JMS on compuserve: October 11, 1995
B5JMS Poster
b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu
Thu Oct 19 17:01:00 EDT 1995
Subject: JMS on compuserve: October 11, 1995
* 1: Oct 11, 1995: The Green Meddler <kilgalen at tde.com>
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From: The Green Meddler <kilgalen at tde.com>
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i apologize again for the fact these postings are no longer
formatted. i'm in the process of hiring someone to take over
my net chores and that'll be one of his or her first jobs.
thanks for being patient!
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
_/ Green Meddler kilgalen at tde.com Nathan F. Wallace _/
_/ http://www.webcom.com/~kilgalen/welcome.html _/
_/ http://www.webcom.com/~kilgalen/nerelon.html _/
_/ C.I.U.P.K.C. Software -- Unleashing the Power! _/
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Subj: 12 Steps Program? Section: Babylon 5
To: Anne L. Warner, 71513,1177 Monday, October 09, 1995 1:17:16 PM
From: J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#362252
Michael's kind of stubborn and independent and doesn't generally go in for group sessions.
jms
Subj: Re: B5 Comic Section: Babylon 5
To: Anne L. Warner, 71513,1177 Monday, October 09, 1995 1:17:17 PM
From: J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#362253
Nobody else here is sufficiently crazy to be on-line all the time.
jms
Subj: WOTW: DS9 Imitates B5? Section: Star Trek
To: Jeannette Fornadel, 76371,3057 Monday, October 09, 1995 1:31:21 PM
From: J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#362273
Of course, the one good thing to come out of all this is what I've been saying all along...that the presence of lots
of SF shows will cause more competition between the shows, with the ultimate beneficiary of this being the audience.
Case in point: from day one, B5 has always shown the station very busy, with lots of ships going and coming.
One of the concerns voiced by many DS9 fans, quite logically, was that if this was such a busy station, why did we
not see any ships docking at the station, a sense of being busy? Well, finally, we now see the new open to DS9
where they show a fair number of ships moving in and out. We've been doing lots of scenes with huge numbers of
ships dating back to the pilot movie; now in the season debut, they've come to the plate and shown big numbers of
ships. Granted that several of the big shots were recycled throughout the course of the episode (watch for the wide
shot where you see a Klingon ship in front of the crowd moving right to left, for instance), still it's a strong effort.
Our presence gives them some competition to do more, and as they come up to the plate to do just that, it
challenges *us* to rise to the occasion as well, so it's a good back-and-forth.
jms
Subj: WOTW: DS9 Imitates B5? Section: Star Trek
To: Jeannette Fornadel, 76371,3057 Monday, October 09, 1995 4:55:06 PM
From: J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#362470
Fred Allen, a man considerably before your time, once observed, "Imitation is the sincerest form of television."
jms
Subj: Shadow Ship Progression Section: Babylon 5
To: Hugh Kennedy, 70042,710 Monday, October 09, 1995 1:31:23 PM
From: J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#362274
The color of the jump gates is kept consistent with the phenomenon of red shift; objects moving away quickly take
on a red hue, those coming toward you take on a blue aspect.
jms
Subj: B5 Pot Luck Party in NH Section: Babylon 5
To: Anne L. Warner, 71513,1177 Monday, October 09, 1995 5:06:31 PM
From: J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#362480
If you're going to have something this big, with that great a video and audio system, maybe you ought to consider
holding this one week later for "The Long Twilight Struggle," which benefits hugely from this kind of treatment, and
will, I suspect, have a much bigger reaction from those attending. Just a thought....
jms
Subj: Episodes Evaluation Section: Babylon 5
To: John M. Kahane, 102664,773 Tuesday, October 10, 1995 12:49:22 AM
From: J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#363120
Re: craft...it's not any one area per se, really, just a lot of little things. "Trifles make perfection, and perfection is
no trifle." Michelangelo. So I keep trying one technique or another, working to get a little better, or add different tools
to my toolbox.
Favorite visual moments? The last shots in the second major action piece in TLTS (the through the window stuff).
The Emperor's fall in CoS. Delenn and Sheridan embracing, and Lennier's exit from the isolation area in C&L. Some
of the staging in CtI.
