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490 lines
20 KiB
490 lines
20 KiB
This file contains messages posted by J. Michael Straczynski on GEnie from
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Mar 1 - Mar 15th, 1995. Postings are copyright 1995 by J. Michael Straczynski
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with compilation copyright by GEnie.
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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 General category. This is the main topic for the
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hit SF series. We discuss all general information on the series in this
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topic. Topic 2 is for SPOILERS! DO NOT POST STORY IDEAS!
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878 message(s) total.
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************
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 471 Wed Mar 01, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:17 EST
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We hadn't thought much about it (maybe because I'm kinda tall), but
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Bruce, Jerry, Claudia, Richard, Andreas...they're all *really* tall, which has
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kinda come back to bite us at times on casting, because if we have to have a
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baddie, or someone against whom they must go, we have to be sure they operate
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at the same height area (usually), or it'll look goofy.
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BTW...I'm pleased to announce that the latest survey from Viewers For
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Quality Television (VQT) has chosen Babylon 5 as the #1 ranked syndicated
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series, and #16 overall, beating such network/non-network shows as Murphy
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Brown, DS9, Seinfeld, Lois and Clark, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman and The
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Simpsons, among others, in their ranking of Highest Quality Shows.
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Thanks to all those who downloaded (and continue to download) the VQT
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survey forms, for helping draw people's attention to the hard work being done
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on Babylon 5.
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jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 495 Fri Mar 03, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:25 EST
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As Harlan has pointed out, he's really tall when he stands on his
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charisma.
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jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 501 Fri Mar 03, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:26 EST
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VQT = Viewers For Quality Television.
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A totally irrelevant aside...does ANYbody here know ANYbody from the Ben
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and Jerry Ice Cream company? If so, I have a message for them.
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HEY! PAY ATTENTION! Did you know that there is NO ONE out there making
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banana ice cream? I don't mean banana mix with those crummy walnuts in them,
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or sometimes a little banana cream stuffed into an ice bar, or those sticky
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banana ice-milk bars....I'm talking here STRAIGHT BANANA ICE CREAM. Go ahead,
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check out any supermarket's frozen section. You've got cherry, strawberry,
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chocolate, coffee, rum-raisen, white russian, vanilla, french vanilla,
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neopolitan...row after row of ice creams of every sort and flavor and
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packaging...EXCEPT BANANA. I KNOW. I'VE SPENT THE LAST SEVEN YEARS SEARCHING
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FOR IT!
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Ben...Jerry...SOMEBODY...make up some banana ice cream and you'll have
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the corner on the entire market. Trust me on this.
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jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 507 Fri Mar 03, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 17:21 EST
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I'm between 6'4" and 6'5".
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jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 532 Sat Mar 04, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:03 EST
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I haven't used my pool in a year and a half because I'm too busy behind
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the keyboard to take a dip. Honest. And making ice cream isn't something I
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can even think of making the time for. Thank goodness I have a policy of not
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getting involved in my own life....
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Believe it or not, I worked with Laura Dern once upon a time, before she
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was LAURA DERN. When Showtime produced my adaptation of "The Strange Case of
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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," through Shelley Duvall's company, she and Anthony
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Andrews were cast as the leads. Even though she was noted even then mainly
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for being Bruce Dern's daughter, she was very sweet and talented and you could
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see real talent there.
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jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 534 Sat Mar 04, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:27 EST
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Since I've been meaning to post the info here in answer to requests:
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really nifty B5 t-shirts and caps can now be ordered directly from All-U at 1-
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800-424-2558, ext. 105. T-shirts (great color images) and caps are $17, and
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the LONG SLEEVE t-shirts are $25, plus shipping and handling. The shirts
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they have now are 1) original cast photo with station, 2) new cast photo with
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station, the B5 logo with station and the words "the last best hope..." 4)
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station, planet and logo, and 5) station and starfury, all color.
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jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 585 Mon Mar 06, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:55 EST
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Joe does not consciously raid ST for guest stars. Joe looks for the best
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actor for the role. Sometimes he goes out of his way to help someone break
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the fist of typecasting. That's it.
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jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 601 Tue Mar 07, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:32 EST
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Kwicker...wow, that's a lot of legwork, thanks. I think I can follow up
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from here now, thakns.
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Or thanks.
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jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 606 Tue Mar 07, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:57 EST
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Did I mention you'll probably see Lyta Alexander once more before the
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season is out...?
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jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 634 Wed Mar 08, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:06 EST
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Loops: get the hell away from my office window. I can see you out there
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with my x-ray specs.
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Y'know...people wonder sometimes why I get a little exasperated with
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Paramount from time to time. Here's a few reasons.
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Back when the Arsenio Show was still on the air, Stephen Furst was set to
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appear on the show. Suddenly, they canceled. According to Stephen, he was
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told on the QT that it was because Paramount heard about it, and didn't want
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to promote B5.
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Back at the top of the season, we'd met with Winrich Kolbe about doing
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some of our episodes (he does a lot of TNG, DS9 and now Voyager directing).
