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2159 lines
92 KiB
2159 lines
92 KiB
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This file includes a compilation of posts on GEnie by J. Michael
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Straczynski in the Babylon 5 category. The posts are copyright by JMS
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(and compilation copyright is by GEnie).
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Posts are from late September 1993 through Oct 31, 1993
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************
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Topic 1 Mon Oct 26, 1992
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SF-MARSHALL [Dave ] at 18:50 EST
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Sub: Babylon 5 - The Series (Non-Spoiler)
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Welcome to the Babylon 5 category and main topic for the new series. Here is
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the place for all general information on the series. Topic 2 is the location
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for SPOILERS. And please, NO STORY IDEAS are to be posted either.
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616 message(s) total.
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************
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------------
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 73 Fri Sep 24, 1993
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:33 EDT
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Just to clarify: we'll be delivering *finished* episodes as early as mid-
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October. That's everything, music, EFX, everything. PTEN doesn't begin its
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new "season" until January, so that's when they'll begin airing. But we'll
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have nearly a dozen or so episodes in the can when we begin airing.
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jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 82 Fri Sep 24, 1993
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 22:30 EDT
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Jon...I sympathize. I generally carried a pretty heavy load in college.
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My next-to-last year, just to get the hell OUT of there, I managed to crash
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courses and evade the university limits and ended up with 28 units in one
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semester...and none of them basket weaving stuff, either...statistical
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analysis (imagine ME in that one), physiological psychology, 6 units of
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German, biology....
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I was, shall we say, insane....
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jms
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------------
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 85 Sat Sep 25, 1993
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:47 EDT
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As an aside...one of the things that's been great to watch over the last
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few months is how the crew and cast have really come together. On a lot
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(though certainly not all) of shows, once you finish the day, the crew goes
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off in as many different directions as possible. Ditto with the cast.
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But now, on top of the B5 softball team, now there's a B5 golf team, both
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in-house for B5 tournaments, and to play others. Softball is on Saturday,
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golf is on Sunday. Groups of the crew get together socially on the weekends,
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have barbeques and dinners. When we wrap for the day, there is generally a
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large contingent that heads down to a nearby restaurant to hang out together
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and get coffee and something to eat. The other softball teams have been
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astonished because we generally have lots of cast come out to play as well.
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At the last game, Michael O'Hare, Jerry Doyle, Richard Biggs (pitching) and
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Andrea Thompson all showed up and played. (Jerry hit a homer.)
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There are always hassles, and last minute problems, and the occasional
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bursts of crankiness that come with TV production, but for the most part it
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seems that the cast and crew are genuinely having a good time on the show, and
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that's always a good sign.
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No special reason for mentioning it, except I was thinking about it, and
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it's kinda nice....
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jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 97 Sat Sep 25, 1993
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 22:08 EDT
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So far, the team's 1 for 2; their first game against SeaQuest (our team
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came to play and have a good time, the other team came to WIN) went to the SQ
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team. Our people spent the week practicing between setups and at lunch -- we
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set up a milk carton for our new pitcher to practice his shot -- and this time
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we won over "Dave's World." Though I wasn't there -- everyone ELSE gets to go
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play, *I* have to stay chained to a keyboard -- apparently it was a repeat on
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one level, in that there were maybe 8 from the "Dave's" side in the stands,
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and we had something 50-60 people from our side show up to cheer on the team.
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(Though we had a core bunch of players, anybody who wanted to play, played.)
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Again Jerry, Andrea and Richard Biggs showed up; Michael was otherwise
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engaged.
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Just recently, btw, I gave Larry DiTillio a printout with just a little
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of the coming 5 year arc...if he's going to story edit, he needs to know what
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lines not to cross, and I can't ride herd on that all the time. He took it
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home, read it. Called me. Didn't even say hello. Began the conversation
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with, "You are out of your f'ing mind." I asked for some small clarification
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of his position. He indicated that he thought it was absolutely great,
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something that'll really go down in the rolls when the final tally is done,
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"But you GOT to be out of your f'ing mind to try and pull something like this
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off. It *can* be done...but it takes a lunatic to do it."
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Sounds about right.
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jms
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------------
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 105 Sun Sep 26, 1993
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 18:22 EDT
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Brett...there was a situation in which the GEIs might have been called
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upon to make a whole lotta phone calls, send faxes, and do other stuff to save
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the project. There was one brief moment when it looked like things were going
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to fall apart. But they didn't. The crisis passed, and the details are
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really not worth getting into now. What's past is past.
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jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 116 Tue Sep 28, 1993
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 18:35 EDT
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I've seen all of the episodes to date, and it ain't bad. It has a funky
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kind of quality that I find appealing. I rather wish we could SEE some things
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once in a while, rather than just getting glimpses out of the corner of one's
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eye (except for the landing field shot), but I kind of like it.
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jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 118 Tue Sep 28, 1993
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 21:54 EDT
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It needs a rewrite.
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jms
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------------
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 120 Wed Sep 29, 1993
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:19 EDT
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Friday night veg time, *definitely*.
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Well, we deliver our first final finished totally done episode on about
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October 8th. Christopher Franke has some *great* ideas on how to handle the
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music, and plans a curious blending of music and sound effects in some places,
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plus instruments from other parts of the world not normally heard in the US,
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to try and create a "new music" kind of sound.
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I'm in the strange position of writing the season end episode now, to
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shoot #12, since it's going to require a lot of post production work, and it
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definitely puts one in a very strange state of mind. I have to be careful to
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refer to things that've happened in the past episodes, from the perspective of
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the last episode of the season, but which haven't yet been written or filmed
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in real-time. So I'm writing the second half of some stories before having
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written the first half (though I obviously know where they're all
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going)...which really bends your brain around after a while.
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This episode is going to be highly classified; we're going to limit
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distribution of scripts, and parts of scripts, put canary traps in all of the
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scripts that *are* distributed, and otherwise keep this one quiet. All I can
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say is that we're going to kick over every table we've got. In any season
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finale, there are maybe 4-5 things you know when you sit down to watch the
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show that they'll NEVER ever do. So we're doing all of them. If this one
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doesn't keep you glued to your seats, you've lost your chair.
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Tomorrow morning I'll get to see an edited version of "Sky," and I can't
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wait. I think this one will take over from "Soul Hunter" as our strongest
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episode to date.
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BTW, for all you who ride the pause button and jack up the stereo volume
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(we're doing Dolby Surround, incidentally), I assigned Larry DiTillio to write
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a bunch of walla (background dialogue) for the Zocalo, the observation dome,
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customs and other areas. Some of it's sane...but the rest...oh, man....
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jms
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------------
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 122 Wed Sep 29, 1993
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:36 EDT
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I am. I'm exhausted all the time...running on 3-4 hours of sleep a
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night, producing during the day, writing all night...but it *is* fun. The
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only hard part is that because of my close involvement in this show, and
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creating the characters, and assigning the stories, and working with the
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actors...I have Londo and G'Kar and Kosh and Garibaldi and all the rest
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running around in my head and yelling at each other 24 hours a day, and
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sometimes that can make you just a little nuts...you wanna tell them to shut
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the hell up for five minutes...and then they look at you with this wounded
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expression...you ever see a Narn sulk? It's not a pretty sight.
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jms
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------------
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 133 Thu Sep 30, 1993
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:18 EDT
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No episodes have aired...unless your friends are operating in an
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alternate universe, in which case please have them send them to me so that we
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can save time and money producing them. I have no idea what your friends saw,
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but suspect their experience may yet end up on the X-files.
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Re: audience reaction...here's the sad part. When I'm up on stage, I'm
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in ***PERFORMANCE MODE*** thinking up the next line, setting up the next
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segment, whatever...and combined with the fact that despite what I cobble
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together in my JMS "persona" I'm actually very shy (as KAL will confirm)...I
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don't hear the applause. I'm so riddled with anxiety that I don't hear it.
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I'm thinking three beats ahead. It really is kinda sad at times, because
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afterward I have to ask someone -- usually Spousal Overunit -- "What did they
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think? Do you think they liked it?" because I have no recollection
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whatsoever.
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BTW, we're putting in some more cutting-edge tech equipment, including
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stuff that'll let us downlink dailies and cuts direct from the lab to our
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stage via fiber optic cable...computerized harry work (the adding of sparks
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and light effects usually done by painstakingly painting each frame, now to be
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handled by computers and software we're beta testing), and other stuff. We're
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right on the leading edge now.
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jms
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------------
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 136 Thu Sep 30, 1993
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 22:16 EDT
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This system has nothing to do with CGI, so screamers aren't a part of it.
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This is other new stuff.
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jms
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------------
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 144 Sat Oct 02, 1993
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 17:36 EDT
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Well, we finished casting for the role of Lennier, who is Delenn's
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aide/attache. We were looking for someone who could give us the most as a
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quiet, restrained, almost monk-like character, fairly innocent in his way.
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And in a very nice bit of synchronicity, the person who came in and
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knocked us out with his audition was Bill Mumy, who has now been cast in the
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role. Aside from his work in Lost in Space, Bill is a terrific actor whose
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role, I think, may sometimes have become a stumbling block from time to time,
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as did the roles of Shatner, Nimoy and others from Trek. Here he will be a
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very different kind of character, barely recognizeable beneath the Minbari
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makeup, and can show a very different sort of approach to his work. We're
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very excited to have him on the team. (I think it will also be good to have
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someone around from a prior successful SF TV series who can help our cast
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prepare for the reception this show is likely to receive...and I suspect that
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very few if any of them really understand yet what that will mean.)
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jms
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------------
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 148 Sat Oct 02, 1993
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 20:21 EDT
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The only thing that makes me more nuts than performing is seeing myself
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on videotape...or photographs...ick.
