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JMS (and coproducer George Johnsen) Usenet messages for April 1998.
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Date: 1 Apr 1998 10:21:39 -0700
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Subject: Re: Top 10 never-to-be-solved mysteries of B5
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Well, at least 3 of those do get answered....
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 1 Apr 1998 23:44:57 -0700
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Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS. Comments on Phoenix Rising<spoilers>
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>Thank you for creating this beauty, and if any more new
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>episodes have this kind of feel to them, I feel like i'm going to have
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>to send you a medical bill, for I will surely end up in the hospital.
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Then you'd better up your insurance, real soon.
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I'll just say this: we were lucky to get one "Coming of Shadows" episode a
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year, a while back. In the latter half of this season, especially from about
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516-520 or thereabouts, we have one just about eveyr week.
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I gave folks a respite for the first part, because in the second part of this
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season, I'm going to hurt you. There will be some light at the end, because I
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wouldn't end this otherwise, but in the interim, it's gonna be pretty damned
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intense.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 1 Apr 1998 23:53:16 -0700
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Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Bruce B and Cast Turmoil?
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The real bottom line is, it's not easy when one's horse is shot out from under
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one. There's no way to take it lightly.
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I've been saying for five years, "This is a five year story. When it's over,
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it's over." But there's the statement, and the reality of the statement; two
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different things. To the viewers, it's the end of the story. To an actor,
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it's "I'm out of work now because Joe said it was a five year story instead of
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a six year story."
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I know that a lot of the cast have been in denial about this for a long time,
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many of them said in interviews, "Yeah, well, Joe's said it's a five year arc,
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but I don't see why it couldn't go longer." But if you live in that notion,
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then when the reality hits, it hits hard.
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So the reaction is perfectly understandable on an emotional level. When a show
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is over, everyone's gone. In this town, that usually means "you're fired, the
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network doesn't like you or the show." It's a personal rejection. Here it was
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my decision, from the git-go, that this series would go five years and no more.
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That's kind of a new thing, and takes some getting used to. You can only
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interpret it by what you've experienced before.
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One or two cast members may transition over into Crusade, assuming it goes
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ahead, but that show *has* to be its own show, it can't be just a repackaged
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B5. (And I'm referring to regulars here, there's plenty of room for
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guest-starring roles for nearly all of our characters at one point or another,
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plus the likelihood of more B5 TV movies, plus the real possibility of a B5
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feature.)
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It's an emotional reaction, and totally understandable.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 2 Apr 1998 00:00:56 -0700
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Subject: Re: BAB5 Night of the Long Knives?
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Read my lips.
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The Series Is Over.
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What did you *think* was gonna happen when the show ended? Everybody was just
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gonna hang around?
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 2 Apr 1998 19:44:52 -0700
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Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Lolita and the Public (I swear this is on-topic!)
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There are no thoughts too radical for a people to view; there are just some
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people too radical to control the thoughts of others.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 3 Apr 1998 22:07:09 -0700
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Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Can Crusade really work?
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There are many other good writers out there who I have every confidence can do
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a good job on Crusade. And bear in mind that any script that comes in
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generally gets revised by me, so I'll be in there. The plan for now is that
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I'll do about 11 scripts out of 22, and have freelancers doing the other half.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 4 Apr 1998 00:31:00 -0700
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Subject: Re: Canadian TVGuide Article ATTN:JMS
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Could you send me a copy of that issue? The info about Gene rewriting him is
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totally incorrect.
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Send it to me if you can at 14431 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 260, Sherman Oaks,
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CA 91423, I would be vastly appreciative, so I can get it to Harlan, who can
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correct their information.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 4 Apr 1998 00:33:02 -0700
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Subject: Re: attn JMS: Byron's name
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Well, we had Simon and Peter, who worked with Byron, and of course the most
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famous Byron is Lord Byron...
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 6 Apr 1998 18:13:16 -0600
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Subject: Re: Better Things Come in Small Packages
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Significantly, while the Pasadena con was asking $50 for autographs, over half
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the B5 cast was at the Glendale Galleria today and yesterday (and me with them)
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meeting the fans face to face and signing autographs and getting to see props
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and other stuff...for free.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 6 Apr 1998 21:06:20 -0600
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Subject: Crusade Confirmed
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As has come out in the press today, CRUSADE: The Babylon Project, is officially
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a go project as a series. We start shooting July 27th to go on the air January
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6th. More info will follow over time.
