane S. Shellenbarger <104305.3404@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Ship of Tears>
Shane S. Shellenbarger <104305.3404@compuserve.com> asks:
> While I'm sure that you never intended the comparison when you
> wrote SoT, (I'd go so far as to lay odds that you've never seen
> Captain Eo), were the parallels mentioned by anyone when the show
> was being produced?
No, it's never come up before, and I think that's WAY stretching
it. (How come everybody always spends so much time trying to find out
what a show like B5 is *like* instead of just looking at it for what it
is? "Oh, it's Cap'n Eo...oh, no, it's Lord of the Rings...Dune, Dune,
I tell you, it's Dune...no, it's this over here...no, it's Cap'n
Crunch...."
Feh.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 00:04:49
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: >>Interludes<<
{original post unavailable}
Actually, no, there are probably fewer. We have a stable of
about half a dozen directors at any given time; some move on, some
stay, it's the nature of the beast. That's about par for the course,
maybe a bit less. I know we had more on Murder, She Wrote.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 00:04:52
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Cheers for Mira
{original post unavailable}
Which is pretty much what I told you would be the case by this
point. (Nobody ever believes me...do I have an untrustworthy face? Do
I look like Robert Vesco trying to sneak back into the country
disguised as Moe Howard?)
And yes, Bruce is a hell of a lot better than some folks were
willing to give him credit for in the beginning. I think that's coming
out now as his role becomes more deep and more serious.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 00:04:55
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Elyse M. Grasso <70302.3304@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Interludes - Name>
Elyse M. Grasso <70302.3304@compuserve.com> asks:
> Are they a lot bigger now?
> How big do they grow?
No, they're about the same height consistently; it's probably an
artifact of the camera angles and lighting.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 00:04:56
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <What have you DONE???>
{original post unavailable}
If we put in warnings, the impact would be reduced.
No word yet on renewal, probably in the next couple of weeks
we'll hear something definitive.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 00:04:59
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <I&E, "wow" part II>
{original post unavailable}
"The "arc" is fully alive for you now, I think. Without these
characters living and breathing inside your mind I don't see how one
man could write as much as you have over the past two seasons. What I
*have* noticed is that all the actors now seem to be responding to the
story you're telling."
Yeah, it's kind of a funny thing...the deeper we got into the season,
as the actors saw only one name on script after script, and they began
to understand what was coming, and it's all *very* consistent...the
sense of this being a novel really came through for everyone in a very
profound way. You could really feel a change in everyone's attitude,
though it'd be hard to put into words. A sense of, "This is it, this
is the story, we're moving now, we're doing something nobody's ever
done." They know how hard it is for anyone to write this many scripts,
which is why it's never been done before, and I think they not only
respected that, but felt they had to rise to the challenge and give
just as much at that end of it. Usually you tend to hit a slump
energy-wise in your third year; not here. Everyone's just hitting all
cylinders.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 00:22:03
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com> asks:
> The closest thing to an insulting term that I have used is to
> call human opinion "fickle" but if that isn't a proper term for
> the race that produced both Mother Teresa *and* Adolph Hitler,
> George Washington *and* Bill Clinton, Babylon 5 *and* Star Trek:
> Voyager then what is?
Dan, I know you don't understand how one could take offense at
some of this, which is why I've more or less been riding closely on my
reactions. Let me try and explain:
Your statement is that without a "transcendental" outside force,
a deity, to tell us right from wrong, that we have no way of
distinguishing good from evil, Mother Theresa from Hitler. That's what
you *said*. Now, I don't buy into the deity business. Therefore, *by
your definition*, I'm one of those folks who can't distinguish a
humanitarian from a mass murderer.
The problem, Daniel, is that there's so much jingoism in this
argument that statements like the one you made are put out there almost
reflexively, without thinking.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 00:22:05
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Rebecca Eschliman <76072.2345@compuserve.com>
Subject: JMS: Arc a Fake?
Rebecca Eschliman <76072.2345@compuserve.com> asks:
> Is this difference something that will be addressed at a later
> date or a nice detail that will simply be a source of viewer
> speculation? Will her reaction to his death come into play in a
> later epidose?
The red ship was simply another variation on the standard;
nothing too major about it...and yes, when Lyta returns from her
errand, she'll definitely get into this, and there will have to be some
explanations made, though not to her....
And thanks.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 00:22:08
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: wwor channel nine nyc
(blocked) asks:
> Could you do something about it?
No, the incidents with local stations can only be affected by
local residents, I have zip control or influence over that.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 00:22:09
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: George Ryerson <70775.142@compuserve.com>
Subject: >>Interludes<<
{original post had no questions}
Actually, no, the replacement isn't Kosh, as you say, it's
another Vorlon, with a very different personality...the "we are all
Kosh" is more of a conceptual thing....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 15:34:42
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Trent K. Johnson <71020.1052@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<War Without End>>
Trent K. Johnson <71020.1052@compuserve.com> asks:
> I know you said you were going to start pulling some triggers,
> but man, are you related to "The Rifleman", or what?
Thanks. I like Zathras...he's just nuts.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 16:14:47
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Shane S. Shellenbarger <104305.3404@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
Shane S. Shellenbarger <104305.3404@compuserve.com> asks:
> Have you heard anything different?
Not only haven't I heard anything new, I hadn't even *learned*
that she was missing until about a week ago...the perils of being
buried alive in a story.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 16:14:49
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Liz P. <76370.2665@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
{original post had no questions}
Exactly. The constitution (this is from memory, so I may get a
word out of place) stipulates "Congress shall make no law respecting
the establishment of religion, or prohibit the free exercise thereof."
Which means the state should have nothing to say about it one way or
the other. It's a personal matter for each individual. It's a bit of
wisdom that goes back about 2,000 years; "Render unto Caesar that which
is Caesar's; and to god that which is god's."
That the line gets blurred sometimes is really in violation of
what the bible seemed to suggest. The pharisees were synonymous with
hypocrites, they had allied themselves with the government of the time,
and that was their downfall in the final analysis; the state invariably
corrupts religion. The overall sense was to keep away from the
government, to strive for something higher. These days a fair amount
of religion has become mass theater, much in violation of the
suggestion to "go into your closet to pray," and the suggestions that
those who made a show of their beliefs were not exactly role models.
The state should be religion-neutral, neither encouraging nor
discouraging. Sometimes this is unfair to one group or another, but
as long as it does so consistently, not favoring either side, then it's
okay. The best compromise is one in which neither side feels it's
entirely won. (Yes, some of the questions of where and when religious
artifacts can be put up stray into grey areas...but at least the
patriotism of those involved is not usually up for grabs. During one
Presidential election, then Vice-President Bush, on a campaign stop in
Chicago, was asked about his reaction to atheists, and he said, "Well,
that's certainly their choice, though I don't see how anybody could
call them patriots, since this is one nation under god." Substitute
catholics or jews or moslems or japanese or irish for atheists in that
sentence, and you'd have a firestorm that would've brought down the
whole campaign. Here nobody even seemed to notice.)
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 16:14:52
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Al Lipscomb <75204.2225@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
Al Lipscomb <75204.2225@compuserve.com> asks:
> Is any of this making any sense?
Exactly. That's a *very* good point; I'd forgotten about Romans
2:14. There are sections that imply that those who don't hear The
Gospels will be judged by their own actions and their own conscience,
which implies the presence of a conscience (as does the quote you cite)
even in the absence of a "transcendental" being, that is, knowing right
from wrong. Excellent point.
"...the largest problem we have in this country is that we have
moved from a justice system to a legal system."
Wow...I've never heard that put so simply and so succinctly.
And it's absolutely correct. Nicely done.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 16:14:56
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
{original post had no questions}
Yes, Daniel, but you keep dancing away from the fact that the
catholic church, and the Jewish religion, have also had changes and
schisms and fractures, as the result of *changes in human opinion*. If
there were an eternal truth being practiced, then it should be
unchanging. But religion is *constantly* changing because of
alterations in social mores and opinions. The role of women in the
synagogue. The changes from latin to english mass. The final decision
by the church that maybe the sun *doesn't* rotate around the earth.
The ordination of women rabbis. The dietary restrictions as set forth
in the Bible.
Heck, Daniel, the Old Testament goes on and on at great length
to explain how the laws work, that the laws are the only ways to get
over to the pleasant side of the afterlife...then suddenly in the new
testament it's all, "No, no, forget the laws, THIS is how you do it."
What, god was just kidding for the preceding couple thousand years?
Go back to the early Catholic records, read the Dead Sea
Scrolls, the early Roman records, and you'll find that the practice of
Christianity today is utterly unlike its early history. Religion
changes as the world around it changes...or it dies.
The constant, unchanging religion you cite doesn't exist in
reality. It's ALL a case of "it seems to me." Every time a new pope
comes in, you get a massive case of it.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 16:14:58
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: I. & E. Opinion
{original post unavailable}
Thanks. Yes, Delenn mentions in the tag that the Vorlons will
be sending someone to quietly replace Kosh. It's a bit darker
character.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 16:15:01
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <<Interludes...>>
{original post unavailable}
Actually, Sebastian said that bit about dying alone to both
Sheridan and Delenn. Who knows, he may have known something....
Yes, if Kosh had run, which wasn't in his character in the first
place, someone else would've paid that price.
Londo still has chances, if he doesn't blow them. You'll see a
bit more about this in the two-parter.
Yes, some Vorlons do appear to us as female versions.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 16:15:03
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Meryl Yourish <103470.2703@compuserve.com>
Subject: >>Interludes<<
Meryl Yourish <103470.2703@compuserve.com> asks:
> Joe, one question about Kosh: Since the Shadows killed him, did
> they see him in that now they know he was one of the Elder race?
> Or are they in the dark about the Vorlons?
Oh, no, the Shadows and the Vorlons know each other from way,
way back.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 16:15:05
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <<Interludes Question>>
{original post had no questions}
You're right; it was a sideways reference, without name, and I
was thinking of whether or not the character had been named since. I
missed that one.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 16:15:07
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: David Wilhelmy <73370.1751@compuserve.com>
Subject: <I&E - special ship?>
David Wilhelmy <73370.1751@compuserve.com> asks:
> Kosh's ship), are there a bunch of Vorlons in that cruiser or
> just one GREAT BIG Vorlon?
There's a bunch in the big ship.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 16:15:09
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Chad Underkoffler <102512.1310@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Rage's Thots: I&E>
Chad Underkoffler <102512.1310@compuserve.com> asks:
> "Where?"
> How do you *write* like that?!?
> Ed just exudes menace like slime, doesn't he?
> (I mean that in the best possible way.) An interesting thought:
> What are the standing Security orders re: Morden?
Yes, there is something thematically present about growing up,
and parents, and coming of age that threads through the story.
And yes, there's the deliberate irony...that just as we finally
start to really hear from Kosh...he's gone. Snatched away just as we
got close. Which would add to the feelings.
Good analysis.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 16:15:12
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: David Kuhn <73532.741@compuserve.com>
Subject: Zocalo Statement
David Kuhn <73532.741@compuserve.com> asks:
> Any comments on your earlier statement to help us feel better?
Still waiting....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 20:48:14
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: B5 and J.R.R.Tolkien?
{original post unavailable}
Odd...they reversed the Michael and the J. Weird they'd do
that.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 20:48:17
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com> asks:
> So by what authority do you say that "A" is bad and "B" is good
> and why should I respect it?
"Alright, you and I are both humans. We are in essence equal. So by
what authority do you say that "A" is bad and "B" is good and why
should I respect it?"
You respect if if there are more people than you are who believe A is
bad and B is good, and they pass a bunch of laws requiring your
adherence to this.
Furthermore...
You, as a christian, say A is bad, B is good, suggesting the
transcendental guidance of your particular deity or prophet.
A moslem says B is good, and A is bad, based on the transcendental
guidance of HIS particular deity or prophet.
So how is this resolved?
See, this is one of the problems people bring to the table on this
argument; they argue that truth always comes from transcendental
god...omitting that they mean THEIR PARTICULAR god, that this alone is
real truth...and the other guys are just misled. "Ours is BETTER. Our
god can beat up their god."
It's like those who want creationism taught in schools...oddly, when
they bring this up, it's always the christian version of this...you
don't tend to hear much about the one where Earth is carried on the
back of a giant turtle....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 20:48:20
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Cheers for Mira
{original post unavailable}
Tell your husband that the Flying Tigers actually have given
their permission for us to use their logos and artwork; Sheridan's
helmet has a Flying Tigers logo.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 20:58:53
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <Ship of Tears-Bester>
{original post had no questions}
Not everything in life has a clue in front of it....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 20:58:55
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com>
Subject: >>Interludes<<
Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com> asks:
> If you were still the producer what are the chances that the last
> episode of the series would have been about Jessica's friends
> using Jessica's investigative techniques to solve Jessica's
> murder?
The odds of that story are about zip. One doesn't do such
things to Jessica Fletcher.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 20:58:56
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: >>Interludes<<
{original post unavailable}
No, the shadows and vorlons are definitely not the same race.
And thanks.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 20:58:57
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <<Whither Lyta?>>
(blocked) asks:
> Now that Kosh is dead (still hard to accept), what happens to
> Lyta Alexander? She was Kosh's special attache, wasn't she?
> Or is she working with ALL of the Vorlon?
She'll now have to work with the incoming replacement Vorlon,
who might be just a bit miffed....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 20:59:01
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Doolitle's Raid
(blocked) asks:
> Anyway, was this Vorlon attack synonomous to Jimmy Doolittle's
> raid on Tokyo in the early days of WWII? WHat exactly has Sheridan
> learned as of now? Will Kosh's replacement become his mentor now?
> a Vorlette?
Sheridan has almost certainly not learned all he needed to know.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 20:59:04
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Timothy C Schell <71174.2414@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<I&E Sublime>>
Timothy C Schell <71174.2414@compuserve.com> asks:
> How was this fight different than the one we didn't see in "Signs
> and Portents"? Were there more Shadows this time or are they
> getting stronger? If Kosh did take out some Shadows, will more be
> sent to Morden as replacements? Did Kosh project to Delenn, G'Kar,
> or anyone else besides Sheridan during the fight? Did Garibaldi
> ever get a chance to speak with Kosh about the Talia/Abbut data
> crystal as hinted at in "Divided Loyalties"? Besides being
> extremely old, was Kosh an average Vorlon or particularly special
> in terms of strength, skill, or status?
To your questions:
1. Kosh died fighting, I guess, and I'm also guessing that he took
some Shadows with him. How was this fight different than the one we
didn't see in "Signs and Portents"? Were there more Shadows this time
or are they getting stronger?
They were not initially prepared to kill him. That was a territorial
or jurisdictional squabble. This was retribution.
2. If Kosh did take out some Shadows, will more be sent to Morden as
replacements?
He didn't. Hurt 'em good, but didn't take them out.
3. Did Kosh project to Delenn, G'Kar, or anyone else besides Sheridan
during the fight?
No.
4. Did Garibaldi ever get a chance to speak with Kosh about the
Talia/Abbut data crystal as hinted at in "Divided Loyalties"?
Yes.
5. Besides being extremely old, was Kosh an average Vorlon or
particularly special in terms of strength, skill, or status? No other
ambassador on the station has demonstrated the clout back home to
sortie an entire fleet at a moments notice. Delenn and Londo have only
called on forces from a particular faction in their polities.
He was certainly well regarded...one of the older of the vorlons.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 13-May-96 23:47:35
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: B5 and J.R.R.Tolkien?
{original post unavailable}
"The best place to find out more about Joe is from the Lurker's Guide
(http:/www.hyperion.com/lurk/lurkers.html)."
Yeah...I suppose...well, that or America's Most Wanted....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 14-May-96 13:39:20
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Dimitri M LaBarge <71501.3353@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
Dimitri M LaBarge <71501.3353@compuserve.com> asks:
> Who was right, what was the proper interpretation of this church?
> Yet, aren't Pelagius' ideas of an human-powered Christianity
> equally as valid as the self-hating Augustinian conception?
Good points. (And of course, there's Martin Luther and his
fistful of theses nailed to a door....)
jms
------------------------------
Date: 14-May-96 13:39:21
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <I&E Opinion>
{original post unavailable}
At this point, yes, since Ardwight tends to understand Vorlon.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 14-May-96 13:39:22
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <Ship of Tears>
{original post unavailable}
Yeah, and after a while I stopped doing that, because a number
of folks couldn't distinguish between nodding to something that went
before as an act of tribute or respect, and *doing* that story. So I
pointedly don't do that anymore.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 14-May-96 13:39:24
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Automedia, Inc. <70530.2521@compuserve.com>
Subject: WwE1 & Zathras
Automedia, Inc. <70530.2521@compuserve.com> asks:
> After just watching WwE1, I have to ask: Will we ever learn
> exactly who/what/when Zathras' people are?
Eventually, though that answer isn't terribly important.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 14-May-96 13:39:27
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com>
Subject: <IaE Thought>
John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com> asks:
> The only question I have about this is will we, the audience, be
> able to tell that there is a different Vorlon on the station,
> other than through the personality of said character?
You'll know the difference. Believe me.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 14-May-96 13:39:29
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Your impression
{original post unavailable}
I thought Marcon was quite enjoyable. The organizers were
quite pleasant, and the folks who showed up were nothing short of
terrific. I think I can speak for Richard and Pat as well, and say
that we all had a great time.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 14-May-96 13:39:31
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Scott Miller <70562.3656@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<I&E Sublime>>
Scott Miller <70562.3656@compuserve.com> asks:
> Kosh may even have been the one the Shadows' asked, "What do you
> want?" Care to comment?
No, not really, but you're in intertesting territory.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 14-May-96 13:39:33
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Stephen M. Demarest <70674.1405@compuserve.com>
Subject: <MFE Question>
Stephen M. Demarest <70674.1405@compuserve.com> asks:
> Was Santiago president 8 years ago?
> If so, was he (or his govt) working with the Shadows?
