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222 lines
9.6 KiB
222 lines
9.6 KiB
(This is the first file of JMS postings on Usenet)
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| This text is compiled from posts by J. Michael Straczynski on the Usenet
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| group alt.tv.babylon-5. This document contains material Copyright 1993
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| J. Michael Straczynski. He has given permission for his words to be
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| redistributed online, as long as they are marked as being copyright JMS.
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| This document, as well as other Babylon-5 related material, is available
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| by anonymous FTP at ftp.hyperion.com.
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From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
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Date: 10 Jul 1993 03:22:56 -0400
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Subject: Passage through jumpgates
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As has been stated previously, large starships, such as carrier
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ships, have enough energy resources to create their *own* entry into
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hyperspace, their own jump points. The jump gates are mainly used for
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smaller ships, or big ships that want to conserve energy.
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Thus, the Vorlons used the jump gate in order to detach their smaller
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ships *before* entering B5's space, so that they could go in on the attack
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immediately, rather than having to separate from the mothership after
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arriving via a separate jump point. Since they were expecting some sort
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of Vorlon craft, no one thought much of it; the frequency matched with the
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ambassador's craft. It's only when everything came out that they saw it
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was more than it seemed.
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One other item: a jump gate isn't like a light bulb, you can't just
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switch it off suddenly. There are massive reactions and energy flows going
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on in there, and it takes a fairly long period of time to shut one down
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without blowing the thing to kingdom come. Also, you endanger any other
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craft heading for it or midway through a jump. During the Earth/Minbari
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war, EA jump gates were encoded to reject any ship coming in on the wrong
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ID frequency, which helped to slow down misuse of certain gates, though
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the codes would eventually get cracked, which meant they had to be changed
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on a fairly regular basis.
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In "Midnight on the Firing Line," you will see how a carrier-size
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ship makes its own jump point.
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jms
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From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
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Date: 17 Jul 1993 01:50:01 -0400
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Subject: Re: FTL communication (was Re:
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The Senator of the pilot, who was back on Earth, is someone who has
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in past been someone that Sinclair has come to for backing on things; he's
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the equivilent of someone on the Armed Services Committee, here as one of
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those civilian Senators overseeing Earthforce. He would not be in any
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position to just come in and take over, any more than a Senator visiting a
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U.S. army base would be in a position to take over the base if there were
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a problem with the ranking officer. But he might be able to bring some
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force to bear back in Washington, which might double-back to be of some
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use.
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There are civilian branches and military branches, as with today, in
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which the civilian branch oversees the military, but in very formalized
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ways.
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jms
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From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
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Date: 18 Jul 1993 18:21:00 -0400
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Subject: Re: FTL communication (was Re:
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The sense is that the commander of B5 is empowered to speak on
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behalf of his government the way a captain exploring new places is
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similarly empowered. One thing that Sinclair does *not* do is order the
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Ambassadors around. That would be a significant breach of protocol. They
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are all on equal footing in that respect. He is forbidden from using the
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station personnel or firepower to, for instance, hammer someone into
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signing a particular treaty, since that would be duress, and would be
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considered void. It would also probably lead to a major confrontation that
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nobody wants. There are definite checks and balances put in place on B5,
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as with any other major installation like this.
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Sinclair, btw, was not the first choice for this post; they wanted an
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actual ambassador, but for reasons we'll reveal down the road, this didn't
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happen. At one point we'll deal very straight-forwardly with this whole
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civilian vs. military question in the series, which should answer many of
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the questions being asked here.
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jms
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From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
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Date: 20 Jul 1993 01:51:03 -0400
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Subject: A Couple of Questions...
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The writer's guide to B5 is not available outside the B5 offices. As
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for a B5 comic...yes, there are negotiations, and as soon as there's any
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news I can pass along officially, it'll be on the 'net very quickly.