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jms
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------------
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 156 Sun Oct 03, 1993
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:48 EDT
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I was going to swing by the box today, but ended up...well, here at the
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computer. Sigh. It's turned into "Next year in Israel...."
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Yeah...I dimly seem to remember making a GBs presentation that year, so
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that may have been me. (In fact, I lost my copy of the tape I brought with me
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in a hotel restaurant...which did contain special footage, and is thus gone
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forever, at least for me.)
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jms
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------------
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 161 Sun Oct 03, 1993
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:04 EDT
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Hmm...maybe I should amend it to "No cute kids, no cute robots, and no
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filkers, ever...."
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Nothing personal, but given the choice between listening to two hours of
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filking, and having my eyeballs scooped out, popped, spread on toast as jam
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and fed to me for breakfast...I'll take the latter.
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BTW, something I forgot to mention (and I guess this should really go
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under B5 Sightings, but I'm here, I'm lazy, and I'll forget again), Danica
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McKillar (I think I've got that spelling right) has a modest but interesting
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part in an episode we just finished filming. The crew from Entertainment
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Tonight came by and did some filming of her in wardrobe (as a young Centauri
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woman), and I think it'll probably show up Monday or Tuesday or thereabouts.
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jms
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------------
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 162 Sun Oct 03, 1993
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:15 EDT
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Oh, yeah...something else, before I forget...Monday I'll finally be
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hearing some of the new B5 music from Christopher Franke, for "Soul Hunter."
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This, for me, is the really exciting part, because it's amazing how much good
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music can add to a show, and this signals the very last phase of post-
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production. I think we're doing our final mix-down on "Soul" around mid-week,
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with full sound EFX and music...and then that's it.
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We're now in the process also of storyboarding out our main title
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sequence, and we're hoping to do something a little different, if we can get
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the studio to sign off on the idea. It'll give the show a very unique look.
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And just so everybody knows...so you don't gig me on this later...I have
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spent more time than I want to *think* about lately talking with our sound
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people about the sound-in-space issue. We've literally spent HOURS locked up,
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discussing various options, middle grounds, extremes and some off-beat
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possibilities. I still don't know what we're going to do exactly, but for
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what it's worth, believe me, this has been examined to within an inch of its
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(and my) life. What it comes down to now is this: we will have all of the
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options we discussed available to us at the final mix-down, and we will try
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them in different combinations. Whatever works best is what we'll go with.
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And we won't know what that is until we get there.
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jms
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(And for those who inquired...yes, we'll be doing our final mix in full
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Dolby Surround Stereo.)
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------------
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 178 Mon Oct 04, 1993
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:39 EDT
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I haven't a *clue* to who will be watching the show, and to start
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thinking that way, frankly, is like asking the centipede which foot it moves
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first...it'll paralyze you every time. What I'm doing is writing and
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commissioning stories that I myself find interesting. If my instincts are
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right, others will like them as well...if not, well, that's showbiz. I hate
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the whole idea of demographics and testing, and generally won't listen when
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the subject is brought up. Tell the story first; if it's a good story, you'll
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get viewers; if not, not.
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Mumy's role, to answer that question, is a recurring role; I think he'll
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be in about half a dozen episodes or so for us. To the best of my knowledge,
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this won't interfere with any other obligations Mumy has.
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jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 184 Tue Oct 05, 1993
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:17 EDT
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Well, we're currently in a one-week hiatus, to give our camera crew and
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cast a well-earned break, so we were missing many of our core members at the
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Sunday game, so Love and War won.
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Today, at Christopher Franke's, I heard the music for "Soul Hunter," and
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it's brilliant. It's very hard to describe...it's not rock, but it's
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aggressive, and powerful, not at all synth sounding. And I think that he just
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may have resolved the sound in space question for the most part. He tried
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some things we discussed, and it works great. So this may be the solution
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we've been looking for. (Though the first one who tells me there's no
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orchestra in space gets it in the eye.)
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jms
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------------
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 187 Tue Oct 05, 1993
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 05:01 EDT
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1) No sound in space.
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2) Surround sound in space.
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Pick one.
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You can't have both. I think I'll get gigged less with the former, and
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certainly the music and interior SFX can be surround.
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(This isn't a poll, only a response, just to be clear.)
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jms
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------------
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 197 Tue Oct 05, 1993
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 23:59 EDT
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Joe does not learn math in one episode. Joe does not learn math in one
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*year*. I took bonehead math in college three -- count 'em three -- times,
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and only passed the third semester because the class was taught by the same
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instructor, and the third time I wandered into his class, he siad, (or said),
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"Here...just go, I'll give you a C, just...leave."
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Brett: no idea if there'll be previews or not.
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Spent a very, very, very long day today in editing...not out of any
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problems, but because of the *astonishing* amount of detail we're putting into
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"And the Sky Full of Stars." Leaving out all the live-action shots, there are
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25 CGI shots in one and a half minutes in one sequence alone. (By way of
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comparison, there were 55 or so in the full two hour pilot for B5.) So we go
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frame by frame, making sure that everything meshes properly, through some
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pretty intense logistics. You'll understand when you see it.
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I've never seen the like of this particular episode before. It's a real
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gem.
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jms
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------------
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 200 Wed Oct 06, 1993
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:22 EDT
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"Surround Silence."
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Don't do this to me....
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jms
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------------
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 209 Wed Oct 06, 1993
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 23:50 EDT
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If it works in one, it'll work in all, the way it seems now.
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BTW, add David Warner to the list of first-season guest stars.
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jms
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------------
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 231 Fri Oct 08, 1993
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:23 EDT
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Yeah, Warner'll be a great addition to that episode; we may have another
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name in connection with that episode shortly.
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For those who're interested, Walter Koenig has come through the heart
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problem admirably, is up and running around, and will be assaying the main
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guest role in "Mind War," which will begin shooting around mid-November.
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Re: the industry reactions to B5...everyone seems fairly amazed at what
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we're doing, given that our budget is far less than DS9, TNG or SQ. (In
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fact, at a recent SQ party, sources tell me, the main topic of discussion was
|
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B5, and how the hell are we managing to pull off what they have heard we're
|
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doing.) One editor at a major entertainment magazine was calling Amblin',
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Paramount and other shows to ask about their EFX, and where CGI is going, and
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every one said, "You really ought to talk to the people at Babylon 5."
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The show is picking up a *lot* of heat in the industry. And for us, it's
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kind of a validation of what we said we were going to do years ago.
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jms
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------------
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 236 Fri Oct 08, 1993
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 19:53 EDT
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You wanna hear really dopey? Of all the things that can bug you --
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literally, in this case -- it's always the small ones that get under your
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skin. The goofy ones.
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Take crickets for instance.
|
|
|
|
Crickets. Cute little critters, welcoming the twilight, equipped with
|
|
top hat and umbrella to usher Pinnochio into his long-sought humanity....
|
|
Crickets.
|
|
|
|
Ah hates crickets.
|
|
|
|
A cricket family -- at least one that we know of -- moved into a corner
|
|
of one of our sets. The medlab, to be precise. Now, when we're moving things
|
|
around, building stuff, moving stuff, it's silent, as a cricket will generally
|
|
be when made nervous. But make it all nice and quiet -- as you would do for,
|
|
say, filming -- and he becomes downright rambunctious. And sure enough, there
|
|
is is, deep in the audio background on a few shots. Oh, we can hide the audio
|
|
easily enough...but Getting The Cricket has become something of a cause around
|
|
here.
|
|
|
|
We absolutely cannot find him. I stood back there for ten minutes, eyes
|
|
closed, trying to triangulate and draw a bead on the little sucker. We've
|
|
tried exterminators, smoke, nitrogen, assassins and psychics; we've tried
|
|
scaring him and coaxing him, to no avail. He is as invisible as god but with
|
|
a MUCH louder voice.
|
|
|
|
You ever fire up a daily to hear, at the top of the take, the off screen
|
|
director saying, as fast as he can, "Okaythecricket'ssilent,ACTION!"
|
|
|
|
Like I said...not really a problem, just one of those little things that
|
|
niggle at you when there's nothing else going on. So we're going to wait him
|
|
out.
|
|
|
|
Anybody know offhand the lifespan of your average cricket...?
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 240 Sat Oct 09, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:36 EDT
|
|
|
|
The shooting schedule won't conflict with WishCon. BTW, a note for
|
|
anyone who's sent anything to the address I posted here a few times before:
|
|
one of the problems with shooting a series is that, well, time shoots past
|
|
you with remarkable speed...one minute you look up and it's August, the next
|
|
minute you look up and it's October, and...and....
|
|
|
|
Okay, long story short: I forgot all about the mailing box, and it got
|
|
closed up. Stuff was sent back. I only just found out today, and re-opened
|
|
it. Apologies to anyone who sent stuff there in the last few weeks.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 241 Sat Oct 09, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:38 EDT
|
|
|
|
P.S. Add William Sanderson to the same episode as the one with David
|
|
Warner.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 249 Sat Oct 09, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 20:08 EDT
|
|
|
|
I can't remember if I mentioned this here or not...but did I note that
|
|
apparently the B5 pilot is the #1 best selling/renting tape these days in
|
|
Croatia? What this means I have no idea....