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Also, for those of a collecting nature...tomorrow will see the publication of
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the Babylon 5 issue of the Hollywood Reporter, a tribute to the show and some
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of the new production techniques we've pioneered. You can try various news
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stands or libraries as a main source for this one.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 6 Apr 1998 21:09:19 -0600
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Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS--Questions on Crusade Development Process?
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>what sorts of issues do you
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>consider in determining whether to *change* main people on the team for
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>new series. It's not just a matter of whether they have been doing a great
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>job or not because sometimes (as, I think, in the case of the DP) you
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>just want something quite different for the new series. I'm not asking
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>who else you might be changing, but just how you, as Executive Producer,
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>go about thinking this issue through for each of the main production
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>people.
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We're not doing a lot of changing. One thing that does tend to get changed for
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a new series is the *look* of the show, you want Crusade to have a different
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and distinct appearance, to be its own show. So for instance we're bringing in
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new graphic designers to do screen stuff and signage and other related stuff.
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Other times it's an individual choice. Anne Bruice-Aling recently had a baby,
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and she wants to dedicate the next year or so toward raising her kid, so while
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she'll remain available for occasional stuff or consulting, we'll have someone
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else heading up the wardrobe department.
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Mainly, you want to hold onto as many of your original people as you can,
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because we've trained our folks to work in a certain, particular way. Nobody
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else really does things the way we do them on B5, and it's wiser to hold onto
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your crew, and give incentives, to keep them around. (We tend to promote from
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within the ranks and reward loyalty rather than bring in new folks, that sort
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of thing.)
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>(2) What does the document often called the series "bible" actually cover?
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>What kinds of background do you think it is helpful to provide to other
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>writers in such a document, and what kinds of things do you prefer to
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>avoid? (I'm guessing you may be actually writing such a thing right
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>around now.)
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I put in it basically whatever I think will be useful to anyone, as much as I
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can think up. Characters' names, backgrounds, descriptions, the kinds of
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stories we are looking for, the kinds of stories we *don't* want to see, what
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is good SF and what ain't, sample storylines we plan to develop, that sort of
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thing.
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I'm now in the process of converting over the "sell treatment," done for the
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network, to a working series bible, which will go out to those writers with
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whom I've either worked before, or whose work I know and have wanted to work
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with for a while (as was the case with Neil Gaiman).
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 7 Apr 1998 05:47:52 -0600
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Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: A Defining Moment
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>What is the defining moment of Babylon 5 to you? The one moment when it all
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>comes together?
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If this is concerning individual episodes...it's in the editing and the audio
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mix stages, that's when it actually becomes an episode.
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For the series overall...I don't know how to answer that.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 7 Apr 1998 05:47:58 -0600
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Subject: Re: JMS: Rewriting Harlan in TV Guide
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Negative; the revisions to Harlan's script were apparently done by DC Fontana
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and Gene L. Coon, not Roddenberry (see Harlan's book on this for more info).
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 8 Apr 1998 20:35:23 -0600
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Subject: Re: ATTEN JMS re:Earth Final Conflict
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Haven't seen any of the show yet.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 8 Apr 1998 20:35:33 -0600
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Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Why no techno-babble?
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Because this show ain't that show, and I personally find it dull and
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impenetrable.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 8 Apr 1998 20:49:53 -0600
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Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Flawed Concept in Crusade? (Possible Spoiler)
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A couple of other people have raised this question; here's why I consider it a
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non-issue.
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Does anyone here really think that, after X-years of following the Crusade
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story, we're going to come to the end in which our heroes look out through the
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window of the Excalibur at a dead Earth...glance at each other...shrug...and
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say, "Oh, well, I guess we should've found it ten minutes earlier, huh?"...and
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head off into the sunset.
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Anybody out there see this as a likely scenario? Raise your hands.
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Yes, they're going to find the cure at some point. Where and when and how, and
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in what segments, is one issue...and the rest is the journey to *get* there.
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It's like saying, "We know the wagon trains got to California, so nothing
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interesting could've happened along the way." Tell that to those who died
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along the way.
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You're confusing the issues with the following:
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>If the
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>show's basic premise is that the hero's are searching for something
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>(in
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>Voyager's case, a way home; in Crusade, a cure) then the viewer knows in
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>
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>advance that they will not find it (until possibly the end of the series, if
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>at all).
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>Because if they did, it would by defintion, change the shape of the
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>show.
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There you make my point for me. That's the frustration aspect: you know if
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they get home, the show's over. So they will never get home, the viewer knows
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that, and gets frustrated.
