JMS on Compuserve: October 30 , 1995

The Green Meddler kilgalen at tde.com
Mon Oct 30 14:09:18 EST 1995



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Subj:  Influence?			Section: Babylon 5
  To:  Richard P. Manny,	Sunday, October 29, 1995 2:57:03 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#386727

<I've never heard this one although I've read a number of Ripper texts.  I 
could cheat and ask for a reference, but I won't.  I'll do a little digging.>

     That's because it isn't *in* any of the Ripper texts as a suspect....

                                                                       jms



Subj:  Bab5 cancellation HELP		Section: Babylon 5
  To:  Marion J Nalepa,	Sunday, October 29, 1995 2:57:00 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#386726

     The stations that keep the show consistent do well with it, and don't 
usually drop it.  So you're probably in good shape here.

                                                                       jms


Subj:  <spoiler>Comes the Inq		Section: Babylon 5
  To:  Rick Corey /NY	Sunday, October 29, 1995 2:57:16 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#386729

      I guess also that the key to avoid something becoming cliche is to 
turn it on its head.  Which was the case with Sebastian.  
One thing I neglected to mention was the need to have an absolute 
mirror-counterpoint to Morden.  Here you've got the smiling, pleasant, 
utterly charming and good looking fellow who is our "mirror" if you will in 
which we see the Shadows reflected.  
So now you need something dark and ominous and terrible as the mirror 
through which we briefly glimpse the Vorlons, which has to be done all in 
one episode, you can't develop it gradually as with Morden.  
So everything about Sebastian was the opposite of Morden...and each is the 
opposite of what they represent.  As it appears to us now, anyway.

      To the question of Crowley, I've read a little of his work, but only a 
little...
I've never believed in the dictum of "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole 
of the law."  I've generally leaned in the direction of "Do what thou ought 
shall be the whole of the law."  
Crowley was a very strange man, and while clearly some of his reputation was 
blown out of all proportion -- was he not kicked out of an entire country 
once, called The Most Evil Man Of All Time? -- but at the heartmeat core of 
it was something dark and tw

                                                                       jms


Subj:  <spoiler: Comes the Inq>		Section: Babylon 5
  To:  Deonaha M. Conlin, 	Sunday, October 29, 1995 2:57:18 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#386730

	<<OF course, that raises the question -- Is penance enough?>
	At some point, it must be.  Even the worst of us must have some hope for 
reprieve at some point.  Either let the creep out of jail, or kill him.  I 
think four hundred years of not knowing would even do justice to Manson.  
	I may be a little soft-appearing, but I am not.  I simply believe that 
there must come an end, at some point, to the suffering of any living, 
thinking being, no matter how awful they are.
	Sebastian has not yet had the chance to answer to his God, if he is a 
believer.  Apparently, he is kept suspended between missions.  Thus, no time 
to face his demons himself.  Maybe he seems unrepentant because he hasn't 
had the chance to think things over.
The Vorlon have cheated him out of the very thing we send criminals to 
prison for, and that in itself is not only criminal, but immoral.  IMHO.
	I don't mean to get up on a soapbox.  This was a terrific ep, and seems to 
have generated much deep thought on a lot of things like ethics, crime & 
punishment, and sacrifice.
	I think I will go downstairs and watch it again.
	BTW, what is WB's corporate address?  I can't believe they can't see a 
demand for videos.  Perhaps they are color-blind in that range.>

     No, I think your points are all excellent, and tie right into the whole 
question at hand.  Nothing soft about them, just very thoughtful and 
insightful.  
One of the primary functions of the show, beyond entertainment, is to 
provoke questions, discussion, and the comparison of views.

     I think my message titled videotapes from jms is still here with an 
address for WB about tapes.

     And thanks.

                                                                       jms


Subj:  <CTI> Did Sinclair pass?		Section: Babylon 5
  To:  Don Chase		Sunday, October 29, 1995 2:57:20 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#386731

<< When this gets answered later this season, you may have your answer 
there.>

Is that this season, as in Season 2, or Season 3?>

     I think I was referring here to season 3.