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 256 Sun Oct 10, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 18:01 EDT
|
|
|
|
Mira was in a Croatian choir?! I didn't know this. She's never
|
|
mentioned it. I know that she was an actress there, but this part is news to
|
|
me. I must ask her about it when she comes in next week.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 262 Mon Oct 11, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 13:28 EDT
|
|
|
|
Don't we all....
|
|
|
|
Meanwhile...let's have some fun.
|
|
|
|
Part of the deal with producing a series is that you have to clear all
|
|
the names you use in an episode, both in terms of people names and corporate
|
|
names, even the names of various substances or objects you use. There's a
|
|
clearances department that checks names and titles against registered
|
|
trademarks, copyrights and other stuff and tells you when something is or
|
|
isn't clear. I never cease to be amazed at the number of names that one makes
|
|
up, sure that it's bogus, only to find out that somebody out there has
|
|
actually made a business with that name.
|
|
|
|
Anyway, on the production report that came in the other day, two names
|
|
didn't clear; one is for a company that does interstellar planetary surveying
|
|
(a megacorporation that then exploits the resources of those planets), and the
|
|
other is a name for a certain mineral/compound used in the manufacture of jump
|
|
gates, very rare, very expensive.
|
|
|
|
(The name I came up with for the megacorp I won't mention here; because
|
|
when I found out there *was* a corp with this name, I asked what it was,
|
|
because it's the kind of name that could ONLY apply to what was just described
|
|
above...and the answer came back that it's classified, and why did I want to
|
|
know? Suffice to say I let the matter drop there. This is something like the
|
|
second or third time this has happened with a name I've come up with, and by
|
|
now my name is probably on a list or two somewhere....)
|
|
|
|
Anyway, I was just about to sit down and come up with a pair of new names
|
|
for this, when I thought...let's have some fun. So I'll take some suggestions
|
|
here for names for the two items listed above. Whichever sounds coolest (not
|
|
extreme, not parody, real but cool sounding), I'll slip into the script.
|
|
(This is, of course, contingent upon the clearances department clearing the
|
|
name.) The competition ends Midnight tonight, Pacific time.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 296 Tue Oct 12, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:25 EDT
|
|
|
|
Okay, time's up. Tomorrow I'll make my choices, and run them past
|
|
clearances. Will advise which one we go with.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 314 Wed Oct 13, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:04 EDT
|
|
|
|
Uh, oh...sounds like the fan is giving out on my computer. Does this
|
|
mean I have to replace the whole power source, or just the fan? Any
|
|
suggestions appreciated.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 320 Wed Oct 13, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 14:48 EDT
|
|
|
|
Unfortunately, I don't know the internal configuration; the computer was
|
|
custom assembled by someone who's no longer local. It's a hodgepodge of
|
|
components collectively named the Deathstar 2000 Megasystem. So the only way
|
|
I can find out is to open the sucker up, which I suppose I'll have to do...as
|
|
soon as I can move aside the stacks and stacks of comic books in front of
|
|
it...and scare away the balrogs....
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 331 Thu Oct 14, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:25 EDT
|
|
|
|
Will advise on names when I have clearances. These things take time.
|
|
|
|
BTW, for those who might be interested in such things...continuing the
|
|
Earth tradition, all of our various fighter wings have their own names. The
|
|
fighter unit that Ivanova belongs to, for instance, is the Ghost Riders. The
|
|
name of Sinclair's Earth/Minbari War Fighter unit was Death's Hand. We've had
|
|
patches made of these and other insignia, which get used at appropriate
|
|
moments on their flight suits in the cockpit. (I don't remember offhand the
|
|
name of the primary fighter unit on B5, which is technically Delta Wing, but
|
|
it has a specific name beyond that, and it just fell out of my head.)
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 335 Thu Oct 14, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 20:13 EDT
|
|
|
|
In case it hasn't aired in your area yet, look for a brief piece on
|
|
tonight's Entertainment Tonight with Danica McKellar as a B5 centauri.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 339 Thu Oct 14, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 22:30 EDT
|
|
|
|
Pass....
|
|
|
|
BTW, speaking of satellite stuff, 35 minutes of B5 promos and other
|
|
stuff, some of it edited to include the Emmy info (but based insofar as I know
|
|
only on the pilot material, nothing new) will be downlinked on Galaxy 4,
|
|
Channel 21, same audio figures as Fenn gave, Friday the 15th from 9-9:45 ET,
|
|
Sunday the 16th from 8-8:45 ET, and Monday the 18th from 1:15 to 2:00 p.m. ET.
|
|
(The first two times given are also PM.)
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 344 Fri Oct 15, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:44 EDT
|
|
|
|
As it happens, btw, Michael O'Hare's brother is a Commander in the
|
|
Gunfighters fighter squadron, running weapons, mainly, and flying an F-14.
|
|
At some point we'll probably stick him in a B5 cockpit, and stick Michael in
|
|
an F-14 cockpit....
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 347 Fri Oct 15, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:14 EDT
|
|
|
|
I actually felt kind of awkward watching the ET piece, because here we've
|
|
got all these amazing prosthetics, many of which you could see on the wall,
|
|
and this "oooh, we're alien" process of becoming a centauri is basicall a bald
|
|
head and ponytail. I dunno...just felt funny, given what goes into making the
|
|
REALLY alien characters we're using.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 366 Sun Oct 17, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:21 EDT
|
|
|
|
BTW, this week will Bill Mumy's first week on B5, and he's done a very
|
|
nifty job as Lennier. He brings a wonderful sense of absolute innocence...the
|
|
proverbial innocent abroad...to Lennier's character. The Minbari prosthetics
|
|
look great on him, enhancing the sense he brings to the character. He's also
|
|
great with the cast, and keeping things up during shooting. At one point, as
|
|
they're leaving camera, Delenn says to Lennier, who has just arrived at the
|
|
station, "Now tell me of home; I have been away far too long." His ad-libbed
|
|
off-camera response: "Beatlemania is back." (Another ad-lib for another shot:
|
|
"Minimalls...they're everywhere," and "Well, we just got Pizza Hut and
|
|
cable.")
|
|
|
|
There's one truly remarkable shot we did for the current episode, shot
|
|
Friday evening. Generally, in any shot with a crowd, you need about 20-45
|
|
people. That's usually enough to fill out the shot in any set you can go to.
|
|
More than that gets costly, and isn't really noticeable unless you frame your
|
|
shot just *so*. Yesterday's shot has 160 extras. It's a very impressive, and
|
|
very moving shot. It appears in the tag of "the Parliament of Dreams." It's
|
|
the kind of shot you just don't see anywhere else. We had some people from
|
|
PTEN and a film crew for a behind-the-scenes piece on hand, and they all
|
|
commented on how only this show would do this shot...and how significant it
|
|
is. (I can't tell you what it was, because that gives it away, and I want it
|
|
to be kind of a surprise; suffice to say you'll definitely know it when you
|
|
see it.)
|
|
|
|
"Parliament" is also shaping up to have both some serious moments, and
|
|
some that are just fall-down funny. There's a Centauri religious festival
|
|
that has to be seen to be believed....
|
|
|
|
We're having far too much fun on this show....
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 369 Sun Oct 17, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 17:12 EDT
|
|
|
|
We've already instituted the need for translation devices on several
|
|
characters. There are basically three dominant languages on B5, a kind of
|
|
interstellar esperanto, Centauri, and English, which is the more or less
|
|
official military/diplomatic language. But not everyone is going to know
|
|
those languages, so you need another way. We have translation teams
|
|
(referenced though not seen in "Soul Hunter"), and physical translation
|
|
devices for use after we've had sufficient contact with a given group or
|
|
individual to be able to decode two languages into one another.
|
|
|
|
(Incidentally, we're going with a slightly different version of English
|
|
for things like airlocks and such, alongside the visual pictograms. Not
|
|
everyone who can speak english will have an immediate grasp of the intricacies
|
|
of the language, and there have been multi cultural/esperanto like influences
|
|
on English over the next 200 years. So for things like Universe Today, you
|
|
have standard conventional English, since that's primarily an Earther-oriented
|
|
publication. But then you have signs that read, for instance SECUR AREA, with
|
|
an accent over the U. We've taken the liberty of simplifying some aspects of
|
|
english for nonhumans, as well as trying to figure out how the impact of multi-
|
|
culturalism might affect language ovese of 200 years.)
|
|
|
|
We've shot our first scenes between Sinclair and his new love interest,
|
|
Catherine Sakai (as played by Julia Nickson). This is a very, very strong
|
|
character, and she brings a wonderful vibrancy to Sakai. They have a unique
|
|
relationship that looks and sounds like a real relationship, with all its ups
|
|
and downs and dumb moments. One way that I've reinforced this is that...well,
|
|
in the first episode in which they meet again (they were involved before),
|
|
just about every scene between them is lifted almost directly from personal
|
|
experience.
|
|
|
|
And given some of the awkward, even painful conversations that take
|
|
place, it was very, *very* hard to watch this being rehearsed. (Michael and
|
|
Julia worked over a weekend with the director to get the nuances just right.)
|
|
When it came time to shoot the scenes, much as I wanted to be on-set, I just
|
|
couldn't do it. My heart just kept falling right down to my shoes. I can't
|
|
wait for the first person to say "I don't buy this as a real relationship"
|
|
just so's I can whap him upside the head. But I have a hunch that won't
|
|
happen. It comes across as very real, and as a very vulnerable moment for
|
|
both characters.
|
|
|
|
"Write what you know," they said. Right. How about I just take a power
|
|
drill and stick it in my ear...it'd be faster, less painful, and after a while
|
|
I might even come to like it....
