JMS on CompuServe (Feb 03, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS* (2/2)
bbarrett at speedlink.com
bbarrett at speedlink.com
Mon Feb 3 14:54:10 EST 1997
[ Continued from previous section -- BB ]
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[ Summary of subjects in this section: ]
Sb: #644084-#<<The Long Night>>
Sb: #644135-<<The Long Night>>
Sb: #644427-<<The Long Night>>
Sb: #644180-TLN Sound
Sb: #644370-Death & Rebirth
Sb: #644413-A Gamut of Hard Things
[ Summary: Thinks that showing Vir actually thrusting the needle into
Cartagia would've cleared up the whole "accidental/purposeful" issue.
Kiddingly suggests that JMS go and re-edit the episode. ]
#: 644118 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Feb-97 03:03:42
Sb: #644084-#<<The Long Night>>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Consider yourself the recipient of a cybernoogie.
jms
#: 644135 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Feb-97 04:28:32
Sb: #644079-#<<The Long Night>>
Fm: SUSAN F. KIRN
>> He brought a real sense of presence to the job. <<
Joe,
I finally got to see the episode last night and, as always, it was just
great.
What impressed me about the actor playing Ericsson, was how the emotions
played across his face while he was listening to Sheriden's explanation of the
mission. We could feel everything he was going through just by watching his
face.
Also, Andreas's scene with the other Narn was so well done. As he walked
away, letting laughter express his inner frustration and disbelief at the
others, you could read every thing that must have been going through the
character's mind at that moment.
It must give you a great feeling to see your scripts brought to life by such
fine performers.
Thanks for a great hour of entertainment.
- Susan
#: 644448 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Feb-97 21:27:58
Sb: #644135-<<The Long Night>>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks...yeah, it's great to know you can write *anything*, and this cast
can pull it off.
jms
[ Summary: Asks why the Centauri mention both the singular and plural of
"heart" when they talk about themselves. ]
#: 644449 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Feb-97 21:28:00
Sb: #644427-<<The Long Night>>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Re: heart/hearts...I figured that the two collectively are a whole from
an emotional or spiritual perspective. We say "a pair of pants" even though
it's just the one, as a related example.
jms
#: 644180 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Feb-97 07:50:39
Sb: #TLN Sound
Fm: GARY WEINFURTHER
Joe, thanks for another great episode! Every 10 minutes I kept telling my
wife, "This is GREAT!" Every scene was a WHAM. But sadly, WXON in Detroit
seems to have messed with the audio. The sound kept waving back and forth
between the left and right channels, sometimes even being muffled so that it
was hard to hear the dialogue.
...Gary Weinfurther
#: 644450 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Feb-97 21:28:03
Sb: #644180-TLN Sound
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Part of the problem is that they've switched satellite uplink services,
so that now it's being uploaded in analog instead of digital, and if it isn't
absolutely calibrated, there's some left/right frazzing.
jms
[ Summary: Asks why, if dead characters stay dead in Babylon 5, Sheridan
was brought back to life. ]
#: 644451 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Feb-97 21:28:05
Sb: #644370-Death & Rebirth
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
When characters die, they stay dead. The one and only sorta exception to
this is Sheridan, and only for a) reasons that make sense, b) reasons that are
essential to a mythic structure, and c) really are just a postponement; he's
been reanimated and can last another 20 years, but that's the max.
jms
#: 644413 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Feb-97 19:02:41
Sb: #A Gamut of Hard Things
Fm: REBECCA ESCHLIMAN
There was such a painful pattern in "The Long Night" -- a whole mosaic
of of "hard things":
The obvious -- Sheridan's request of Ericson, Ericson's acquiescence to
certain death (even upon a second viewing, when I *knew* what was
coming, Ericson's final scene wrenched my heart), Vir's assassination
of Cartagia, G'Kar's breaking his chains.
The less-obvious -- Susan's reliance on her last small bit of trust,
Sheridan's punishing himself with every last static-ridden moment of
what he had requested of Ericson, Londo's tenuous control of dire
events...
Wonderful, wonderful two-person scenes punctuating the grand action --
but, then again, it may be that the strength of B5 is that the grand
action punctuates the 2-person scenes.
Loved the gallows humor of Londo/Vir before the assassination and the
contrastingly sinister humor of Cartagia's "subjective" comment.
As much as my heart ferally gloried in Cartagia's demise, a small bit
of my head regrets such a magnificently lunatic character no longer
being in play.
Whether it was your intention or not, I found an engrossing ambivalence
to G'kar in this episode: from his first scene with Londo, he seems to
be skirting the very edge of madness. What he has to say is often the
model of sanity (particularly in his rejection of being enthroned by
the Narn), but there is a broken-beyond-repair edge to him that makes
me fearful for his future. Because you (and Andreas, natch) have
caused me to invest so much in what happens to G'Kar, I find his
situation after TLN of great concern. Since he has rejected the easy
sole leadership, what position can he create for himself in the face of
woefully uncomprehending followers?
What a wonderful episode for Stephen Furst! He gets to show Vir's
dimensions in one hour -- the capable second to Londo in the secret
council scene, the staunch deputy to Londo in the assassination, the
drunken Vir which combines both the old haplessness and the new
sophistication.
Nice parallel between Sheridan and Londo: both are faced with a most
difficult leadership, requiring painful decisions. I've been enough
caught by Londo's development from buffoon to Machiavellian-plotter
with a reluctant conscience that I was cheered by his honoring his
promise to G'kar.
Finally, there was a marvellously serendipitous juxtapostion of a
commercial to a scene: Just after the assassination had been
accomplished, the first bit of commercial break was stark white text
against black background -- "The Rules Have Changed" (Dodge Ram
sponsor). It took me a few seconds into the commercial to realize that
the slogan went with the commercial, not the preceding scene.
Thanks once more for giving us both characters and situations for which
we truly care.
-rje-
#: 644452 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Feb-97 21:28:07
Sb: #644413-A Gamut of Hard Things
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks...that's a lot to keep in play at the same time, and I'm glad the
themes all come across.
jms
[END]
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