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The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5
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JMS Usenet messages for September 1996.
Date: 2 Sep 1996 23:57:30 -0400
Subject: Re: The Legend is True
Re: the number of folks at the two B5 presentations (the official one and
the hastily arranged second) at Worldcon...the first room held (seated)
1500 people, I was told. There were about another 500 who were allowed
finally to stand in the back. So figure 2,000. The second panel was in
A9, which held 800, and we had about 2-3rds of that, so figure about
400-600, so you're looking at a total of about 2,400-2,600, which is about
what we had at San Diego Comic Con. We're talking here roughly 1/2 of the
entire Convention attendance, maybe a smidge less.
I was forwarded a piece of email from one of the convention organzers
expressing his grave doubts that the presentation would draw more than 20%
of the whole convention...we got nearly 50 percent.
I have to say, btw, that this WorldCon was probably the best, and most
well organized WorldCons I've ever attended. No hassles, no frustrations,
it was just a joy.
jms
Date: 2 Sep 1996 23:38:34 -0400
Subject: Re: Spoilers for "Grey 17 Is Missing"
spoiler replies....
Yeah, I really can't disagree with that analysis. The Jeremiah thread was
one of those things that looks great on paper, but when you get it into a
camera...I dunno, it's one of those weirdnesses that happens in
television. Sometimes you've got what you think is an average script and
it just roars to life on-camera, and something that looks great on paper,
but in real life...ehh...I'm happy with all the other stuff in the
episode, but the Jeremiah thread didn't come off as it should've.
I think in part it's also my fault, in that my brain was gearing up for
the stuff that begins ramping up starting with the next episode, and the
Grey 17 thing was something I'd wanted to do for a long time, and there
wasn't going to be a chance to do it down the road, if at all, after this
season, so I went for it. As for the Zarg, that's also one of those
things that didn't come off visually as I'd wanted. So overall, I'd
agree...of all the season 3 eps, this one is probably the least effective
of them all. But one in a season, that ain't too bad....
jms
Date: 3 Sep 1996 00:12:00 -0400
Subject: Re: Attn:JMS Kudos, Kudon'ts and other points of interest.
We do sometimes use cover for our security teams, as we did in "The Long
Dark" and "Ceremonies of Light and Dark," but the problem is that our sets
aren't really set up for that sort of thing as a rule. But we do it where
we can.
jms
Date: 3 Sep 1996 00:13:20 -0400
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: Just at Thank You
Thanks...we try.
jms
Date: 3 Sep 1996 00:13:00 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Bradbury
I think I probably haven't separated out Bradbury's work for special
attention mainly because it's so much "in the air," that it's part of
one's environment, and one doesn't notice it sufficiently to comment on
it.
Bradbury was one of the first SF authors I stumbled across, specifically
"The Martian Chronicles," which just blew my brains across the wall and
splattered them on the library windows. His use of language, imagery, the
very human details of his work...it astonished me. Sometimes I hear
Bradbury creeping into my dialogue from time to time...a turn of phrase or
a word choice.
Interestingly enough, if you ask Bradbury who was one of his primary
influences, prehaps the most singular influence, he'll cite Norman Corwin
as well.
jms
Date: 3 Sep 1996 00:14:28 -0400
Subject: Re: Quit complaining about JMS's comments
"Something to think about. If people complain too much about JMS's posts
then perhaps he might not take so much time out of his busy schedule to
enlighten us with them."
Not much chance of that. Zero, actually. I've been riding the nets, and
taking the brickbats with the praise, since 1984. Very little fazes me.
Complaints are part and parcel, and sometimes they're justified, and
sometimes they're not, but they're just a part of the process.
Nutcases are, natch, a somewhat different issue...but them we just deal
with.
jms
From
Date: 3 Sep 1996 00:14:25 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: How long to complete an episode?
Once I start writing, it takes me about 7-10 days to finish a script.
Usually scripts are done several weeks before preproduction begins. Prep
then starts about 2 weeks prior to shooting. Shooting takes 7 work days.
Post takes on average 52 days.
jms
Date: 3 Sep 1996 00:19:39 -0400
Subject: Re: ATT JMS: Demon Night
Morgan: in hearing the sorts of books you like, I have two words for you:
Jonathan Carroll. Try his "Bones of the Moon," or if you can find it,
"The Land of Laughs."
"Demon Night" was a decent first attempt; I never actually wrote it
intending for it to ever be published; I just sorta wrote it for myself,
as an exercise, then stuck it in a closet for almost 3 years until my
agent one day suggested I write one someday, and I mentioned I had one.