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 377 Mon Oct 18, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:23 EDT
|
|
|
|
"It may be a simple matter of a loose screw."
|
|
|
|
Don't get personal, and I've heard that before.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 379 Mon Oct 18, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:01 EDT
|
|
|
|
Matt: thanks. To be honest, I don't know any other way to write. Those
|
|
here who've known me for a while now can testify that there's a lot of
|
|
personal stuff in just about everything I write. And sometimes that's very
|
|
hard on an emotional level. (And people in my life have to understand that
|
|
everything is fair game; I won't violate a trust, won't betray a confidence,
|
|
but it's altogether possible that the *sense* of an argument or a hushed
|
|
midnight conversation might someday show up in something, never in its
|
|
entirety, never wholecloth, but informing the sense of a scene or a
|
|
character.)
|
|
|
|
It's very easy, in this town and in this business, to fall into writing
|
|
from non-primary experiences. We've grown into a nation where we watch TV as
|
|
we grow up, and then when we get the chance to write TV, cycle back to things
|
|
we've seen before...recycling themes and stories rather than using our own
|
|
primary experiences. I think that film/TV schools are the worst perpetrators
|
|
of this attitude, teaching how to emulate the past rather than seeking out the
|
|
present. That's why I chose NOT to get my degrees in TV or Film or Creative
|
|
Writing. A writer has to be a *generalist*. Know a little about everything,
|
|
and able to find out whe she/he doesn't know quickly. I've been far better
|
|
served by a degree in clinical psychology (minor in philosophy) and a second
|
|
degree in sociology (minor in literature) than I would've been served getting
|
|
a degree in film production.
|
|
|
|
This is something I've been thinking about a lot lately, after one person
|
|
asked me, on another system, if I was concerned about the very real likelihood
|
|
that at some point or another, our show would be touching on some of the same
|
|
areas dealt with on other shows. There's been so much covered in SF, and when
|
|
you have two shows on space stations, well, you're inevitably going to hit
|
|
some common themes. I've thought about the question a lot since then, and as
|
|
I review the scripts, it comes more clear to me every day just how much this
|
|
show comes from a very subjective and personal viewpoint. It's very
|
|
eccentric, and as much as we engage in the larger issues and the story arc,
|
|
our stories tend to have a very personal edge to them, an attitude that can't
|
|
be copied because attitudes are formed inside, over years, and you can't copy
|
|
them any more than you can copy fingerprints. And the result will always be
|
|
different.
|
|
|
|
I don't mean to ramble, but I'm in a thoughtful mood, and just sorta
|
|
working things through...thinking out loud, if you will.
|
|
|
|
The pilot notwithstanding -- and I've gone over the problems there with
|
|
exposition and character stuff cut ad nauseum -- the one thing that draws me
|
|
in, as a writer, a reader, and a person, is intense emotion. The more
|
|
intense, the better. There's much of it in Captain Power, where I could slip
|
|
it in while no one was looking, even in some of the animation work. I think
|
|
we all live for moments of revelation and outbreaks of passion. And the only
|
|
way to find those moments is by writing about the things you find hard to
|
|
write about. You have to write what scares the hell out of you.
|
|
|
|
I've never talked about this before -- said I was in a thoughtful mood --
|
|
but I've known several people, friends, who've taken their own lives. In one
|
|
case, I spoke to her just beforehand. Tried, through the phone lines, to
|
|
reach her one more time, pull her back from the edge. I couldn't. Years
|
|
pass. Time comes for me to write the last filmed episode of Power. Jennifer
|
|
Chase is going to die, partly of her injuries, partly of her own volition.
|
|
Part of my life went into that scene, in the way it was constructed, and what
|
|
was said. And what was not said, what never had the chance to be said, and
|
|
thus still burns. I knew that, at the crucial moment of that scene, he
|
|
couldn't be near her, as I wasn't near my friend...it had to be long-distance,
|
|
hearing but not seeing her, and the terrible pain of arriving too late.
|
|
|
|
I cannot watch that episode without crying. Ever.
|
|
|
|
Flash forward again. About two, three months ago, I got a note on the
|
|
Internet/GEnie railroad from a young woman whose name I won't mention here.
|
|
She had lost a friend to suicide not long before that episode aired. When she
|
|
saw it, she started crying and couldn't stop, something she hadn't been able
|
|
to do since the real death of her friend. It helped purge her of the feelings
|
|
she'd been carrying around. Helped her deal with them, because I'd been
|
|
honest in how I'd portrayed it.
|
|
|
|
On Twilight Zone, I wrote an episode called "Acts of Terror" that
|
|
concerned wife beating...something with which I'm more familiar than I ever
|
|
wanted to be, due to some things in my family's history. It was a terrible
|
|
and painful experience to write that script; it hurt and angered me beyond the
|
|
capacity to explain it to you. I fought desperately to make it true.
|
|
|
|
Flash forward. That episode is now used in many counseling sessions for
|
|
battered wives, to help them deal with their anger and find their own self-
|
|
worth. I've received literally dozens of letters from people about that one
|
|
episode, many from women who finally found it in their hearts to leave an
|
|
abusive situation.
|
|
|
|
Writing is a powerful tool; broadcast to millions of viewers, it is too
|
|
powerful to be relegated to rehashes of Adam and Eve stories. It may not be
|
|
fashionable anymore, which is unfortunate, but I feel that there is an
|
|
obligation to use the form for more than selling soap. Not to be preachy, but
|
|
at least to be *honest*, to write from primary experiences, to take a
|
|
position, even if it pisses somebody off. I was on a TV talk show a few years
|
|
ago, debating that very episode of Power referenced above, and a viewer called
|
|
in to say that he thought it was wrong because the episode left him upset. I
|
|
wanted to lunge through the phone at him. Yes it upset you. It was MEANT to
|
|
upset you. It SHOULD upset us when someone dies, it can't be just a dramatic
|
|
hook bracketing commercials; when we lose someone we care about, we should be
|
|
moved, or else what the hell are we doing here?
|
|
|
|
The role of the writer is to touch passion, and not be destroyed by it,
|
|
then come back and report what it was like.
|
|
|
|
I wish I could find a great concluding thought, a benediction to wrap all
|
|
this up in a neat little package, but I haven't got one. I'm rambling, and I
|
|
know it, and my apologies if this has gone on too long; just contemplative
|
|
tonight, I guess.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 394 Tue Oct 19, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 05:03 EDT
|
|
|
|
Unrelated to anything that's preceded (thank goodness), here's a little
|
|
something for consideration...thoughts to conjure with, when it comes to our
|
|
season-ending episode/cliffhanger.
|
|
|
|
On Power, leaving out the things that unnerved people too much to let me
|
|
do, I was still able, in the final episode/cliffhanger of that first season,
|
|
to destroy the protagonist's base of operations totally and completely and
|
|
beyond recall, set up a major change in the antagonist's appearance (the final
|
|
mechanized stages of Lyman Taggert), eliminate all or nearly all of our
|
|
Jonathan Power's supply lines and support personnel, totally turn around the
|
|
direction of the show, and kill one major regular character.
|
|
|
|
So if that's what happens on a show where I'm not allowed full reign to
|
|
do *everything* want...stop to consider for a moment what happens when there's
|
|
no one to stop me from going all the way....
|
|
|
|
"Chrysalis" is going to be one heck of an episode....
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 399 Tue Oct 19, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 22:13 EDT
|
|
|
|
Harlan very much believes and supports what we're doing here, and if you
|
|
know Harlan, you know what that means.
|
|
|
|
Kiwi...understand that no changes are just made willy-nilly (to use your
|
|
term). This is a STORY. As with any story, any novel, you have your moments
|
|
of surprise, of sudden turns where you kick over all of the tables and watch
|
|
the pieces scatter. But the writer already knows where the pieces will land.
|
|
It's all according to plan. Nobody's going to be screwed over. Anymore than
|
|
when somebody reading, say, a Stephen King book feels screwed over when
|
|
suddenly Salem's Lot, a nice quiet little town, suddenly gets filled with
|
|
undead and characters are suddenly going through some remarkable
|
|
changes...it's all part of the story.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 407 Wed Oct 20, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:36 EDT
|
|
|
|
BTW, for those in the Los Angeles area, channel 13 will be showing the B5
|
|
pilot again a week from this Friday at, I believe, 8 p.m.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 416 Thu Oct 21, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:14 EDT
|
|
|
|
BTW, to a question someone asked somewhere...I believe that the B5
|
|
fighters are technically SA-20 Starfuries.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 420 Thu Oct 21, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 21:48 EDT
|
|
|
|
No agents allowed.
|
|
|
|
Funny...I sometimes make up little clips from shows and put them to music
|
|
for myself or for convention appearances...and I was giving some serious
|
|
thought to assembling a montage and using "I Am the Walrus" by the Beatles as
|
|
the music...and then realized that it would probably give away too much if I
|
|
composed the pictures correctly with the lyrics.
|
|
|
|
I am the walrus...coo-coo ka choo....
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 428 Fri Oct 22, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:23 EDT
|
|
|
|
It's hard to mention companies in a TV show without getting permission.
|
|
(In my heart I'd love to see an ad for "IBM...a Division of the Sony
|
|
Corporation.")
|
|
|
|
What's the problem with passion? Multifold. Networks and studios are
|
|
often put off by it. Passion isn't fashionable, and isn't usually very
|
|
saleable. Also, so many have now been trained by film school to replicate
|
|
what they grew up with...combined with the many who've learned the Formula
|
|
from others or from the Script Gurus and hesitate to vary from that
|
|
formula...that it's just not done very often.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 447 Mon Oct 25, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:11 EDT
|
|
|
|
Actually, in speaking off the top of my head, I was off a bit on the
|
|
Starfuries thing. I checked, was going to write it verbatim, but once again
|
|
forgot, and now I'm back to working off memory (which is always a scary thing
|
|
for me). Anyway, I seem to recall that it's not SA, and it has a longer name.
|
|
It's the FA-23 Mitchell-Hyundyne Starfury. I'll try to get the full specs and
|
|
post 'em sometime soon.
|
|
|
|
Incidentally, B5 is in this month's WIRED magazine, in the Wired vs.
|
|
Tired column. We're "wired." (Sort of their "What's In" and "What's Out"
|
|
column.) Not bad for a series that's not even on the AIR yet.
