Note From jms [SPOILERS for Severed Dreams]

[b5jms-owner at cs.columbia.edu]

Subject: Note From jms [SPOILERS for Severed Dreams]
 No.   DATE           FROM
-----+-------------+--------------------------------------------------
+  1: Apr  6, 1996: laz at leland.Stanford.EDU (Laz Marhenke)
*  2: Apr  6, 1996: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)

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From: laz at leland.Stanford.EDU (Laz Marhenke)
Lines: 82

In article <4juoqb$ouv at newsbf02.news.aol.com>,
Jms at B5 <jmsatb5 at aol.com> wrote:
>
>Yes, the new group is now moderated.  But no, that should not be taken or
>interpreted by anyone as inhibiting constructive criticism.  We learn by
>doing.  That means sometimes we make mistakes.  When that happens, it's
>not just a Good Idea to let us know, it's *necessary*.  If you can point
>to something in an episode that doesn't work...then point.  If it's an
>objective goof, then it's something we can learn from.  If it's a
>subjective opinion, then it opens up discussion from all sides.  

   Ok, I'll take you up on this, but I'll do the opposite.  I'll tell
you some things that did work.  (These may be somewhat backhanded
complements, though, since some of these point to things that haven't
worked for me in the past.  But by the same token, then, I'm pointing
at improvements.  Take it as you will.  :')  )

[SPOILERS FOR Severed Dreams FOLLOW!]
























   The scene with Garibaldi and the Narns was very nice.  I'm refering to
the part where he says something like "We'll cut them off here...", and
then all the Narns completely ignore him and rush into the fray.  I know 
to comment on this only because someone else (Jay, I think) commented on 
it.  When I watched the scene myself, I understood perfectly well what was
going on, but I didn't get the disconcerting sense that someone was
_telling_ me what was going on (which, unfortunately, sometimes happens
on B5).  I felt like the characters were talking to each other, not to me,
and I saw immediately what their actions were and why they were doing them.
All this is just as it should be, which is why I pick this scene as one
that I liked :') .  Basically, the medium of transmission (the TV 
production process) was perfectly transparent, letting me see the story
unimpeded.  It took Jay's comment to make me say "Oh yeah, that was nice!".
When things work well, we often don't notice it (I would go so far as to
say that the two usually imply each other).

   Another good & subtle thing:  When Captain What's-Her-Name's ship is
dying, and Major Whositzer is talking with her, we hear her say "Nothing
to do now but s..."  I assume she was saying "set to ram"; what I like
about this scene is that, again, I wasn't _told_ what she was doing.
Instead, I got a hint, and then was _shown_ what she did.  I had actually
guessed that she was going to ram a fraction of a second before it was
shown (as she said, there was nothing else to do), but it was especially
fun to be able to feel "smart" for having figured it out.

   Delenn's scene at the Grey Council was also nice.  At the end, she
calls for people to join her, and five council members go with her (if
I counted correctly).  One just assumes that it's the four Warrior Caste
members that stayed behind, and you only know that if you remember the
episode which showed that the Council was out-of-balance.  Again, I
liked having things left unsaid; things I had to think a little and
observe closely to figure out.

   I also liked how you handled losing the actor who played General
Haig (Hague?  I can never remember).  I guess it was the "obvious" thing
to do, but it was pretty realistic, when you think about it.

   So.  Anyway.  Liked the episode.  :')

   Laz

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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Lines: 6

Compliments not backhanded at all, and gratefully accepted.


 jms


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