JMS on CompuServe (Apr 10, 1996) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS* 1/3
Brent Barrett
brent.barrett at 24stex.com
Wed Apr 10 11:42:01 EDT 1996
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The following posts may contain SPOILERS for
upcoming Babylon 5 episodes.
Continue at your own risk.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL IS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE
RESPECTIVE MESSAGE AUTHORS AND CANNOT BE
REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED
PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR.
Note that JMS has expressed his public permission
that all of his messages may be reproduced freely.
I give permission for my summaries to be reposted in
any form, however I reserve all rights to them and
the right to revoke this permission at any time.
#: 483547 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
08-Apr-96 05:06:58
Sb: #>>Delenn<<
Fm: TONI MULLER
I just read the transcript of Saturday's conference. It sounded great. A few
questions:
You said that Delenn is holding back more than anyone could ever guess. _Why_
is she doing this? I mean, I'd want to share all I knew with my friends to
help them in the upcoming war - unless there was some pretty powerful reason
not to. And what will Sheridan's reaction be if and when he finds out?
Also, when you said we'll see Anna soon but not in this batch of episodes, did
you mean we'll see her at least by the end of this season?
I got a horrible feeling and felt a little sick to my stomach when I read the
part about Delenn having to pay dearly for her holding back and about Anna's
return. I had trouble falling asleep last night thinking about it. I continue
to be amazed at how real these characters have become to me and how much I care
about what does (and might) happen to them. You're incredible and I hope
someday to get to tell you in person at a con.
Toni
#: 483777 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
08-Apr-96 14:00:42
Sb: #483547-#>>Delenn<<
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I'm in the awful situation of not being able to answer either of those
questions without giving away something major. All I can say is that Delenn
has good reasons, or what she thinks are good reasons.
jms
[ Summary: Wonders if JMS was making allusions to Kurosawa's "Ran" in the
hand-to-hand boarding sequence. Also, likes how JMS is handling
Garabaldi's drinking problem. ]
#: 483778 S5/Babylon 5: General
08-Apr-96 14:00:44
Sb: #483553-#>Severed Dreams/Kurosawa
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks. I agree with you about Garibaldi; it has to be treated properly
and with weight.
Actually, I've never seen Ran, though it's on my list of films to see
when I get enough round tuits.
jms
[ Summary: Loved "Severed Dreams," and says he's getting real tired of
saying "This is the best episode you've ever done." ]
#: 483779 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
08-Apr-96 14:00:45
Sb: #483558-#'Severed Dreams'
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks, and may you only continue to keep saying that....
jms
#: 483564 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
08-Apr-96 06:59:38
Sb: #483403-#<Severed Dreams>
Fm: CHAD UNDERKOFFLER
>> If it isn't *absolutely necessary* to the scene, it isn't in.
If I may be so bold, Joe...
I think you're getting better at this. Compared to season one, and even the
early part of season two, I've noticed that the stories have been tightening up
& becoming more succinct. You're packing more *stuff* into the time you have,
and not using alot of 'filler' speechifying or technobabble.
Somehow, though, I think this may make plain old playwrighting hard for you.
On the up side, I think your prose may now be leaner and meaner-- I'm talking
Bester, Sturgeon, Ellison, Davidson-type fighting weight. (And that's a tough
class to be in!)
But hey, don't mind me. I'm still trying to get published. <g>
Rage
Ranger of Washingdome
"Always a critic and never a creator. <sigh>"
#: 483780 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
08-Apr-96 14:00:48
Sb: #483564-<Severed Dreams>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I hope nobody takes this the wrong way....but I think some of the
earlier slowness in the first season episodes has something to do with being
ST-programmed. It's a pacing we've all kind of gotten used to, lots of
standing around and discussing stuff, and for everyone concerned, particularly
the freelancers, it's a *very* hard mindset to break. It took a while to work
that out of everyone's system so we could concentrate on telling a story the
way only we can.
Also, bear in mind that the first season or so we had to spend a lot of
time establishing our universe, the politics, history and so on, so that the
events we're seeing now would have some weight. Now that we've done all that,
laid the foundation, we can just rip along at top speed.
jms
[ Summary: Wonders about floating debris after such a large battle
outside the station. ]
#: 483781 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
08-Apr-96 14:00:51
Sb: #483571-<Severed Dreams>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
We've shown clean-up crews before outside, including a hazmat station
that goes out to clear away fuel cores or other toxic material. They would've
been dispatched for this.
jms
[ Summary: Comments on the lack of much blood at the scene of the marine
boarding. Wonders if perhaps the PPGs cauterize the wounds, thus
preventing much bleeding. ]
#: 483784 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
08-Apr-96 14:00:56
Sb: #483633-<Severed Dreams>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Correct, PPG bursts, being superheated helium, tend to cauterize the
wounds as they go through.
jms
#: 483635 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
08-Apr-96 09:39:20
Sb: #483402-#<Severed Dreams>
Fm: ANNE L. WARNER
Joe and Stephen,
Don't limit the concept to the juxtaposition of opposing (or apparently
opposing) ideas. If you add the musical version of counterpoint to the
discussion, you can get some interesting ideas.