|
|
|
|
Spent almost all of Saturday in the editing room, working on the main
|
|
title sequence for B5, which looks very good. This coming Thursday and Friday
|
|
are big days for B5...we're going into the final mix stage. On those two
|
|
days, we finish laying in EVERYTHING...sound, music, EFX, you name it. And in
|
|
theory, at the end of Friday, we'll have our first episode totally and
|
|
completely finished. It's both an exhilirating moment and a scary one...once
|
|
done, it's *done*, we have to let go, we can't tinker with it anymore. At
|
|
some point, you have to just walk away nad (and) what it is is what it is.
|
|
And so far, what it is looks pretty darned good. (Our first full mix is "Soul
|
|
Hunter.")
|
|
|
|
Our sound designer has finished working on the gun-sounds, and they sound
|
|
very impressive. We've come up with a different way of handling the gun
|
|
sequences -- firing, impact, and sound -- based more on how these things would
|
|
actually work if they existed. And let me tell you, if you EVER ran into or
|
|
heard one of these things coming your way, you'd get the hell out FAST. We
|
|
actually sat down for hours and tried to determine the effects on impact, on
|
|
firing, on the surrounding atmosphere, and how to avoid the 30 mph problem
|
|
usually associated with TV lasers. (That is, you trace the "laser" across
|
|
screen, you see it move, which means that this beam of light is moving slower
|
|
than a bullet...which is silly.) By all rights, it should be nearly invisible
|
|
and nearly instantaneous...but then you don't see anything. We've managed to
|
|
come up with a nifty little solution to the problem.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 452 Tue Oct 26, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:32 EDT
|
|
|
|
For various story reasons, the narration now shifts to Sinclair, who has
|
|
a slight variation on it.
|
|
|
|
BTW, look for a piece in the November Film/TV (or Film/Video, I can never
|
|
remember) magazine on B5's EFX team.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 464 Wed Oct 27, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:38 EDT
|
|
|
|
Yes, we're going to keep the general structure of the narrative, from
|
|
black to the star rising, to B5, though the new narrative will be a bit more
|
|
historical in nature.
|
|
|
|
BTW, guess which certain series just acquired a whole bunch of Toasters,
|
|
is under pressure to lower the budget, and is trying frantically to catch up
|
|
with a certain other show's use of CGI...?
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 471 Wed Oct 27, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 15:40 EDT
|
|
|
|
Okay, the element's name is set as Quantium-40, and the name of the
|
|
Megacorporation is Universal Terraform. Just FYI, neither ScanCor nor Terra
|
|
Astra cleared, so those are real corporations.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 477 Thu Oct 28, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:14 EDT
|
|
|
|
I culled only the names I thought might work for us. One problem with a
|
|
number of the suggestions was that while the names in question might work well
|
|
in writing, on a page or a screen, actors have to *say* these words out loud,
|
|
and some of them would've been very difficult to pronounce. The name also has
|
|
to be recognizeable as, say, a corporation. A couple of names sounded nice,
|
|
but could end up sounding just a part of the sentence, and we don't realize
|
|
that a corp name has gone by until too late. This is the difference between
|
|
writing for a printed medium, and a dialogue/verbal medium.
|
|
|
|
An interesting exercise, in any event. Which is why I suggested it,
|
|
instead of just going with my own. Again, we're here in part to go into the
|
|
process a bit.
|
|
|
|
Meanwhile, back at the ranch....
|
|
|
|
Have been down for a few days with the Babylon Bug, the flu that's ripped
|
|
through the stage and the offices and has hit just about everyone. REALLY
|
|
nasty. But the show, as they say, must go on, so we've been pushing ahead.
|
|
One slight alteration in schedule...on Monday some of the last scenes we
|
|
needed came in after the rotoscoping work was done, and since we finally had
|
|
all the parts, we went ahead and did the final mix on "Soul Hunter" over
|
|
Monday and Tuesday. So I'm proud to say that that first episode is now 100%
|
|
complete and in the can.
|
|
|
|
It makes a MAJOR difference to see these shows on film, color corrected,
|
|
with music, sound EFX, visual EFX, cgi and the rest. It's a very solid
|
|
episode, very intense, and in many ways a one-hour movie, which is what I'd
|
|
like to see in the series overall...a cinematic style of storytelling. The
|
|
music really drives the action, and the visual EFX (i.e., guns, rays, other
|
|
visual stuff that doesn't involve CGI) are just terrific.
|
|
|
|
We do the final mix on "Midnight" next Monday, and will probably be doing
|
|
one mix per week thereafter, until the holidays.
|
|
|
|
(Kevin, who does our visual EFX rotoscoping stuff does all this in his
|
|
home facility, on a Mac. We got word this morning at 6:30 a.m. that his house
|
|
is right on the fire line at one of the big L.A. fires going on today.
|
|
Refusing to evacuate, he has spent all day alternatively on his roof, spraying
|
|
down the house and grounds, and in his home office, backing up all the B5 EFX
|
|
onto optical removeable drives, with a B5 runner standing ready, right there,
|
|
to yank the stuff and evacuate if need be. It's some measure of the
|
|
dedication on this show that where other people might be loading up personal
|
|
belongings, he was mainly concerned with getting the B5 efx out the door in
|
|
case the worst happened.)
|
|
|
|
(Apparently, as of this writing, all is still well with Kevin, and it
|
|
looks like the worst is past, as far as he's concerned, at least, though the
|
|
rest of the valley is burning....)
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 479 Thu Oct 28, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:34 EDT
|
|
|
|
BTW, today I was gifted by some folks in B5 with a collection of some of
|
|
the patches we've used on the fighter pilot suits. You'll see these on the
|
|
front breast and arms (both sides of each) of the suits, if only in the
|
|
occasional glimpse. Even though they'll probably never bee fully seen, we
|
|
felt the need to make 'em real looking and finish them off to the last
|
|
stitched detail.
|
|
|
|
These include the Earth Forces Off-World patch (gold-handled sword
|
|
against a starburst within what looks like a cross between a mobius strip and
|
|
human DNA), Earth Force Command (similar, but minus the starburst, with
|
|
transverse red stripes against a black background), a B5 Fighter Wing Squadron
|
|
patch (Flying Nightmares, B5FA-1013 on the outer ring, with a B5 symbol on the
|
|
left side outlined by up-and-down red stripes, and on the right a black up and
|
|
down stripe bordered by 2256), a rectangular Earth Alliance Fighter
|
|
Identification patch (five-pointed command insignia circled by red and gold,
|
|
overlaid with gold wings over Joe Straczynski), and the insignia worn by those
|
|
on the Battle of the Line, a triangular patch with Star Fury on the upper left
|
|
angle in silver on black, FA-23E in silver on black on the right upper angle,
|
|
with the inner part of the triangle divided in two by a vertical silver
|
|
stripe, blue on the left, gold on the right, over which is the design of one
|
|
of the fighters in full accelleration, leaving trails behind it, with the
|
|
squadron number 361st - TFS, with UGLY beneath it, and on the lower left angle
|
|
of the patch, in black on silver, the words BUT WELL HUNG.
|
|
|
|
Which refers, of course, to the figher craft itself.
|
|
|
|
(They hang upside down prior to launch, you'll recall.)
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 480 Thu Oct 28, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:35 EDT
|
|
|
|
P.S. No, sorry, they're not for sale.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 482 Thu Oct 28, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:52 EDT
|
|
|
|
Insofar as I know, stations that have pledged to take the current
|
|
programs will continue to show the current programs (which includes B5).
|
|
There doesn't seem to be any direct impact on B5 at this time.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 487 Thu Oct 28, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 14:56 EDT
|
|
|
|
We're assuming that the navy and airforce have more or less merged into
|
|
Earthforce, so there's influences from both sides.
|
|
|
|
The fighters are in regular configuration when the pilot boards. Then
|
|
the drop doors open, the ship tilts down on a massive pair of arms, and then
|
|
they're released, the centrifugal force of the station sending them out the
|
|
drop doors. When they've gotten a bit away from the station, they hit their
|
|
engines.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 489 Thu Oct 28, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 18:31 EDT
|
|
|
|
Just heard that the winds have changed,, and Kevin's place is in danger
|
|
again. We're sending runners to help yank equipment. Which means driving
|
|
right into the fire-line. This could go either way. We'll see.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 494 Thu Oct 28, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 22:32 EDT
|
|
|
|
It's the name on the patch, not the picture.
|
|
|
|
According to press material released by Paramount, the "ST: Voyager "
|
|
series will involve a crew of young cadets on their first training mission.
|
|
|
|
Don't yet know how the Paramount deal will affect us, if at all. No one
|
|
at Warners seems terribly concerned about it, so my guess is that it really
|
|
won't affect us one way or the other, but that's only a guess.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
|
|
(P.S. Kevin's place escaped the fire, all is well.)
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 511 Sat Oct 30, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 20:18 EDT
|
|
|
|
Makes sense...I spend my entire life in a state of spontaneous human
|
|
confusion....