Almost didn't give it to her, figuring it was an okay start, but I needed
to really learn more. She read it, loved it, gave it to her NY associate,
who sold it to the first editor who looked at it, and it got a Bram Stoker
Award nomination from the Horror Writers of America. So what the heck do
I know...?
jms
Date: 3 Sep 1996 00:15:47 -0400
Subject: Re: ATT JMS: Demon Night
Writing novels is something I do want to get back to; my next novel is
already fully outlined, I have all the research stuff I need, but it's a
1,000 page story, and I need one fairly focused year to write it. So as
much as I enjoy writing novels, it'll have to wait until I'm done with B5,
alas.
jms
Date: 3 Sep 1996 00:08:20 -0400
Subject: Re: Attn: JMS CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!
Thank you, we're all extremely proud and excited. It's a terrific
validation of everything we've been working toward these last 3+ years.
jms
Date: 3 Sep 1996 00:09:27 -0400
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: Can B5 be shown on DiSH Network DBS ?
Syndicated shows can't be/aren't available on dishes of either sort; since
B5 is syndicated, that leaves us right out.
jms
Date: 3 Sep 1996 00:10:25 -0400
Subject: Re: No new eps til Nov? Is this true?
Incorrect; new episodes begin in October, with the final 5 from year 3,
then the season 4 episodes begin in November.
jms
Date: 3 Sep 1996 00:10:36 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Thanks for Worldcon.
I was happy to do the second presentation. I was kinda tired...I put a
lot into these things, so I was physically dead meat by the time the
second one came around...but that was the only slot they had open, and I
was determined that people weren't going to get stiffed. Anybody who's
been in line for hours -- and some people were there a LONG time --
deserves more than that. I've been in those sorts of lines, and gotten
cut off or shut out, and I won't let it happen to anybody else where I'm
concerned.
jms
Date: 3 Sep 1996 00:35:55 -0400
Subject: Re: BattleGround Earth: New Series with b5 ties
"Could this have anything to do with that nasty rumor floating around
about the possible loss of B5's season 5 because of people affiliated with
the show leaving to do something else? I've been out of the loop for a
couple of week (starting grad. school). Last I heard about this rumor
was...nothing. No confirmations _or_ denials..."
Up until right before I left for Worldcon, I hadn't heard a word of this
rumor. Then I got an email from someone asking if it were true. I asked
if WHAT were true? The correspondent explained that according to rumor, I
was leaving B5 to go to Fox and develop shows for them.
Suffice to say this was the first time I'd heard ANY of this, and it's
utterly false.
jms
Date: 3 Sep 1996 03:43:28 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS. Is it the end or the beginning?
The broadcast schedule for B5, like god, transcends all understanding.
And thanks for all the rest.
jms
Date: 3 Sep 1996 03:45:44 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS:The writer's rights to what he writ
"I'd be interested in how you would answer the conceit (my word) of those
who
believe that by selling his work (and therefore 'using' the public) a
writer has no right to deny access to *any* of his works after death."
That's like saying that if a woman has sex with someone a few times, that
person is entitled to have sex with that person forever thereafter, that
the person can no longer say "no" having once put out.
Which is, of course, nonsense. The writer's work belongs to the writer,
and if s/he chooses to have any unpublished material destroyed upon
demise, then that is the writer's right. It's nobody else's business.
Similarly, in my case, I destroy all my previous drafts of whatever I
write. Anyone who wants to go through my files and pull out the earlier
(inferior) drafts of scripts or stories, looking for my handwritten
revisions...you ain't gonna find them. They're gone, trashed, roundfiled.
A writer has the right to release that of his or her work which they
desire; it's their work, after all. Nobody else gets a vote on that.
"And doesn't this impinge in part of the Cult of Personality question?"
Only in that some folks believe that they have a proprietary interest in a
writer, and that by virtue of spending X-dollars buying books, they *own*
that writer, or a piece of that writer, and that that writer is
accountable to them, owes them something more than the work, and the
respect between a writer and a reader.
Wrong.
jms
Date: 3 Sep 1996 19:14:46 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS, subject HUGO ( B5 WON!!!!!!!)
It's correct that I was wrong; I'd assumed, because 12 Monkeys was listed
last on the announcement of nominations, that that was the one that had
been added when we pulled "Fall." And we all know what happens when we
assume....
jms
Date: 4 Sep 1996 03:13:11 -0400
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: Syndication? (was Re: Attn JMS: Can B5 be shown on DiSH Network DBS ?)