No, Santiago wasn't involved with the shadows; certain elements
within his government, however, *were*. Which was one reason why they
needed to get him out of the way.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 14-May-96 22:32:39
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Scott Miller <70562.3656@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Minbari souls?>
Scott Miller <70562.3656@compuserve.com> asks:
> Am I in the ballpark?
You could be in the ballpark...question is, which ballpark?
Anything clearer than that will have to wait another week.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 14-May-96 23:13:07
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
{original post had no questions}
"Generally whichever side has the most people left alive at the end of
the war gets to decide."
Exactly.
So much for eternal verities and transcendental truth.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 14-May-96 23:13:08
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
{original post had no questions}
"The reason for the multiplication of Old Testament laws was because
when Moses brought down the first ten the people promised to obey them
to God's satisfaction. This proved that they had missed the point,
which was that God's law is impossible for man to keep to God's
standards because his standard is perfection and we are imperfect."
So in other words, this was sort of god's version of "pull my
finger...."
jms
------------------------------
Date: 14-May-96 23:13:11
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
{original post had no questions}
Right.
And that's why they were so sad, you see....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 14-May-96 23:13:13
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Jon A. Bell <74124.276@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
Jon A. Bell <74124.276@compuserve.com> asks:
> Is it just me, or is there something wrong with this picture?
> (Then again, I live in San Francisco, and becoming an Ordained
> Minister of Anything in California is probably just a matter of
> filling out a form and paying $20 to someone.) The Church of
> Silly Walks, anyone?
"My stepfather, a tax accountant, informed me that the pay of ordained
ministers does not have Social Security taxes taken out of it, on the
grounds that in their dotage, their flock will take care of them. Is it
just me, or is there something wrong with this picture?"
Yes, it proves that the social security system is completely flocked.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 14-May-96 23:13:15
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Prophetic dream
{original post unavailable}
The origin of that image will be discussed later this season.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 14-May-96 23:13:17
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <Thoughts from Germany>
{original post unavailable}
Great that the CD got there...and no, Ivanova isn't a strong
enough teep for the incoming shadow vessel to really even notice.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 14-May-96 23:13:21
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Gail Marsella <71551.3200@compuserve.com>
Subject: The Creative Process
Gail Marsella <71551.3200@compuserve.com> asks:
> Here's a different kind of question for you: When you sit down to
> work, I know you're not entirely in charge - the characters are -
> but how do you participate? Did you *develop* a sustainable
> creative process, or were you just always this way? In short, can
> you train - or at least successfully invite - the Muse, and how
> do you do it?
"Here's a different kind of question for you: When you sit down to
work, I know you're not entirely in charge - the characters are - but
how do you participate? When I write fiction (admittedly not often), it
either flows out onto the page as though someone else were using my
hands on the keyboard, or nothing happens at all, no matter how long I
sit there. You don't seem to have any "nothing" time. Did you *develop*
a sustainable creative process, or were you just always this way? In
short, can you train - or at least successfully invite - the Muse, and
how do you do it?"
Hard to say...it's like any muscle, the more you use it, the easier it
gets to use. I think a part of it stems from the fact that I have very
little in the way of barriers between me and the writing. Too many
people who want to be writers feel that when they sit behind the
keyboard, they have to do something different or other...that somehow
WRITING has an overlay of some sort, that it's different than talking.
But in many ways, it ain't any different.
The best writing (IMO) is natural writing, where the words on the page
flow very naturally, very smoothly. Every once in a while, you pull
out all the stylistic tricks, you thunder and lightning all over the
page, when needed for effect...but it's the writing free of artifice
that seems, for me, to work well. If you hang out with writers long
enough, the really *good* ones, you learn soon enough that most of them
talk exactly the way they write.
Lemme give you a forinstance...when Asimov was first struggling as a
writer, he had lunch with his agent one day. He was having a hard time
describing things, using language to paint pictures. The agent said,
"You know how Hemingway would describe the sun rising in the morning?"
No, Asimov said, leaning in...how? "The sun rose in the morning."
There's virtually nothing between my brain and the keyboard; I'm
hardwired that way, which is why I can't dictate scripts...I write
through my fingers. I write pretty much the way I talk. A lot of folks
hereabouts have seen me at conventions, and they've noted that the me
you see here is pretty much the me they see there, and the me that's
just *there* all the time.
If you stop thinking about *trying to write*, and just write...the way
you have to stop thinking about the next step you make, and just
*dance*...the way you have to forget about technique and just make
love...it all comes together. You don't Try To Write. You just write.
As for story ideas...it's just nothing I've ever had a problem with.
As long as your characters are all distinct personalities, the stories
you write will be as distinct and different as they are. Find out who
the character is, what he wants, how far he'll go to achieve it, and
how far somebody else will go to stop him...and the rest takes care of
itself.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 14-May-96 23:13:24
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Dana Wright <72627.531@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Interludes>
{original post had no questions}
That's a question that I think I could try and answer here for
the next seven hours, and not quite get out the way I want to...it's
one of those things you just sorta understand and do intuitively, and
leave for the critics later to dissect.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 14-May-96 23:13:27
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <<War Without End>>
(blocked) asks:
> Will we see Kosh in th epast?
> And will we see Valerian?
Not exactly, not as you might think, but in a sense....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 14-May-96 23:13:30
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <Vacant encounter suit?>
{original post unavailable}
Someone find me a very large stick....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 15-May-96 00:59:40
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Vicki Mitchell <76234.1317@compuserve.com>
Subject: Cheers for Mira
{original post had no questions}
Couldn't agree with you more.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 15-May-96 01:18:59
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Richard M. Perry <76461.2737@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
Richard M. Perry <76461.2737@compuserve.com> asks:
> FWIW, every time I show that post to anyone who hasn't seen the
> show, I get the response, "What show is this? When is it on?
Thanks. I will confess I go back and forth about getting into
this kind of conversation on the nets; either way, it will have an
effect on how people perceive the show. And, basically, I'm here to
talk about the show, and be responsive to questions, not necessarily to
put my beliefs, attitudes or prejudices out there in other people's
faces. I'm not what matters here, I'm not terribly interesting...it's
the show, and those two can't ever be allowed to get confused. I was
kicking myself for days for allowing myself to get dragged into this
(and it's nobody's fault but my own that it happened). It's not really
my place to go around lecturing anyone or spouting off to anyone about
what they believe, and a few times, when the debate got really warmed
up, I did that.
What I do or don't believe is fundamentally irrelevant to the
discussion, as long as I can keep it out of the show. (The one area
where it does get through that you note -- the importance of life and
the right to choose one's own road through that -- is there, granted,
but there aren't a whole lot of reasonable counter-arguments to that
one.)
Because I make this show, I have -- for lack of a better phrase
-- a platform from which to spout off. People tend to at least note
what I say, even though most of it is rather silly, though I don't for
a second buy into the notion that people are overmuch influenced by
anything I say here. Particularly those on-line, who tend to be a
fairly hardy bunch, intellectually speaking. But there's still an
obligation not to misuse or abuse that platform, or take advantage of
it to spout notions that don't really touch the show per se at any two
contiguous points.
In short...sometimes I say more than I should, and should learn
to just Shut Up once in a while. If this time out the discussion has
done some good, then that's great. But I still think some days I
shouldn't have allowed it to happen. If somebody wants to take a pot
shot at my beliefs, let 'em. It's only pixels.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 15-May-96 01:19:00
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Richard M. Perry <76461.2737@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Interludes>
Richard M. Perry <76461.2737@compuserve.com> asks:
> Is there a parallel (intended or not) in the "effects" of Kosh's
> death and his calling John, son; and the winged legend known as a
> Phoenix? If so, will Kosh be re-born in one form or another?
> Or has he already?
> Also, what was different about Kosh's confrontation with Morden's
> associates this time as opposed to the one in "Signs and
> Portents"? Was it just that there were more of them this time, or
> was there some kind of agreement reached in the earlier one?
The earlier confrontation was a jurisdictional one; this one was
about retribution.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 15-May-96 12:56:10
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <War Without End, Pt 1>
(blocked) asks:
> - Isn't Delenn's sleeve different from the one shown in "Babylon
> Squared"?
> - Why wasn't B5 destroyed?
> Is it because the shadows knew they failed with B4 and so there
> was no use in destroying B5?
> - Did the first three stations look similar to B4?
> - Why didn't Sinclair want Garibaldi along for the ride?
> - Is *Sheridan* The One?
B5 wasn't destroyed because it wasn't the one that would be
taken back. Yes, the prior stations would've looked more like B4 but
they were sabotaged *very* early in the construction process. You'll
learn why he didn't want Garibaldi along next ep.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 15-May-96 12:56:11
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Shadows entry to B5
{original post unavailable}
They physically come aboard. There's no beaming-in tech in the
B5 universe.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 15-May-96 12:56:12
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Brian A. Thomas <75231.1122@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<Interludes & Exam>>
Brian A. Thomas <75231.1122@compuserve.com> asks:
> Congrtulations on creating the single greatest hour in television
> history, and it's supposed to get better?! Will that be explained
> soon? 2) The fact that the Vorlons tiped their hat, and made it
> known that they were involved with the Shadow war, seems to bid
> ill, as in a previouse ep I seem to recall Delenn or Kosh
> remarking how they don't have enouph forces gatherd...or am I
> remembering wrong?
Actually, no, I never said that we'd show a vorlon as a vorlon
this season; in time, yes, but not this season.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 15-May-96 12:56:13
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Trent K. Johnson <71020.1052@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<Spitfires>>
Trent K. Johnson <71020.1052@compuserve.com> asks:
> Is that the "pilot", or am I (as my friends maintain)
> hallucinating again?
It's hallucinations.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 15-May-96 12:56:15
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Bernard F. Dowdy, J <76550.347@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Bester's Appearance>
Bernard F. Dowdy, J <76550.347@compuserve.com> asks:
> In "Ship of Tears" how did Bester's fighter get into B5 space?
> And if he hitched a ride on a larger vessel with jump drive, why
> didn't B5 detect the jump point? Is their early warning system
> damaged or deficient in some way perhaps?
It hitched a ride; and it's far enough outside B5...about an
hour or so in normal space...that they wouldn't have picked it up.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 15-May-96 14:49:51
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com>
Subject: <IaE Thought>
John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com> asks:
> I assume that might be "Walkabout"?
Yes, the new Vorlon arrives in Walkabout.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 15-May-96 14:49:52
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Vorlon Thought, WWE,I>
John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com> asks:
> On that subject, did Ardwight do the voice for the Vorlon that we
> saw in "War Without End, Part One"?
Yes, that was Ardwight again.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 15-May-96 14:49:54
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <<Whither Lyta?>>
{original post unavailable}
I think a yes covers all or most of your questions.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 15-May-96 14:49:57
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: William H. DiPaola <76521.1751@compuserve.com>
Subject: The Creative Process
William H. DiPaola <76521.1751@compuserve.com> asks:
> Can you at all identify as a writer with what I'm relating to you
> here? I'm also hard on myself where my writing is concerned
> because I constantly find myself in the spot of saying, "Why is
> it that I can't do more than I do?!" Any suggestions?
That's the hard part, the doing. Lots of folks have ideas, but
they flit, or they don't have the discipline to sit down behind a
keyboard and just *do it* for the requisite number of hours per day.
And that's the one thing neither I nor anyone else can help or advise
with. It's what Marcus said: patience, determination, direction and
strength.
And to quote somebody else, sometimes some people mistake a
passion for reading for a desire to write. They're wholly different
impulses.
Writers write. It's what they do. If you're struggling to do
it, maybe it's part of your brain throwing roadblocks in front of you
to try and tell you something. Maybe it's a lack of discipline, or
attention span, or something deeper, a concern about finishing, or some
other area.
I dunno...this is one area where I can't advise worth a damn,
because I've never had this problem. It's Heinlein's (and Ellison's)
rules of writing: you must write, you must finish what you write, you
must put it on the marketplace, and you must keep it on the marketplace
until sold. Sometimes we get caught by the *idea* of a story, but to
actually finish writing it, the *execution* of that idea, takes a great
deal of work, and if the basic idea is already down there, the impetus
to write it, the steam feeding the machine, evaporates quickly. Only a
conscious decision to finish the damned thing can carry you the rest of
the way, a commitment to follow through on the craft of the
STORYTELLING.
It's the difference between two kinds of people who talk about
how they met their respective spouses. One says "at a party," the
other says, "at Bob's part in Toluca Lake, and she was wearing a red
dress, and I couldn't take my eyes off her until I got her alone for a
minute." Idea vs. execution, telling the idea vs. telling the *story*.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 15-May-96 14:54:45
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Joe an atheist?
{original post unavailable}
Nah, it really isn't understatement...people who spend a day in
my company invariably come away with the suspcion that there's
considerably less there than meets the eye.
The invitation is, however, much appreciated.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 15-May-96 14:54:47
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Meryl Yourish <103470.2703@compuserve.com>
Subject: JMS: Arc a Fake?
{original post had no questions}
Oddly enough...I think there's room for arc series elsewhere.
What I think is killing Murder One is that we just lived *through* this
with the OJ Simpson trial, and everybody kind of got uniformly fed up
with it, and so just don't have it in them to go through it again in a
fictional environment.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 15-May-96 19:28:39
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Tom Knudsen <72347.1626@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
Tom Knudsen <72347.1626@compuserve.com> asks:
> Do you actually find this when you spend time with the folks that
> know you online??
No, it's not that...but in person, I generally tend to be fairly
quiet and reserved, almost verging on shy. In groups I tend to vanish
into the wallpaper. You'll usually find me at the back of the room,
observing. I'm not terribly extraordinary looking, rather average
really, in contrast with what some perceive of me online, as evidenced
by an email note I got just today where someone fancied me a mix of Sam
Kinneson and Sean Connery, based on the messages here and elsewhere.
I can gear it up when I have to go to a convention and perform,
but the rest of the time...I'm nearly invisible. And I mean
*invisible*. As some small proof of this, when I went to my 20th high
school reunion, I knew every face and every name I saw. Out of the
hundreds of people who showed up, two
-- TWO -- vaguely sorta kind remembered me, but that's about it. I
passed through their ranks without leaving even a footprint. This is
the norm, not the exception. Online, I can be Cary Grant...but
offline, closer to Don Knotts.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 15-May-96 19:28:40
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Bernard F. Dowdy, J <76550.347@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Bester's Appearance>
Bernard F. Dowdy, J <76550.347@compuserve.com> asks:
> Could you suggest some of his other works?
> Did he write any novels?
I'd highly recommend The Stars My Destination.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 15-May-96 22:52:13
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: The Creative Process
{original post unavailable}
Thanks....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 15-May-96 23:09:46
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Joe an atheist?
{original post unavailable}
It's okay, kiddo...I'm used to it.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 15-May-96 23:09:47
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: The Creative Process
{original post had no questions}
Yes, I think I've seen stories about that on the news...fun
stuff.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 15-May-96 23:09:48
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Philip Hornsey <74053.2101@compuserve.com>
Subject: Cheers for Mira
{original post had no questions}
Exactly. A Heinlein hero isn't a bad description.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 15-May-96 23:09:50
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Matthew D. Woudstra <71073.540@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<War Without End>>
Matthew D. Woudstra <71073.540@compuserve.com> asks:
> is Sinclair Valen?
> Am I even close?
Best to watch and find out....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 15-May-96 23:09:53
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Matthew D. Woudstra <71073.540@compuserve.com>
Subject: <War Without End, Pt 1>
{original post had no questions}
No, B4 survived the prior shadow war, but in very bad shape;
didn't last much longer after that.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 15-May-96 23:09:55
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Philip Hornsey <74053.2101@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<Spitfires>>
Philip Hornsey <74053.2101@compuserve.com> asks:
> Have the Spitfires changed shape a little?
Not that I know of.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 15-May-96 23:09:57
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Toni Muller <75223.1575@compuserve.com>
Subject: >>War Without End: 1<<
Toni Muller <75223.1575@compuserve.com> asks:
> Me: Wanna watch Babylon 5?
> Him: (Sound of extreme disappointment and look of consternation)
> Why do they do that?
Inch by inch, we're taking over the world....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 15-May-96 23:09:58
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Toni Muller <75223.1575@compuserve.com>
Subject: >>War Without End: 1<<
{original post had no questions}
Exactly. The quote Delenn recited in "Parliament" was the quote
from Valen when he formed the first Grey Council.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 15-May-96 23:10:01
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Meryl Yourish <103470.2703@compuserve.com>
Subject: B5 Story Arc
Meryl Yourish <103470.2703@compuserve.com> asks:
> In "Infection," I was thinking, "Gee, what's this got to do with
> anything?" 1) Will we see Ironheart again?
> 2) Are Sinclair and Delenn married?
> 3) Will we see the ship or beings that Catherine saw on Sigma 957
> again? 4) Whatever happened to the insect-like being from Down
> Below?
Thanks. I've actually heard similar from others who've gone
back and done the same thing...including some who, as you did, were
kinda "Oh, yeah?" for the first part. But as long as someone's willing
to go back and look at what's there with an open mind, I don't have any
complaints, and no apologies are ever required.
SF fans have so often been disappointed by shows that it's
natural after a while to have "a chip on one's shoulder," as you
say...I think it's based on a desire to defend oneself, to not get
sucked in One More Time. It's understandable.
To your questions: no plans for Ironheart at this time,
omnipotent beings running around my universe make me nervous...Sinclair
and Delenn aren't married, it was stated as a *rebirth ceremony* which
CAN sometimes double as a marriage ceremony, the rebirth being Delenn's
upcoming change... she became more "passive," more insecure, after her
change; that began to turn around after her encounter with Mr.
Sebastian...and we saw the Sigma 957 ship again in "Voices of
Authority."
Beyond that...thanks for the great words. They help. Pulling
this show off is a tough job, harder than I think anyone knows, or ever
will know, or ever *should* know, since that's irrelevant to what's on
the screen.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 16-May-96 02:31:40
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Dimitri M LaBarge <71501.3353@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
Dimitri M LaBarge <71501.3353@compuserve.com> asks:
> Is one set more valid just because it's got "production values"
> and a storyline?