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 513 Sun Oct 31, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:48 EDT
|
|
|
|
Just an update...on Monday we a) do the final mix on "Midnight on the
|
|
Firing Line," so we'll have two finished and in the can, and b) finish
|
|
shooting Christy's episode of "Grail." (And those of you who've been asking
|
|
for nonhumanoid alien stuff...hold onto your hats for this one.) On Tuesday
|
|
we start shooting "Mind War," with Walter Koenig, William Allan Young and
|
|
Felicity Waterman. Both "Grail" and "Mind War" have been heavy on EFX, both
|
|
visual (on set) and CGI.
|
|
|
|
In looking at all the episodes shot to date, from a story point of view,
|
|
I think that "Sky" is still my favorite, in how it ties into the whole 5 year
|
|
arc. From a personal point of view, I'm very fond of "The Parliament of
|
|
Dreams," which is a very funny show, and at times a very emotional show.
|
|
"Parliament" is all over the place...it's got all of our major characters, our
|
|
ambassadors, their seconds, we see lots of group scenes, we're all over the
|
|
station, dipping in and out of three different but interconnected
|
|
stories...it's really a matter of keeping a lot of balls in the air at one
|
|
time, and I think we pulled it off nicely.
|
|
|
|
BTW, we've finished assembling the main title sequence, and we're going
|
|
to do one extra little thing to it that's kinda neat...more on this closer to
|
|
airdate.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 1
|
|
Message 523 Sun Oct 31, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 20:29 EST
|
|
|
|
There are a lot of little in-jokes...but I'd rather let you see them than
|
|
ruin the surprise.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
|
|
************
|
|
Topic 2 Wed Nov 20, 1991
|
|
STARR [Arne] at 19:41 EST
|
|
Sub: Babylon 5 -- The Series!! >>SPOILERS<<
|
|
|
|
May 28th, '93, Babylon 5 officially became a series. There will be 22 hours,
|
|
plus the 2 hours of the pilot, for season one. Airs Wednesday's at 8PM in most
|
|
places starting Jan. '94. This is the Spoiler topic where anything goes.
|
|
|
|
385 message(s) total.
|
|
************
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 2
|
|
Message 163 Fri Sep 24, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:45 EDT
|
|
|
|
The various characters take their own stands,which vary. Franklin only
|
|
considers the possibility of cloning someone's personality matrix, for
|
|
instance. And again, it depends on how you *define* soul. The Soul Hunter
|
|
defines it not as something supernatural, but as the collection of thoughts,
|
|
personality, feelings and the very essence of the person that dies with the
|
|
body. That definition is broad enough to encompass just about anything. Then
|
|
you get into the more specific ideas of what a soul is.
|
|
|
|
One person at a post production house we've used has indicated that he
|
|
has "theological problems" with working on that episode; not because it's
|
|
*against* what he believes -- he's worked on horror movies and stuff with
|
|
devils and the like -- but because it takes a point of view he doesn't much
|
|
like...in that he has to sit and defend the whole *context* of his
|
|
ideas...meaning, it's making him think. He can just poo-poo the stuff against
|
|
what he believes, support what he does believe in...but he isn't quite sure
|
|
where this show comes down, or where it makes *him* come down. I've had any
|
|
number of problems with people on a show before, but this is the first time
|
|
I've run into a theological problem.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 2
|
|
Message 184 Wed Sep 29, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:37 EDT
|
|
|
|
For this new season: nope.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 2
|
|
Message 204 Sat Oct 02, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 17:31 EDT
|
|
|
|
Say Hi back for me.
|
|
|
|
Y'know...it's a funny old world. And sometimes it just astonishes you.
|
|
|
|
About 2 months ago, one of our freelancers turned in a script that has to
|
|
do with a hate group, in the course of which a guest character -- a Minbari --
|
|
is attacked and has her head branded with the symbol of the group.
|
|
|
|
So you will doubtless understand my astonishment when I turned on DS9 and
|
|
saw the same thing happen.
|
|
|
|
Unfortunately, we've already shot that episode, it's in the can, so
|
|
there's nothing we can do about it now. Further -- and let me be totally
|
|
clear about this -- there's no way that DS9 could've borrowed the idea from
|
|
us, or in any way been influence by us, and no way we could've been influence
|
|
by them. To get on the air now, they would've had to shoot their episode some
|
|
time before the writer turned in that draft for our show. And none of us were
|
|
in any way aware of what was going on there until we saw it the night of the
|
|
broadcast...and came in the next day with looks of absolute shock.
|
|
|
|
These things do happen...and when you're dealing with similar general
|
|
areas -- humans vs. aliens, or one alien group vs. another alien group -- then
|
|
something like this becomes inevitable. And given the foreheads on Ferengi,
|
|
and the foreheads on Minbari, the obviousness of that target becomes clear.
|
|
Still, it's amazing when it happens. And I guess I just wanted it to be clear
|
|
when this thing airs that the sequence in our show was in the can and done
|
|
when the DS9 episode aired.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 2
|
|
Message 208 Sun Oct 03, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:50 EDT
|
|
|
|
Kiwi...yeah, I know. We're in discussions to see if there's any way we
|
|
can cut this from the show...the only problem is that the brand stays on
|
|
throughout the show. If it were just in one shot, we'd cut the shot and find
|
|
some other way around it. The only way we can lose it now would be if we
|
|
literally wiped off the brand by going into every frame in which it appears
|
|
and digitally removing it from the frame...which is a *real* pain in the
|
|
butt...but we are considering it.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 2
|
|
Message 219 Mon Oct 04, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:48 EDT
|
|
|
|
The points made above are essentially correct; the brand goes on in the
|
|
very top of the show, in the teaser, and stay on throughout the episode...and
|
|
part of the story is dealing with this, and what it means. An offer is made
|
|
to remove it, but the victim decides *not* to have it removed, because there
|
|
are lessons in these things...and it becomes almost a badge of defiance.
|
|
|
|
In addition to the notes here, I've received a whole bunch of email notes
|
|
saying to leave it in, on the grounds that it *does* happen in real life (or
|
|
incidents close to it), and how we're handling it *is* very different. (Some
|
|
indicated that it can illustrate how the two shows handle their themes in
|
|
different ways.) So it's a tough call...to change would also mean some re-
|
|
shooting...but given the responses here, I think it's okay to leave it in
|
|
place.
|
|
|
|
File this one away the next time someone asks, "What sort of ways has the
|
|
BBS discussion actually affected Babylon 5?"
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 2
|
|
Message 238 Fri Oct 08, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:25 EDT
|
|
|
|
Actually, "beep-beep" was always there in the script; it was the part
|
|
where we learn AFTER that that Sinclair only told G'Kar about the homing
|
|
beacon, didn't really plant it, that came up during filming.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 2
|
|
Message 243 Tue Oct 12, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:47 EDT
|
|
|
|
Hey, have you ever seen me when I effervasn't?
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 2
|
|
Message 255 Thu Oct 14, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 20:11 EDT
|
|
|
|
Let me introduce you to something called the Budget....
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 2
|
|
Message 262 Sun Oct 17, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:24 EDT
|
|
|
|
You have to understand that when I said "Let me introduce you to the
|
|
budget," I was talking primarily in TV terms. The actors sometimes named here
|
|
-- from Mel Gibson on -- generally command salaries of $4-10 million per
|
|
movie. Those actors are generally outside the reach of *any* TV series. As
|
|
it is, we've managed to pull in some pretty amazing actors who would generally
|
|
be unattainable, but loved the scripts.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 2
|
|
Message 267 Tue Oct 19, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 19:33 EDT
|
|
|
|
Guest stars so far include David McCallum, Clive Revell, David Warner,
|
|
Danica McKellar, William Sanderson, Morgan Shepherd, Marshall Teague, Judson
|
|
Scott, Christopher Neame, and shortly, Walter Koenig.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 2
|
|
Message 273 Thu Oct 21, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 13:29 EDT
|
|
|
|
Clive Revell is a Tony-award winning actor, member of the Royal
|
|
Shakespeare Company, and one of the most regarded actors around. Judson
|
|
Scott was in ST II, as Khan's second, and had his own short-lived series, "The
|
|
Phoenix."
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 2
|
|
Message 291 Sun Oct 24, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:01 EDT
|
|
|
|
That was, indeed, Morgan Shepherd on SQ.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 2
|
|
Message 304 Sat Oct 30, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:53 EDT
|
|
|
|
The starfury fighter is launched by a drop straight out, nose pointed
|
|
"downward," toward space. Upon release, it flies pretty much straight out,
|
|
still containing some of the momentum from the rotation, so it would appear to
|
|
be going straight away from the station because its position in relation to
|
|
the station, like a geosynchronous satellite, is still more or less correct.
|
|
Shortly after getting out of the bay, the fighters fire up their engines,
|
|
which lets them take any angle or direction they choose. So they can very
|
|
quickly head away on any trajectory.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 2
|
|
Message 309 Sat Oct 30, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 20:23 EDT
|
|
|
|
The fighters enter via the main docking bay, where they are shunted back
|
|
into the Starfury launch bays. (BTW, for those who've asked, and let it never
|
|
be said that we're unresponsive...we asked Ron to develop a CGI sequence that
|
|
shows how ships get from the interior of the main docking bay down to the
|
|
customs and loading bays. I've seen it, and it looks pretty spiffy. Look for
|
|
it in "Grail."
|
|
|
|
Re: the mask...yes, form follows function. It should cover the whole
|
|
face (done), be transparent (done), be easy to slip on and off (done), and
|
|
contain its own atmosphere cartridges (done). We could've gotten fancy, but
|
|
it made sense for a station like B5 to order just what they need, not add on a
|
|
whole lot of bells and whistles, and I'm not really sure what more you NEED in
|
|
a mask.
|
|
|
|
BTW, the triangular ships are Raiders.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 2
|
|
Message 312 Sun Oct 31, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:50 EDT
|
|
|
|
The bay is pressurized, with drop doors beneath each fighter. A ramp
|
|
extends to the fighters individually, bringing on pilots. The bays are
|
|
depressurized as the pilots (in flight suits) prepare. Then the drop doors
|
|
open, the fighters pivot to nose-down position, and launch.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
************
|
|
Topic 3 Tue Nov 03, 1992
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:09 EST
|
|
Sub: Babylon 5 - Computer SFX Tech-Talk
|
|
|
|
Some of the new computer EFX used in BABYLON 5 will be revolutionary, a new
|
|
approach never seen before on this scale. It's all new tech, and this topic
|
|
will try and address the new technologies involved.
|
|
497 message(s) total.
|
|
************
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 3
|
|
Message 432 Thu Sep 30, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 22:18 EDT
|
|
|
|
We beat the crap out of Ron. There will be lens flare where it's needed.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 3
|
|
Message 449 Sun Oct 17, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 17:15 EDT
|
|
|
|
Bear in mind that the amount of counterthrust diminishes the more
|
|
detailed and precise your movements become. You need a big thrust at one or
|
|
two points for the big configurations, then as you start to narrow it down,
|
|
the thrusts get smaller and more precise and are less visibly noticeable.