"If the DiSH Network satellite system adds WSBK as they are planning to
do, who could/would object to the resulting transmission of B5 ?"
Oh.
Well, offhand, I can't think of anyone who would...so maybe that would
work.
jms
Date: 4 Sep 1996 03:14:30 -0400
Subject: Re: Snow White
"So what're the chances of getting Ed Wasser to dress in drag and play the
Dark Queen?"
On any given Saturday night...pretty good.
\
jms
Date: 4 Sep 1996 03:15:15 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Kudos, Q about Lost Episode?
It's not that the episode was abandoned; I had the title, but there was
never a script written to go with it. The threads got pulled into other
episodes.
jms
Date: 05 Sep 96 03:58:34 GMT
Subject: cmsg cancel <503clo$ud@newsbf02.news.aol.com>
Article cancelled by denebeim@zaphod.deepthot.cary.nc.us.
Date: 05 Sep 96 03:59:45 GMT
Subject: cmsg cancel <50gbb4$fnd@newsbf02.news.aol.com>
Article cancelled by denebeim@zaphod.deepthot.cary.nc.us.
Date: 4 Sep 1996 04:10:06 -0400
Subject: jms bags on IBM
You ever just finally reach a point where you've Had It?
I pass this along as an open letter to IBM, and a warning to anyone here
about buying from IBM.
I've seen all the same ads you have, and after being very wary for a very
long time, I finally decided to go for an IBM Thinkpad 560. Everything
said it was a great machine. So I called IBM to order it.
Only IBM doesn't sully its hands with direct orders. It sends you to a
secondary company, one of a bunch that handles that sort of thing, and you
place your order with that company. Okay, fine, I can handle that. I
place the order. I'm told it'll go out within 3 days, Federal Express. I
plan to have it all broken in so I can bring it to Worldcon with me to
avoid losing any work time.
A week passes. More. I call IBM. They have no record of it. I have to
backtrack to their secondary company. The secondary company misplaced it,
never bothered to tell me or IBM. Finally it goes out. Arrives with the
wrong spare battery. I call them again. They tell me that I should
package up the wrong battery, and they'll send me back the right one.
This was weeks ago. Still hasn't happened.
I used the Thinkpad for about 10 hours all total, just getting used to
Windows 95. Went to turn it on again, all powered up...it doesn't react.
Either I get a dead screen, or it hits the IBM in the upper right corner,
but nothing more, no beeps, no error messages, nothing.
So I call Technical Support. I spend over an hour with them, explaining
it, as they look into various books and can't figure it out. I take it
apart on the phone with them, still nothing. They tell me someone will
come by the next day to fix it (at great cost, natch). Or I can mail it
in, but I *need it* for that Thursday, when I leave for Worldcon, so I
can't send it out.
Next day comes, but IBM doesn't. I get two phone calls again, asking me
to explain what the problem is. I tell them. They say someone will be
over by the end of the day. Nobody shows. Tomorrow, they tell me.
So the next day, a repair tech from IBM arrives...almost two hours
late...and takes one look at the Thinkpad 560 before announcing he knows
NOTHING about this model...*doesn't even seem to know how to turn it on*.
I show him. He has no idea what's wrong, but goes into the other room to
take it apart. Spends 2 and 1/2 hours doing this (at $125 an hour) before
emerging to say he's got the screen to come on, but a) he has no idea what
was wrong, and it might go wrong again, and b) in taking the machine apart
he's totally bown the configuration, and do I have the configuration
disks? No, because the IBM secondary company never SENT me the disks.
So he says he'll take it that evening, and have it back in the morning,
thinking he may be able to download the software off IBM. He's come to
service a Thinkpad 560, but doesn't have any of the software for it, and
isn't entirely sure how to get it. It's now Thursday. I have no chance
of having this for Worldcon now, so I'm going to lose 4 days work because
of this.
I call in from the con, and I'm told he's returned with the IBM, and says
it now works, but he doesn't know for how long. So today I show up, and
find that it's in exactly the same condition as when I left, it hasn't
been configured, he simply and flatly lied to me because he didn't know
what to do, or how to do it.
So now I have a totally non-functioning IBM Thinkpad 560, for which I paid
a total of almost $6,000. Three phone calls to IBM after this have led to
zero response.
I've been buying computers a long, long time. I've gone through about six
full systems and 5 laptops, in each case they lasted long enough to pass
on to other people to use. I've never had this much trouble with a
product, and with their technical support, in 12 years. And you can't
find any kind of decent support or clues on where to go on their
convoluted, impossible-to-decipher web page structure. I signed onto IBM
Global Net, which has been equally as frustrating.