Hrmmm...I dunno...maybe. I'll have to think about it. I guess
it's this particular topic, more than anything else, that has the
potential to polarize people the most, and B5 tends to be about
bringing folks together, not splitting them apart into camps. We'll
see....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 16-May-96 16:37:35
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Joe an atheist?
(blocked) asks:
> Surely, someone who does not question themselves, their beliefs
> and their opinions cannot grow?
Lengthy, perhaps; confused post, no. Thanks.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 16-May-96 16:37:36
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: ATTN JMS: How old is...
{original post unavailable}
I'll put it to you this way...Kosh was old enough to have had a
first hand familiarity with Valen. Vorlons live a REAL long time.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 16-May-96 16:37:37
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Simon Grierson <100407.2075@compuserve.com>
Subject: JMS /Dr Who?
{original post had no questions}
I don't consider them a "rival," there's room enough for
everybody. The more the merrier. We're glad to have them on. As for
my personal view, I rather like the new Doctor. He's probably the best
they've had since Tom Baker, who for me has always been the
quintessential Doctor. There were some story lapses, and the female
doctor is a good performer but needs to be written less
annoyingly...but all the ingredients are there. I hope they get
approved to series; I'll be watching.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 16-May-96 16:37:39
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Bernard F. Dowdy, J <76550.347@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE1: Familiar Shuttle>
Bernard F. Dowdy, J <76550.347@compuserve.com> asks:
> .did you ever get any stick time in that part of the Wing
> Commander universe?
No, actually, I've never gotten into the Privateer stuff...I
have the new Wing Commander, but my joystick is screwed up (others have
made that observation before), so it's waiting until I can yank the
computer out of its niche and install the Fancy New Joystick I bought
that has fifteen thousand different plug-in points.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 16-May-96 16:37:42
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Terry Cotant [RSS] <70313.1103@compuserve.com>
Subject: >>War Without End: 1<<
Terry Cotant [RSS] <70313.1103@compuserve.com> asks:
> If what happened to Shariden was a "time" thing, how did get get
> moved all the way from sector 14 to Centauri Prime? Must be
> "time/space", not just "time", right?
The time-flash (which in Sheridan's case is much more
pronounced than what we've seen before) slides you forward or backward
in time to where you are at that moment. At that moment, 18 years from
now (in the story), Sheridan was/will be on Centauri Prime. So when he
slid along the time line, that's where he ended up. Just as in Babylon
Squared, when Garibaldi had a timeflash back to his time on Mars. It
blips your perception to another point in your life, wherever you
happen to be.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 16-May-96 22:33:35
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com> asks:
> You want to censor the internet, or ban guns?
Daniel, you Keep Missing the Point.
If "free speech (and) the right to keep and bear arms are God
given rights," then why didn't God give them? Why did it take a number
of humans to *decide* that it was time to strive for something better?
The rights you speak of were never given by god, they were given by
those who spent their life's blood in an effort to create something
better for their inheritors. If god had anything to say on this issue,
he should've said it in the 6,000 years preceding, and *done* something
about it. He didn't. We did.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 16-May-96 22:33:37
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: JMS: Arc a Fake?
{original post unavailable}
Thanks, if you were able to suss anything out of those
ramblings, then it's a Good Thing...and sorry about the delay.
Sometimes answers to old questions come when you least expect them.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 16-May-96 22:33:40
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Simon Grierson <100407.2075@compuserve.com>
Subject: JMS /Dr Who?
Simon Grierson <100407.2075@compuserve.com> asks:
> Say, would you mind if I reposted your message into the Doctor
> Who section on SF Media 2?
Sure, anything I write can be crossposted.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 16-May-96 22:33:41
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Al Lipscomb <75204.2225@compuserve.com>
Subject: Spoilers
Al Lipscomb <75204.2225@compuserve.com> asks:
> Any info on that project (I think you said 'GrimJack', I don't
> get out much :) who is the author and when do you think it will
> be out?
I'm futzing around with several projects whilst awaiting word on
B5; nothing concrete I want to talk about just yet. And I've grown a
beard since the photos you saw.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 16-May-96 22:33:44
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com>
Subject: <I&E> Moved
John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com> asks:
> Any reasons why you didn't do the scene that way (or was this a
> budgetary constraint?) ?
I thought about that long and hard when writing the script, and
I finally came to the conclusion that there was literally *nothing* we
could show that wouldn't be disappointing...it's a conflict on another
whole plane, and should have an almost cosmic or ethereal feel to it.
If we showed Kosh shooting a defensive field, or a shadow opening his
suit with a can opener, or anything else obvious and physical, it
would've diminished the scene. The vorlons are mythic, indirect, you
see them out of the corner of your eye, so it fit that the proper
metaphor would be to handle the battle that way.
Even if we'd had ten million bucks to do that sequence...I
would've made the same choice.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 16-May-96 22:33:49
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com>
Subject: <War Without End, Pt 1>
Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com> asks:
> Did the Minbari agree to help fund B5 after getting a look at the
> nearly finished B4 and realizing what it was?
No, because if you remember, even Delenn didn't know where B4
came from until she came to B5, well after completion.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 16-May-96 22:33:52
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Vorlon Thought, WWE,I>
{original post had no questions}
There probably wasn't a credit there because it was an
incidental voice rather than a recurring voice.
The other Vorlon also sounded different because I directed
Ardwight in different inflections...literally stood there outside the
booth using my hand like a baton to indicate the rising and falling
inflections as he spoke, to give it a wave kind of sound.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 16-May-96 22:33:53
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: >>War Without End: 1<<
{original post unavailable}
With this show, it's never safe to assume *anything*.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 16-May-96 22:33:55
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Chad Underkoffler <102512.1310@compuserve.com>
Subject: >>War Without End: 1<<
Chad Underkoffler <102512.1310@compuserve.com> asks:
> You can't become unstuck in time and slide past your own
> lifetime, can you? Or is there a difference in Sheridan's
> "unstickiness"? Garibaldi & Sinclair get the "perceptual trip" but
> Johnny gets the Real Thing (tm)? Help?
Well, who can say at this point *what* happens on Z'ha'dum...?
jms
------------------------------
Date: 16-May-96 22:33:58
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Arline Williams <102551.2346@compuserve.com>
Subject: B5 Story Arc
Arline Williams <102551.2346@compuserve.com> asks:
> How do you do it?
Actually, the scary thing is...I wrote 12 the first year, 15 the
second, and 22 the third, so that's 49 out of 66 altogether. That's
about 2,400 pages in 3 years, equal to 5 full-length novels.
Suddenly I have the overwhelming urge to take a nap....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 16-May-96 22:34:00
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Michael Beemer <71551.1670@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE - timeline ?>
Michael Beemer <71551.1670@compuserve.com> asks:
> Did you work out in your head the sequence of events that created
> the circular timeline, or did you just throw up your hands and
> say, "Who cares about explaining it?
No, it all has to hang together, or it's kinda useless. It just
required working out the details of what was, is, and will be. Then I
walked on water....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 16-May-96 22:34:03
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Bernard F. Dowdy, J <76550.347@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE1: Familiar Shuttle>
Bernard F. Dowdy, J <76550.347@compuserve.com> asks:
> What brand of stick did you buy?
> Did you go with an optical design?
Optical design? Whuzzat?
I don't recall the make, but it plugs in at the game card, the
mouse port, AND the keyboard port. Frankly, it scares the hell out of
me.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 16-May-96 22:41:56
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Meryl Yourish <103470.2703@compuserve.com>
Subject: JMS: Arc a Fake?
{original post had no questions}
The real drag about Twin Peaks is that, apparently, as told to
me by some of the writers who worked on the show, they really had NO
idea where they were going. They just kept throwing stuff out there.
I was vastly disappointed.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 16-May-96 22:41:57
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: B5 Screen Saver sound
{original post unavailable}
There's not a fix; that's the Identicard Scanner sound, which
you hear on the show from time to time.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 16-May-96 22:41:58
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <War Without End, Pt 1>
{original post unavailable}
No, the B1-B3 sabotages had nothing at all to do with the B4
situation; it was just done by forces opposed to the very notion of the
Babylon Project.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 16-May-96 22:41:59
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com>
Subject: <War Without End pt1>
{original post had no questions}
Careful...we're straying into story ideas here....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 17-May-96 01:08:57
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Mark D. Smith <70254.107@compuserve.com>
Subject: ATTN JMS: How old is...
Mark D. Smith <70254.107@compuserve.com> asks:
> OK, question though, how long ago (now being 2260 on B5) did
> Valen live and come up with his ideas?
Valen led the prior shadow war and formed the grey council
roughly 1000 years before B5's current time.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 17-May-96 01:08:58
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <WWE - timeline ?>
{original post unavailable}
That would certainly get in the way, yes.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 17-May-96 01:09:00
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <WWE1 Ships>
{original post unavailable}
We've shown the saucer-shaped ship before; it's a Vree ship,
first seen in Deathwalker.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 17-May-96 01:09:00
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: War I
{original post unavailable}
Thanks. Yeah, next week's a corker.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 17-May-96 19:10:09
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Penny J. Legner <103643.763@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
Penny J. Legner <103643.763@compuserve.com> asks:
> Isn't that what we're doing here?
Yes, that's the dream...of course, there are many days when
netspeak and the dream are far, far removed from one another.....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 17-May-96 19:10:10
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: ATTN JMS: How old is...
{original post unavailable}
All I'll say is that I have nothing to do with the previews, and
I never see them or know what's in them until the broadcast. I see 'em
when you do.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 17-May-96 19:10:12
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Shane S. Shellenbarger <104305.3404@compuserve.com>
Subject: B5 Screen Saver sound
Shane S. Shellenbarger <104305.3404@compuserve.com> asks:
> Joe, Has the B5 Screen Saver been released in a Mac version yet?
I've been told that the early decision to do a Mac version
wasn't actually a decision, but a thought experiment, and for now
they're staying with a PC version.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 17-May-96 19:10:15
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Robin L. Small <76640.2012@compuserve.com>
Subject: Hole in Sinclair's Mind
Robin L. Small <76640.2012@compuserve.com> asks:
> was that a sort of "bleed-through" when he was recalling what
> happened? or did that happen the first time, when he was being
> interrogated at the battle of the line? If it's the latter, has
> 'Sinclair knowing who delenn was before he ever met her' been
> addressed yet??
Yes, it was bleed-through.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 17-May-96 19:10:16
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <Interludes questions>
(blocked) asks:
> Was John thinking about his role in the destruction of the Black
> Star, or the fact that he is now leading every race he can
> influence into (possibly suicidal) battle with the Shadows?
In a way, each subsequent season tends to become stronger
because now you know who these people are. If you come to care about
them, then the events that affect them have more power. I've heard
from folks who've watched the first season or two over again, and now
that they know who these people are, found them much stronger than the
first time through. It's the nature of the beast.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 17-May-96 19:10:19
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Philip Hornsey <74053.2101@compuserve.com>
Subject: Cheers for Mira
Philip Hornsey <74053.2101@compuserve.com> asks:
> Any suggestions?
A toast for a wedding, eh? I'm not usually asked to do this
sort of thing -- I generally avoid those morbid parentheticals of the
human soul, weddings and funerals -- but off the top of my head....
The heart is an inland sea, surrounded on either side by
infinities of time. On one side, the unsteady molecule, shaken by
storm and the unlikely perambulations of amino acids, paraded across
the centuries until their name was man, and woman, until they created
poetries and cities and walked across the Sea of Tranquility. On the
other side, an uncertain future, waiting to be shaped by hands clasped
across that ocean of possibilities. Looked at from here, in the
starlight of sanctified vows, that horizon can be daunting, even
frightening. But there is nothing so dark or so profound that it can
outwit the infinity that is behind you, or undo all that went into
creating you. Any problems before you are temporary; but the inland
sea of the heart is eternal. May your journey be filled with calm seas
and clear skies, guided by the compass of your entwined souls.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 17-May-96 19:10:23
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Meryl Yourish <103470.2703@compuserve.com>
Subject: B5 Story Arc
{original post had no questions}
Thanks; foreshadowing is tough, because it implies the audience
is going to BE there x-years down the road to Get It, and you have to
risk the audience going "huh?" one time too many and wandering
away...but nothing good comes without risk.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 17-May-96 19:10:24
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Bruce "Firestorm" S. <72571.1722@compuserve.com>
Subject: <War Without End pt1>
{original post had no questions}
Not a problem.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 17-May-96 19:10:27
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <WWE - timeline ?>
{original post had no questions}
I try....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 17-May-96 19:10:29
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Watching the Shadows.
{original post unavailable}
Bloopers and video releases aren't going to be happening for a
bit yet. In time....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 17-May-96 19:10:31
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Avery C. Innis <74642.3366@compuserve.com>
Subject: >Delein's Head<
Avery C. Innis <74642.3366@compuserve.com> asks:
> How is this going to be explained away?
Won't have to, because you never saw what you think you saw.
All you saw was an arm.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 17-May-96 19:10:33
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Delenn
(blocked) asks:
> Q: "What are the chances of Delenn evolving beyond her present
> state of being?"
Depends on what he means by evolving; internally, yes;
externally, no.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 18-May-96 00:43:01
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: >>Interludes<<
(blocked) asks:
> Was the physical force used on Sheridan projected by Kosh or the
> encountersuit?
Yes.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 18-May-96 00:43:04
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Celia J. Penham <102454.540@compuserve.com>
Subject: <War Without End, Pt 1>
Celia J. Penham <102454.540@compuserve.com> asks:
> Ok, this doesn't have anything to do with the current message
> thread, but has there been any thought about a B5 novel? I mean,
> one that tells THE ENTIRE STORY?
A lot of folks have suggested it...only time will tell if it
ever gets done.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 18-May-96 00:54:02
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Meryl Yourish <103470.2703@compuserve.com>
Subject: JMS: Arc a Fake?
{original post had no questions}
Your observation is correct; the structure of B5 to a great
extent is that of the novel, which is, after all, what's being
attempted. So you go from introduction, to rising action, to conflict,
complication, climax and denouement. A novel for TV.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 18-May-96 00:54:04
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Matthew D. Woudstra <71073.540@compuserve.com>
Subject: <War Without End, Pt 1>
Matthew D. Woudstra <71073.540@compuserve.com> asks:
> How long can one person wear the same outfit???
> say, one of the principle players, one with a bony head crest and
> long black hair...?
Actually, Delenn probably has more outfits than just about
anyone else; there's the blue outfit, the rose colored outfit, the
green active-wear look, her grey cloak and white religious caste robes,
one more change of color...so I think your observation here is flawed.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 18-May-96 00:54:05
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Joseph Coulter <75272.3005@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE or All good things>
Joseph Coulter <75272.3005@compuserve.com> asks:
> ?"
> And really "Don't you trust me, John?"
That's because tachyons are unique particles; they appear to be
moving the wrong way through time. So they're natural for this
purpose. ST didn't make up the idea of tachyons.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 18-May-96 20:10:08
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: ralph venables <101500.3333@compuserve.com>
Subject: JMS: Arc a Fake?
{original post had no questions}
Thanks, and it's just fun hanging around.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 18-May-96 20:10:11
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <<WWE, Part I>>
(blocked) asks:
> Since when does Zack know about the White Star, and is it now
> general knowledge among the B5 staff?
Yeah, the White Star has been common knowledge ever since it
came in at the end of "Severed Dreams." Certainly, by virtue of being
Garibaldi's second in command, he'd know about it. At this point, most
everything is out in the open now.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 18-May-96 20:10:14
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: WwE Part 1 Question
{original post unavailable}
It was done for story purposes.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 18-May-96 20:10:17
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Vorlon Thought, WWE,I>
John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com> asks:
> Now that Kosh is dead (and I presume that you won't be bringing
> this character back to life), what was it about the character of
> Kosh that you really liked and really disliked?
Actually, there wasn't much about Kosh I disliked...except his
cryptic ways...they're all annoying that way.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 18-May-96 20:10:19
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Mike Hoffmann <100321.2604@compuserve.com>
Subject: >>War Without End: 1<<
Mike Hoffmann <100321.2604@compuserve.com> asks:
> You are saying that *in one alternate universe* Sheridan will be
> on Centauri Prime, just like in 8 days in one alternate universe
> Ivanova will cry to the universe for help while the Shadows blast
> B5 to hell and in one alternate universe Garibaldi sacrifices
> himself for Sinclair?
There are no alternate univeses, only alternate or possible
futures. If they didn't go back, the future in which Sinclair is there
with Garibaldi -- having come back to see through the final battle --
and in which Sheridan is killed, and Ivanova is calling for help...that
future will come true.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 18-May-96 20:10:20
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Carol Naylor <100645.2613@compuserve.com>
Subject: B5 Story Arc
Carol Naylor <100645.2613@compuserve.com> asks:
> Quick question - is the "rebirth ceremony" from Parliament of
> Dreams what we would have seen had the full ceremony gone ahead
> in Ceremonies of Light and Dark or are there several different
> versions - each with their own significance? Did you know that he
> used to be a monk?
Yes, it's the same ceremony; Delenn states as much in the
episode.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 18-May-96 20:10:23
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Jonathan Hoopingarn <73172.1065@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<War w/o End, p1>>
Jonathan Hoopingarn <73172.1065@compuserve.com> asks:
> Dosen't this blow the mystery of whether Sheridan goes to
> Z'ha'dum? Or would that event be later in his life than his going
> to Centauri Prime? And are we going to find out why older-Sheridan
> was on C-prime in the first place and not off someplace
> collecting his pension? I guess the question might be what are
> Minbari feelings about such things?
Who said there was a mystery about Sheridan going to Z'ha'dum?
Kosh seems to treat it as a fait accompli; so does Sheridan. It seems
fated that he will go...the question is when, why, and under what
circumstances, with what results?
