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422 lines
14 KiB
422 lines
14 KiB
JMS (and coproducer George Johnsen) Usenet messages for October 1998.
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Date: 8 Oct 1998 17:37:30 -0600
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Subject: Re: JMS: Anti-VORcon?
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It should be noted that both Sierra FX and Precedence Publishing are taking
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steps to make it clear that while they are sponsoring *events* at the
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convention, they do not *endorse* this partuicular convention, distancing
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themselves from it. Signs will appear at their booths further reinforcing
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this.
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Additionally, Tracy Scoggins will not appear, Bruce may or may not be there
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depending on what happens with a movie he's shooting in Toronto, Optic Nerve
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will not be bringing down an exhibit, and WB is this week putting VorCon on
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official notice about the showing of ANY copyrighted videotape material from
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the show.
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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 Oct 1998 20:42:49 -0600
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Subject: from jms: crusade update
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It's been kinda hectic here, between the new sets under construction, meetings,
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and other stuff, some of which has been hinted around by others. At this
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point, we're still on target for filming to start up on October 19th.
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One of the issues brought up by TNT had to do with a decision we all made early
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on that the first episode up, Racing the Night, would just jump right into the
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story, without doing the usual pilot-episode thing of showing the team coming
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together, which was our other option.
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On reflection, TNT figured that the best thing might be to do that "coming
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together" episode after all, to set the stage for all that follows. It's a
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lateral change, really, you could have it or not, either way, it's dealer's
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choice. But if we're going to do that, we may as well get the sets and other
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stuff ready to go for that first episode and the ones that will immediately
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follow. We're also making some adjustments to the wardrobe (and I've come up
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with a pretty funny way to make the transition in the story). All of the prior
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produced episodes are still in, and still going to be broadcast, nothing's
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changed that as far as I know.
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Anyway, things continue to progress, the script for the alternate first ep is
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in, and all should be cool from this point on. Which is not to say there
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haven't been some knife-fights...but we seem to have reached some
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understandings....
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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: 10 Oct 1998 20:01:11 -0600
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Subject: Re: from jms: crusade update (mostly humor)
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More on the costumes in another thread, but suffice to say...skin tight they
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ain't. We're going for a more conventional military look in terms of jump
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suits and cargo pants, something a little rougher looking...but that elsewhere.
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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: 10 Oct 1998 20:37:00 -0600
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Subject: from jms II: more crusade
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My newsreader was down for a couple days, and I've been hunkered down writing,
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so I'm just now getting a chance to get out and address some of the stories
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going around. Best way to do that is with a quick overview....
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We're still set to go back into filming on October 19th. As I mentioned in a
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prior post, TNT felt the need for an actual introductory episode, one that sets
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the story by bringing together our characters together for the first time, more
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of a conventional pilot in that respect. "Racing the Night" was written to
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take place about 5 months after the Drakh attack, so that we got right into
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things. The "bringing people into the story" story will, therefore, take place
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shortly after the Drakh attack, two-three days later, to be precise.
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Since we're doing a first introductory episode, TNT kinda wanted to have the
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new sets in place for the first few eps (though they can't appear in the first
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one for story reasons), and since we're making some wardrobe adjustments, they
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figured they may as well have those in place as well.
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Nothing in the story has been changed. The five episodes already made will be
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aired, and you will see that the characters, the story, the feel of the show is
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*exactly* the same between those first 5 filmed, and those that follow. What
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it comes down to are some cosmetic changes, some new sets, and an episode that
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sets things in place.
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As we come back, the first two episodes up to be shot will be scripts we
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already had in hand, then the new introductory episode, "War Zone," another one
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we already have, one new one, then another one from on-hand, which will take us
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through into the Christmas break.
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No scripts are being thrown out, no episodes are being scrapped...none of that
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has taken place, or is taking place. The show is the show is the show.
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(And on the costumes themselves...no, they're not going to be "skin tight"
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things; we're actually kinda going in the opposite direction. They're more
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typically military jumpsuits, black, neatly tailored, similar to some Air Force
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or Marine uniforms. And the only people who will be wearing these are the
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basic technical crew, Captain Gideon (Gary Cole) and Lieutenant John Matheson
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(Daniel Dae Kim); the others are civilians, and thus are not affected.
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Regarding air dates...we have thus far not been told if they want to push for a
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January airdate or not. Part of the complication to all this is that if we
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make #8 in shooting order the first aired, we have to do a hideous amount of
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post-production on CGI to get it ready in time. Rather than make us rush it,
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they have said they might consider waiting until the February sweeps. Another
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option is to go in March, if they don't want to go up against the Network
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sweeps period (which is traditionally death for basic cable)...but the problem
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*there* is that you can only air 4 episodes and then TNT would go into the NBA
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playoffs, which means it would be another 6 weeks or so until any new eps could
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be shown.
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So on that score, nobody's decided anything yet, we don't know and haven't been
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told because they haven't decided where will best serve us, so we hit the
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ground with the least network opposition.
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Anyway, that's where things are. Hope this puts to rest some of the rumors out
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there.
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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: 12 Oct 1998 00:19:57 -0600
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Subject: Re: from jms II: more crusade
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>How much of the CGI could be done "speculatively", concurrent
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>or even before the filming of the episode?
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Zip. Because until it's edited, you don't know how long to make the shots, or
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how they'll intercut with the live action...and there's all the stuff from
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other eps to deal with as well.
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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: 12 Oct 1998 22:51:03 -0600
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Subject: Re: Starting on Harlan?
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>You should have seen him whining on Sci-Fi's StarTrek Special Edition.
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>
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>His story may have been butchered, but complaining 25yrs later isn't going
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>to help.
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Better then that lies should triumph?
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And I'd suggest Shatterday as a good place to begin with Harlan.