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Nice guy, we met, we agreed, and a date was set. All parties agreed to it,
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we had a deal. Not long before the episode comes up, his rep calls to get him
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out of it...at first muttering about some vague, ill-defined TV movie
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Paramount wanted him to do, but we'd had this for a long time...then his rep
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was finally asked, "Look, does this have anything to do with the big boys at
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Paramount leaning on you because it's B5?" The rep reluctantly admitted that
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this was the case. We released Kolbe from his assignment.
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Now, finally, B5 is getting some press, some word of mouth; mostly about
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this show called Babylon something. Well, UPN just announced that they're
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doing a new detective series for the UPN stations, the majority of which are
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also B5 stations. And guess what they've announced the title is? BABYLON.
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You think maybe some folks'll get confused about which show this is, given
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that they're both on the same station in many places?
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The roster of such things goes on, and on, and on.
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But it's not stopping us. Inch by inch, we continue to fight our way
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into the ratings.
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jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 654 Wed Mar 08, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 15:52 EST
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Letters to Paramount will serve no purpose. We'll handle this one.
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jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 661 Wed Mar 08, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 20:21 EST
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Neither Shatner nor Takai have ever been on B5.
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jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 713 Fri Mar 10, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 16:29 EST
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I've read Harlan's piece for the TV guide special Star Trek edition (like
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there haven't already been a dozen such recently). Suffice to say it pole-
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axes much of the mythology around "City" and Gene's claims in that regard.
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Interesting reading...and some smoking guns.
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jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 736 Sat Mar 11, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:56 EST
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Actually, the idea that people coming into the story now will have a hard
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time is something of a myth; we continue to add new viewers all the time, and
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in some countries the show is actually being shown out of order; to date I
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have seen at most 1 or 2 people who were unsure about one aspect or another
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after seeing just one episode, but were still able to follow the story easily
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enough. You may not know what it means in relation to something that happened
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6 months ago, but what it means *now* is very clear, and all the information
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needed is always included in the episode.
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Re: raiding myself (ST comic)...I stopped raiding myself, what with all
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this Jocelyn Elders controversy....
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jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 807 Sun Mar 12, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 23:18 EST
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B5 does not provide squished credits to anyone, and they are not
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satellited out in that form. Local stations do that. In the cas of Fox
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shows, sometimes the Fox network does it in distributing the show to its
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affiliates. But we never provide them that way.
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jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 846 Tue Mar 14, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:26 EST
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Was out having dinner with Harlan and Susan, so missed seeing Voyager,
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thus can't comment.
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(Reason we went out to dinner was that I spent the day at his house,
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interviewing Harlan on-camera for a videotape associated with his new CD rom
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game based on "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream," coming out from Cyberdreams
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in a few months. I don't think there's *any* group we didn't offend during
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the course of the interview.)
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Re: Harlan on-line...no, he doesn't generally go on-line (except in some
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selected live conferences) but he does tend to get printups from folks from
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time to time...said contents of which could drive a monk to murder.
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BTW...for those also on AOL, tomorrow night I'm doing a live conference
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with Claudia Christian in the DC Comics Online area.
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jms
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Category 18, Topic 1
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Message 875 Wed Mar 15, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:46 EST
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Actually, the scene of Londo looking up at the shadow ships WAS shot
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outside the studio.
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jms
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************
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Topic 2 Wed Nov 20, 1991
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STARR [Arne] at 19:41 EST
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Sub: Babylon 5 -- The Series!! >>SPOILERS<<
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Babylon 5 is moving into a second season of 22 episodes. This series can be
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seen at 8 Pm on Wednesdays, in most areas. This topic is for SPOILERS only.
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Just remember our NO STORY IDEAS rule and we'll let you live. <g>
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682 message(s) total.
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************
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Category 18, Topic 2
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Message 530 Sat Mar 04, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:06 EST
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From "Infection," the visiting Doctor points out that, regarding organic
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technology, "some even say the Vorlons have got it." All this stuff gets set
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up somewhere.
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jms
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Category 18, Topic 2
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Message 532 Sat Mar 04, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:17 EST
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"Why are they allowed to stay on the station?"
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Space travel is *very* expensive (which is why they can't afford tickets
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off.)
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With B5's constant budget problems, who is going to pay to have these
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people shipped off? Who is going to accept them? Can't just space them.
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jms
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Category 18, Topic 2
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Message 544 Sat Mar 04, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 18:06 EST
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Re: not being one happy family...be careful what you wish for around
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here.
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Re: Kosh's voice carrying some emotion...starting at about "All Alone in
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the Night," or maybe one before (memory fades), I took on the job of directing
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the voice sessions for Kosh. He was moving from a neutral delivery to things
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that had to carry specific emotions and implications for the future, and
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nobody else knows what all this stuff means, so it fell to me.
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jms
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Category 18, Topic 2
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Message 556 Sun Mar 05, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:21 EST
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I think this is the first time an American series has been worked out in
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this much detail. PICKET FENCES often has threads that recur, but they're
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more catch-as-catch-can, not so much a cohesive story as the recurring of
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character arcs. In the case of TWIN PEAKS, I've talked to several staffers on
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the show, and they really didn't have *any* idea where they were going, they
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were making it up on the fly and hoping for the best. Some elements of X-
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FILES come close, but again it's more one or two individual character arcs
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(Mulder's sister, for instance) than a cohesive structured story (though if it
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keeps getting tighter, that may change, though it doesn't have an end that I
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know of).