So if you're thinking of buying an IBM Thinkpad, folks, I'd urge you to
consider another company. This is the most hideous experience I've ever
had with a computer company, and if I'd had ANY idea how wretched it was,
I'd never have gone to IBM in the first place. This is an utter and
absolute disgrace.
jms
jms
Date: 5 Sep 1996 03:36:48 -0400
Subject: Re: B5 vs. ST:V
Can someone answer me some questions about the premiere, 'cause some stuff
just didn't seem to make sense. I've tried to never pick on ST:V for its
stories, for obvious reasons, but some stuff here just jumped out at
me....
Why were Starfleet officers, or hardened renegade Maquis, standing around
huddled and cold, rubbing their arms like lost children and looking
helpless when they should've been survival-trained at the basic Academy
level? They were taught every aspect of a circuit board and a tachyon
field...but they don't know you can make fire easier with a couple of
flints than rubbing sticks together? They looked utterly helpless without
their technology.
If the Kazon are mad because Voyager won't share its technology, then they
don't have that technology, right? So in that case, how were they able to
know how to run every circuit of the ship when they came aboard, with zip
time to study it? It seems to me they knew how to run it, how to fix it,
how to adjust it...so how is it they can say they don't have the
technology?
You come across bones lying on the ground, and nobody considers that these
may have been either a) a burial site (leave it alone) or b) remains from
a predator (get the hell out)?
They built a solar still out of the dead ensign's uniform, but they
couldn't make a fire? Say what?
And then people just wander out of camp, by themselves, in the night, when
they know there are predators and enemies around?
Starfleet Academy must've become nothing more than an engineering school,
because a Boy Scout has better survival skills than this bunch.
jms
Date: 5 Sep 1996 21:58:24 -0400
Subject: Even More Nominations
Though it's nowhere in the Hugo league...Sci-Fi Universe just contacted us
with the list of nominees for their awards. X-Files got 10 nominations,
Babylon 5 got 8 nominations, DS9 got 7, S:A&B got 6. None for Voyager
that I can see on the list.
Categories in which B5 is nominated:
Best Series
Best Actor (Bruce)
Best Supporing Actor (Peter and Andreas)
Best Supporting Actress (Mira and Claudia)
Best Teleplay ("War Without End," jms)
Best Special Effects
jms
>From
Date: 8 Sep 1996 01:59:10 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN:JMS LEGAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Stations are required to show credits; often they don't. We complain, we
get ignored. It's vastly annoying.
jms
Date: 8 Sep 1996 02:00:29 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Your Tirade (WAS Re: JMS on CompuServe (Sep 05, 1996))
Yeah, I know it was probably what he wanted...but not the *way* he wanted
it.
And sometimes I just need the target practice....
jms
Date: 8 Sep 1996 03:25:29 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: You Son Of An Emporer
Ah...a very sad case, that. Turhan's only child, his son, died during a
boating accident, of all things. He drowned. His personal guard, who was
apparently unable to find Turhan's son in the murky water, was found dead
several days after making his report; his own death was officially ruled a
suicide, out of grief. But there are always stories....
jms
Date: 8 Sep 1996 03:27:17 -0400
Subject: Re: B5 Dating Profile Now "Onlyne"
Re: your note....
I am sometimes asked, Do you ever regret creating B5?
Until this message, the answer was no, of course not. Now, however....
jms
Date: 11 Sep 1996 23:38:07 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS (And the Rock - Spoilers)
Thanks. That was one of those scenes which, when you do it, you know it's
gonna stay around for a while....
jms
Date: 12 Sep 1996 00:00:10 -0400
Subject: Re: Sci-Fi Channel's WorldCon Coverage (Dissing B5)
I was *very* bugged by the bozo the SciFi Channel sent to cover Worldcon.
His report wasn't about the con, it was about *him* AT the con. Here's
the guy in the dealer's room, putting on funny hats. Here's the guy
telling jokes. Here's the guy acting cute with a prosthetic puppet. On
and on and on. (It's the same kind of annoyance you get with a restaurant
review that tells you all about the reviewer, and how they got to the
restaurant, and what their friend talked about, on and on, when all you
want to know is if the food's good.)
The stress was on oddly dressed fans, cuteness, bad jokes, clowning
around, all by the "host," and virtually nothing of value on the con
itself. You'd get ten seconds of something potentially interesting, then
he'd jump in again. Nearly all of the interviews were with media people,
with very few (and brief) exceptions like Connie Willis and James White.