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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 Oct 1998 14:23:05 -0600
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Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: CGI Re: from jms II: more crusade
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>BTW how are you planning those CGI parts? Are you providing exact
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>storyboards with ships and beams or do the CGI people just create
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>something along your script or do you check it prior rendering in
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>wireframe form or similar
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Pretty much all of the above, depending on the complexity of the sequence.
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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: 21 Oct 1998 21:23:05 -0600
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Subject: quickie update from jms
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To the gazillion or so folks who've asked in email...yes, we began shooting
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again on Monday the 19th, as scheduled, making the show we desired to make, and
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we're cranking along just fine. Actors are happy, crew are happy, everybody
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happy but Zathras...but Zathras never happy...Zathras happy once, had friend
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once, but wheels fell off, very sad....
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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: 26 Oct 1998 16:58:07 -0700
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Subject: computer games and comic - jms
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I posted this accidentally to the UK group, had meant to post it here:
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For a while now, every once in a while, one computer game company or other will
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drop me an email note, and ask if I'd be interested in lining up with one or
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the other to design games for them. I haven't said yes to any of them because
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a) I'm not as familiar with the scene as I'd like to be corporately, c) I've
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been busy mounting Crusade, and c) I've been busy working on the Sierra B5 game
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to make it as good as possible. But the thought keeps occuring...hell, I could
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put in the same amount of time I'm putting on the B5 game on a game of my
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own....
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So I figured...what the heck. Everybody I know who's in computer games is
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online, and so I thought, all right, let's say I'm open to the possibility.
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The B5 game is nearly finished from a design perspective, so that time is now
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open. The filming on Crusade is going fine, we're ahead on scripts...it's a
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good time to have some talks, broaden out the work a bit.
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So to those who've inquired before (your info is long, long gone, I'm afraid),
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and anyone who's looking on from one of the game companies, who might be
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interested in a jms line of games...lemme know.
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Also, I'm also pleased to announce that I have a new comic title of my own
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coming out next year from Top Cow (a division of Image Comics, publisher of
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Witchblade and Spawn)... something I've been quietly working on for the last
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three, four months...and which I think may have a fairly considerable impact on
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the field.
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(It's the way I'm hardwired...if I don't have 2-3 projects going at the same
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time, whether a book or a story of something else, I just get nuts....)
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More info has been posted about the comic in various places, including
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mania.com. The comic is called RISING STARS, and it's set to debut next April.
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I've just turned in the first script (for the preview issue), and will be
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getting down to writing issues 0 and 1 shortly.
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The story follows the events after the small town of Pederson, Illinois, is
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struck by a mass of energy from an unknown, but non-terrestrial source.
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Everyone who was in utero at the time of the flash is affected, resulting in
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113 individuals who develop abilities of a most unusual and highly individual
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form. (The power is to some degree shaped by who they are, just as they are
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shaped to some degree by the power.)
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It is set in a realistic universe, timed to real-world events (it covers a span
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of about 60 years, starting in about 1969), where there have never been
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super-powered individuals before. It looks at how the world reacts to them,
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and how they react to the world. We follow these characters through their
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early years, into adulthood and to the ends of their lives, mapping all the
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changes they go through, and how they change the world.
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It's an extremely ambitious 24 issue miniseries (with the potential to go back
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and further develop any of the stories presented earlier along the way).
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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: 27 Oct 1998 01:08:18 -0700
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Subject: Re: Two more days
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This is a devastating episode, by the way...so much happens in this that it's
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kinda staggering, actually.
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Of the final 5, this one, and the last two, are my favorites. And I like 'em
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all.
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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: 27 Oct 1998 01:15:05 -0700
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Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Top Cow?!
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I'd actually heard a lot of good things about Top Cow, and my understanding
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going into this was that I would have total creative freedom, and it would be a
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writer-driven book. The artist they've talked to is someone whose work I've
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admired, and this book is going to have a very different look from the rest of
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their titles. The folks over there seem to really have their act together.
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They only launch about 2 new titles a year, and that means they have to be
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special...and they want this to be that kind of project.
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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: 27 Oct 1998 18:32:37 -0700
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Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Top Cow?!
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>How closely do you plan
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>on collaborating with your penciller--will he have much leeway in
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>layouts/"camera" angles/etc. or do you script a page pretty tightly?
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I script pretty damn tight...as much as a half-page to describe a panel, in
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great detail. I'm doing those pages the same as I do my B5 and Crusade
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scripts: hideous amounts of detail.
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And yeah, we want to go for a much more realistic look to this book, because
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it's essential to making the story work.
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>if you seriously plan on bucking the System and
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>producing a book that operates on the assumption that dialogue and
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>characters are *not* interchangeable, I can guarantee you at least one
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>regular reader.
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Done and done.
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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: 27 Oct 1998 18:32:44 -0700
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Subject: Re: computer games and comic - jms
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>I'm not "tearing it down" as you put it. I am simply
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>pointing out the fact that the idea is not original.
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>In fact, it sounds like a direct copy from the films,
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>although I'm sure JMS will make a LOT more
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>interesting story of it than the films.
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>
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Sorry. Ain't the case. Damned was about a colonization effort by aliens,
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achieved by getting human female pregnant, and the kids were strictly
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telekinetic, and died at about age 7.
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There is no alien colonization thing going on in the story, it only affects the
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women who are already pregnant, and it follows their whole lives. You may as
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well say that the Three Mile Island story is a Damned story because it charts
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the effect of outside forces on pregnant women and their offspring.
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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: 28 Oct 1998 00:55:43 -0700
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Subject: Re: Two more days
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BTW, there's a couple of nifty reviews of the final 5 episodes by Glen and by
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Robogeek on ain't-it-cool-news...very touching stuff.
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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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