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Here, you know that eventually, somehow, humanity will be saved. So there's no
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frustration knowing it ain't ever gonna happen. Instead, you can sit back and
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see how it happens, and who is affected by what happens.
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This is something very common to what I've done with B5's story telling.
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Starting at episode 1 of season 1, we learn that G'Kar and Londo will die
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strangling one another. I put those cards right on the table, face-up. Did
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that ruin anything for anybody? Much to the contrary, as we learned the
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process that led up to, and following, that incident. If anything, knowing
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that in advance added a whole new layer and subtext to the show.
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I've always looked for ways to experiment and turn viewers preconceptions
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upside down and back on themselves. Crusade will let me take this a step
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further.
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Bottom line...I didn't turn suddenly stupid. I know exactly what I'm doing
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with this.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 9 Apr 1998 20:34:15 -0600
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Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Crusade/Net presence?
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No, once B5 is finished airing, I'll still be pulling back a bit. It's that or
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go mad....
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 9 Apr 1998 20:45:26 -0600
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Subject: Re: Attn JMS: Visions of Madaline Marie O'Hara?
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>If you (or any other atheist) saw a Vorlon out of his encounter suit, What
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>would you see?
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Probably Dick Cavett.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 11 Apr 1998 16:51:50 -0600
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Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS - Five years
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>What if they hadn't respected your wishes? How would that have played
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>out? Since WB owns the show, couldn't they continue to make it without
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>your input?
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Two words: scorched earth.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 13 Apr 1998 16:51:34 -0600
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Subject: Re: ATTN.: JMS - Newsgroup Experiment
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>1) Do you consider the exchange of ideas with your viewers to have produced
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>the result you were expecting?
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I really wasn't looking to the result as much as the process. I expected a
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conversation, and I got one. Some of it has been odd, we've had the occasional
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boorish gatecrasher, but on the whole I think it has been instructive in both
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directions. What more can one ask of a party?
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>2) Have other producers, such as (but not limited to) Messrs. Wolf &
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>Bochco, ever asked you about this, and if so, what was your advice?
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Nope.
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>3) Has the exchanges with a select few turned you away from the fans at all
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>(i.e., made you more jaded or wary)?
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Certainly the presence of the psychos has from time to time made it more
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difficult; one gets the urge to just yank the modem out of the wall rather than
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go out into the room one more time where the nutcases can get to you. I've
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been lied to, lied about, slandered, libeled, accused, villified, tarred (and
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sometimes feathered) in absentia, and dead-catted for, essentially, the crime
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of talking to the people who like my show. And the emotional cost of that does
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add up over time.
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>4) Do *you* see any downside to having a moderated group - was there any
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>drop in *constructive* criticism from rastb5 to .mod?
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Nope. There's as much constructive criticism there as anywhere else. What it
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doesn't have is the same degree of whacko postings by the emotionally infirm.
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>5) Do the "joke" e-mails offend or flatter you?
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When they come to my private email account, yes; I have enough to wade through
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as it is, my private email should be used only when necessary, not for jokes or
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the like.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 13 Apr 1998 16:51:52 -0600
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Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: HDTV
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We have, from the beginning, been shooting in widescreen and doing a complex
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audio mix and delivering conformed negatives for the purpose of working in the
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HDTV mode. We plan to do more in terms of digital delivery and 5-1 audio sound
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for Crusade, among some other tricks we're planning.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 13 Apr 1998 16:52:48 -0600
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Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Why We're Bored
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There is an interesting story told about the first time that Gaugain (I know I
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probably misspelled that, I should know how to spell it but it's late and my
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art books aren't at hand) went to visit Van Gogh. Van Gogh, anticipating his
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arrival, had filled the halls with his latest work, to display it for the
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master. Because they fell into certain categories where he came to expect
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certain things, he did not notice the intricacies of what was going on in the
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composition.
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His guest walked down the hall, considering the work -- sunflowers, landscapes
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-- and at the end of the tour, announced, "You paint too fast."
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"No," Van Gogh said, "you LOOK too fast."
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 13 Apr 1998 16:52:53 -0600
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Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Freelance writers and Crusade
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I'll be handing out premises to established writers I want to work with.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 13 Apr 1998 16:53:10 -0600
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Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS, Crusade newsgroup...