|
|
We're talking microthrusts here.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 3
|
|
Message 452 Mon Oct 18, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:21 EDT
|
|
|
|
Yes. It's all covered.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
************
|
|
Topic 4 Tue Nov 03, 1992
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:12 EST
|
|
Sub: Babylon 5 - Cast & Characters
|
|
|
|
For discussion of the actors who will be bringing BABYLON 5 to life with their
|
|
performances...for information before, and discussion after the airing of "The
|
|
Gathering" pilot.
|
|
385 message(s) total.
|
|
************
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 4
|
|
Message 360 Sun Oct 10, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 18:02 EDT
|
|
|
|
I commented in that topic. You can check there if you want. I have no
|
|
desire to drag this out here.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 4
|
|
Message 363 Wed Oct 20, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 20:36 EDT
|
|
|
|
Walter will appear in one episode this year, "Mind War," and that
|
|
character may well return next season in a couple of episodes. Which is all I
|
|
can say about it at this time.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 4
|
|
Message 365 Thu Oct 21, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 21:52 EDT
|
|
|
|
I'd rather it weren't. Someone talked out of school who shouldn't have,
|
|
didn't get things correctly, and it was awkward for all concerned, and the
|
|
person who initially posted the info apologized. I'd like to leave it at that
|
|
and not drag it over here.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
************
|
|
Topic 5 Tue Nov 03, 1992
|
|
T.ORTH [Mr. Rico] (Forwarded)
|
|
Sub: Grid Epsilon Irregulars - News & Info.
|
|
|
|
This topic is for information about Babylon 5 fan groups, newsletters,
|
|
fanzines, get-togethers, B-5 at conventions, and other general fun.
|
|
285 message(s) total.
|
|
************
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 5
|
|
Message 277 Fri Oct 08, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:35 EDT
|
|
|
|
I'm told it'll be soon. The problem was multifold: 1) Christy had this
|
|
really impatient producer yelling on her for a script, which she finally
|
|
turned in, and will star David Warner; 2) she's in the process of buying a
|
|
house and moving; 3) she's been yelling on me for an intro piece, which I keep
|
|
missing; and 4) because of the changes in cast, she had to interview all of
|
|
the new cast members, who will be featured in the next issue. There are only
|
|
two issues left in the run in any event, and in a way, the later the issue,
|
|
the more complete the information will be.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 5
|
|
Message 280 Sun Oct 10, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 18:03 EDT
|
|
|
|
oops.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 5
|
|
Message 282 Mon Oct 11, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 13:30 EDT
|
|
|
|
Whether it's two or three...who can keep count?...the newsletter was a
|
|
private thing developed in-house for the movie, and to segue into the series;
|
|
it was never meant to be a permanent fixture. (And I'm sure that PTEN will
|
|
probably initiate its own publication after a while, if we're properly
|
|
successful.) After the initial full run, it's really up to Christy whether or
|
|
not she decides to carry on with the thing for a while.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
************
|
|
Topic 6 Tue Nov 03, 1992
|
|
T.ORTH [Mr. Rico] at 06:43 EST
|
|
Sub: Where is Babylon 5? TV stations...
|
|
|
|
Babylon 5 is a cornerstone of Warner's new Prime Time Entertainment Network.
|
|
Here is where one can find and post station information.
|
|
|
|
347 message(s) total.
|
|
************
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 6
|
|
Message 312 Mon Oct 25, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 14:53 EDT
|
|
|
|
I'm reasonably sure that the B5 pilot will be repeated on KCOP the next
|
|
day, Saturday.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 6
|
|
Message 330 Thu Oct 28, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 18:34 EDT
|
|
|
|
Actually, the funny thing is, I don't much mind if people who hadn't seen
|
|
the pilot don't catch the rebroadcast. What we're doing now is SO radically
|
|
better than the pilot that I almost can't watch it now.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
************
|
|
Topic 9 Wed Nov 11, 1992
|
|
T.RESTIVO [Little Guy] at 18:27 EST
|
|
Sub: Babylon 5 Humor
|
|
|
|
From *Beep Beep*, to Top Ten Lists to full-blown paradies, this is where to
|
|
put your funny bone in writing!
|
|
375 message(s) total.
|
|
************
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 9
|
|
Message 327 Sun Oct 17, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:26 EDT
|
|
|
|
There are moments I think it would be a wonderful idea....
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 9
|
|
Message 331 Sun Oct 24, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:02 EDT
|
|
|
|
Yes, Mike, very nice, now finish putting your pajamas on and get to bed,
|
|
you've got a busy day ahead of you.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
************
|
|
Topic 11 Sat Nov 14, 1992
|
|
J.SHEEN1 [Leviathan] at 18:09 EST
|
|
Sub: B5 Adrift!
|
|
|
|
BABYLON 5 Topic Drift
|
|
If you feel like talking about it, but it doesn't fit anywhere else... If its
|
|
only connection to B-5 is that you thought of it in this CAT...
|
|
This is where to come and get it out.
|
|
412 message(s) total.
|
|
************
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 11
|
|
Message 348 Thu Oct 14, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:04 EDT
|
|
|
|
I've always found for basic space adventuring stuff, Eric Frank Russell
|
|
is terrific....
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 11
|
|
Message 365 Sun Oct 17, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 19:53 EDT
|
|
|
|
I have absolutely no idea how it works. I use the command mode in GEnie
|
|
mail, where the Internet stuff comes in. I then type REP #, and reply. Then
|
|
save. After that, it's all in the hands of the modem gods.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 11
|
|
Message 376 Tue Oct 19, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 22:15 EDT
|
|
|
|
One way to get around all that, of course, is to transfer all of your CGI
|
|
directly to film at some point, and use that down the road.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
************
|
|
Topic 12 Wed Nov 18, 1992
|
|
B.WIST [Brad] at 18:12 EST
|
|
Sub: Babylon 5 Sightings
|
|
|
|
Post here when you've spotted Babylon 5, whether it be on Television,
|
|
Magazine, or somewhere else. Let us know where we can find it/see it, too.
|
|
402 message(s) total.
|
|
************
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 12
|
|
Message 355 Fri Oct 01, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:39 EDT
|
|
|
|
I understand it'll be sometime close to airdate, possibly a few weeks
|
|
after we go on the air.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 12
|
|
Message 357 Fri Oct 01, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 17:58 EDT
|
|
|
|
Mark Altman.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 12
|
|
Message 360 Sat Oct 02, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:18 EDT
|
|
|
|
The photo was from the pilot; the line about stations was not altogether
|
|
incorrect.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 12
|
|
Message 395 Fri Oct 15, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:45 EDT
|
|
|
|
She was talking to Vir, not Londo.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
************
|
|
Topic 13 Mon Nov 23, 1992
|
|
T.ORTH [Mr. Rico] at 21:00 EST
|
|
Sub: Babylon 5 - Science & Technology
|
|
|
|
Jump gates, nanotech, high-tech weapons, starship drives, sound in space, and
|
|
other subjects of science and technology in Babylon 5.
|
|
473 message(s) total.
|
|
************
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 13
|
|
Message 385 Sat Sep 25, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:15 EDT
|
|
|
|
Scenario Number One: sending the Lurkers back to Earth. Comes a call
|
|
from Earth Central: "Hell, no, you're NOT shipping them back here, we're
|
|
overcrowded enough as it is, we will NOT give you permission to send them back
|
|
here."
|
|
|
|
Scenario Number Two: turning them over to their representatives on B5.
|
|
G'Kar: "Thank you very much for bringing this to my attention, Commander, I'll
|
|
have him sent back at once." Beat. The commander leaves.
|
|
|
|
G'Kar: "Get OUT of here and don't come back! I don't have time to deal
|
|
with the likes of you, we're NOT paying to send you back to Homeworld, just
|
|
get out!"
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 13
|
|
Message 394 Wed Sep 29, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:39 EDT
|
|
|
|
"Jiggery-pokery"...that's a codename for math, isn't it? YOU CAN'T FOOL
|
|
ME! I GOT MY CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT DECODER BADGE! NOTHING GETS PAST ME!
|
|
|
|
I need a vacation....
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 13
|
|
Message 407 Fri Oct 01, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 23:54 EDT
|
|
|
|
Beats me...you ask my opinion, that docking bay entrance looks a LOT
|
|
like the Chevy symbol, so what the hell do I know?
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 13
|
|
Message 416 Mon Oct 04, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:42 EDT
|
|
|
|
The breather units now cover the whole face, yes.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 13
|
|
Message 425 Thu Oct 14, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:06 EDT
|
|
|
|
I'd say that's pretty close to what we've been doing....
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
************
|
|
Topic 17 Tue Jan 19, 1993
|
|
C.STOBBE [Colin] at 21:02 EST
|
|
Sub: Babylon 5 - Merchandising
|
|
|
|
A place to discuss all the neat Babylon 5 merchandising coming out (hopefully)
|
|
soon
|
|
394 message(s) total.
|
|
************
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 17
|
|
Message 375 Tue Sep 28, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:52 EDT
|
|
|
|
Hmmmm....I guess they sold out...which means they owe me money....
|
|
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 17
|
|
Message 378 Tue Sep 28, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 18:37 EDT
|
|
|
|
Right, that's what I was referring to, HOUR 25 posters, not B5 posters.
|
|
I hope no one here was confused by this.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 17
|
|
Message 381 Wed Sep 29, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:21 EDT
|
|
|
|
No, there's no reference to B5 in the Hour 25 poster...only that it was
|
|
painted by the same man who did our original B5 artwork, used to help sell the
|
|
series, and is signed by him (Peter Ledger), as well as by me, Larry DiTillio
|
|
and Harlan Ellison...the first official grouping of what would become the B5
|
|
core.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 17
|
|
Message 387 Thu Sep 30, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:20 EDT
|
|
|
|
Not yet....
