JMS on AOL: 04/27/96 to 04/28/96

[Kevin P Mooney]

The following is a compilation of the posts of JMS on AOL.  If you have
comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at <kpmooney at acsu.buffalo.edu>

WARNING:  Possible spoilers may lurk below.

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Subj:  Re:JMS' Story
Date:  96-04-27 04:33:11 EDT
From:  Jms at B5       

The other thing to bear in mind about all this is the question of a "clean
fight."  If Sheridan were to bring in alien forces at his order to kill
humans, it would pretty much destroy his credibility.  Delenn came in at the
end but only after he'd made his stand on his own.  

One of the things that kicked off the French Revolution was the allegation
that the King had brought in or was bringing in Prussian troops to help put
down dissenters.  As long as it was all more or less in the family, that was
one thing...but to bring in outsiders was an absolute affront to them.  (One
of the singular incidents that started the fighting itself was a group of
Prussian soldiers sighted sitting in a cafe having lunch, which caused this
rumor about outsiders coming in to spread like wildfire, and led to the some
of the first major incidents of rioting.)

Two brothers may fight one another, but let a third unrelated person come in
and shove one of the brothers around, and they'll *both* turn on him.

During the worst days of the civil war, even Lincoln was offered assistance
in troops from at least one other country; he declined, because it was an
internal matter, and had to be resolved by those involved, not outsiders.

Sheridan's logic was exactly the same.  It had to be a clean fight.

jms



Subj:  Re:Questions Ad Infinitum
Date:  96-04-27 04:34:31 EDT
From:  Jms at B5       

No, Londo and the bugs had nothing to do with any notions about the Shadows.

Sheridan is a war historian, with his main interests in the civil war, where
one of his ancestors fought.  He's very big on Lincoln.

jms



Subj:  Re:Guest on Season Finale
Date:  96-04-27 04:35:16 EDT
From:  Jms at B5       

Melissa is in two episodes; light in one, heavy in the other.

jms



Subj:  Re:Avalon references
Date:  96-04-27 04:36:36 EDT
From:  Jms at B5       

Yes, there were several books I consulted about this...unfortunately, they're
nowhere near at hand, so I can't drag out the names just now.  I'll try to
remember to drag them out soonish.

jms



Subj:  Re:JMS: 4 questions
Date:  96-04-27 04:39:25 EDT
From:  Jms at B5       

1.  What gave you the idea to create a show with a time line?

I wanted to do a saga; sagas take time to tell.  The Lensman books, the
Foundation books, Dune, others...they can take from a few years to hundreds
of years to tell.  (I love "A Canticle for Liebowitz," which compresses an
amazing timeline into one volume.)  Doing decades worth of story would be
impossible for TV's format, but a one-to-one year-to-season structure was
do-able.

2.  What were some of your first ideas for this series?

I don't quite understand the question.

3. How good of a chance does B5 have for being renewed?

50/50.

4. How is Harlan Ellison doing?

Much, much better.

jms



Subj:  Re:writing a wild ride!
Date:  96-04-27 04:41:35 EDT
From:  Jms at B5       

I write pretty much all the time, day or night.  I prefer night writing
because the phone rings less often, and I can blow through a lot of work
without interruption.  Lately, though, I find that I do get a little tired
come around 2-3 a.m., which I didn't used to, so some of it has switched back
to daytime or early evening.  My advice is to just find what's most
comfortable for you as a time to write, and stick to it.

jms



Subj:  Re:Marshal Teague and Hard C
Date:  96-04-27 04:43:02 EDT
From:  Jms at B5       

I haven't seen the material, and thus can't comment.  All I know of Marshall
is what I see on the set, and he has always been a gentle, friendly, gracious
performer.

jms



MartinSubj:  Re:SoT Question (Spoilers)
Date:  96-04-28 19:22:50 EDT
From:  Jms at B5       

Well, to follow the book, there still has to be a knowledge of the language.
You need to have a dictionary around, which is what was used.  

The comparison, I suppose, would be those who say that Jorge Luis Borges'
work can only be most truly appreciated in the original Spanish.  There's a
*translated* version, which someone has gone through and made the translation
for you, written it all out in English...or you can learn the language, and
then read the original manuscript.

Garibaldi doesn't know Narn, so how other than with a dictionary could he
read the original material, except by sleeping with it under his pillow and
praying for divine intervention.

jms



----

End Compilation
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