See, sometimes the story works in the shadows (so to
speak)...and other times we're right out in the open, we hand you the
playbook and tell you we're coming right up the middle. And *that's*
when you've got to really worry.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 18-May-96 20:10:25
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com>
Subject: Series Thoughts
John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com> asks:
> Come to think of it, how's the business of renewal for Year 4
> coming?
No, it seems that WB is set on airing the last batch of
episdodes in October, to ramp up for the November sweeps, assuming
renewal. We won't hear final word on this for another week or two.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 18-May-96 20:10:27
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: WWE PART ONE
{original post unavailable}
The name of the station is still the same; it was built by the
Earth Alliance. So that's how she'd refer to it.
The rest will probably be clearer after part two.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 19-May-96 14:08:22
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Mark D. Smith <70254.107@compuserve.com>
Subject: ATTN JMS: How old is...
Mark D. Smith <70254.107@compuserve.com> asks:
> Is my assumption that the different Minbari castes were on the
> verge of destroying themselves prior to the war and the
> appearance of Valen?
There was certainly some division among Minbari; Valen
straightened a lot of that out.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 19-May-96 14:08:24
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Mike Hoffmann <100321.2604@compuserve.com>
Subject: WwE Part 1 Question
Mike Hoffmann <100321.2604@compuserve.com> asks:
> Had Sinclair stayed on as B5 commander, who would have been
> zapped to Centauri Prime to confront Londo on the destroyed
> Centauri Prime?
I appreciate the questions, but there are so many alternate
timelines flying around right now...I'm not sure I want to further
complicate the issue.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 19-May-96 20:08:54
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <<WWE, Part I>>
(blocked) asks:
> * So is the NightWatch done for now?
> (such as another assault on the station by EA forces)?
> * Is Corwin and everyone else on the B5 command staff cool with
> B5's seccession now?
All I'll say for now is that we'll obviously have to get back
into the Earth situation sooner or later; that still has to be dealt
with.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 19-May-96 20:08:55
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Harlequin <73122.2300@compuserve.com>
Subject: Appreciation
{original post had no questions}
Thank you for all of that. It's a hell of a fight some days to
get this show made, and believe me, the appreciation
is....well...appreciated.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 19-May-96 20:08:56
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Brian A. Thomas <75231.1122@compuserve.com>
Subject: Fan club
Brian A. Thomas <75231.1122@compuserve.com> asks:
> Since I don't have a printer, do you think it would be perfectly
> fine to just hand print the form to join the club, so long as I
> give all the same information?
That'd be fine, sure. Thanks.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 19-May-96 20:09:00
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <War Without End, Pt 1>
{original post unavailable}
Once I finish the show, then I'll have time to consider this.
For now, it's just too daunting an idea.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 19-May-96 20:09:02
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: >>War Without End: 1<<
{original post unavailable}
Part two will clear that up.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 19-May-96 20:09:04
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Puppet riots
{original post unavailable}
Saw it...weird....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 19-May-96 20:09:06
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <WwE1 - recording?>
{original post unavailable}
She said it came from Draal and Epsilon 3, which has been
monitoring the area for the last 500 years. (It's stated in dialogue.)
jms
------------------------------
Date: 19-May-96 20:09:08
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <<<<WWE Pt 1>>>>
{original post unavailable}
His clothing is different because that's the future Sheridan,
into whom the current Sheridan has sort of slid....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 19-May-96 20:09:10
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE II>
Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com> asks:
> In the original version of the story where Sinclare stayed and
> there was no Sheridan was Babylon 4 brought forward in time to
> replace the destroyed Babylon 5? Was the ageing of Sinclare to
> have been explained by the fact that he had given his time
> stabilizer to Zathras? What did the Soul Hunter mean when he told
> Sinclare "they are using you"?
No, B4 was never intended to go forward in time. The aging was
done pretty much as intended. And the Soul Hunter meant they're using
him to create their old Leader. Still tracks. I'll have more to say
about all this after everyone's seen the episode.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 19-May-96 20:38:41
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Simon Grierson <100407.2075@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<UK Dust 2 Dust>>
Simon Grierson <100407.2075@compuserve.com> asks:
> Geez, would she REALLY have blasted Bester??
> After that final conversation between Bester and his ascociate, -
> is it possible that the Psi-corp PUT that Dust dealer onboard B5
> as an excuse to come on and do some snooping? Am I man enough to
> say I could have cryed?
Yes, she would've blasted...she gave the order to fire; only the
fact that Sheridan gave the over-ride at the same moment stopped it.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 19-May-96 20:38:43
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Chad Underkoffler <102512.1310@compuserve.com>
Subject: B5 Fan Club Stuff?
Chad Underkoffler <102512.1310@compuserve.com> asks:
> Joe, What's the word of Fan Club stuff?
> And the Webpage?
We're just awaiting final word from WB before releasing the fan
club web site; newsletters should be going out soon. We're just
waiting until there's a slight lull in memberships so we won't have to
do too many multiple mailings.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 19-May-96 20:38:44
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <<War Without End>>
{original post unavailable}
Thanks, I'm glad it's come out to be your favorite; it's a good
ep.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 19-May-96 20:38:46
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Michael Grabois <74737.2600@compuserve.com>
Subject: <War Without End, Pt 1>
Michael Grabois <74737.2600@compuserve.com> asks:
> Are these forces incidental or important to the rest of the
> series, or can't you say? Can't you EVER be predictable?
Yes, a number of folks took speculations and began posting them
about as True Things set to happen. Always an error....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 19-May-96 20:38:48
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE 2 Paradox>
Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com> asks:
> Even if the machine that Sinclare used was a copy where did the
> knowledge come from to build it originally?
Nope. The machine came up with Zathras from Epsilon 3. It
first appeared with Sinclair, then later got into Delenn's hands. So
she still has that version of it.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 19-May-96 20:38:50
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Chad Underkoffler <102512.1310@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Rage's Thot's:WWE, #1>
Chad Underkoffler <102512.1310@compuserve.com> asks:
> Are we to assume that if all goes well, the variant future of
> Sinclair and Garibaldi's flashforwards will be wiped out of
> existence? Are these flashforwards becoming 'unstuck in time'?
> If so, why didn't Sinclair and Garibaldi vanish like Johnny did?
> Is Johnny's unstuck jump *able* to be wiped out of existence like
> the visions mentioned above? In B^2, do we ever see Sinclair or
> Garibaldi in oldstyle EA uniforms, or just the black riot gear?
> (Lucy and Ethel? Was Kosh *taller* than this guy?
> *Why does Lennier seem to always mention new functionalities of
> the ship in the middle of combat? *Why hasn't Johnny gotten fully
> checked out on the ship as he did with the Thunderbolts in SoT?
> *BTW, what phrases were thrown up on the screen behind Delenn in
> Minbari script? Was it like Vir's Aloha shirt, or actual
> Minbarese? * Just *when* is Johnny supposed to go to Z'ha'dum?
> And just what does "If you go to Z'ha'dum, you will die" MEAN?
> What does that MEAN?
> why does there have to be seven days between episodes?
> F
Thanks. To the questions...no, we only saw the black flak
uniforms in B2, because I knew we'd be changing them, but wanted to
hide that fact (as I did with Delenn's line to Sinclair in B2, done
off-camera to hide her change). And the Minbar cityscape was done by
Eric Chauvin.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 20-May-96 03:48:41
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Mark D. Smith <70254.107@compuserve.com>
Subject: ATTN JMS: How old is...
{original post had no questions}
Yes, that divisiveness has been growing lately, culminating in
the breakup of the Grey Council which Valen formed. There's bound to
be some fallout....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 20-May-96 03:48:41
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Meryl Yourish <103470.2703@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Vorlon Thought, WWE,I>
Meryl Yourish <103470.2703@compuserve.com> asks:
> On a similar topic, do you have a favorite character?
They're all favorites. If I had to pick one, it might well be
Londo, simply because of the scope of the character, and what he lets
me write.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 20-May-96 03:48:44
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Joe Salemi [ZD Net] <72631.23@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<War w/o End, p1>>
Joe Salemi [ZD Net] <72631.23@compuserve.com> asks:
> I've been thinking about this quite a bit after I&E, and it seems
> to me that we may not have entirely realized what Kosh was saying
> (no surprise, eh? On the right track?
> Or derailed?
Interesting speculations.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 20-May-96 03:48:46
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <<<<WWE Pt 1>>>>
{original post unavailable}
There's a reason Garibaldi can't be there....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 20-May-96 03:48:49
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE II>
Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com> asks:
> If you want to wait to answer this that's OK, but did the Minbari
> *know* that Sinclare was going to become Valen when they backed
> his assignment to B5? Is that what Delenn meant when she said she
> knew that they were not wrong about him? And if that is the case
> why was Delenn told to kill Sinclare if he remembered what
> happened to him at the Battle of the Line?
No, they didn't know at the time; most of them were still trying
to figure the whole damned thing out; some refused to accept it, and if
he was indeed bogus, wanted him killed to avoid becoming a false
prophet and undoing Minbari society; some *did* believe it was him.
This disagreement in a sense became the first loose thread in
unraveling parts of Minbari society.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 20-May-96 03:48:51
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: David Cerreta <72630.3433@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<War Without End,pt.2>>
David Cerreta <72630.3433@compuserve.com> asks:
> But the other you'll get asked a lot and so I'll ask it now: was
> this always Sinclair's path and if it was, was it your intention
> (originally) to reveal it much later in the show, say season 5?
To the latter question...I think I'll hold off on commenting on
this for a while.
Other than that...I'm happy you liked the episodes. It's a good
point to go out on for the break.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 20-May-96 03:48:53
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Matthew D. Woudstra <71073.540@compuserve.com>
Subject: WwE1 & Zathras
Matthew D. Woudstra <71073.540@compuserve.com> asks:
> Where on earth did you get the inspiration for Zathras?
> Was the character a product of your vision or what the actor
> brought to the role...?
Well, Zathras appeared in Babylon Squared, so you might have
seen him there. Beyond that...no, the actor came to what was written
on the page and made it come to life, but didn't invent the character.
I just sorta thunk him up. It's what I do.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 20-May-96 03:48:54
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Rebecca Eschliman <76072.2345@compuserve.com>
Subject: <War...I>
{original post had no questions}
Re: G'Kar and Londo changing positions as Sinclair and Sheridan
have done, these two moving from certainty to uncertainty in either
direction, that ain't bad. That ain't bad at *all*. I like symmetry,
and both journeys are interesting explorations. What I've been doing
in complex terms, you explained in an astonishingly few words.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 20-May-96 03:48:56
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Doug Quinn <76330.350@compuserve.com>
Subject: << WWE, Pt.1 Spoilers >>
Doug Quinn <76330.350@compuserve.com> asks:
> Now, the question is, how long has Deleen known that Sinclair
> was/is/will be Valen? Did they discover this when he was captured?
> (I'd think not, else the Grey Council would not have told deleen
> to kill Sinclair should he remember being captured.) Did Deleen
> find out when Kosh came on board? (Kosh clearly knew what the deal
> was, which explains why he didn't hang around the Council much
> when Sinclair was in charge of the Station -- didn't want to
> accidentily mess the time line up.) Did Deleen find out when she
> came into posession of the "cocoon" machine? And here, since I
> haven't seen the second part of this yet, I'm assuming that the
> thing Sinclair is clearly putting a triluminary on in the preview
> is the machine that goes into the past with him and later -- 1000
> years later -- comes into Deleen's posession, since this explains
> the "Valen was more than Minbari" line.) Or was she as much in
> the dark as Sinclair himself was, right up to the moment when he
> got a letter from his future/past self telling him what was going
> to happen? What was in the note she received just prior to
> Sinclair arriving on B5? What must Deleen think of this?
> A _human_ becoming half-Minbari as the founder of her
> civilization's government? Valen is also apparently looked up to
> as a _religious_ figure -- how might other Minbari react to the
> knowledge that Valen was half human? Or that Sinclair's Minbari
> name sounds almost identical to the stone in the Ranger's pin, a
> stone which represents the coming together of the human and
> Minbari halves into one whole (a la Deleen's fusion, a la
> Sinclair's coming fusion into Valen)?
On the Grey Council and Sinclair, I just left a note on this, so
you may want to check that one rather than my repeating it here. But
yes, you seem to be close to it all...which is good. All the pieces
have been there, certainly.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 20-May-96 03:49:00
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <War W/o End #2>
{original post unavailable}
Yeah, the Londo stuff is just incredibly powerful...very moving.
As for the voice...well, we'll just have to wait a bit, won't we?
jms
------------------------------
Date: 20-May-96 17:59:25
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Hypernauts Cancelled?
(blocked) asks:
> If nobody else picks it up, is there any chance that the B5 fan
> club could issue the completed episodes as videos?
There's no relation between B5 and Hypernauts, and it would be
contractually impossible for us to do tapes of that show. Still
trying to work out the B5 tapes at present.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 20-May-96 17:59:26
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Catherine Becic <73414.2603@compuserve.com>
Subject: MYSTERY ALIEN SWEEPSTAKE
Catherine Becic <73414.2603@compuserve.com> asks:
> Who won?
I haven't heard yet. When I do, I'll post the info soonest.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 20-May-96 17:59:28
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Automedia, Inc. <70530.2521@compuserve.com>
Subject: I&E Thought
Automedia, Inc. <70530.2521@compuserve.com> asks:
> Was this little parallel intentional?
> And if so, is that worth noting for later or was it just one of
> the many tools you employ?
Not an intentional parallel, no, but often to achieve something,
one must decide if it's more important than one's life. That's kind of
descriptive of the whole of human history, frankly....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 20-May-96 17:59:31
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Toby Johnson <104305.1442@compuserve.com>
Subject: Kosh's Ship
Toby Johnson <104305.1442@compuserve.com> asks:
> Was his ship made/created for him??
> and if so was it as old as he was??
It was made for Kosh, as Delenn points out, was almost a part of
him; it wouldn't function as well, if at all, for anyone else. There
was nothing else to be done.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 20-May-96 17:59:33
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Trent K. Johnson <71020.1052@compuserve.com>
Subject: B5 Story Arc
{original post had no questions}
Thanks....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 20-May-96 17:59:35
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Bert Johnson <102476.201@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<WWE Pt 2>>
Bert Johnson <102476.201@compuserve.com> asks:
> Two, who did Delenn see in Sheridan's quarters?
> In the future of that timeline, did they have a daughter?
> I think they identify with him ("No one listen to Zathras") Will
> we see him again?
The eye was of the keeper on Londo's shoulder, you can see
G'Kar's fingers gripping a part of it. It woke up.
The other questions will have to wait, and be answered in the
series.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 20-May-96 17:59:36
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: op
{original post unavailable}
They've played with some research in this area, but they aren't
anywhere near the tech required to actually do anything with time.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 21-May-96 00:12:13
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Jon Wolf <76103.2541@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<War Without End>>
{original post had no questions}
Actually...incorrect. Whenever there's a timeflash, people see
one thing or another. When Sinclair and Garibaldi first came aboard,
there was a timeflash. We saw what Sinclair saw, we have no idea from
that scene what Garibaldi saw. No reason he couldn't have seen
something from about that same period. It wasn't stated either way at
the time.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 21-May-96 00:24:49
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Michael Beemer <71551.1670@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<<<WWE Pt 1>>>>
Michael Beemer <71551.1670@compuserve.com> asks:
> Yes, but *how* does Sinclair *know* this?
> Will this be addressed in more detail?
Yes, in part two.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 21-May-96 00:24:52
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: WWE Question
(blocked) asks:
> Why hasn't the design changed?
> Ritual?
> Also, where did Sinclair get the scar?
> Could you please 'Splain this to me, Lucy?
The design *has* changed; the main section is much longer, and
more primitive looking, less tricked out. You can see a bit of it
there, but you will see them in more detail in part two.
Sinclair was scarred during ranger training duties.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 21-May-96 00:24:53
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: David Kuhn <73532.741@compuserve.com>
Subject: WWE2 & Kosh Naranick(sp)
David Kuhn <73532.741@compuserve.com> asks:
> Could that have been our favorite vorlon back 1000 years ago?
Suffice to say that Kosh knew Valen from way, way back....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 21-May-96 15:52:36
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Hypernauts Cancelled?
(blocked) asks:
> You've mentioned recently about trying to get things moving for
> the UK viewrs/fans/rabid mottley crew (that's US!) over here, but
> I've not seen anything of late: What's the score, please?
Still working at it.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 21-May-96 23:07:02
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <Rage's Thot's:WWE, #1>
{original post unavailable}
It's been established that there have been previous riots on
Mars, including the food riots referenced in, I believe, the pilot.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 21-May-96 23:18:50
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Joe an atheist?
(blocked) asks:
> This is a bit off-subject, but I was wondering: as an athiest,
> where do you believe that life came from originally? The cell
> theory states that all cells must come from pre-existing cells,
> but where did the first one come from?
You tell me where god came from originally, and I'll tell you
where that first bit of matter came from originally.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 21-May-96 23:18:51
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Imran Naqvi <100533.273@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<UK Dust 2 Dust>>
{original post had no questions}
Good.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 21-May-96 23:18:52
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: michael kazalski <72357.2642@compuserve.com>
Subject: B5 Story Arc
{original post had no questions}
I truly appreciate that, thanks.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 21-May-96 23:18:54
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Jonathan Kass <74130.443@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<WWE I etc.>>
{original post had no questions}
I don't recall the question, but Ivanova's uniform in the flash
forward was only 8 days ahead, so it'd be the same.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 21-May-96 23:18:57
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Michael Beemer <71551.1670@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE, part 2>
Michael Beemer <71551.1670@compuserve.com> asks:
> JUST WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN MIND, YOUNG MAN???
Escalation.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 21-May-96 23:18:59
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <WWE-crystal formation>
(blocked) asks:
> Or am I just seeing things?
You're seeing things.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 22-May-96 04:37:47
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Alan D. Brown <74407.3015@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE II>
{original post had no questions}
Thank you.