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I won't be involved online as much, no, and whether or not there's a Crusade
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group is not really my call.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 13 Apr 1998 16:53:23 -0600
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Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: General Things
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You will be hearing the fourth question, yes, and I haven't had time to keep up
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with Millennium, unfortunately.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 13 Apr 1998 16:55:17 -0600
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Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: "The Ragged Edge" and Season 5 Comments
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Thanks...after our last stand-alone this coming week, they're all on a par with
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"Edge" or better, frankly.
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As for the virtual sets stuff...yeah, some of the early Mars stuff was iffy, I
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agree. That's part of the experimentation process, you never hit it dead-on
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the first time. We learned each time we did something like that, and continued
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to experiment until we could more carefully and completely integrate the CGI
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virtual sets with the live action, and we're continuing to get more ambitious
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about it.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 13 Apr 1998 16:55:46 -0600
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Subject: Re: Why doesn't Sheridan warn him?!
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>Why the
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>heck doesn't Sheridan try to warn Londo about what he saw??
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This comes from not separating out what we the viewers know, from what the
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characters know.
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What Sheridan knows is that 17 years from now, Londo had something on his
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shoulder called a Keeper, which may or may not have a direct connection with
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the apparent attack on Centauri Prime by Shadow allies.
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What he doesn't know is, did this happen 16 years ago? Or six months ago?
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What process led it to happen? What should he be warning Londo *about*? He
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saw the result...but what process, what event should he warn Londo about to
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avoid this? He doesn't know that the Regent has a keeper, the Regent could be
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acting in these ways for his own reasons entirely.
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Further, there's a certain trickiness about time stuff. Okay, so he warns
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Londo about something he doesn't really understand...does he now change the
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future? Does he have someone else other than Londo now on the throne, who
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won't spare his and Delenn's lives?
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There are too many variables, and not enough actually known by him, to say
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anything that would be of any use to anyone.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 13 Apr 1998 18:05:28 -0600
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Subject: Re: Seeking confirmation
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Not true.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 14 Apr 1998 07:18:52 -0600
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Subject: Re: [Season 5 Spoilers] A problem with the 'attack' arc.
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Y'know, maybe you should wait to see how this pans out before you say it's a
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problem. I *wanted* the audience to know the Centauri are behind this, for
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reasons that will become clearer in the episodes that follow.
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Again, with this show, it ain't the who or the how, it's the *why*.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 15 Apr 1998 07:14:21 -0600
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Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Your "typical" day?
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>Howdy, I was just wondering what you'r typical day was/is like. I've heard
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>rumors about how much you write, but I've never hear that you actually "eat"
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>or
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>"sleep".
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Too much of the former, not enough of the latter.
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>How much time did you spend on the B5 set while they were filming?
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It varies. In the beginning of the series, I spent a lot of time on the stage,
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because we were setting the style and look of the show, and directors were
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still trying to figure out what I wanted, and how to deliver what I wanted.
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Over the last couple of years, though, that's decreased...in part because the
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directors and the cast all know what's expected, and it's become a well-oiled
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machine. It's also in part due to the increase of my responsibility on the
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writing/producing side...by the time I take care of what needs doing, the day's
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nearly over and I haven't even made it out to the set once (which kinda bums me
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out when it happens).
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> How much time do you spend answering these on-line questions?
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I'm on line generally 2-3 hours a day.
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> How much time do you get to sleep?
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On weekdays, during production, average about 3-4 hours a night. I'm at the
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stage in the morning, lunch is usually about 1, I'm there until about
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6:30-7:00, I get a bite to eat on the way home in most cases, I get behind the
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keyboard at about 8-8:30, and I'm there until I crash about 4:30 a.m., and then
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I crash. On weekends I try to make up for the lost sleep as best I can.
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> How much time does it take to write or "fix" a script?
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Writing a script is invariably faster than fixing an outside script. I can
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write a script from zero in an average of 5-7 days. On a few rare occasions
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it's gone longer, but when that happens, I find I lose the white-heat of the
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story, and it wanders a bit. In a few cases I've written a script in a day or
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two (A View from the Gallery all came out of my keyboard in one day, between
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about 4 p.m. and 3 a.m.)
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> How much time do you spend at home or at "work".
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It's all work. Just the office differs.
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>Just typical everyday things.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 17 Apr 1998 18:54:08 -0600
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Subject: Re: Attn.JMS
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It's just experience.
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On the one hand, you have to be brutal with your *writing*, you can't be too
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close to the material. You have to be able to look at how you present
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something from as objective a point of view as you can.
