JMS on CompuServe (Jan 20, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*
bbarrett at speedlink.com
bbarrett at speedlink.com
Mon Jan 20 22:14:13 EST 1997
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The following posts may contain SPOILERS for
upcoming Babylon 5 episodes.
Continue at your own risk.
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[ Summary of subjects in this section: ]
Sb: #639662-B5 director
Sb: #639706-#Atn: JMS- Story Arc
Sb: #639714-?s of Sordid Biz Nature
Sb: #639708-#Opening Credits Season 4
Sb: #639709-#3rd Age of Mankind...
Sb: #639710-#Mr. Garibaldi vs. Talia
Sb: #639790-From jms re: yr 4/5
Sb: #639750-From jms re: yr 4/5
Sb: #639801-From jms re: yr 4/5
Sb: #639802-Atn: JMS- Story Arc
Sb: #639798-B5 Audio Problems
#: 639662 S5/Babylon 5: General
19-Jan-97 17:41:03
Sb: #B5 director
Fm: BARBARA PFIEFFER
Joe:
I'm sure you don't have time to keep up with Usenet other than B5, so I thought
I'd let you know that Mike Vejar has been getting kudos from a lot of people
for his wonderful direction of last week's DS9 episode, "In Darkness and In
Light". I've always liked his shows and he did a great job on DS9. Just FYI.
Barbara
#: 639716 S5/Babylon 5: General
19-Jan-97 21:09:41
Sb: #639662-B5 director
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks. Mike is one of our core directors; he wasn't available to us for
the first batch of episodes because another show locked him down before we got
renewal notice for year 4 (you can't book directors if you don't have a
commitment), but he's directing one now, and is going to do a bunch more. He's
a great visual stylist. If I know we're going to have him as a director, I'll
actually write the script a little differently and call for the kinds of
visuals I know he can give us.
Funny story...turns out that in Spanish, "vejar" means to abuse, degrade
and humiliate. So one day, all the crew vanished from the set mid-day and
reappeared moments later wearing bright red shirts with black type reading
"I'VE BEEN VEJARED!" They're still very popular.
jms
#: 639706 S5/Babylon 5: General
19-Jan-97 20:15:12
Sb: #637540-#Atn: JMS- Story Arc
Fm: JONATHAN KASS
Message text written by J. Michael Straczynski
> My suggestion: wait until you see what it IS before you ask me to make it
what it's not.
jms
<
One of the succintist (?) and direct answers I've ever seen, and amen to it...
is Crusade definate?
Jonathan
#: 639717 S5/Babylon 5: General
19-Jan-97 21:09:45
Sb: #639706-#Atn: JMS- Story Arc
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Crusade isn't definite yet, we should know soonish, though.
jms
#: 639714 S5/Babylon 5: General
19-Jan-97 20:58:21
Sb: #?s of Sordid Biz Nature
Fm: REBECCA ESCHLIMAN
jms -
Does WB tell you if they're promoting B5 at NATPE each year (this year
in particular, since the whole 4 or 5 season termination is such a
burning question)?
If so, do they tell you the results, or do you have to rely on
industry jungle-drums to find out how B5 fared at NATPE?
-rje-
I can almost feel the rustling-in of some kind of enchantment already.
#: 639718 S5/Babylon 5: General
19-Jan-97 21:09:46
Sb: #639714-?s of Sordid Biz Nature
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
We've never heard squat about NATPE or much of anything else over these
four years. Also, NATPE is mainly useful for selling new shows, not renewing
older ones.
jms
#: 639708 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
19-Jan-97 20:23:34
Sb: #Opening Credits Season 4
Fm: JONATHAN KASS
Sir,
Just got around to really trying to breakdown the opening title sequence,
haven't been lurking here for a couple of months, don't see any messages, so am
curious if this has been "documented" - who says what?
Our take:
Lennier - It was the year of fire
Zack - the year of destruction
G'Kar - the year we took back what was ours
Delenn - It was the year of rebirth
Vir - the year of great sadness
Marcus - the year of pain
Delenn - and the year of joy
Molari - It was a new age
Franklin - it was the end of history
Alexander - it was the year everything changed
Garibaldi - the year is 2261
Sheridan - the place - Babylon 5
Is this right?? We're pretty unsure on the Zack, somewhat unsure on Lyta, but
pretty sure we don't hear Ivanova...
Hmm...
Jonathan
#: 639719 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
19-Jan-97 21:09:48
Sb: #639708-#Opening Credits Season 4
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Not quite...rebirth goes to Lyta (since Pat had just had a kid recently),
and Claudia got the year everything changed, to put her in the same grouping
with Jerry and Bruce.
jms
#: 639709 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
19-Jan-97 20:29:57
Sb: #3rd Age of Mankind...
Fm: JONATHAN KASS
Sir,
been thinking about this a bit lately... lots of talk about the "third
question" that many seemed to think Lorien asked Sheridan, but on rewatching, I
noticed it was Sheridan who came up with "Why am I here"...
So I'm wondering:
1st Age of Mankind - defined by primitive struggle for survival; individuals
must answer "what do you want" to survive;
2nd Age of Mankind - defined by society and the emergence of ego (with very
inward personally and then earth-centric focus); individuals begin to answer
"who are you"
3rd Age of Mankind - defined by society recognizing it has a larger role /
responsibility in the galaxy - much beyond who are we and what do we want; Man
begins to search for "why am I here" in a grander sense (possibly hinted at a
long time ago by Delenn, I remember her saying something to the effect that
"Humans are unique in their habit of establishing communities (which include
aliens?) wherever they go" and that B5 was a great example...