And stop sitting in the dark; you'll trip when you stand up.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 22-May-96 04:47:33
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Cathy Holley <75204.1515@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
Cathy Holley <75204.1515@compuserve.com> asks:
> Then if I told you that God always existed, you'd tell me that
> matter has always existed as well?
Yup. In one form or another, one Big Bang leading to a
collapse, and another Big Bang...if one can say god has always existed,
then one can equally say that perhaps the universe has always existed,
in one form or another....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 22-May-96 04:47:34
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Shane S. Shellenbarger <104305.3404@compuserve.com>
Subject: B5 Screen Saver sound
Shane S. Shellenbarger <104305.3404@compuserve.com> asks:
> Anyone have the address?
> At least I've got the show...well...an hour next Sunday,
> anyway...Joe, is it October before we get the remaining episodes?
Yup...October......yikes.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 22-May-96 04:47:35
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <<War Without End>>
{original post had no questions}
Thanks. It was a good sendoff. (At one point, Bruce said to me
over lunch, with Michael sitting with us, "Hey, so how come HE gets to
go off and become the next best thing to God and I get the crap kicked
out of me?" I shrugged. "Seniority.")
jms
------------------------------
Date: 22-May-96 04:47:36
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Jerome Keating <76243.620@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE 2 Paradox>
Jerome Keating <76243.620@compuserve.com> asks:
> I have a question - remember when Ivanona when to go meet with
> those "old ones" and they they said to come get them when it is
> time - well isn't now a good time???? with the shadow in the open
> attacking many races - now would seem opportune - do you plan on
> bringing them in the fourth season?? second question - were those
> old ones the only ones contacted by "our heros" ??
Tentatively, they'll show up in the fourth season...and they
will have to get some more First Ones on board.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 22-May-96 04:47:40
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Jonathan Kass <74130.443@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<WWE I etc.>>
{original post had no questions}
Yes. Up until that moment, the total forces available to the
shadows were an unknown to us...sort of like Shroedinger's Cat, is it
alive in the box or is it dead? It could be either one. If they
didn't go into the past, didn't affect the outcome, it would be one
reality; if they did, then it'd be another. As soon as they achieved
one or the other of those two, the two possible results collapsed into
the one, singular possibility.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 22-May-96 12:29:14
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: B5 Music Video
{original post unavailable}
The video is something we'd like to release eventually, but
still have to negotiate the right to do so with actors and others
involved.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 22-May-96 12:29:16
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <WWE II>
{original post unavailable}
Thank you. I agree, in the beginning of the show, there was
the occasional rough spot; when you're trying to do something nobody's
really ever done before, there's a certain amount of trial and error.
But we learn *real* fast.
Thanks again.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 22-May-96 12:29:17
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <WWE 2> - My Head Hurts
(blocked) asks:
> Have I got this right: Delenn saw John attempting to synch back
> up so gave up her stabilizer for him; this caused her to become
> unstuck and put her in the space suit so that Zathras could give
> her the repaired stabilizer when she appeared later; Delenn was
> "missing" from the time she stuck her head out of the hole until
> Zathras gave her the stabilizer and no one noticed? How long was
> B4 in the past before the Minbari showed up to search it?
> Obviously long enough for the 2 Vorlons to show up, but how long
> was that?
Yes, you're correct about the Delenn material; she left the
ship to do this, and not that much time had passed. It was, in fact,
to check on Delenn that Marcus was coming out as well.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 22-May-96 12:29:18
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: >>Interludes<<
{original post unavailable}
Because it was they who took it back, at this point; if they
didn't do it, then they wouldn't have done it.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 22-May-96 12:29:20
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: WWE PART ONE
{original post unavailable}
It's not expensive per se, but it is time consuming.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 22-May-96 12:33:40
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: JMS: Renewal? Y or N?
{original post unavailable}
We should hear in the next few weeks; we have to know by June
10th or so in order to pick up the actors' contracts.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 22-May-96 21:18:37
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Automedia, Inc. <70530.2521@compuserve.com>
Subject: <War Without End>
Automedia, Inc. <70530.2521@compuserve.com> asks:
> Is that also the case with WwE (1 and/or 2)?
> If so, would you be able to comment on the scenes cut or is that
> right out?
Thanks. There were a few small bits cut out of WWE2, but at
this late remove, I honestly can't remember what they were now. It's
all a blur....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 22-May-96 21:18:38
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Shane S. Shellenbarger <104305.3404@compuserve.com>
Subject: I&E Thought
Shane S. Shellenbarger <104305.3404@compuserve.com> asks:
> Joe, As painful as Adera's (sp?) death was for Londo, is it
> likely that Londo will discover the truth about Morden's
> involvement?
Anything's possible.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 22-May-96 21:18:39
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: US tapes vs Brit tapes?
{original post unavailable}
WB thinks there isn't a market in the US.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 22-May-96 21:18:40
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Bob Hodge <74774.1747@compuserve.com>
Subject: WWE2 (slight spoiler)
Bob Hodge <74774.1747@compuserve.com> asks:
> One nagging question in my mind - Has Sinclair, Delenn, and
> Sheridan gone too far?
Thanks. No, that's not it; you're right, it'd make the story
'way too convoluted. But Delenn may have made some questionable
decisions at various points.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 22-May-96 21:18:43
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <<Time Travel Ques.>>
(blocked) asks:
> Is the time travel that Sheridan experienced to the Centari
> homeworld different from the time flashes experienced by
> Garibladi, Delenn, Krantz, and others on Babylon 4? If these
> flashes are different, then is the Sheridan of 2278(?) dead,
> lost, or just somewhere else? Does Delenn continue on the mission
> alone?
No, Sheridan "leapt" into his future self, hence the difference
in wardrobe and appearance. Londo wasn't suprised to see him. If you
recall the Centauri guard when we first arrive in the Palace, he says,
"I think he's awake again, would you like to see?" The implication
being that he's been beaten into unconsciousness, hence Londo's line,
"Welcome back from the abyss." It was at that moment of
unconsciousness that he "slid" into his future self.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 23-May-96 02:11:21
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Cathy Holley <75204.1515@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
Cathy Holley <75204.1515@compuserve.com> asks:
> If you saw a house in a forest, full of furniture, but made
> entirely of foresty stuff, would you conclude that the house
> formed on it's own? without a designer?
Yes, I've heard the "looking at a house" notion...and I've also
noted the Rohrscharch test, in which you look at random drawings, and
the human mind, which seeks out patterns, takes that which has no
meaning and puts a meaning onto it.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 23-May-96 02:20:58
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: US tapes vs Brit tapes?
(blocked) asks:
> Joe, to which WB "suit" may we write a letter expressing our
> desires for B5 tapes?
Won't work. They're immobile.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 23-May-96 02:21:00
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Meryl Yourish <103470.2703@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<War Without End>>
Meryl Yourish <103470.2703@compuserve.com> asks:
> Was the white ray (or whatever) in WWE1related to the being that
> got inside Sheridan during "Knives," or was it just the effect of
> blowing up a fusion reactor?
No, that was just the result of the blast.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 23-May-96 02:21:03
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <WWE-crystal formation>
(blocked) asks:
> My first thought was "What is that, a Vorlon temple or embassy or
> something?" Is that because he's been around Vorlon's too long or
> Ranger One too long?
After a while, you get used to that from Vorlons.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 23-May-96 02:21:05
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Frank J <104464.2504@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<WWE2 - Spoilers & ? >>
Frank J <104464.2504@compuserve.com> asks:
> Is WWE2 what you were referring to?
No, when you see a LOT of vorlons together, that's when it's
time to run like hell.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 23-May-96 02:21:06
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Toni Muller <75223.1575@compuserve.com>
Subject: >>WWE: I and II<<
Toni Muller <75223.1575@compuserve.com> asks:
> Was that a Minbari in _shorts_ in the opening scenes of Minbar!?!
> Where was Sinclair all those 900 years between his existence as
> Valen and his birth as Jeffrey David Sinclair? Or was he nowhere,
> existing only at the closing and opening of the loop, being born
> in the future and dying in the past? When Zathras said he was 110
> years old, was that human years or his own race's years?
No, I don't believe anyone on Minbar was wearing shorts. It's
not the season for that.
As for Valen, he died about 900 years ago, our time. He lived
to be well over a hundred years old.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 23-May-96 02:21:09
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Mark Sloan <100407.3462@compuserve.com>
Subject: B5 renewed?
Mark Sloan <100407.3462@compuserve.com> asks:
> When are we going to be put out of our misery and be told that B5
> has been renewed for a fourth season?
We should know soon.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 23-May-96 13:50:34
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Bruno Melancon <102647.3222@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE II>
Bruno Melancon <102647.3222@compuserve.com> asks:
> How will you surprise us with the resolution of the Shadow War
> since we already know we will win?
It's a literary...I hate to say the word trick, but it's the
most descriptive. You show somebody the end right off the bat, as we
did with the Londo/G'Kar scene. But how do we get there? What
happens? Yes, the war is eventually won...but what *was* the price?
And what does it mean to everyone involved?
The best magic is when it's right there in your face, and you
can't see how it's being done.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 23-May-96 13:50:35
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Al Lipscomb <75204.2225@compuserve.com>
Subject: Joe an atheist?
{original post had no questions}
Ah, but physics is now postulating that there's not just one
big bang, but there have been numerous ones...perhaps an infinite
number of them, as the universe collapses, then bangs, collapses, then
bangs.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 23-May-96 13:50:38
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <<WWE 2>>
{original post unavailable}
Thanks.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 23-May-96 13:50:40
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <WWE2>
{original post unavailable}
What happens with the future of Londo and G'Kar...is what you
see. Course, how they got there is the meat of the story.
And thanks.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 23-May-96 14:02:56
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Darran Williams <101656.2143@compuserve.com>
Subject: The Encounter (UK Con)
Darran Williams <101656.2143@compuserve.com> asks:
> Where did you hear this?
> Anyone out there heard anything?
Actually, B5 is being shown *right now* in widescreen in France
and Portugal.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 23-May-96 14:02:58
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Some thots on <<WWE2>>
(blocked) asks:
> 1) How long has Lennier known Sinclair was Valen?
> Why else would the Minbari reject everyone for commander of B5
> until they got to Sinclair? Did Ivanova make the connection, too?
> What about the other Minbari on the bridge -- was this a
> revelation for them as well? Now that they know who Valen really
> was, how will they react to Minbari who revere him as a religious
> figure? Will they tell Garibaldi?
> Will he freak out?
> 4) Didn't ya just love the stuff between Sinclair and
> Delenn????!!!!??? is she Sheridan's and Delenn's daughter?
> Why, oh why did I mail all my first season tapes to Oklahoma two
> weeks ago? 7) So now can we say, "In Sinclair's Name?"
> instead of "In Valen's Name," as an oath?
> 8) So, do ya think one of those Vorlons was Kosh?
> And, ohmygosh, is Kosh *actually* Valeria?
> Did they appear to him, or did he call them somehow?) And does
> Sincalir know that Kosh was killed? SO where do we go from here?
To your question, yes, the scenes with Zathras pinned under the
strut were the same scenes from B2, we didn't reshoot that material.
The hardest shot was matching the lighting and composition in
the central corridor *exactly* for the Ivanova-on-the-link scene, and
the walk by seconds later by Garibaldi and Sinclair. That came out
pretty seamless.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 23-May-96 14:10:20
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Attn: JMS, Continuity
{original post unavailable}
The leather strip was also present when we shot the original,
Babylon Squared, in year one. I was kinda thinking at the time that
the change was gradually being introduced in various divisions of
Earthforce. Krantz is from the Marines division, I believe (note the
brown uniform), from that part which functions sort of like the Army
Corps of Engineers, overseeing the building of space stations and the
like. Since it takes time to introduce a uniform change across
divisions and light years, I figured some might have them earlier than
others, or to try them out. So I gave Krantz the leather strip.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 23-May-96 14:10:21
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: I beg forvigeness
{original post unavailable}
Welcome to the party....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 23-May-96 17:33:30
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <WWE 2> - My Head Hurts
(blocked) asks:
> BTW, did the photos of Rick and Pat in Marcon's Klingon jail
> arrive?
Yes, I got the photos, thanks...they're going to go up on the
stage wall asap.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 23-May-96 17:33:31
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <<War Without End>>
{original post unavailable}
If nominated I will not run, if elected I will not serve, if
deified I will not transmute....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 23-May-96 17:33:33
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Linda B. Donahue <104574.621@compuserve.com>
Subject: Sinclair's Scar & More
Linda B. Donahue <104574.621@compuserve.com> asks:
> Where did Sinclair's scar come from in WwE?
> Is it a Sinclair scar, or an O'Hare scar?
> Was this because he had a feeling he knew Sinclair's destiny...or
> did he just have gas?
The scar came during ranger training.
Marcus's look came because he overheard the Minbari-language
part of the discussion, and knew something was up. It made him more
watchful of Sinclair, which pays off in WWE2.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 23-May-96 22:28:55
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE II>
John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com> asks:
> The fact that the woman seemed to have a passkey to Sheridan's
> quarters makes me wonder...and I would love to see the surprise
> on folks' faces if it turned out to be Catherine Sakai...but
> that's not likely, is it? Any thoughts on this?
> I was rather pleased to see how Marcus reacted to Sinclair's
> decision to go back to the past and become the leader of the
> Minbari, and I loved seeing the actual scene with the Minbari
> "Valen" encounter the 1,000 years ago Minbari, but couldn't help
> but notice that we didn't get to see Kosh...or perhaps one of the
> Vorlons there was Kosh? Other than the destruction of B5 by the
> Shadows and the visions from Ladira that we saw in "Signs and
> Portents," how many of these visions actually portrayed the
> future that we will actually see? Were these actual future
> occurrences, or were they more "what might be"s (as Ladira called
> them in "SaP")?
Re: the Chrysalis device...it came from Epsilon 3. There was
one shot that should've been made more of, where we see a long box with
a silver triangle on one side being set up, and left. Unfortunately,
the shot didn't make much of it (you can see Zathras putting it out
there), and a later shot we dropped showing it again because it wasn't
properly featured and you couldn't really tell what it was. There was
so much in this episode that had to be pulled off, in a short amount of
time, that sometimes things in the background don't get framed as they
might be. But that's where it came from: from Epsilon 3 to Sinclair to
Delenn, who still has it.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 23-May-96 22:28:56
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <WWE II>
{original post had no questions}
Thanks, the pleasure is all mine.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 23-May-96 22:28:58
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: B5 renewed?
{original post unavailable}
As of now, all that can be done has pretty much been done and
it's all in the hands of the stations and WB.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 23-May-96 22:29:01
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Keffer and Corwin
(blocked) asks:
> What's the point in having Corwin and the ex-Keffer as
> characters? basically useless characters that moves the story
> along and dies at the end?
Not at all. Yes, a character dies...after a season of getting
to know him. To say, "Well, you just put in a character to kill him,"
and citing red shirts, is really...well, a red herring and a
distortion. A redshirt, by definition, was usually a security guard
who was introduced in the same episode in which he was killed, we knew
*nothing* about him, he had maybe 2 minutes of screen time, maybe a
word ("look out!", and then he was dead.
By the definition you apply, anyone who dies in a novel is a
redshirt, since the author knew he was going to be killed off. If you
do a novel about the Civil War, and Lincoln dies halfway through, is
that a redshirt? Many of the characters in The Stand don't make it to
the end...are they redshirts?
I hate to break it to you, but *everybody* dies sooner or later.
For the purposes of this show, some die on camera, some die off, some
die during the story, some die afterward.
Nor was Keffer's character useless; through him, we got to see
the Starfury pilots and learn more about them, we got our first close
look at the shadows, we met the Gropos, and the primary incident that
began to unravel the whole thing -- Keffer's gun camera footage -- came
about.
And Corwin's character is still very much alive, and useful in
the story, so that kinda disqualifies *that*.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 23-May-96 22:29:04
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Linda B. Donahue <104574.621@compuserve.com>
Subject: Sinclair's Scar & More
Linda B. Donahue <104574.621@compuserve.com> asks:
> How did he get so...Vorlon-like in such a short period of time?
He was kinda Zen when he left, frankly...and two years living
among Minbari, learning their language, learning to think the way they
do, learning the whole history of the shadow war...that can have a
pretty profound effect on you. It obviously wasn't all hanging around
the Hyatt Minbar and watching reruns of I Love Lennier for two
years....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 23-May-96 22:29:07
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: WWE Part 2
{original post unavailable}
Thanks, and I like your explanation/rationale for the small
differences. Works for me.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 24-May-96 00:15:22
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Meryl Yourish <103470.2703@compuserve.com>
Subject: B5 Story Arc
Meryl Yourish <103470.2703@compuserve.com> asks:
> In real life, the most difficult decisions we make are what house
> to buy in which town in which neighborhood, or what car do we
> want to get, or should I leave my current job and get another,
> maybe better one? Sometimes, we make extremely crucial
> decisions--there's a war on--should I enlist? It makes me wonder,
> though, that if Ivanova is a latent telepath, even only a P-1,
> would she sense the Shadows near Morden? Will you be bringing
> Talia back at some point in the future?
Thanks; no plans for Talia for the time being.
I agree with much of what you said. The unexamined life is a
real peril, and literature at its best can help us to avoid that trap
by asking uncomfortable questions.
I actually tend to think that the day-to-day questions can be
more central, more profound, than where to buy a house. Do you tell
your friend that his/her spouse is having an affair? Do you intervene
when you see someone on the street being mugged? Do you have an
abortion? Do you sacrifice buying the boat you always wanted so you
can put your kid through college?
At some point in our lives, we have to make a baseline decision
about whether our actions will be ethical, or convenient; do we do
right, or do we do wrong? Some may seem like small or unimportant
decisions, but each one made for the wrong reasons makes it easier for
the next bad decision to slip through.
Politicians tell us that we can find lives in which courage and
hard decisions are not necessary.