And yeah, B5 got stiffed, but that's a lot less annoying than the feature
overall, and how it was approached, to be cynical or cute by turns, to
make fun of it all; it's the kind of approach I'd expect from the
mainstream, not a channel dedicated to SF...of all the famous authors
there they could've interviews, jeezus, maybe one of the last chances to
get van Vogt, they could've talked to Silverberg, others, c'mon....
(And no, that wasn't me in the shot, but someone who kinda looked like me.
And they misspelled my name on the hugo list.)
jms
Date: 12 Sep 1996 00:13:22 -0400
Subject: Re: Mr. JMS: A few questions....
To your questions:
Yes, we'll see Theo once more in year 3.
You'll hear more from ISN in year 4.
The new Vorlon arrives in "Walkabout," and Lyta's situation will be
explored more in the first part of year 4.
The Earth First and other groups haven't gone away, but been consolidated,
as we'll find soon enough.
jms
Date: 12 Sep 1996 00:16:16 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Changes?
I don't know that I'd *change* anything in the show if budget were not an
issue, since it's story driven...I think I'd just do MORE of it all.
jms
Date: 12 Sep 1996 00:15:37 -0400
Subject: Re: Sci-Fi Channel's WorldCon Coverage (Dissing B5)
I was *very* bugged by the bozo the SciFi Channel sent to cover Worldcon.
His report wasn't about the con, it was about *him* AT the con. Here's
the guy in the dealer's room, putting on funny hats. Here's the guy
telling jokes. Here's the guy acting cute with a prosthetic puppet. On
and on and on. (It's the same kind of annoyance you get with a restaurant
review that tells you all about the reviewer, and how they got to the
restaurant, and what their friend talked about, on and on, when all you
want to know is if the food's good.)
The stress was on oddly dressed fans, cuteness, bad jokes, clowning
around, all by the "host," and virtually nothing of value on the con
itself. You'd get ten seconds of something potentially interesting, then
he'd jump in again. Nearly all of the interviews were with media people,
with very few (and brief) exceptions like Connie Willis and James White.
And yeah, B5 got stiffed, but that's a lot less annoying than the feature
overall, and how it was approached, to be cynical or cute by turns, to
make fun of it all; it's the kind of approach I'd expect from the
mainstream, not a channel dedicated to SF...of all the famous authors
there they could've interviews, jeezus, maybe one of the last chances to
get van Vogt, they could've talked to Silverberg, others, c'mon....
(And no, that wasn't me in the shot, but someone who kinda looked like me.
And they misspelled my name on the hugo list.)
jms
Date: 12 Sep 1996 00:19:17 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Did you think you were going to win?
I honestly didn't know how it was going to work out. I figured
(correctly, as it turned out) that the main opposition would be Apollo 13.
Which for my money would've been a good selection. (Is it SF? The
description John Campbell and, I think, Heinlein gave for SF is "the
impact on humans of technology." It even uses the Analog Magazine
approach of finding a technical solution to a technical problem. If
Apollo 13 doesn't count that way, what does? Is it fiction? Nnnnnooo, I
suppose, though certainly elements of it were fictionalized for purposes
of drama, and I guess that counts somewhat.)
Anyway, that dispute aside, and I can see why it's not a clear issues for
a lot of folks...understand that I've never won a major award before.
I've been up for Ace Awards, the Writers Guild Award, the Gemini Award
(the Canadian equivilant of an Emmy), the HWA Bram Stoker Award,
others...but hadn't won, and as a result, you get very guarded about these
things. So I didn't know for sure until the words left Roger Corman's
lips.
And I have to say...this show has won a lot of awards in different areas,
Emmys and others, but this one, for me, means the most. Even Warners is
excited about it, and is taking out a double-page ad in most of the trades
this Friday, with others to appear the following week. (We encouraged
them to also congratulate the nominees for the award as wel, since they
were all very deserving, it was stiff compettion.)
jms
Date: 12 Sep 1996 00:22:38 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS-Appreciation of Support Cast
Supporting cast are *very* important, they add to the sense and feel of a
working universe that exists outside the main characters. Again, it's
that sense of reality.
jms
Date: 12 Sep 1996 00:17:33 -0400
Subject: Re: Another JMS award at Worldcon
Yeah, the Shadow Hugo (an ominous name for what's basically a
coaster-shaped circuit board with a bronze plate on it) went to B5 from
Sci-Fi.Com, which was actually the first SF award B5 has gotten, beating
the real Hugos by about 24 hours.