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 17
|
|
Message 390 Fri Oct 01, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:41 EDT
|
|
|
|
I genuinely don't think you'll be seeing much *anywhere* until just about
|
|
the time we hit the airwaves. You want to put these things into catalogs and
|
|
stores when you think people will buy them...and right now, a lot of folks
|
|
still don't know about the show. Don't worry, you'll be sick to death of the
|
|
merchandising soon enough....
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
************
|
|
Topic 22 Fri Feb 12, 1993
|
|
R.FURR [Rob Furr] at 00:19 EST
|
|
Sub: Governments and Trade in B5
|
|
|
|
Most SF shows simply posit a government of sorts, and blithely ignore it ever
|
|
afterwards. You might see a freighter (with a big "shoot me!" sign on it) but
|
|
no other mention of trade. How about B5?
|
|
143 message(s) total.
|
|
************
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 22
|
|
Message 141 Mon Oct 04, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:43 EDT
|
|
|
|
It's a general storage area.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
************
|
|
Topic 23 Fri Feb 12, 1993
|
|
V.VAIDY1 [Vijay] at 23:00 EST
|
|
Sub: "OtherWorks" by JMS
|
|
|
|
Before there was "B5" and when "JMS" was just another Plain Joe, there was
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|
OtherSyde
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|
[A discussion of the other works of J. Michael Straczynski]
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|
146 message(s) total.
|
|
************
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 23
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Message 140 Fri Oct 15, 1993
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|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:46 EDT
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|
Actually, "The Wall" is one of my weaker episodes. I much prefer
|
|
"Rendezvous," though there's much in "Special Service" to commend it.
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|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
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Category 18, Topic 23
|
|
Message 142 Tue Oct 19, 1993
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 22:18 EDT
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I've never felt the need, as a writer, to be didactic about this stuff.
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|
No, I don't believe in an afterlife...I also don't believe in the actual
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|
existence of Vorlons, either, but I write about them. I don't think it's a
|
|
requirement. H.P. Lovecraft was one of our best writers of supernatural
|
|
fiction, but I very much doubt that he believed in the Old Ones, or made bi-
|
|
weekly offerings to Cthulhu.
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|
|
|
All areas of human endeavor should be open to exploration, discussion and
|
|
analysis, for what we can learn from them.
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|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
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|
Category 18, Topic 23
|
|
Message 145 Tue Oct 26, 1993
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|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:34 EDT
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|
|
|
...ehhhhh....
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|
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|
jms
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|
------------
|
|
************
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|
Topic 24 Fri Jun 04, 1993
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|
J.ROY18 [Jonathan] at 21:11 EDT
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Sub: Babylon 5 - Weapons and Warfare!
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|
|
|
For discussion about the weapons, counter weapons, armor, shielding, tactics,
|
|
logistics, and so forth, of small combat and large scale war in the Babylon 5
|
|
universe.
|
|
317 message(s) total.
|
|
************
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 24
|
|
Message 255 Fri Sep 24, 1993
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|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:37 EDT
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|
|
|
There's a line of sight display in front, joystick and foot controls, and
|
|
voice control of the ship's computerized navigation and firing controls as
|
|
well.
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|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 24
|
|
Message 268 Thu Sep 30, 1993
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|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 22:21 EDT
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|
|
|
You're looking at the wrong part of the station. Run the tape, and
|
|
you'll see several segments that track alongside the round front of the
|
|
station, and revolve along with it. (Remember where the spider transport
|
|
attached itself? I seem to recall that was on one of the cobra arms.) So
|
|
we're still using centrifugal force to launch.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 24
|
|
Message 270 Fri Oct 01, 1993
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|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 17:59 EDT
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|
|
|
A couple of the cobra bays aren't yet finished and loaded. The last
|
|
fighter wing will be arriving in "Survivors."
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|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 24
|
|
Message 274 Fri Oct 01, 1993
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|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 23:56 EDT
|
|
|
|
"Survivors" is the new title for "Knife in the Shadows," by Marc Scott
|
|
Zicree.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 24
|
|
Message 289 Tue Oct 05, 1993
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|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:19 EDT
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|
|
|
Except in this case, "Survivors" ended up being a more apt title for the
|
|
episode.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 24
|
|
Message 304 Thu Oct 21, 1993
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|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 21:50 EDT
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|
|
|
There's really no one answer to that; the approach would vary depending
|
|
on the logistics and tactics and who was where.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 24
|
|
Message 306 Sat Oct 23, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 23:28 EDT
|
|
|
|
Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnope.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 24
|
|
Message 308 Tue Oct 26, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:35 EDT
|
|
|
|
An earlier model, yes.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 24
|
|
Message 310 Wed Oct 27, 1993
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|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:35 EDT
|
|
|
|
There are no current military alliances, though some might like that.
|
|
|
|
There have never been any survivors of a Vorlon war, so there's no way
|
|
of knowing....
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
************
|
|
Topic 25 Fri Mar 12, 1993
|
|
S.SHELLENBAR [>> SHANE <<] at 08:47 EST
|
|
Sub: J. Michael Straczynski Speaks in Public
|
|
|
|
This is the place to find out where and when JMS will be appearing next. JMS
|
|
has honed his skills as a public speaker and is taking his act on the road.
|
|
349 message(s) total.
|
|
************
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 25
|
|
Message 310 Sun Sep 26, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:24 EDT
|
|
|
|
BTW, those Hour 25 posters, of which there are only a limited number
|
|
left, are in a sense the first (and possibly most interesting) collectible for
|
|
B5 afficianados. The poster is of the logo for Hour 25, a radio show hosted
|
|
by Harlan, and then me. It was on H25 that the first mention was made of B5;
|
|
also, the poster was designed by Peter Ledger, who did the art for B5 that
|
|
helped get the project sold; and it's autographed by Peter, me, Harlan Ellison
|
|
(conceptual consultant) and Larry Ditillio (our S.E.). And of course it's set
|
|
in space.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 25
|
|
Message 313 Sun Sep 26, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 18:24 EDT
|
|
|
|
Well, I've got some, maybe about 100, Christy has some, and it's possible
|
|
that Dangerous Visions in Sherman Oaks has a handful left, but that's it.
|
|
Nobody at KPFK has any.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 25
|
|
Message 318 Mon Sep 27, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 14:11 EDT
|
|
|
|
Didn't get your note until too late re: the poster.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 25
|
|
Message 325 Tue Oct 19, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 22:21 EDT
|
|
|
|
Okay, here's the info: I, Larry DiTillio, and possibly others will be
|
|
making a presentation at LosCon that Thanksgiving weekend on Saturday from 11
|
|
a.m. to 1 p.m. We got a two-hour block because we may have some stuff to
|
|
unveil. If you're in the L.A. area, and interested in B5, I wouldn't miss
|
|
this one. As well as the possibility of some cast members, those who come may
|
|
get more than just a preview....
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
|
|
(That's Thanksgiving weekend at the Burbank Airport Hilton.)
|
|
------------
|
|
************
|
|
Topic 26 Sun Jun 06, 1993
|
|
G.PLANA [Gary] at 01:51 EDT
|
|
Sub: Babylon 5 - Episode titles and info
|
|
|
|
This topic is for information about individual episodes -- their titles,
|
|
writers, and any other information JMS may leak!
|
|
136 message(s) total.
|
|
************
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 26
|
|
Message 107 Sun Oct 10, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 18:12 EDT
|
|
|
|
Several corrections. Neither Knight One nor Knight Two are Psi Cops.
|
|
Everyone assumed that they were, but I never said that, and it's not the case
|
|
at all.
|
|
|
|
Danica McKeller does not appear in "Sky," she appears in "The War
|
|
Prayer;" David McCalllum appears in "Infection." Christy Marx's episode is
|
|
entitled "Grail," and that's the one with David Warner, William Sanderson and
|
|
Tom Booker. "Metaphors" and "Target" have been retitled.
|
|
|
|
Those are the errors I caught just in passing.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 26
|
|
Message 109 Sun Oct 10, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 18:42 EDT
|
|
|
|
I no longer have any idea what we're talking about, and frankly it scares
|
|
the hell out of me....
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 26
|
|
Message 115 Mon Oct 11, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:19 EDT
|
|
|
|
Yeah, easy for YOU to say, KAL...I've got Londo, Garibaldi, G'Kar, Kosh
|
|
and half the Psi-Corps running around inside my head and yelling at each other
|
|
24 hours a day...YOU try to sleep with all that racket.
|
|
|
|
I either need to find a better neighborhood, or a worse one, I can't
|
|
decide....
|
|
|
|
"AH, my GOOD, CLOSE FRIEND, GariBALdi --"
|
|
|
|
That's it! Everybody outta the pool......!
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 26
|
|
Message 119 Mon Oct 11, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 23:42 EDT
|
|
|
|
Behind-the-scenes humor: because it had been so long since the pilot, it
|
|
took a few of our actors a bit of time to get back into their characters, to
|
|
find the characters' "fingerprints" for lack of a better term. This is quite
|
|
understandable given the long waiting period. When he needed to find his
|
|
character for a scene, Peter Jurasik mentioned that he would just stand up
|
|
straight and yell, "MISter GariBALdi!" and he'd be right back in character.
|
|
Sort of the B5 version of "Shazam!"
|
|
|
|
Minus the lightning bolt, of course.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|
|
Category 18, Topic 26
|
|
Message 126 Sun Oct 24, 1993
|
|
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:01 EDT
|
|
|
|
No, the series is one-to-one on the passage of years.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
------------
|