They are, of course, lying.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 24-May-96 00:15:23
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <WWE II>
{original post unavailable}
Thanks. Actually, I seem to recall, after that Londo/G'Kar
scene was shown the last time, posting somewhere that folks now knew
*what* has happened, but they don't yet know the *context*. Very few
picked up on that and thought to actually reverse what they *thought*
they were seeing to what they *might* be seeing.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 24-May-96 00:15:26
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Jonathan Kass <74130.443@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE II Spoiler / Quest>
Jonathan Kass <74130.443@compuserve.com> asks:
> 1) Coincidence that the son of Delenn and Sheridan is named
> David, Sinclair's middle name? some of our own religious figures
> seem to vanish rather than die according to biblical stories...)?
> 4) On a lighter note, what brought Cousin Brucie to the Show?
Cousin Brucie was a fan of the show and wanted to do it.
Correct, Sheridan wouldn't know anything of what happened after
he blipped out of that future situation.
As for David, remember that Sheridan's father is also David.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 24-May-96 02:08:45
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: B5 renewed?
(blocked) asks:
> Are we there yet?
> Are we there yet?
> Are we there yet?
Keep that up, young lady, and we'll turn this car *right* around
and go home.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 24-May-96 02:08:46
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Ben Roberto <71203.1514@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Time Stabilizer Thingy>
Ben Roberto <71203.1514@compuserve.com> asks:
> 1) In "Babylon Squared" after Zathras hands The One 'a' time
> stabilizer, which one was it? His or the repaired one?
> Did he lie to them?
> What did I miss?
> Or was it the whole device?
Sheridan's stabalizer basically broke into two major pieces, the
front section which fell off in the White Star, and the back half which
was still clipped to his belt, and later came off as Zathras watched.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 24-May-96 19:21:45
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: TIMOTHY R. GREEN <73023.143@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE2 Great Job!>
{original post had no questions}
Thanks, and I'd love to someday tell the story of Valen and
Zathras in the most recent shadow war. It's quite a tale, actually....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 24-May-96 19:21:47
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Darran Williams <101656.2143@compuserve.com>
Subject: The Encounter (UK Con)
Darran Williams <101656.2143@compuserve.com> asks:
> Do you know whether Channel 4 here in the UK have acquired the
> Widescreen versions or not ?
I don't believe the UK has acquired the widescreen versions, no,
otherwise they'd be playing them currently, as is the case in France
and Portugal. What happens after the current run, I don't know.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 24-May-96 19:21:52
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: JMS: Eps for Newbies?
{original post unavailable}
Pilot Movie (tell them it gets better) Midnight on the Firing Line
Sky Full of Stars A Race Through Dark Places Believers Babylon Squared
A Voice in the Wilderness 1 and 2 Signs and Portents Chrysalis
Points of Departure Revelations All Alone in the Night The Coming of
Shadows Hunter, Prey The Long Twilight Struggle Comes the Inquisitor
Divided Loyalties Confessions and Lamentations The Fall of Night
Matters of Honor Convictions Dust to Dust Ship of Tears Interludes and
Examinations War Without End 1 and 2
If that doesn't do it, nothing will.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 24-May-96 19:21:53
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Marte Brengle <76703.4242@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE II>
{original post had no questions}
Thanks, it's a nifty little scene.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 24-May-96 19:21:55
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: David Kuhn <73532.741@compuserve.com>
Subject: >>WWE: I and II<<
David Kuhn <73532.741@compuserve.com> asks:
> So total human years + mimbari years not counting accidental
> aging = well over a hundred years? Or did he live over a hundred
> years as a mimbari?
He lived close to a hundred years as a Minbari; they're a long
lived race, and they did all they could to maintain his health as one
of their truly great figures.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 24-May-96 19:21:59
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Brian P. Delaney <103640.3511@compuserve.com>
Subject: Some thots on <<WWE2>>
Brian P. Delaney <103640.3511@compuserve.com> asks:
> If 1 in 10000?
> telepaths could move a penny and she was "upgraded" so far that
> she could EMBED one into a wall I think you had big plans for her
> that didn't work out??
The Talia situation likely could've been finessed more smoothly
than it was, no mistake. Sometimes there are going to be ragged spots.
It's going to happen.
Here's the best comparison to what my position is with this
show: Harlan Ellison has, on occasion, done this routine where he'll go
into a bookstore and write a story in full view of everyone. As each
page is finished, it's taped to the wall unti it's done. This is
considered a pretty nifty trick, sustained over maybe 15-20 pages.
That's pretty much what I'm doing here. It's an ongoing story.
I can't go back, I can only go forward. As each page (episode) is
finished, it's put up on the wall, and I have to go on to the next one.
So far I've written 2,400 pages on that wall. Again, I can't go back
and change anything, and if there's a bump caused by a real world
incident, it simply has to be accommodated as best I can while still
going where I have to go.
From time to time, there's going to be a misstroke on the
keyboard, or there's going to be a typo that I'll miss. That's
inevitable when you're out performing in front of a massive crowd on
the high wire without a net. As long as the totality of it all hangs
together, as long as the story is told, the trick finally done...then
that's what fundamentally matters.
That this happens on occasion should be obvious; that it happens
as rarely as it does is the point of wonderment, I think. Remember,
it's all trial and error, because no one's ever done this before. And
right about now I understand why. But we're making it work.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 24-May-96 19:22:02
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Sinclair's Scar & More
{original post unavailable}
Sakai certainly wouldn't have wanted to get tied down to life on
Minbar, and Sinclair knew that his life would be difficult now with the
rangers, so they parted ways.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 24-May-96 19:22:05
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Keffer and Corwin
(blocked) asks:
> I meant is he just another "unimportant" character that's going
> to get killed off in the end?
But see, not every story has to be about the Important People.
We've got that in our nominal "heroes." What tends to get omitted from
SF are the grunts and the blue collar guys, the pilots who have to fly
the missions called on by the Big Guys. To say "are they important"
is, I think, really a question that proceeds from a skewed perspective.
Are *you* important to the overall arc of this nation, the history of
this country? Am I? Probably not; I'll never sign a constitution or
discover radium or walk on the moon, I just write stories for phosphor
dot screens; can there be anything more ephemeral? But the
repercussions of history are written on the faces and the lives of
those who *can't* change it, who have to live with the decisions made
by those above. Showing those people is as valid as anything else.
It ain't just the heroes that make the future, Edwin. It's the
carpenters and the plumbers and the dockworkers we showed in the first
season. Now, you may think they're unimportant. I don't.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 24-May-96 19:22:06
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <WWE 2> - My Head Hurts
(blocked) asks:
> How long before Rick and Pat will see them?
> Mid-summer assuming renewal?
> Or did you call them up and brag that you had them?
I think I'll just have them discover that they're there....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 24-May-96 19:22:09
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <WWE2>
{original post unavailable}
I'm not sure if they're the bookends; everyone's part of this to
one degree or another. And yes, magazines arrived safely, thanks
again.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 24-May-96 19:22:11
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: All
Subject: B5 in Millimeter Mag.
For those who want a really good picture of how we do this show, and
how we're ahead of the technology curve, making a bit of history with
how we do things here, this month's MILLIMETER MAGAZINE has a cover
story on B5's production methods. (It's *the* trade magazine for tv
and film production.) If your local bookstore doesn't carry it, the
library might.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 24-May-96 22:04:28
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Toni Muller <75223.1575@compuserve.com>
Subject: WWE <<Major Spoiler>>
{original post had no questions}
Oddly enough, there was a squib on the news the other day that
indicated scientists were able, albeit briefly, to have the same
subatomic particle exist in two separate places at the same time, much
to everyone's consternation. (They don't think something like a person
could do it, in that we are too "quantum mechanically complex.")
jms
------------------------------
Date: 24-May-96 22:04:31
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: <David L. Gold> <73177.1161@compuserve.com>
Subject: Sinclair's Scar & More
<David L. Gold> <73177.1161@compuserve.com> asks:
> Did it *really* come during Ranger training, or was the scar
> *supposed* to have been inflicted by Kosh ( as we saw happen to
> Sheridan )? Had Michael remained on the series to the present day,
> would _that_ have been the original reason for the scar on
> Sinclair?
No, because you'll note that Sheridan isn't scarred by it. No,
you have to remember that one doesn't just transplant one storyline
onto another. It doesn't work that way. Sinclair has his arc,
Sheridan has his own.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 25-May-96 02:16:16
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Automedia, Inc. <70530.2521@compuserve.com>
Subject: White Star Question
Automedia, Inc. <70530.2521@compuserve.com> asks:
> When will Garibaldi ever get to see the inside of the ship?
> Will either the Minbari crew learn English or Sheridan/Ivanova
> learn Minbari anytime soon? Any plans?
I'm sure Garibaldi will eventually end up on the White Star; and
the Minbari will also probably begin slowly acquiring English, and vice
versa.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 25-May-96 02:16:18
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Trent K. Johnson <71020.1052@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<WWE I etc.>>
{original post had no questions}
Well, if the Minbari had records of B4's visual look, given that
the Shadows are advanced, would they not also have the potential to
recognize it for what it was once it was nearing completion from their
own records?
jms
------------------------------
Date: 25-May-96 02:16:20
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Jim De Vico <72662.2765@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE2>
Jim De Vico <72662.2765@compuserve.com> asks:
> What will you be tying up then?
> Something else that this brings to mind is how many others in
> your field want to tell a story this way, yet can't because they
> don't have the gumption?
Thanks (and I loved Watchmen myself). It's certainly my hope
that our success with this will encourage others to follow in our
footsteps.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 25-May-96 02:16:21
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Julia E. Linthicum <73114.3530@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<War Without End 1&2>>
Julia E. Linthicum <73114.3530@compuserve.com> asks:
> why does the image of Tennyson's Ulysses (Sinclair's favorite,
> but equally appropriate to this commander too) growing old and
> grey watching his friends and enemies disappear flash through my
> mind? BTW, one quick question, what does the honorific used by
> Marcus and Rathenn to Sinclair mean? And, were my eyes deceiving
> me, or were those two Vorlons au naturel hovering over Valen?
In a way, this question touches on the issue that got raised in
another thread here, about who's the "important" character. We all
have the potential for importance, if we choose to exercise it, and
recognize the necessity of personal commitment.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 25-May-96 02:27:47
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <WWE2>
{original post unavailable}
No, Londo does not currently have a Keeper attached to him.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 25-May-96 02:27:48
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Jon Wolf <76103.2541@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE2>
Jon Wolf <76103.2541@compuserve.com> asks:
> Can you now tell us what that one element was?
The element I couldn't quite fit into War....
In B2, Krantz says they found Zathras when there was a flash,
and he appeared in a conference room.
Now, I sketched out that scene when it came time to actually
write the whole WWE two-parter. What happened, basically, was that
Zathras was passing by a room where he saw the one piece he still
needed to finish his repairs on the time stabalizer. He slips in, as
best he can, unnoticed...the meeting goes on as he goes under a table
to get the piece of equipment...he finishes just as there's another
time-flash...as it ends, momentarily disoriented, he's discovered, and
captured.
This would've matched what was in B2, as I'd intended.
Unfortunately, it added several minutes of screen time that I couldn't
afford. I would've had to cut something somewhere else, and that
script was so tight it screamed as it was. So I had to fudge how I did
that and let the small inconsistency go. The only other thing I
could've cut, the one moveable piece, was Sinclair trying to radio
Garibaldi at the end...and I didn't want to lose that.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 25-May-96 20:21:17
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Edward Sykes <101632.3501@compuserve.com>
Subject: US tapes vs Brit tapes?
Edward Sykes <101632.3501@compuserve.com> asks:
> Surely though you have Star Trek videos over there in the US?
Yes, that would be reasonable; what that has to do with how WB
home video works is beyond me....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 25-May-96 20:21:19
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: JMS: Eps for Newbies?
{original post unavailable}
I thought you were supposed to be quarantined?
jms
------------------------------
Date: 25-May-96 20:21:21
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Rick Sharon <76416.2213@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE, part 2>
Rick Sharon <76416.2213@compuserve.com> asks:
> Why do I feel we're starting up another roller coaster hill and
> this one's bigger than the one we just came screaming down? But,
> October?
Thank you. Yeah, the critics have been...well, unfair doesn't
quite seem to describe it. Some of these reviewers are to legitimate
criticism as Auchwitz is to health spas. Still, some of them have
actually begun to turn around. They just totally dismissed us from all
serious consideration right from the start, some because we were SF,
some because we weren't ST.
There's an old saying on Broadway theater: "Nobody but the
audience loved it." And that's what counts.
As far as the last five are concerned...they're an interesting
and mixed bag. The first two are almost, but not quite stand-alones,
each has a couple/three stories going on, and one of each tends to lean
toward the arc. But the last three are seriously hardass. They bring
you right to the edge, and you can see it coming quite clearly...then
drop you.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 25-May-96 20:21:24
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: <David L. Gold> <73177.1161@compuserve.com>
Subject: Sinclair's Scar & More
{original post had no questions}
David, you can say "it seems to me," but I'm telling you it
wasn't, not in relation to the scar. And Sheridan wasn't a "backup"
for Sinclair, he was brought in specifically because I needed somene
who could and would do things in a different way, and had a different
arc. If it was going to track 1-to-1 you wouldn't *need* a new
character.
And the swipe Kosh took at Sheridan wouldn't be *nearly* enough
to cause a huge scar like that.
You're connecting two unconnected incidents.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 25-May-96 20:21:29
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <Third Age>
(blocked) asks:
> Joe, is David the Third Age Of Mankind?
Not as such.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 25-May-96 20:21:31
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Dave Vincent <75460.1133@compuserve.com>
Subject: <War w/o End>
{original post had no questions}
Wow, thanks. Great comments on it all. Makes doing it
worthwhile.
Re: vacation...I wish. We're still doing post production, still
editing, mixing, spotting for music and sound...it's a long process
that will take us right through the prep time for year four, assuming
renewal. I can grab a day here or there, that's about it. And even
while awaiting word, I still have to begin working on year four
scripts. (The tentative title for the first episode of year four is
"The Hour of the Wolf.")
jms
------------------------------
Date: 25-May-96 20:21:34
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Gail Marsella <71551.3200@compuserve.com>
Subject: <War w/o End II>
Gail Marsella <71551.3200@compuserve.com> asks:
> These warm fuzzies of Delenn and Sheridan sleeping peacefully
> together and having a child and winning the war and loving each
> other for decades...JUST WHAT PRICE DO THEY PAY FOR ALL THIS???
> Why do I get the impression it's going to be way too high?
Depends on how you define "too high" a price.
Oh, and yes...better stock up.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 02:08:13
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: White Star Question
{original post unavailable}
Yes, Garibaldi has a big role in "Grey 17 Is Missing."
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 02:08:14
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Linda B. Donahue <104574.621@compuserve.com>
Subject: Sinclair's Scar & More
{original post had no questions}
Extremely well said.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 14:36:39
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Automedia, Inc. <70530.2521@compuserve.com>
Subject: <"War" and Delenn>
Automedia, Inc. <70530.2521@compuserve.com> asks:
> When Delenn is in the center chair on the White Star as Sheridan
> is lost for the second time, what causes her to go down into the
> station at *exactly* the right moment to see and "rescue"
> Sheridan? Was it in her letter?
Mainly just a feeling she had, best to check everything out for
herself, make sure things were going properly, since they were getting
right down to the wire. Also, in case Ivanova got into trouble trying
to get into C&C, she wanted to be closer to the situation to help, if
necessary.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 14:36:42
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Great Show !
{original post unavailable}
Thanks, much appreciated.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 14:36:45
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <Babylon designs>
{original post unavailable}
Thanks. No, the first 3 Babylon stations never got much past
the very earliest stages of construction, just some hull elements, that
sort of thing, nothing that could be recognized. Other forces took
them out, mainly for political reasons.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 14:36:46
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Toni Muller <75223.1575@compuserve.com>
Subject: WWE <<Major Spoiler>>
Toni Muller <75223.1575@compuserve.com> asks:
> Well, physics was not one of my strong suits, but I have to
> wonder if it is more a question of the limitations of our current
> timing or photograpy equipment? How did they "prove" both existed
> simultaneously?
I dunno, but I'm *reasonably* sure there was math involved.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 14:36:48
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: <David L. Gold> <73177.1161@compuserve.com>
Subject: Sinclair's Scar & More
<David L. Gold> <73177.1161@compuserve.com> asks:
> Perhaps it should have been called "B4, And After" ?
Wasn't offended, just trying to be clear.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 14:36:50
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: A. Ellis <74542.2467@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE2>
A. Ellis <74542.2467@compuserve.com> asks:
> Please explain one minor thing I've missed: What does Sinclair
> mean by asking Delenn whether SHE is "airtight?"
It wasn't "airtight," it was "alright," which SHOULD have been
"all right," but the person writing the caption got it wrong.
And thanks.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 14:36:52
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Dave Vincent <75460.1133@compuserve.com>
Subject: <War w/o End>
Dave Vincent <75460.1133@compuserve.com> asks:
> By the by, I have been wondering, now that the War room is a full
> time operation, are their others in the command staff to spell
> Sheridan, Ivonova, and Delenn?
Yes, the war room would have to have support personnel there
when the big guys are off having fun or sleeping.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 14:36:54
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <<WWE2-Vorlons?>>
{original post unavailable}
They'd recognize them from legends of their own past, yes. But
bear in mind that the Minbari and Vorlons had already been working
together in the war effort.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 14:36:56
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Linda B. Donahue <104574.621@compuserve.com>
Subject: Vorlons vs. Shadows
Linda B. Donahue <104574.621@compuserve.com> asks:
> What does that mean?
> Are they of the same fabric?
> The same DNA?
> Are we going to learn more about the Vorlons?
> And are we going to find out more about who the Shadows are, and
> what it is that they want? And how do humans tie into this (since
> humans have a great destiny)? Any word on renewal yet?