Or am I completely in left field? I'm not sure about the order of 1 & 2, could
probably make it work the other way, but I kinda thought maybe 3 was in the
direction of a new age which would be less dominated by matters of survival and
Earth-centric concerns...
(Can you tell were still watching reruns?)
Jonathan
#: 639720 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
19-Jan-97 21:09:50
Sb: #639709-#3rd Age of Mankind...
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Sorta kinda...close. You won't have to wait long.
jms
#: 639710 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
19-Jan-97 20:35:41
Sb: #Mr. Garibaldi vs. Talia
Fm: JONATHAN KASS
Sir,
Just a curiousity question... in the "original" story (whatever that means)
where lets say Talia wasn't "control", but it was the original Pilot's First
Officer (I believe I saw you post something to that effect) possibly recast
into Ivanova (surely a more interesting answer for the dream question "Do you
know who I am"), I would imagine that that thread might not have been resolved
by now if you hadn't needed a back door for Andrea Thompson's exit...
Wondering if Garibaldi's capture and associated signs of personality
programming is a means to reactivate that thread of the story... really not
concerned with knowing where its going, just whether one might imaginatively
glue the threads together to see what you might have originally intended...
Jonathan
P.S. bummer about losing Andrea Thompson - doesn't seem like she's getting much
of a break, yet, either - while both JAG and NYPD BLUE must be much higher
rated, she seems to keep having a bit of bad luck with story lines and networks
writing her off...
#: 639721 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
19-Jan-97 21:09:53
Sb: #639710-#Mr. Garibaldi vs. Talia
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
No, the Garibaldi situation doesn't relate to or act as a surrogate for
that earlier thread.
jms
#: 639790 S5/Babylon 5: General
20-Jan-97 07:45:15
Sb: #638326-#From jms re: yr 4/5
Fm: SCOTT BAKER
Talk about a stranglehold. So they control the money, and distribution, they
then make money off of licensing, etc, and all you get are your fees, so you
keep comming up with better ideas, keep coming back for more, and they give you
a little more....
How do you keep from becoming ensnared in what THEY want the show to be? Or
have you just been lucky that they have choosen not to meddle.
--Scott
#: 639909 S5/Babylon 5: General
20-Jan-97 13:57:20
Sb: #639790-From jms re: yr 4/5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Fortunately, most studios don't know what they want...they only get into
it if whatever it is, isn't working. B5 is working, so they leave it alone.
Also, I think they know by now that if a project I care about is going to be
bastardized...I walk. I've done it many times before, and wouldn't hesitate to
do it again.
jms
[ Summary: Thinks it's silly that WB doesn't want to release videos in the
U.S. if a network executive thinks that the people with money are watching
videos instead of broadcast television. ]
#: 639910 S5/Babylon 5: General
20-Jan-97 13:57:21
Sb: #639750-From jms re: yr 4/5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
It's got nothing to do with making money...if you look around, aside from
the cartoon stuff, NO WB series are out on disk or tape, because that division
prefers to deal with guaranteed big sellers (Batman, etc) than with TV, which
they feel is kinda below them.
jms
#: 639801 S5/Babylon 5: General
20-Jan-97 08:36:41
Sb: #639093-#From jms re: yr 4/5
Fm: SCOTT BAKER
>> I've had to structure this extremely elaborate tree so I can flip either way
depending on whether or not we get a fifth year <<
Do you actually have this entire thing drawn out on paper so to speak? I'd
think that when this is all over, that'd be a great collectors item.
--Scott
#: 639911 S5/Babylon 5: General
20-Jan-97 13:57:23
Sb: #639801-From jms re: yr 4/5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I figure they'll probably bury the darned thing with me...and I'll still
be laying there and revising it....
jms
#: 639802 S5/Babylon 5: General
20-Jan-97 08:36:45
Sb: #639717-#Atn: JMS- Story Arc
Fm: SCOTT BAKER
Will we find out about Crusade at the same time as year 5? Or are they under
different groups?
Are the movies confirmed, and will there be more movies after the 2 by TNT?
--Scott
#: 639912 S5/Babylon 5: General
20-Jan-97 13:57:26
Sb: #639802-Atn: JMS- Story Arc
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
The two TNT movies are confirmed; I imagine I'll hear about the sequel
before I hear about year 5, but the difference in time will probably be only a
few weeks.
jms
#: 639798 S5/Babylon 5: General
20-Jan-97 08:25:41
Sb: #B5 Audio Problems
Fm: JOHN GRAVES
Dear JMS,
Love the show, Love the show, Love the show.... Now to the point. I've been
watching & recording B5 since the first season and have noted a deterioration
in the signal quality of the feeds via satellite. I've checked this out on
different dishes throughout my area (including one used by my FOX affiliate to
download the feed) and confirmed an ongoing audio problem. I thought this
might be a problem confined to my geographic area, but postings over the last
few months lead me to think the problem is more widespread.
The Problem: the folks uploading the feed to the satellite are using a VERY
narrow bandwidth for audio. Even the slightest deviation from dead-on tuning
results in carrier noise (high pitched whine), rumbling and crackling, and in
some cases, even the bleed through of other programs audio on the same
frequency (I have heard voices in the background...OK, don't say it).
Anyway, I've confirmed this problem on several dishes and the folks at FOX are
pulling their hair out. Audio from the first and second seasons was perfect!
I know that this is a bit out of your jurisdiction, but any help would be
appreciated. Keep up the good work!
John Graves
Arcata, California
#: 639913 S5/Babylon 5: General
20-Jan-97 13:57:28
Sb: #639798-B5 Audio Problems
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
This is the first I've heard of it, but I've printed your message and
will give it to George Johnsen tomorrow so he can look into it.
jms
[END]
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