                                                                       jms


Subj:  <Comes the Inquistor>		Section: Babylon 5
  To:  Don Chase,		Sunday, October 29, 1995 8:09:22 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#387083

     Can G'Kar grow to forgive?  I don't think so...and yet in a way he must 
come to something more than rage, and other than forgiveness.  There is an 
important step in his development yet to come.  
And he will have to go there by a very hard road.

                                                                       jms


Subj:  Major B5/ST News			Section: Star Trek
  To:  JAMES M. TRAPP,	Sunday, October 29, 1995 8:14:10 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#387093

 <I thank you for your very gracious offer of getting to know BABYLON 5 a 
little better. 
 However--neither my wife nor I particularly care for what seems to be never 
ending plot lines. 
We do prefer to have at least one story started and completed in each 
episode. This is not neccessarily a knock on B5. We felt the same way about 
"Hill Street Blues" which was hugely successful without us.<g>
 Also, the plot 'strings' tend to create dialogue that does not relate to 
the current situation in the story being viewed. 
And if you/we don't have the time to catch each episode then much of what 
transpires is lost to us.  But you are getting some terrific actors to work 
with. And we are SciFi fans so the best to you and the show.

   ---jim  <<<who can follow a P.K.DICK story!<g>>

      That's great, and I appreciate the honest answer.  Not every show is 
for everyone.  Continued good luck.

                                                                       jms


Subj:  <CtI---OK>			Section: Babylon 5
  To:  John M. Kahane, 	Sunday, October 29, 1995 8:14:12 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#387095

< Actually, there *was* a scene where Lennier, concerned, tracks down Kosh 
to inquire after Delenn's situation, which report alarms him and sends him 
after Sheridan.  It was filmed...but cut for time.>

      Really?  Now that *is* interesting....for several reasons.  
We've known for a long time that Lennier truly cares for Delenn, and seems 
to be able to treat much more as an equal since her transformation, but that 
kind of scene would have shown us the depth of his caring about her welfare. 
 
Something that we've known about, but haven't *seen* in the series, per se.

     I've seen some of the unshown scenes posted for "The Gathering."  Is 
there any chance that you could post that particular filmed, but cut, scene 
here on CIS, so we can all see what might have been happening there?  
I'm assuming, of course,  that you have this on computer still, somewhere.  
(The script with that scene in it.)  It sounds like a *terrific* scene, and 
I'd *love* to know what Kosh's dialogue with Lennier was like. <g>

     Can't really post that kind of stuff, alas....

                                                                       jms




Subj:  Avalon?				Section: Babylon 5
  To:  Elyse M. Grasso,	Monday, October 30, 1995 2:35:16 AM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#387324

<Does the episode title "A Late Delivery from Avalon" imply that Jinxo will 
be back? 
(Which begs the question: who or what is delivered, and which meaning of 
delivery...)>


     Nope, no Jinxo.

                                                                       jms



Subj:  <Comes the Inquisitor>		Section: Babylon 5
  To:  Mark D. Smith, 		Monday, October 30, 1995 2:35:16 AM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#387325

<Another thought about Sebastion.  After the 5th viewing of CtI, I REALLY 
watched Sebastion and his facial expressions.  Of course his fixation on 
being "chosen" is obvious.  
BUT, when Delenn delivers her speach about "this body is only a shell", at 
the end of it, watching Sebastion, the dissapointment on his face!  To me, 
he looked like Delenn had just kneed his jewels up around his ears!  
He was so horribly wrong about his "choseness" that he seems to expect 
everyone else to be wrong too.  It's almost as if THAT's his punishment.  
That there's somebody out there who's convinced of their being chosen and 
actually being the right person, for the right reason, in the right place at 
the right time, again, where he was so so wrong.>

      Yeah, beautiful subtle work, wasn't it...?

      Wayne Alexander.  Remember the name.  This guy's gonna Be Somebody.

                                                                       jms




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