Thanks. For now, I'll just say that you'll learn a LOT more
about the shadows, and their relations to the Vorlons, by the end of
the third season.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 14:36:59
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: All
Subject: How Time Flies
I've been going over my notes on the show, and just thought I'd
pass this along to the newer folks to show just how long this show has
been in the works. In looking it all over, I'm already kind of
astonished at how large a chunk of my life this thing has consumed
already.
1986: Babylon 5 is thunk up.
1987: Pilot screenplay and series treatment written, artwork
commissioned.
1987-1991: Five years wandering in the desert of studios and
networks, trying to sell B5.
June 1991: We place Babylon 5 with PTEN.
October 1991: B5 announced to the world.
August 1992: Filming begins on B5 pilot movie.
September 1992: Filming completed on B5 pilot, post production
starts.
February 1993: Pilot airs.
February 1994: First season begins airing.
It's odd sometimes to consider that though this is the 3rd
season of Babylon 5, it's been a part of my life for 10 years, about
25% of my life; trying to sell it, selling it, making it. And this
month marks about 5 years since we placed it with PTEN.
Jeez, but that's a long haul....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 19:52:20
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: The Encounter (UK Con)
{original post unavailable}
No, not likely.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 19:52:21
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Alan L. Ravitch <73627.3126@compuserve.com>
Subject: WWE2-Cousin Bruce Morrow
Alan L. Ravitch <73627.3126@compuserve.com> asks:
> Just out of curiousity...was there something special (like you
> know, a "celebrity request" for a part cause they like the show,
> and/or what were the circumstances that led to East Coast Radio
> Legend Cousin Bruce Morrow's part in WWE2?
Thanks. No, basically, he just kinda wanted to do it, and we
said sure.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 19:52:22
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Automedia, Inc. <70530.2521@compuserve.com>
Subject: Mira's words on JMS/B5
{original post had no questions}
That's great, she's very generous. Thanks.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 19:52:25
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Shane S. Shellenbarger <104305.3404@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<War Without End>>
Shane S. Shellenbarger <104305.3404@compuserve.com> asks:
> How about that line as a promo?
Warners'd never use it....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 19:52:28
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <WWE II - YES!>
{original post had no questions}
Nope.
Minbari *do* have more than one ceremony, after all....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 19:52:31
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Elyse M. Grasso <70302.3304@compuserve.com>
Subject: <War w/o End>
Elyse M. Grasso <70302.3304@compuserve.com> asks:
> Do you have a tentative title for season 4 yet, or is that
> classified, either for spoiler purposes or until we're sure there
> will be a season 4?
I generally hold back on the overall title until we're deeper
into it.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 19:52:34
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <War w/o End II>
(blocked) asks:
> Is Zathras the "man in the middle" from Sheridan's dream?
No, Zathras isn't the man in the middle. Someone else is. And
it isn't/wasn't Sinclair, either.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 19:52:36
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Elyse M. Grasso <70302.3304@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE 1&2>
{original post had no questions}
Thanks, and thanks again a second time for giving me a GREAT
reason for, er, *deliberately* making those little mistakes...yes,
that's right, I had to think about not causing the end of the universe,
after all...writer have great responsibility, yes, thinking great
thoughts, Zathras knows what he is doing...are you going to finish
those fries?
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 19:52:39
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <Sinclair/Sheridan?>
{original post unavailable}
I believe it was G'Kar who commented on the notion that he was
both reassured and frightened by the knowledge that there were
mysteries out there that could never be adequately explained, and that
they shouldn't be, in order that there might still be mystery in the
universe.
File this reply under that heading.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 21:09:56
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: How many Centauri......
{original post unavailable}
Actually, variations on that joke were told at a number of
conventions; it's the obvious one to go for, given that for a while the
"how many X does it take to change a lightbulb?" question was racing
all around the nets. There were literally hundreds of them; of which,
this or a variation on it was the most common one floating around...so
I let it go in as a nod to the nets.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 21:09:57
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Automedia, Inc. <70530.2521@compuserve.com>
Subject: The *other* story...?
Automedia, Inc. <70530.2521@compuserve.com> asks:
> Is it the Valen/Zathras story or is it the David/Future story or
> is it something else entirely? Or is this something you'd rather
> not answer yet?
Rather not answer yet.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 21:10:00
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Sinclair's Scar & More
{original post unavailable}
The secret of writing: get your character up a tree and throw
rocks at him.
I throw big rocks.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 21:10:01
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: <David L. Gold> <73177.1161@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE2>
<David L. Gold> <73177.1161@compuserve.com> asks:
> Kinda curious here, but since the show is closed captioned -
> would those lines have been included in the closed captioning? And
> if it was, did *they* get the spelling right?
No, doubt they were captioned.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 21:10:03
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Ray Pelzer <70475.1263@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE2>
Ray Pelzer <70475.1263@compuserve.com> asks:
> And as for the little "keepers", are they a going-away present
> from the Shadows, or are they ANOTHER item with which we must
> concern ourselves?
You needn't concern yourself with the keeper...for a while yet.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 21:10:05
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Rebecca Eschliman <76072.2345@compuserve.com>
Subject: <War...Part 2>
{original post had no questions}
Good analysis, as usual. The thematic elements are often
overlooked.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 21:10:06
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <WWE2>Bets&other stuff
(blocked) asks:
> Would you mind settling a bet for me?
> Since she's willing to stake $5 on this, and I'm desperatleing
> need of cash, I figured who better to ask than the Great Maker
> himself...?
It's the exact same chrysalis device in both episodes.
And you win the bet.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 26-May-96 23:24:51
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <War w/o End II>
(blocked) asks:
> Do we have enough information to figure this out yet, or are
> there more clues on the way?
No, you don't have all the info yet. But you will by the
season's end.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 27-May-96 20:25:38
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Penguins Attack!
{original post unavailable}
We're keeping that information on ice for now.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 27-May-96 20:25:40
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: D.N. Cid (UK) <101647.250@compuserve.com>
Subject: Character Casting
D.N. Cid (UK) <101647.250@compuserve.com> asks:
> I was wondering if this was indeed intentional?
Thanks. Yes, we do try and cast from a variety of backgrounds,
and allow for different accents and the like. We haven't done as much
as I'd like, I think we did more in season 3 than in 2, but I still
think we can do more of it.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 27-May-96 20:25:42
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: John Bovenmyer <73567.1341@compuserve.com>
Subject: MacUser mention
John Bovenmyer <73567.1341@compuserve.com> asks:
> Any chance of modifying the rerun schedule to slip in a rerun of
> Babylon Squared so we can rewatch it with recent revelations in
> mind?
Alas, I have zip influence over airing schedules.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 27-May-96 20:25:45
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <WWE, part 2>
(blocked) asks:
> You gonna be ready to reedit the show in 20 years ala Star Wars?
I'm still working on doing it, now to even think about re-doing
it is more than my poor brain can handle....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 27-May-96 20:25:48
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <<WWE2 - Spoilers & ? >>
{original post unavailable}
Thanks for all that, it's much appreciated. And don't worry
about "running off at the mouth." If folks around here can stand me,
then can put up with just about anybody.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 27-May-96 20:25:49
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Some thots on <<WWE2>>
(blocked) asks:
> You mean you're actually human?
Unless you've heard something....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 27-May-96 20:25:53
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <WWE2>
(blocked) asks:
> When will I no longer be confused?
Well, the reason Delenn dropped the globe will be gone into by
the end of the season; as for "when will (you) no longer be confused?"
that's rather outside my purview. Have you considered meditation?
jms
------------------------------
Date: 27-May-96 20:25:54
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Dave Vincent <75460.1133@compuserve.com>
Subject: <War w/o End>
Dave Vincent <75460.1133@compuserve.com> asks:
> Will we see any of them or at least hear mention of them?
Well, you see them every time you go into the set.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 27-May-96 20:25:56
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Jonathan Kass <74130.443@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<WWE 2 Time Flashes>>
Jonathan Kass <74130.443@compuserve.com> asks:
> What caused Delenn's time flash?
> Also, are we to assume Sheridan didn't have any other
> "interesting" flashes before Delenn gave him the stabilizer?
Throughout the episode, whenever there's a tachyon burst, pretty
much everyone has a timeflash of one sort or another (as also mentioned
in Babylon Squared).
jms
------------------------------
Date: 27-May-96 21:10:03
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Michael Grabois <74737.2600@compuserve.com>
Subject: Attn: JMS, Continuity
Michael Grabois <74737.2600@compuserve.com> asks:
> And did we ever hear anything about the B4 crew that was
> evacuated?
Yeah, I know about the sleeve...and actually she didn't touch
him in WWE2. It was one of those days when it was a hideous production
schedule, and I wasn't on set, and it slipped by everybody else.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 27-May-96 21:10:05
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Neil S. Turkenkopf <102664.3532@compuserve.com>
Subject: WWE2-Cousin Bruce Morrow
{original post had no questions}
Thanks, and always feel free to join in.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 27-May-96 21:10:07
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Gillian M. Nicholls <104565.3115@compuserve.com>
Subject: Mira's words on JMS/B5
Gillian M. Nicholls <104565.3115@compuserve.com> asks:
> JMS: Just out of curiosity, where is Mira Furlan from?
> Is it likely Babylon 5 will be back for another season?
Mira's from Yugoslavia...and no word yet on renewal.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 27-May-96 21:10:09
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: TIMOTHY R. GREEN <73023.143@compuserve.com>
Subject: How Time Flies
{original post had no questions}
Oddly enough, the suits (studio execs) have basically come to
trust us to do this right...and that's hard won.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 27-May-96 21:10:11
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: How Time Flies
{original post unavailable}
Thanks. That was the one thing I just didn't want to do,
disappoint the fans, as I'd been disappointed so many times *as* a fan.
We'll never be perfect, however much I try, there will always be
glitches, and more glitches, and sons of glitches, but we always work
to make it as good as humanly possible. It's certainly the story I
always wanted to see, and hope that others feel the same.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 27-May-96 21:10:14
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Mike Hoffmann <100321.2604@compuserve.com>
Subject: B5 RENEWED? YES? YES!
{original post had no questions}
No, the information is *not* true, and I sent Steve a note about
this. The meeting to renew/not renew B5 hasn't happened yet, though
it'll be happening shortly. Some individual stations have signed on,
but that isn't the same thing as renewal, since WB will make its
decision based on the final number of stations that do sign on, vs.
those that don't, or those that put it in an unworkable timeslot.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 27-May-96 21:10:16
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Drop-Jawed with Delight
{original post had no questions}
Thanks, and I'm happy to be here. Just part of the service....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 27-May-96 21:10:18
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: First season question
{original post unavailable}
Delenn had intended to tell Sinclair much about the soul issue
before entering the chrysalis.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 27-May-96 21:10:20
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: B5 and station-swapping
{original post unavailable}
Yes, any other independent station in your area can pick up B5
if the current station stops carrying it. This has in fact happened in
several places where stations didn't support it, dropped it, and
another picked it up and did much better with it. And thanks.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 27-May-96 21:10:23
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Steven K. Andeweg <72143.674@compuserve.com>
Subject: B5 Screen Saver
{original post had no questions}
Thanks, yeah, I use it myself, nifty stuff.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 27-May-96 21:10:25
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Casey J. Peter <73453.2074@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE II>
Casey J. Peter <73453.2074@compuserve.com> asks:
> Any non Vorlon thoughts on that?
Thanks. Lurker's pulled the flash because it ain't so, and I
indicated as much to them. Obviously they're eager, and want for good
news to come soon, as do we all, so they can't be faulted for
enthusiasm.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 27-May-96 21:10:27
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <War W/o End #2>
{original post unavailable}
Thanks; showing the end of a story at or near the middle is a
literary device that's sometimes used by novelists that can be very
effective, if used properly. It shows you what happens, but leaves
open *how* you got there, and what it means.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 27-May-96 21:10:29
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <<Time Travel Ques.>>
(blocked) asks:
> talking about time travel, was the scenes with garibaldi with
> more hair, scenes that where taped back during the first season,
> or where they taped now? is that true and how many episodes are
> left of season three?
Yes, the Garibaldi scenes in part 2 were all from the first
season; and the last 5 eps will apparently be held for October to ramp
up the ratings for the November sweeps.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 27-May-96 21:10:31
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Brian P. Delaney <103640.3511@compuserve.com>
Subject: Some thots on <<WWE2>>
Brian P. Delaney <103640.3511@compuserve.com> asks:
> master plan?
> or just a pleasant episodic dalliance?
Good heavens, no, I wasn't offended...I guess what was coming
out was the "tone" I really tend to hold in my own internal dialogues
when I go over the good parts and the flaws. You must understand that
I'm *far* more critical of this show than anyone else could EVER be.
So no, good grief, there was no offense taken at all.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 27-May-96 21:10:34
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Richard M. Perry <76461.2737@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE pt2>
Richard M. Perry <76461.2737@compuserve.com> asks:
> I will always go" and Kosh's "I will always be here"?
> Also, I was wondering which way did Delenn slide (past or future)
> and what did she experience? What warning was attempted to be
> given to her? (maybe that was why he gave in to Sheridan, because
> he knew it must come) Oh, I almost forgot; does Valen go on to
> have a wife and childern in those 100 yrs? And if so where does
> his line continue into? (maybe Delenn?
No, the two statements don't have any relationship; and Delenn's
flash was a look forward.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 28-May-96 11:45:30
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: >>WwE 2<<spoiler
(blocked) asks:
> When we see Vir pick up the symbol of the Emperor after Londo and
> G'Kar are dead, does he already have a keeper as Londo did?
No, Vir doesn't have a keeper. They would, of course, try to
take care of that detail afterward.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 28-May-96 11:45:31
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <WWE pt2>
(blocked) asks:
> Were these two events connected?
> Was the Minbari warrior caste trying to change the *past*?
No, they weren't trying to change the past, and that wouldn't
have done it. There are always extremists in every caste, and Minbari
are no exception.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 28-May-96 11:45:33
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <<War Without End>>
{original post unavailable}
Thanks. Lennier will be getting some more screen time shortly,
in the next batch of episodes. (There's some very nice stuff with him
and both Delenn and Marcus in "Grey 17 Is Missing.")
"intellectual crack"...an interesting notion....
Thanks again.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 28-May-96 11:45:34
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Bill MacIntosh <70275.1372@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE 1 Ivanova>
Bill MacIntosh <70275.1372@compuserve.com> asks:
> How do you explain this apparent inconsistency?
> Have I (and at least one other B5 fan I have spoken with) simply
> misunderstood Ivanova's character or are you implying that the
> awesome might and destruction wrought by the Shadows would have
> been enough to cause anyone to crack?
With most of their systems down, everyone around her dead,
Sheridan dead, knowing she's about to die and there's nothing she can
do about it, and obviously knowing full well who's out there...about to
witness the deaths of a quarter million sentients on the station...I
felt a bit of an outburst, a final letting go of the emotions, was not
inappropriate for her. (Although I do think Claudia may have played it
a bit too hysterical at times; separate the lines from the performance
and look at it again.)
jms
------------------------------
Date: 28-May-96 11:45:35
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: B5 RENEWED? YES? YES!
{original post unavailable}
Screw 'em. We've been declared dead more times than Lazarus.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 28-May-96 11:45:38
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Alan Kaiser <76003.1050@compuserve.com>
Subject: B5 Story Arc
Alan Kaiser <76003.1050@compuserve.com> asks:
> 1) When will we learn who Delenn saw in her flashfoward/flashback
> (which?) when the door opens? 2) The reception here was not that
> good...did the two vorlons we saw have Minbari faces? Are they
> related? 3) When will we ever learn who built the Great Machine on
> Epsilon? Has it a greater role to play in the story?
> 4) If WWE could have been 3 episodes, would you have done it?
> Will you be fleshing out many of those fragments down the road or
> leave most of it "as it stands"?
There's not much point to asking me "when are we going to learn
who Delenn saw in her flashforward." Or similar questions. I will not
throw away the impact of something happening in an episode by blowing
it out in a message. There have to be surprises along the way. You'll
see it when it happens.
No, WWE couldn't have been 3 episodes. Yes, it had enough
story for it, and then some, but you can't take one storyline and
stretch it out that far. I wouldn't have done it even if I could.
I'd've had to introduce a B story just to break it up a little, because
3 hours of just a straight line one-story plot is murder. And that
defeats the purpose of expanding it.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 28-May-96 16:55:19
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: B5 RENEWED? YES? YES!
{original post unavailable}
Thanks. At this point, it's all in the hands of the numbers
crunchers; if the ratings are good enough, and there are enough
stations on board, we go; if not, not. We should know soon.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 28-May-96 22:21:17
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: How Time Flies
{original post unavailable}
Thanks. At this point, all that can be done regarding season 4
has been done, and now it's in the hands of the number crunchers.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 28-May-96 22:21:19
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Larry Rosenblum <72122.1555@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE II>
Larry Rosenblum <72122.1555@compuserve.com> asks:
> If Delenn still has it in her quarters in 2260, having used it in
> 2258/59, from where did Zathras get it in order to bring it along
> to Babylon 4?
From Epsilon 3. It was on Epsilon 3, then taken into the past
with B4, held on Minbar until Delenn got it, and still has it.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 28-May-96 22:21:21
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Mark D. Smith <70254.107@compuserve.com>
Subject: <War W/o End #2>
Mark D. Smith <70254.107@compuserve.com> asks:
> PMJI, but around which episode will you reveal what the Shadows
> really want and their reasons for their attacks?
Toward the end of this season is all I'll say for now.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 28-May-96 22:21:23
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Larry Rosenblum <72122.1555@compuserve.com>
Subject: WwE1 & Zathras
{original post had no questions}
Thanks...I like Zathras. He's a hoot.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 28-May-96 22:21:25
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Larry Rosenblum <72122.1555@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<Time Travel Ques.>>
Larry Rosenblum <72122.1555@compuserve.com> asks:
> What happens to the consciousness of the Sheridan of the future
> while he is being "inhabited" by the Sheridan of the past? Does
> the Sheridan of the future remember what has gone on?