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On the flip side, you have to be as faithful and true to your characters as you
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possibly can. There's the person and there's the telling of the person, and
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they're two different creatures. Learning how to differentiate the two is just
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a matter of experience.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
|
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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|
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Date: 20 Apr 1998 19:22:47 -0600
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Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: "River of Souls" Casting
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>I was wondering what prompted your casting of Ian McShane. I loved
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>him in his comedic role in "Lovejoy." But, are you planning to cast him
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>in a somewhat comedic role, or is it a more dramatic one?
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>
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>
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He's a fine actor; in fact, John is a major Lovejoy fan, so he was hot to get
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Ian on board.
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>And, hey, Martin Sheen. Joe, you are moving up in the world. Did you
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>ever think when this B5 started you'd be writing for Martin Sheen?
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No, and I'm very pleased. I'm a huge fan of his work and have been forever. I
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was knocked out when we got him...he considers it one of the best parts he's
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had lately on a creative level, and he's been a kick to work with.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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|
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Date: 21 Apr 1998 19:51:05 -0600
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Subject: Re: The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father ( *Spoilers* )
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It says Maternis, Paternis. Mother, father. Latin.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
|
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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|
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Date: 21 Apr 1998 20:00:21 -0600
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Subject: Re: Another B5 Movie Announced!?
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>Just browsing through imdb and found a listing for another movie - after
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>River of Souls- to be called Shadows and Lies.
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Nope, never heard of it.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
|
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
|
|
http://www.thestation.com
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|
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Date: 21 Apr 1998 20:00:57 -0600
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Subject: from jms re: email
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Every so often I have to go out with a policy note, so this is it. If you've
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seen this before, ignore it. If not....
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Understand that my private email is reserved for matters that cannot be
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discussed pubicly, and extremely personal matters. It is not to be used for
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questions about plot, or character, or theme. Otherwise I end up answering the
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same question individually 50 times instead of answering it once publicly so 50
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people can get the same information.
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Do NOT send me jokes, humorous forwarded notes, chain letters, spam or other
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stuff. You may think, "Well, it's just me sending along one little joke," but
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bear in mind there are roughly 10.5 million "just me's" out there. My email is
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getting to be impossible to deal with. Unless there is an overwhelmingly good
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reason why a note should be sent via email instead of in a public forum...keep
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it public.
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Particularly difficult is if someone sends me multiple notes after I reply once
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or twice, and if I don't respond to subsequent notes, gets annoyed at me. I
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reply if there is a reason to reply; if not, not.
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Please understand that my private email is a privilege, and not to be flooded
|
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with casual story requests or jokes.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
|
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
|
|
http://www.thestation.com
|
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|
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Date: 24 Apr 1998 21:34:45 -0600
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Subject: Re: Attn: JMS - Credit Question
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>I am curious as to why Walter Koenig (who as far as I
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>can tell has appeared in more S5 eps than either Mumy or Furst) is left out
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>of
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>the canned opening credit sequence. Is this due to contractual
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>considerations?
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>Stylistic reasons (i.e. a no "bad" guys policy)?
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No, you put someone in the main titles when you make an overall deal, usually 8
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episodes or more, with an actor in advance of the season. With Walter, we
|
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average about 4 eps per season, and they are each negotiated individually, as
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they come up.
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>I have one acquaintance - a S.T.
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>fanatic -
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>who solely justifies his condemnation of B5 as a S.T. clone by Koenig's
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>presence.... Kinda makes you wanna clean the gene pool, but there you have
|
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>it...)
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So in other words, your friend thinks that an actor who is in one successful
|
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show should never work in the TV business, ever again, on any other show,
|
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whether he's a good actor or not.
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Your friend is a yutz.
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jms
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|
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
|
|
B5 Official Fan Club at:
|
|
http://www.thestation.com
|
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|
|
Date: 26 Apr 1998 03:05:58 -0600
|
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Subject: Re: Attn jms: Season 5 Opening
|
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|
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>I prefered the original Season 5 opening. The newer one uses new voice
|
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>overs that are so...bland. At least the original opening had sound bytes
|
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>directly from older episodes and they had life/emotion in them.
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The problem, however, is that since they came from the original production
|
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track, they had a great deal of background noise on them, and in many cases
|
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weren't satisfactory to be heard clearly by most people. We could put them
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back, but then many people wouldn't be able to understand them well, which
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kinda defeats the point.
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|
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>Also, there's always a greenish streak that flashes from left to right at
|
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>the end of the opening credits.