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EARTH 2 apparently has a *destination*, but I don't believe its
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continuity is stressed at all. More of, When we end up, this is where we'll
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be. THE PRISONER is probably the closest parallel structurally to B5, and
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thus something of a template. I don't know if BLAKE'S 7 started OUT plotted
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like a novel, but it ends up feeling like one, so the difference may be no
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difference.
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The difference, I think, beyond having a definite beginning, middle and
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end (which is substantial in itself), is the approach using years as chapters;
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tracking one year of story time equalling one year of real time; and
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foreshadowing, setting up something in episode 7 that won't pay off until
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episode 14 or later. Little things like putting in a Ranger in shows long
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before they're revealed, or planning ahead to change Londo's wardrobe to
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reflect a darker attitude, even throwaway dialogue lines...as well as the
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larger foreshadowings.
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I can't think of any American show that has done any of those things
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consistently, or even *tried* to do all of them at once.
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So, bottom line, we're kinda out here on the edge all by ourselves.
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Re: Kosh's lines...the best part of working with the actor is that
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between takes, since he's locked in the audio booth, but doesn't want to break
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character, he'll mutter to himself in Kosh's voice...so there I am outside,
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hearing Kosh's voice on the speaker, "Bugger off, Sheridan... Have I told you
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I find you very attractive?...Oh the pain, the pain...."
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jms
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Category 18, Topic 2
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Message 595 Tue Mar 07, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:00 EST
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Except, of course, they live in the nastier, less attractive parts of the
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station, near the air reprocessors that go all night and all day without a
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break; the sewage and water reclamation factories...but yes, eventually their
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numbers will have to grow too large and something will have to be done. That
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something has been planned for.
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jms
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Category 18, Topic 2
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Message 605 Tue Mar 07, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 21:45 EST
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To pick one background shot, as I recall, there was a ranger at the
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zocalo bar at one point in "Long Dark."
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jms
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************
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Topic 4 Tue Nov 03, 1992
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 03:12 EST
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Sub: Babylon 5 - Cast & Characters
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For discussion of the actors who will be bringing BABYLON 5 to life with their
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performances...for information before, and discussion after the airing of "The
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Gathering" pilot.
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360 message(s) total.
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************
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Category 18, Topic 4
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Message 326 Sat Mar 11, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:59 EST
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Okay, let's see...upcoming we've got John Shuck, a reappearance by Morgan
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Shepherd in a different role, and Pat Tallman returns as Lyta Alexander.
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jms
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------------
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Category 18, Topic 4
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Message 356 Tue Mar 14, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 01:28 EST
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Okay, okay, I misspelled John's name....
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jms
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------------
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************
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Topic 17 Tue Jan 19, 1993
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C.STOBBE [Colin] at 21:02 EST
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Sub: Babylon 5 - Merchandising
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A place to discuss all the neat Babylon 5 merchandising coming out (hopefully)
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soon
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572 message(s) total.
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************
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Category 18, Topic 17
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Message 529 Sat Mar 04, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:22 EST
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There are some *nifty* B5 t-shirts and caps available from All-U at 1-800-
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424-2558, ext. 105. The shirts are color, nice screening process...just very
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well done. Prices are very reasonable. I commend them to you. (They're now
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available direct from All-U, which previously shipped mainly to distributers.)
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jms
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------------
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************
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Topic 33 Sun Mar 05, 1995
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M.BURSTEIN [Michael] at 00:16 EST
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Sub: Hugos, Other Awards, and Babylon 5
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For discussion of awards Babylon 5 has won, and discussion of which episodes
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should be nominated for Hugo (and other) Awards.
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31 message(s) total.
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************
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Category 18, Topic 33
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Message 4 Sun Mar 05, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:30 EST
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There's a dangerous irony here; the ST episode "Inner Light" was
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objectively the one stand-out episode of that season, and thus won. The
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problem I've detected in posts from people about B5 is determining WHICH
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episode to nominate, since there are apparently many choices. If you end up
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splitting the vote among lots of shows, *none* of them will get on the ballot
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or winning.
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So if you're going to push B5, you may want to get together on one ep
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that is always included (like "Signs," which is what I'd pick). Just a
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thought, since the issue at hand may not be which single ep is one's
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subjective best, but recognizing the series overall.
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jms
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************
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Topic 39 Wed Dec 07, 1994
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STARR [Arne] at 00:59 EST
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Sub: #213 - "Hunter, Prey"
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by JMS.
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75 message(s) total.
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************
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Category 19, Topic 39
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Message 18 Fri Mar 03, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 00:23 EST
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The General was not a prisoner reference; it refers to General Hague.
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jms
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------------
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Category 19, Topic 39
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Message 28 Sat Mar 04, 1995
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STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 02:56 EST
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I have a very simple rule: if you're going to reveal Kosh, first you have
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to start pointing at him, so that the revelation has weight.
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We're pointing at Kosh.
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jms
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------------
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