The future Sheridan would have a little memory of what happened
during that time, but it'd be almost dreamlike, two steps removed.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 28-May-96 22:21:27
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Ray Pelzer <70475.1263@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Babylon designs>
{original post had no questions}
Those aren't 3s, those are Bs in which there's a stylized 4.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 29-May-96 00:02:17
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: JMS: Eps for Newbies?
(blocked) asks:
> Did you forget Severed Dreams, or was that left out on purpose?
Oops, yeah, I forgot it...I glaze over somedays....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 29-May-96 00:02:20
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Timothy C Schell <71174.2414@compuserve.com>
Subject: How Time Flies
Timothy C Schell <71174.2414@compuserve.com> asks:
> Knowing that you have accomplished much besides B5, I'm wondering
> how you feel about being tagged as "Joe Straczynski, the guy who
> created Babylon 5?"
"Joe, you are already *known* for B5 and, given two more seasons and
the repeat deal on TNT, you will only become more noticed. Maybe this
will change in the future, but as of 1996 when people think of you they
will probably identify you with B5. Knowing that you have accomplished
much besides B5, I'm wondering how you feel about being tagged as "Joe
Straczynski, the guy who created Babylon 5?""
It bothers me not at all.
Every writer has one seminal work for which he or she is most
known. For Heinlein, STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND; for Herbert, DUNE; for
Smith, the LENSMAN books; for Tolkein, LORD OF THE RINGS; for Bradbury
THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES. I don't put myself anywhere NEAR that
league...I'd be doing good just to carry their pencils...but my sense
is that even though I've done a lot of stuff prior to B5, and will
likely do a lot more after, this is almost certainly the one work for
which I'll be most known, and remembered. (Which is also why I'm
working so hard to make it right.)
Doesn't bother me at all; I'm proud and pleased to be associated
with this show, and always will be.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 29-May-96 00:02:23
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Darran Williams <101656.2143@compuserve.com>
Subject: B5 RENEWED? YES? YES!
Darran Williams <101656.2143@compuserve.com> asks:
> Are you likely to have any news for us at the 'The Encounter'
> convention on renewal ?
Dunno, we'll see....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 29-May-96 00:02:25
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: B5 RENEWED? YES? YES!
{original post unavailable}
I remain cautiously optimistic.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 29-May-96 00:02:27
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Mike Hoffmann <100321.2604@compuserve.com>
Subject: B5 RENEWED? YES? YES!
{original post had no questions}
Forgiven, forgotten, gone.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 29-May-96 00:02:30
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Rebecca Eschliman <76072.2345@compuserve.com>
Subject: Scriptwriting Text
{original post had no questions}
So there's sex, dolls, aliens, playing house...and me.
Seems about right.
BTW, when *is* the ABA?
jms
------------------------------
Date: 29-May-96 00:02:33
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <WWE II>
(blocked) asks:
> But you answer to that will be "wait and see", right?
> Speaking of them, was that thingy on Londo's shoulder his
> controller?
Yes, that was his keeper.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 29-May-96 00:02:34
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Casey J. Peter <73453.2074@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE II>
{original post had no questions}
Thanks. Actually, the final demographic report just came out
for the second quarter of 1996, and we now officially have the *best*
demographics of ANY dramatic series in syndication, finally beating DS9
and Baywatch.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 29-May-96 00:02:35
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <War W/o End #2>
{original post unavailable}
No, no Garp ending planned at this juncture.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 29-May-96 00:02:37
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <War W/o End #2>
{original post unavailable}
If you check out some of the more experimental South American
magic realism and fantasy work, you'll find this used a bit more.
Also, I believe that Pratchett and Gaiman's collaboration kind of began
at the ending (unless my memory is acting up again).
jms
------------------------------
Date: 29-May-96 00:02:40
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Steve Brightman <73420.3057@compuserve.com>
Subject: WWE <<Major Spoiler>>
Steve Brightman <73420.3057@compuserve.com> asks:
> After all aren't they technically superior to the Minbari ?
Time travel isn't that easy, and at this juncture it will never
happen again in the B5 universe.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 29-May-96 02:26:25
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: IT IS DONE
{original post unavailable}
The thanks are entirely mine.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 30-May-96 03:11:07
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Chris Croughton (UK) <100014.3217@compuserve.com>
Subject: How Time Flies
Chris Croughton (UK) <100014.3217@compuserve.com> asks:
> Do you think that after this anything else will be a bit of a
> let-down? Or is that why you want to get out of TV and do
> something different, so you won't be competing with yourself?
My sense about getting out of TV when B5 is over is that I feel
I'd've said most of what I want to say for television. The only things
that could keep me in would be an anthology, or something right on the
cutting edge, something with which we could make another kind of
history. But those don't tend to come around very often....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 30-May-96 03:11:10
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Ken Adams <74065.751@compuserve.com>
Subject: B5 Screen Saver
Ken Adams <74065.751@compuserve.com> asks:
> Joe: Is the B5 screensaver available for the MAC, and , if so,
> how does one acquire it? 4 MONTHS?!!!?
No, as it happens, no Mac screen saver for now.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 30-May-96 03:11:11
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: William O'Connor <75231.3643@compuserve.com>
Subject: JMS:Chicago Blues Fest
{original post had no questions}
I think they've got me scheduled up the wazoo, so I think that
will preclude any expeditions.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 30-May-96 03:11:13
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Alan Hedge <72017.3232@compuserve.com>
Subject: WwE1 & Zathras
Alan Hedge <72017.3232@compuserve.com> asks:
> One question though, Zathras say Zathras oldest living keeper of
> Great Machine (or something like that), but why Zathras not still
> keeper? Was Zathras keeper before (forget name, Drall's
> predecessor)? Did Zathras do something wrong so that Zathras not
> kepper anymore? Or did Al misunderstand what Zathras meant?
No, just that Zathras has worked on the machine, and survived
it, the longest of all the others.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 30-May-96 03:11:15
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Michael Beemer <71551.1670@compuserve.com>
Subject: Sinclair's Scar & More
Michael Beemer <71551.1670@compuserve.com> asks:
> What did you guys do with our ambassador?"
Well, Minbar isn't being very receptive to Earth at the moment,
and will probably just put them on hold...indefinitely....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 30-May-96 03:39:59
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Anthony J. Bryant <71233.3035@compuserve.com>
Subject: Mira's words on JMS/B5
Anthony J. Bryant <71233.3035@compuserve.com> asks:
> Ever thought about (probably post-series) novelizing the arc
> itself?
One crisis at a time....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 30-May-96 03:40:03
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Chas T Freund <75036.160@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<Opening Credits SD+>>
Chas T Freund <75036.160@compuserve.com> asks:
> So why are our hero's still wearing EA uniforms?
Because changing one picture, or a credit caption, is a *heck*
of a lot simpler than changing 4 pictures and redoing the whole thing.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 30-May-96 03:40:07
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <<WWE 2 Time Flashes>>
{original post unavailable}
It'd be very difficult to go back now and just drop in those
other time flashes; it's hard to work that in dramatically.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 30-May-96 03:40:09
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <WWE 1 Ivanova>
{original post unavailable}
"You hand this woman a script and say to her, "Miss C., everyone
around you is dead and you are in command.
The station is falling down around you and you're in terrible
pain, about to die by decompression or laser burns or crushing--or
worse, you could become a Morden and be controlled by the Shadows the
rest of your life.
You have no hope of rescue.
You may not know where you are."
And then you say she was a tiny bit on the hysterical side?"
Hey...from where I sit, that's just another day at the office.
Don't know many producer/writers, do you?
jms
------------------------------
Date: 30-May-96 03:40:11
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Vivien Loveday <100705.2440@compuserve.com>
Subject: <sinclair season5?>
Vivien Loveday <100705.2440@compuserve.com> asks:
> Does this mean that we will see Sinclair again?
> Or is this just a slight alteration of the timing of various
> sections of the ARC?
The arc is a fluid creature when she needs to be....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 30-May-96 03:48:16
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: William H. DiPaola <76521.1751@compuserve.com>
Subject: <<UK Dust 2 Dust>>
{original post had no questions}
BTW, here's something to notice when you watch DTD again. The
montage scene with Londo and G'Kar lasts, I think, 10 maybe 12 seconds.
But that one piece took John and me *hours* to put together. Go
through frame by frame, and you'll see some of those bits are only 3 or
4 frames long (one second is 24 frames). We were nearly blind by the
time we were done, but it was worth it.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 30-May-96 03:48:17
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: <David L. Gold> <73177.1161@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Sheridan:A Man Unstuck>
<David L. Gold> <73177.1161@compuserve.com> asks:
> Why did he appear on the Centari homeworld?
> Why not on Earth, or Minbar, or well - deep space?
> The Abyss of *what*?
> The Abyss of going back in the time vortex?
> The Abyss of deep space?
> The Abyss of the Shadow's base on Z'ha'dum?
> What?
> And if he jumped to the place where his future-self was, then
> what happened to his future-self once the present-day Sheridan
> popped in?
Simple logic. Sheridan slid forward in time, to wherever he was
at that moment in the future. He didn't just go hopping around
aimlessly; if he flipped 10 days ahead, he'd come into his body at that
point 10 days from now, wherever he happened to be. At that moment, 17
years down the road, he happened to be on Centauri Prime.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 30-May-96 03:48:18
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: All
Subject: jms on radio in LA
For those in the Los Angeles area, I'll be appearing on my old
stomping grounds, HOUR 25, on KPFK-FM 90.7 this Friday from 10 p.m. to
midnight.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 30-May-96 12:17:44
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: annie <104246.3046@compuserve.com>
Subject: Scriptwriting Text
annie <104246.3046@compuserve.com> asks:
> Franklin be back before next year?
Franklin isn't gone from the show; he's in the very next
episode, in a major way, and has a big part in "Shadow Dancing." He
just has a lot to work out right now.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 30-May-96 12:17:45
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Shane S. Shellenbarger <104305.3404@compuserve.com>
Subject: <WWE pt2>
Shane S. Shellenbarger <104305.3404@compuserve.com> asks:
> Joe, Would stating who said hello to Delenn in her flash-forward
> be too much of a spoiler?
Absolutely.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 30-May-96 12:17:54
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Just curious...
{original post unavailable}
What an interesting question....
I don't think it *has* affected me, but that's my my subjective
point of view, and that's a self-serving analysis, so let's start from
the assumption that that may be flawed, and proceed from there.
Main reason I think it hasn't affected or changed me is that I
haven't had *time* for it. Once we got the go-ahead for the series, I
stuck my head in a B5 shaped hole in the ground and haven't had time to
come up for air yet. Once I've finished the show, and can take a moment
to look around, will I become a complete butthead? Possible, but I
don't think so.
My problem is the same as it's always been...I'm *extremely*
self critical. The doofus in the mirror today, 3 years into B5 is the
same doofus I saw there 3-4 years ago. I know the areas in which I'm a
jerk, and the areas in which I'm golden...they haven't changed much. I
also have a hard time applying the reaction to *the show* to myself.
The show is a thing apart, somehow. Whenever someone thanks me for the
show, I tend to get kinda abashed about the whole thing...which is why
you don't tend to see messages from me elaborating on someone's
appreciation. Usually it's just a "thanks" and we move on. If I
wanted to feed that, or keep it going, I could do so. But for me, the
Babylon 5 universe has a certain reality about it, somewhere deep in my
brain, and I'm just writing down what happens there. (No, I can still
tell fact from fiction...but I've just been living in that fictional
place so long that it becomes second nature...imagine your best friend
walking across the den late at night, and banging his/her shin on the
coffee table. It doesn't take a great leap of imagination to figure out
what your friend will say in reaction...it comes naturally. So do the
events in B5, by virtue of knowing the characters and the universe as
well as I do.)
I will tell you a terrible but true thing: when I go to a
convention and take the stage...I never hear the applause. I'm so
concerned with what I'm going to say, the need to find some way to
appear even *remotely* interesting when I know the reality is far from
it, to make sure these good people get their money's worth, a
performance...that I don't hear it, try as I might. I want to, I would
like to...but it's as if it's intended for someone else, and he or she
couldn't make it, and I'm being thrust out onto the stage to substitute
for someone interesting.
I think that if I've changed at all, it's to become a little
more cautious and introspective. (Witness this message.) As that
famous Greek philosopher Peter Parker once pointed out, "With power
comes responsibility." Because of this show, I have an unexpected
platform; so I have become more wary in how I use it in order to avoid
abusing it. With that comes the desire to find ways to use it in a
positive fashion...to encourage other people to find their own dreams,
to ask questions and put out good information on how TV works, so that
people can better influence what they see and hear in this medium, and
get what they want, not what somebody *thinks* they want.
Finally, I think I'm fairly aware of my relative position in
society; can there be any lesser celebrity than a producer, anything
more ephemeral than a television writer? Between writing, prep,
shooting, and post, it takes us about 3 months to make one
episode...which is gone in an hour, phosphor dots sent cruising toward
Andromeda at the speed of starlight. It's been debated here before, but
I still hold fast to the notion that the really important people, the
ones doing the work that will influence the next hundred years, are the
teachers and the builders and the researchers who are creating the
*real* future, not writing about a fictional one. I can write 1,000
episodes of B5...and it won't cure one person of polio, that took Dr.
Jonas Salk.
Television as a medium is too important to turn over to the
visigoths, can be used to great purpose...it can ignite controversy,
entertain, educate and ennoble; it can propel us toward the stars or
bring down a president. But it is always ephemeral, of the moment; it
does not last, does not endure. If you're very lucky, your show can
last 10 years before it becomes dated, out of style, behind the times.
Where it can inspire people to do more with their lives in ways that
make a permanent difference, then it is of greater value, and that is
my hope for this show.
But that's the show. Not me.
I'm still the doofus in the mirror.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 30-May-96 12:17:55
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: William O'Connor <75231.3643@compuserve.com>
Subject: JMS:Chicago Blues Fest
{original post had no questions}
Thanks; if I can, I will.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 30-May-96 12:17:59
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Londo & G'Kar
{original post unavailable}
Will you see Londo and G'Kar together later this season?
Hmmmm......
Yes and no.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 30-May-96 12:18:01
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: annie <104246.3046@compuserve.com>
Subject: How Time Flies
{original post had no questions}
Thanks...we'll see what happens when it happens.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 31-May-96 00:18:47
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <<UK Dust 2 Dust>>
{original post unavailable}
Ah...noticed that, eh...?
jms
------------------------------
Date: 31-May-96 00:18:50
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Mira's words on JMS/B5
{original post unavailable}
"You always type in riddles"
Well, I *tried* typing in Iambic Pentameter, but nobody got it.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 31-May-96 00:18:52
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Michael Beemer <71551.1670@compuserve.com>
Subject: jms on radio in LA
Michael Beemer <71551.1670@compuserve.com> asks:
> For those of us who aren't in the area, are tapes of the program
> available?
No, tapes aren't generally available.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 31-May-96 00:18:54
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Meryl Yourish <103470.2703@compuserve.com>
Subject: Just curious...
{original post had no questions}
That's great to hear, and I'm happy the words touched your aunt;
that makes it all worthwhile. Thanks.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 31-May-96 00:18:56
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Tom Knudsen <72347.1626@compuserve.com>
Subject: Just curious...
{original post had no questions}
Thanks. There's always a danger in trying too hard to teach, of
course, and I try to avoid that. (It's just that I actually love
teaching.) Back a few years ago, when I still used to teach writing
here and there, I trained my class that when I started to go off and
start pontificating to excess, they were to say, as with one voice,
"Shuuuuuttt uppppp."
Worked every time.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 31-May-96 00:18:59
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Rebecca Eschliman <76072.2345@compuserve.com>
Subject: Just curious...
{original post had no questions}
I dunno...the last time I peeked through the mirror to the other
side all I saw was gears, wheels, fan belts and 27 pairs of yellow
slitted eyes.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 31-May-96 00:19:05
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Rick Parry <102620.113@compuserve.com>
Subject: KJAZZ 14 SLC
{original post had no questions}
Thanks....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 31-May-96 00:19:06
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Brent Barrett <70530.2521@compuserve.com>
Subject: Delenn's Cycles
Brent Barrett <70530.2521@compuserve.com> asks:
> Which is correct, or are they both correct?
> How old (in standard/Earth years) is Delenn anyway?
I think it's the difference between serving the council in
general, and being *on* the Council.
(That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)
jms
------------------------------
Date: 31-May-96 00:19:08
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: <WWE II>
{original post unavailable}
Thanks....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 31-May-96 00:19:11
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Cathy Holley <75204.1515@compuserve.com>
Subject: WWE <<Major Spoiler>>
Cathy Holley <75204.1515@compuserve.com> asks:
> Subatomic particles are tricky creatures <g> Did you know that
> electrons can hop from place to place, yet never go through the
> in-between?
How odd, I navigate the same way....
jms
------------------------------
Date: 31-May-96 00:19:13
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Dimitri M LaBarge <71501.3353@compuserve.com>
Subject: <Sheridan:A Man Unstuck>
Dimitri M LaBarge <71501.3353@compuserve.com> asks:
> Does that mean it would have been impossible for him to have
> become unstuck in time and reappeared in, say, his own body ten
> minutes after he was murdered?
You hate me, don't you...?
jms
------------------------------
Date: 31-May-96 00:19:15
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: WWE
{original post unavailable}
We'll top it because that's what we do.
And thanks.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 31-May-96 00:19:17
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: ^The Shadows^
{original post unavailable}
Well...actually...none of those are it.
And as an aside...please be careful, if story suggestions or
storylines get posted, it can cause me a problem.
That aside...good thoughts, well considered. And thanks.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 31-May-96 00:19:19
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: Vicki Mitchell <76234.1317@compuserve.com>
Subject: War Without End
{original post had no questions}
Thanks; there's a break for a bit now, but I think you'll find
the next batch quite interesting.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 31-May-96 00:25:29
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Spoiler Vorlon Question
{original post unavailable}
The rumor's wrong.
jms
------------------------------