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Those are colored streamers/trailers being made by a pair of Starfuries.
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jms
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|
|
(jmsatb5@aol.com)
|
|
B5 Official Fan Club at:
|
|
http://www.thestation.com
|
|
|
|
Date: 26 Apr 1998 03:05:50 -0600
|
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Subject: Re: ATTN Jms Season 4 Compression
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|
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I basically slid the thing forward about 4 episodes or thereabouts; the
|
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resolution as shown was always the planned resolution.
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|
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Interestingly, there have been a number of reviews of the B5 videotapes running
|
|
in the British SF magazines, and several of them have mentioned how Into the
|
|
Fire actually played much better seen all as a piece with the preceding and
|
|
following episodes than they thought it did the first time, which is what I
|
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kinda figured would be the case.
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jms
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|
|
(jmsatb5@aol.com)
|
|
B5 Official Fan Club at:
|
|
http://www.thestation.com
|
|
|
|
Date: 26 Apr 1998 03:06:04 -0600
|
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Subject: Re: Attn JMS: Scripts & Studios
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|
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>It was pointed out in the Scriptwriting book that any script sent to a
|
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>studio and rejected is basically a black hole forever; it can't be
|
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>resubmitted there. But what about the writer? Is the writer shunned, or
|
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>just the script?
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>
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>
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Depends on how bad the script was.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
|
|
B5 Official Fan Club at:
|
|
http://www.thestation.com
|
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|
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Date: 26 Apr 1998 03:07:35 -0600
|
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Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Writing staff
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|
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>However, you have stated that you plan to write about half of the episodes
|
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>yourself, and give the other half to freelancers. Won't using freelancers
|
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>be difficult, as each writer will have to be taught about your universe?
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|
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Yep, though having a series bible will help.
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|
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>And won't it mean more work for you, having to make sure each script is
|
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>true to the Crusade characters and universe?
|
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|
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Yep again...having freelancers is actually more difficult even than doing them
|
|
myself, but frankly, the only way to find writers who you *can* eventually
|
|
bring on staff is to make freelance assignments and see who can hear the music
|
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and who can't.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
|
|
B5 Official Fan Club at:
|
|
http://www.thestation.com
|
|
|
|
Date: 28 Apr 1998 17:50:22 -0600
|
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Subject: Re: Attn JMS: Shadows and Hegel?
|
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|
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This has come up before...and yes, there is a certain amount of Hegelian
|
|
thinking in the approach of the Shadows philosophy, that conflict is a
|
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requirement for progress.
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|
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It's also couched somewhat in Jungian terms of the Shadow, which seemed as good
|
|
a place as any to hide the necessity of conflict.
|
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jms
|
|
|
|
(jmsatb5@aol.com)
|
|
B5 Official Fan Club at:
|
|
http://www.thestation.com
|
|
|
|
Date: 29 Apr 1998 17:27:40 -0600
|
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Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: TCIMTCIF Spoilers: Dating Error
|
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>In this episode, a telepath named Harris develops Multiple Personality
|
|
>Disorder, kills his room mate, and flees to Babylon 5. He leaves behind
|
|
>several documents. One of them was dated with the year 2264. The current
|
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>year is only 2262. Why the calender error?
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|
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One of his personalities was a Time Lord.
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jms
|
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|
|
(jmsatb5@aol.com)
|
|
B5 Official Fan Club at:
|
|
http://www.thestation.com
|
|
|
|
Date: 29 Apr 1998 21:17:14 -0600
|
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Subject: Re: ATTN JMS:Black and white pictures, in the future???
|
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|
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Why not?
|
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|
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I have some pictures of me in B&W as well as color, mainly because in many
|
|
cases B&W *looks* better under various lighting conditions. Go to any good
|
|
sized display of art photos, and you'll see that the *majority* of them are
|
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B&W.
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|
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There seems to be this notion that the future means throwing away anything that
|
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isn't at the edge...and it ain't true.
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jms
|
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|
|
(jmsatb5@aol.com)
|
|
B5 Official Fan Club at:
|
|
http://www.thestation.com
|
|
|
|
Date: 30 Apr 1998 18:10:08 -0600
|
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Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: TCIMTCIF Spoilers: Dating Error
|
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And let us also remember, about this guy getting the date wrong on what he was
|
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writing....
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HE WAS A NUT.
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thankyew
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jms
|
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|
|
(jmsatb5@aol.com)
|
|
B5 Official Fan Club at:
|
|
http://www.thestation.com
|