In music, counterpoint is the creation of a harmonic whole from one or more
melodies, by playing them against each other, in lots of different ways. The
simplest, and probably the oldest, version is the round. Frere Jacques or
Dona Nobis Pacem. In these, there is a single melody, which is displaced
against itself to create harmonic interplay. Each "voice" sings/plays the
same melody, in the same order, but starting at a different time. Canons and
fugues can use more than one melody, and don't demand that each "voice" uses
all of the "main" theme. A passacaglia is a contrapuntal form of "theme and
variations" where the main theme is repeated over and over as one of the
harmonic lines in each variation. I can't remember what is unique about a
toccatta, but I'd bet it is a similar construct.
Obviously, where there is more than one melody, there are several possible
ways to relate the main theme to the others. One way to create a related
melody with harmonic possibilities is to invert the original one. So you
take a melody that starts high, and tootles its way down to a lower plane,
and create an inverse. A literary example is the progress of Lear and Edmund
in Shakespeare's play. Lear starts at the top, and through a combination of
bad luck, nasty companions, and bad judgement, progresses to the absolute
pits. Edmund starts out pretty low, and moves up the social/character scale
in a pattern that relates to and crosses Lear's in the middle of the play and
their progress.
In "And There All the Honor Lies" Peter David created a somewhat similar
structure. Each of the various plot lines concerns the nature of truth, and
the relation between relative truth, absolute truth, and justice.
In "Severed Dreams" it seems to me that you are comparing relative and
absolute views of duty, right & wrong, law, and loyalty. Perhaps loyalty
most of all. Who is loyal and who is traitor? You've really set us up for
some heavy questions there... This episode certainly marks John's fall from
grace as "fair haired boy" of EarthGov. On the other hand, and
contrapuntally, it also marks his coming of age as a mature man of justice
and honor, whose loyalty is to somthing greater, not just than his own
interests, but even than his own race.
Another example of the crossed and inverted melodies sort of counterpoint is
the relative progress of G'Kar and Londo....
I think I've blathered on too long already. You may not automatically
express your explanation in musical terms, but your use of the concept is
great. Sorry, I didn't mean to "tell you what you did!" <sheepish smile>
As you've implied elsewhere, sometimes a lot of the creative process is best
left to the unconscious. The rest of us just watch in awe.
I'll shut up now...
Annie - just ecstatic at 6" of new snow!
#: 483785 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
08-Apr-96 14:00:59
Sb: #483635-<Severed Dreams>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Actually, yes, I tend to ask for musical counterpoint in the show from
time to time. For instance, when Sheridan et al were going to the area where
the crowd was waiting, I told Chris to fool us...give us an ominous sounding
sting going into what's going to be a very "up" scene. In the battle earlier
on, when you'd normally do something fast and exciting, I asked him to give me
something more somber, to pull out the Requiem theme in a few places.
Sometimes, in other shows, I ask for music that works against a scene to
control the emotional core of it; if it's a bit too silly, perhaps, then I go
for a more serious musical cue to balance it out. Where a scene would seem to
ask for major keys, I go for minor chords.
It's all just part of the tapestry.
(BTW, a little secret...just for fun, I wrote a couple of songs that
you'll be hearing in an upcoming episode. I used to write songs here and
there, even did a couple for an ABC prime-time special, and figured I'd try it
again. I wrote the lyrics, discussed the music with Chris, and he took care of
the score, and it's about what I first conceived. Came out pretty well,
actually.)
jms
#: 483636 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
08-Apr-96 09:39:23
Sb: #483405-#<Severed Dreams >
Fm: ANNE L. WARNER
Joe,
We hate it when you do that!!! <veg>
By the way... One detail about Anna Sheridan has bothered me ever since ItsoZ.
It seems as if her husband ought to have a snapshot of her that was NOT taken
from the video she sent to his sister. I recognized the photo John showed
Morden as being direct from that message Liz brought in Revelations. It was
even the same carriage of her head.
Trivia, yup! If that's the wurst I can find, you make damn good sausage!
Anne
#: 483786 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
08-Apr-96 14:01:02
Sb: #483636-<Severed Dreams >
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
True; he would, and does have other photos. But would you entrust a
prized photo in Mr. Morden's hands...?
jms
[ Summary: ]
#: 483649 S5/Babylon 5: General
08-Apr-96 10:05:19
Sb: #Babylon cereal
Fm: JAMES R. KAPESIS
Just wondering, what is your favorite brand of Cereal?
#: 483787 S5/Babylon 5: General
08-Apr-96 14:01:04
Sb: #483649-#Babylon cereal
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Kellogg's Raisin Bran. (Usually laden with blueberries and
raspberries.)
What a very odd question.
(I suspect that if I'd said Cap'n Crunch I'd've lost the respect of
everyone in the group.)
jms
[ Summary: Wonders about the Minbari Grey Council member who grabbed the
last leaving member by the arm. Asks if the leaving member was of the
warrior caste. ]
#: 483788 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
08-Apr-96 14:01:06
Sb: #483650->>Severed Dreams<<
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
No, just a member of the warrior caste making sure one he considered a
friend *really* wanted to do this....
jms
[ Summary: The poster and his local fan group believe that B5 is "the
definitive Science Fiction Novel for Television." ]
#: 483789 S5/Babylon 5: General
08-Apr-96 14:01:07
Sb: #483664-More SD Praise
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks, that's about what we hope we are, and will become.
jms
[ Continued in next section -- BB ]
/*********************************************
* Brent Barrett brent.barrett at 24stex.com *
* Senior Software Engineer Automedia, Inc *
* http://www.ailink.com *
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