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jms
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From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
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Date: 27 Jul 1993 03:21:18 -0400
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Subject: Re: Tamyln & TV Guide - From J
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Regarding Catherine Sakai...believe me, this ain't a consort kind of
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relationship. It will be monogamous, but difficult in many ways. This
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has been an on-again/off-again relationship between them for years, made
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up of three parts passion and two parts teeth. It will be a very fiery
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relationship. And this is a woman with her own business, her own ship,
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who comes and goes as she wishes. You have to understand that I love
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writing strong female characters, and Catherine will be probably one of
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the strongest.
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jms
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From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
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Date: 27 Jul 1993 04:03:07 -0400
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Subject: Something I've always wanted
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Yes, the English model is very much what we're going for in the
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characters on B5. No character is safe, and we want to play with them
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in some ways not usually done on american TV. One other difference is
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the notion of a single story across X-season, as with many British
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series.
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jms
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From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
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Date: 27 Jul 1993 04:15:27 -0400
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Subject: Re: TV Guide
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Just a correction: there is *no* story in the first season of B5
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entitled "Five Minutes to Midnight." The first episode for the series is
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entitled "Midnight on the Firing Line." Just FYI.
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jms
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From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
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Date: 27 Jul 1993 06:53:37 -0400
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Subject: Re: TV Guide
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Two quickies: in G'Kar's comments to Lyta, he mentions that they
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would have to change the genetic structure of human DNA for his little
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idea to work, so there is that aspect to it. As for Sinclair going after
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the Minbari assassin...there were several reasons for this. First, this
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was personal for him; if the guy *wasn't* caught, he would be blamed for
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the death and sent to the Vorlon homeworld. He had something very much
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at stake. Second, if you have somebody with shapeshifting technology on
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board, the LAST thing you want is to send in a large group. The tracking
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of the energy web used for the holographic effect was good, but only
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to a certain point. It could say "He's ten feet away," but if there's 5
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guys within that range, it'll take you just long enough to react for the
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assassin to wipe out the bunch of you before you figure out which one he
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is. But if there's only *two* of you, and you hear the shifter is within
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10 feet, you know *exactly* who it is and can react accordingly. It
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seemed logical. Also, you'd want someone there who you knew VERY well,
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in case there were a replacement...because while someone could emulate a
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face, they can't replicate memories, and Sinclair or Garibaldi could
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quickly figure out if the other was an imposter.
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Yes, I probably could've stopped to explain this...but I figured it
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was readily apparent, and there was already enough exposition in the
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pilot to stun a horse.
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jms
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From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
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Date: 27 Jul 1993 19:12:08 -0400
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Subject: Re: TV Guide
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Alas, I wish I could say that I'm doing B5 in hopes of pleasing the
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maximum number of people at all times. Certainly there would be many
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people in town relieved to hear that. But this is something that I'm
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doing because this is just the sort of series that I'd like to watch. If
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I'm lucky, others will feel the same way. If not...well, them's the
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breaks. This show will either be a hit, or it'll go down in the biggest
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fireball since Tunguska.
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jms
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From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
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Date: 29 Jul 1993 02:21:43 -0400
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Subject: Re: Something I've always want
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So far, the network (PTEN) is letting us do everything we want to
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do, even going for our more dangerous stories. Which pleases me beyond
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anything I can convey to you. They're trusting us to do what we think is
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right.
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jms
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From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
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Date: 29 Jul 1993 02:22:07 -0400
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Subject: Re: Something I've always want
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We're definitely punching up the Commander. And you're correct; not
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all problems in real life are resolved in a day, much less an hour (though
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that's really kind of a misnomer; generally the "span" of a TV story may
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cover 3-4 days of story time...you just see parts of that story selected
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for showing in a one-hour period...sort of the highlights).
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We do plan to bring in some things that seem at first unimportant,
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then a few episodes down, learn the significance of it. That can be a
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great deal of fun.
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jms
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From: straczynski@genie.geis.com
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Date: 31 Jul 1993 05:11:37 -0400
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Subject: Re: JMS: Cast additions/change
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That footage...zero. Other stuff...maybe.
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jms
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