The reason they had to come out of the SFFWA suite to give me the award
had to do with my feelings toward SFFWA, from which I resigned over their
attitude toward media writers and the dramatic nebula (bottom line: all
media writers are hacks, and it's not real writing, and even though media
work, scripts, are eligible for membership, or were then, they're not
eligible for the Nebula because it isn't really writing).
Actually, what I said to the folks from scifi.com was..."I wouldn't go in
there for the presentation if I were dying of lung cancer and they were
offering free chemotherapy at the door." Nothing against many of the
SFFWA members, many of them are fine folks who're taking the rap for a
provincially minded leadership, but after the grief I got from SFWA over
all this before, the hate mail, the vindictiveness, the resignation (to
this day they still haven't had the guts to print my letter of resignation
in the Journal), I just couldn't go in there for the award.
jms
Date: 12 Sep 1996 04:05:06 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Your AOL Home Page
Urrrk....that isn't set up yet for anybody else, I was just sorta screwing
around with it, and having a hard time with the interface, basically
abandoned it halfway through putting it together. Please ignore it...I'll
delete it asap.
jms
Date: 11 Sep 1996 23:47:36 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Foundation Imaging Collapse - Sinking into the sand?
The post put up in public forums was a private email, and since I didn't
keep a copy of it, I can't verify if every word is as I wrote it or not.
There's a lot I can't say on this publicly at this point, though I hope to
be able to do so soon. Business stuff that has to get ironed out first.
What I will say about the CGI for season 4 is just this...that the
equipment being used is equal to, or better than the equipment at
Foundation; the animators are largely those who have worked on B5 in the
past, who were let go some time ago when Foundation downsized, with a few
outside additions, just as Foundation would add to its ranks from outside;
and there should be *zero* difference onscreen to what has been the case
on B5, except that it will continue to improve over what we've done in the
past.
As usual every season, we start out with lighter CGI episodes, and build
to big stuff as we go. That will be the same this season as last. Our
first really big CGI episode last season was "Messages," which was around
episode #8, then "Severed," episode #10. This season we'll hit with big
stuff around episode #6, which will likely be as big as "Severed." Rather
than push stuff back, we've been able to move CGI stuff forward and expand
on scenes.
Basically, the bottom line is that whatever we've done on the show has
been with one and only one goal: we thought we could make it better by
doing X. Invariably, when people hear what's up, the inititial reaction
is to panic...until they actually SEE what we're doing...and then it
becomes clear. This is no different.
jms
Date: 11 Sep 1996 23:53:30 -0400
Subject: Re: And the Rock Cried Out (* Spoilers *)
No, the song in "Rock" is an old gospel song. I've always had a soft spot
for old gospel songs and spirituals because of their wonderful use of
language and imagery, and you can dance to 'em. Not that I dance, but the
theory is there, at least.
jms
Date: 14 Sep 1996 01:29:55 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Your HomePage
The homepage on AOL is just a dinky thing, and not able (I think) to use
anything really fancy, it's a very "dumb" interface...not much to be done
for it. I have to get around to dumping it....
jms
Date: 17 Sep 1996 15:46:59 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS : Possible re-edit of Grey 17 *spoilers*
We did the best we could with what we had...we'd have to go back and
reshoot the whole sequence, and that we can't do.
jms
Date: 13 Sep 1996 04:52:42 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Passing the torch . . .
"Who exactly owns the 3D models, the textures, all the stuff that
Foundation made for the EFX in the episodes? I assume you or Warner Bro.
does."
WB owns it all. WB owns the copyright on B5 (as does every studio
producing a series, as Paramount owns ST), and anything produced in the
process of making that show.
"Part of the reason I ask is, I swear I saw some models or parts of models
in Hypernauts.""
Very likely. I think the rule is that if you change it more than 50%, you
can use it for secondary purposes.
"Are the new guys (NDE) still using Lightwave 3D/Video Toasters etc.? It
would be a major pain to try and convert all the 3D models over into a new
format. Also, I'm a Lightwave fan . . ."
I'm reasonably sure it's all been ported over to a PC platform, but it's
still Lightwave. These are the latest machines off the line, and they're
extremely fast and powerful.
jms
Date: 13 Sep 1996 04:53:11 -0400
Subject: Re: B5 dreams of Londo
Speaking of dreams...I recently got caught in a dream feedback loop.