We just have to continue to get better, and never look back.
jms
Subj: Episodes Evaluation Section: Babylon 5
To: John M. Kahane, 102664,773 Tuesday, October 10, 1995 12:49:24 AM
From: J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#363121
No, "Severed Dreams" is episode #10.
I think really that "War Prayer" was so thoroughly ruined for me by the direction, as was "Grail," that I can't see
past that aspect. We spent hours and hours in the editing room, trying to make those work, and it was a major
league pain in the butt.
jms
Subj: VOYAGER'S BAD TREK Section: Star Trek
To: Lawrence Roberts, 73200,2174 Tuesday, October 10, 1995 12:50:01 AM
From: J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#363122
Absolutely not. I don't think the audience is facionalized, really; I think there's *plenty* of room for SF, but it has
to be SF *done well*.
See, that's the difference in how execs think (if I can use that term); if a cop show dies, they say, "Well, that one
show didn't work." If an SF series dies, they say, "There's no market for SF in television."
I think that the audience can handle lots of SF, if it's quality.
BTW, though I normally don't have a chance to catch the ST shows, with rare exceptions, I did manage to catch
tonight's Voyager...and I have to say that this was probably the best I've seen to date. The dialogue was crisp and
funny and insightful, the story worked (even though the plot per se was nothing to write home about), the bits
played...I quite enjoyed it. I'd love to see them do more of this kind of thing.
jms
Subj: Keeping B5 ALIVE Section: Babylon 5
To: Charles Agius, 72712,3572 Tuesday, October 10, 1995 3:29:17 PM
From: J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#363574
The series is fine as it is. The changes you suggest would simply make into a gimmick show, action without
substance. Then it wouldn't be the show that people like...so what's the point? I'd rather have it the show I mean it to
be, and die, than compromise and go on. What we need, primarily, is good PR to let people know what we're doing.
jms
Subj: Keeping B5 ALIVE Section: Babylon 5
To: Charles Agius, 72712,3572 Wednesday, October 11, 1995 1:33:26 AM
From: J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#364227
Oh, I won't defend the delay in new episodes, because I think it's indefensible on many levels. I just don't think
it's appropriate to make the show into something less than it is to stay on the air; because then the show you want to
keep on the air, that which makes it special, is gone anyway, so you've lost both ways. Better to go out on your feet.
But we've made it 3 years so far, and I have no intention of letting it fall before finishing the storyline.
jms
Subj: Major B5/ST News Section: Star Trek
To: Max Cacas, 76476,2472 Tuesday, October 10, 1995 3:29:21 PM
From: J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#363575
I agree with you 100%. They keep promising better; we'll see.
jms
Subj: Major B5/ST News Section: Star Trek
To: DEBBIE PLOOR, 102662,3032 Wednesday, October 11, 1995 1:33:20 AM
From: J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#364225
Debbie: thanks. To avoid a lengthy recap of the O'Hare situation, I would point you to the B5 library, sec 5, which
has a lengthy message from me on the subject, which should answer just about all of those questions.
As for the second half of the "Babylon Squared" episode, and all the questions arising from that...and your
question about O'Hare returning... they both have the same answer. He'll be reappearing in season three in a
two-part episode that shows the other half of the B^2 storyline.
Thanks for the kind words.
jms
Subj: B5: Final Year??? Section: Babylon 5
To: Hugh Kennedy, 70042,710 Wednesday, October 11, 1995 1:33:18 AM
From: J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#364224
Unfortunately, that's considered by studio execs a "secondary market," of less interest, and less reward. Also
PTEN is a consortium of WB and the stations; without the local stations, you got zip.
jms
Subj: B5: Final Year??? Section: Babylon 5
To: J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644Tuesday, October 10, 1995 12:28:25 AM
From: Hugh Kennedy, 70042,710 #363097
Joe,
>> It's the national picture that matters to WB, <<
What about the international market. It does seem to be doing well in the UK
and Germany on nation-wide television. I don't know where else the series was
sold, but this must be good for something.
Hugh.
Subj: Divided Loyalties Section: Babylon 5
To: Toni Muller, 75223,1575 Wednesday, October 11, 1995 1:33:23 AM
From: J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#364226
Thanks; it's a good warm-up episode for the next three biggies....
jms
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