When I was at Worldcon in Anaheim, I made the mistake of eating a hot
pretzel in the shape of Mickey Mouse's head right before going to bed. In
the dream, I had this thick head of hair...and somebody asked me how it
felt, having this thick head of hair, and I said, "Great, and now at last
I have a title for my autobiography: `I Dreamed I Had Hair.'"
And on this I shot staight awake, thinking "What the HELL was THAT?"
It's Mickey's fault.
jms
Date: 13 Sep 1996 19:41:04 -0400
Subject: Re: JMS (Anyone) - New Designers?
"With the change in CGI houses, can we expect a "new approach" or
substantial change in the *design* of new ships, cities, creatures, etc?"
Nope. The CGI is created by using set geometries, textures and other
elements that are stored as data. We have virtually all that data at
hand; as a result, it is made of the same identical elements, and will be
indistinguishable from anything done before. So no, what's been
established won't be changed at all. What we will do is increase the
level of detail and texturing in some of the models, so that we can bring
them closer to camera, something I've been wanting to do for a while now.
(The closer we get to camera, the bigger and more massive the object
appears.)
I saw some of the first renderings today, and as this was the first stuff
off the line, I was in hyper-critical mode, looking for something to
quibble with. I couldn't see any difference between this and what we've
had in the past. (One was a nifty little sunrise shot, the lights going
off as a group of starfuries fly past.)
There are also about six or seven new major ships we'll be seeing in the
first batch of year 4 episodes that are being built now, and the first
renderings on them looked very cool.
"Or - are the show's principle designers still on board?"
Yes and no. Steve Burg was a principal designer of the Agamemnon, the
Starfury design, the Minbari cruisers, B5 itself, and other ships. He's
hip-deep right now working on "Contact," and not available for a while
yet. We've always had to sandwich in Steve's stuff between his major film
gigs. (He did major design work on The Abyss, Waterworld, T2, others.)
As soon as he's free, we'll send some stuff his way. Eric Chauvin, who
has done our digital matte paintings (Centauri Prime exteriors, palace,
others) and other stuff, like the ship-lift used by the Lumati, is still
with B5, doing the same stuff.
jms
Date: 14 Sep 1996 01:28:15 -0400
Subject: Re: Mr. JMS: The Files from Foundation
Virtually all of the graphics files are in hand, so all the pieces are
already in place.
jms
Date: 15 Sep 1996 00:28:53 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Captain Power
There was a certain amount of teeth-cutting on CP, a chance to try bits
and pieces of an arc, and some techniques we'd later use on B5. It
weren't a bad show, all things considered....
jms
Date: 15 Sep 1996 00:33:08 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: You set the pace
Yeah, a lot of folks seem unaware of what we're doing here...when we see
articles on how net-folk and tv-folk interact, it's almost always about
X-Files or the other shows. We seem hardly visible, some days....
jms
Date: 15 Sep 1996 00:29:42 -0400
Subject: Re: TNT Showing Reruns....
The series will begin on TNT 6-9 months after we finish our initial run.
jms
Date: 16 Sep 1996 21:40:53 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: WB's Perception on Newsgroups.
I think the studios are gradually coming to perceive the importance of the
nets, but their perception is probably 10 years behind the reality.
jms
From
Date: 16 Sep 1996 21:19:44 -0400
Subject: Re: Babylon 5 - the long slow slide
It has to get real dark before it can get light; and if you're going to
have a war, you have to have battles. But believe me, there's a lot more
coming down the pike of a different sort.
jms
From
Date: 17 Sep 1996 15:56:03 -0400
Subject: Re: JMS: Why no accent for Ivanova?
As Ivanova's mentioned from time to time, she was born in the Russian
Consortium but raised mainly outside the country, from boarding school to
boarding school, to keep her one step ahead of the Psi Corps.
jms
Date: 18 Sep 1996 03:44:20 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS, "Say Hello, Mister Quigley"
Actually, I adapted my story for "Say Hello, Mr. Quigley" into an actual
short story, and it appeared a year or two ago in the Midnight Grafitti
Anthology, and in Pulphouse.
jms
Date: 19 Sep 1996 00:50:17 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS Starwolf -- what do you think so far?
I'd be happy to comment...except it ain't my project, and I think any
commentary from me on David's project would be inappropriate. It's his
pony ride. I'll say only that David's been around a LONG time, he's a
solid writer, he knows and respects the genre, and if anyone can pull off
a show like this, it's him. I'm looking forward to it.
jms
Date: 19 Sep 1996 01:08:50 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: May I quote you?
You can quote my message...I'd have to dig through endless files to find
my SFWA resignation...but the message only tells about 10% of the story,
so it's almost not worth the trouble. It's kinda like a Martian landing
right after the end of the Civil War and asking a soldier trudging back
from the final field of battle, "So, what happened?" Where do you
start...?
jms
Date: 19 Sep 1996 04:08:50 -0400
Subject: Re: Londo's Lament, Redemption or Fire? (long)
There's another way to look at this, which occured to me as I was writing
it, so I structured it accordingly.
Morella: "You must save the eye that does not see."
Londo: "I...do not understand."
I.
Eye.
We never actually saw how she spelled or meant this.
Given Londo's background, one could almost make the case that the
discussion was about him. Not saying that's it, but it's a possibility
and a subtext.
jms
Date: 19 Sep 1996 16:04:20 -0400
Subject: Re: JMS: (SPOILERS for Shadow Dancing) Babylon 5 kits?
Basically, Monogram/Revell will be doing the model kits; the deal just got
put through so there aren't any other details yet.
jms
Date: 19 Sep 1996 18:40:18 -0400
Subject: Re: JMS: What happened to your website?
You have to understand, I'm a perfectionist...nothing leaves my hands
until it's as good as I can make it.
I was diddling around with the AOL software for making a web page, and
seeing what worked and what didn't, on the theory that down the road I
could use it to put out some more personally-oriented stuff (like my
writing book) without taking up time on the public forums to do so.
Anyway, I was just playing with it, and had left what I was doing in
place...and somebody found it. It was never intended to be seen in that
state, so I deleted it.
jms
Date: 20 Sep 1996 02:51:45 -0400
Subject: Re: JMS: "Grey 17" & Carl Sagan
No, I hadn't even read that passage...it basically goes back a lot longer
than Sagan.
jms
Date: 20 Sep 1996 15:40:23 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: New Sets?
Yeah, we've got some new ones coming this next year...some underground
stuff at other places, more Narn locations, exterior sets and interior
sets on Centauri Prime, more Earth stuff...basically we're looking to
continue expanding the show.
jms
Date: 21 Sep 1996 18:10:09 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Thanks!
This is obviously not your sister's fault, but rather her boyfriend's
fault. I think you have every right to be exercised about this, as it
bodes poorly for future family relations should this relationship turn
serious. (Remember, the key to the universe is always having someone to
blame, so you're halfway there.) Go to him, man to man, and tell him to
insist to your sister that you be allowed to watch the show.
Or watch it and lie about it later.
I won't tell.
jms
Date: 21 Sep 1996 18:14:39 -0400
Subject: Re: Star Trek's and Babylon 5's special effects
The only problem with comparing B5 and ST EFX is that more and more, ST is
going to our mode of doing things. The first new Voyager ep up this
season had most of their space EFX provided by Foundation, the CGI company
we've been using. So the fundamental elements were the same, by the same
people, using the same technology, at the same company.
On the theory that one doesn't deliberately do things that will be
*inferior* to what you have done before, that the ST shows are gradually
changing over to CGI, in many cases from the same people that provided our
CGI, would seem to imply that they themselves have decided it's
better...which makes the whole discussion kinda moot.
jms
From
Date: 21 Sep 1996 23:22:36 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: any more mysteries?
There are always new mysteries....
jms
Date: 21 Sep 1996 23:23:54 -0400
Subject: Re: Hi JMS
Thanks. None of the Zone episodes have been released on tape, as far as I
know; they're available kind of spottily here and there on broadcast.
jms
Date: 23 Sep 1996 01:33:44 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: How's Your Sanity? ;-)
Re: higher levels of mental disorder among writers...I don't agree with
that at all.
Neither do I.
Shut up, nobody asked you for your opinion.
Hey, I have access to the keyboard too, you know.
I'm not listening.
Neither am I.
Never mind...let me get back to this later, when Certain Parties --
I heard that.
-- have gone to sleep. Meanwhile, I'd just pass this along for your
edification: in surveys of the clinically insane, the #1 goal for most of
them when they get out, what they want...is to become psychologists or
psychiatrists...like the fellow who made this analysis of writers.
jms
Date: 23 Sep 1996 01:35:06 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS:Darker show in season 4?
We do a lot of Dolby surround EFX, and often get compliments on it. The
problem may be in the station broadcasting it in your area.
S4 will be...more mature, but darker per se...depends on what part of it
you're talking about.
jms
Date: 27 Sep 1996 18:29:29 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: I Demand Restitution!!!!
Unfortunately, the laws regulating the transportation of dangerous goods
do not permit the shipping of bagels through the mail service.
jms