JMS on CompuServe (Aug 19, 1996) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS* (1/2)
Brent Barrett
bbarrett at speedlink.com
Mon Aug 19 13:12:18 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.
[ Summary of subjects in this section: ]
Sb: #562084-Comics as a medium...
Sb: #561911-Vorlons & Angels
Sb: #561990-Centauri Home World ??
Sb: #562118-C4 B5 announcement
Sb: #562390-Fan Club Site
Sb: #562113-Lyta--Season 4
Sb: #562231-<<Walkabout>>
Sb: #561909-Snow White
Sb: #562210-<Walkabout>
Sb: #562273-<<Walkabout>>
Sb: #562442-Rerun Order
#: 562084 S5/Babylon 5: General
18-Aug-96 10:17:35
Sb: #560943-#Comics as a medium...
Fm: RICHARD M. PERRY
<< , though I haven't had time to indulge my comics habit for about six months
or so. >>
So I guess this means you haven't read the Kingdom Come series yet?
What a comic! A great story and painted by Alex Ross too. I'm glad the guys at
the shop told me to buy it.
May the Light shine forever,
Rich
#: 562444 S5/Babylon 5: General
18-Aug-96 21:15:11
Sb: #562084-Comics as a medium...
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Kingdom Come is about the only comic I've made it a point to get lately;
great stuff.
jms
#: 561911 S5/Babylon 5: General
18-Aug-96 03:56:06
Sb: #Vorlons & Angels
Fm: RICHARD WAKEFIELD
Joe,
Do Vorlons just *use* the images of angels from the races, or did they actually
*create* the idea of Angels on each of the homeworlds ? I say this because the
angels are all pretty similar, wings, white, etc.
Richard
#: 562445 S5/Babylon 5: General
18-Aug-96 21:15:13
Sb: #561911-Vorlons & Angels
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
In some places they may have expoited what was already there, and created
it in other places.
jms
#: 561990 S5/Babylon 5: General
18-Aug-96 08:01:18
Sb: #Centauri Home World ??
Fm: ANNE L. WARNER
Joe,
My memory (a questionable organ <g>) needs confirmation...
I *think* you once said (well, wrote <g>) that the Earthers called Londo's
people "Centauri" referring to the area of space where we met them, not to the
location of their home world. Am I recalling the sense of your words
approximately correctly?
Thanks for setting me straight!
Anne
#: 562446 S5/Babylon 5: General
18-Aug-96 21:15:15
Sb: #561990-Centauri Home World ??
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
No, the Centauri Republic is where they're from.
jms
#: 562118 S5/Babylon 5: General
18-Aug-96 11:05:26
Sb: #C4 B5 announcement
Fm: COLIN HEAPS
Hello,
Just tought you, and others here on the forum, might like this. Over the past
couple of weeks, the presenter who introduces B5 on Channel 4 here in the UK
has been quite upbeat about introducing it, obviously capturing them as well as
the rest of us. This week however went one better, now I wouldn't like to say
what they were hinting at but the announcement at the start of the program this
week was "Special effects WITH a plot, Babylon 5, science fiction as it should
be", not biased or anything eh?? <g>
Just though you should know, all good PR oil to the wheels.
Cheers
p.s. don't waste your time replying to this, just a nod in your direction is
all.
#: 562447 S5/Babylon 5: General
18-Aug-96 21:15:17
Sb: #562118-C4 B5 announcement
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I hadn't heard that, that's great, thanks.
jms
#: 562390 S5/Babylon 5: General
18-Aug-96 20:02:52
Sb: #Fan Club Site
Fm: ASHA DEVELDER
Joe,
I got on the offical Fan Club web site today and filled in the form. I do
have two questions/comments. 1) When asked about one's OS there was no option
for anything other than WIN, Mac and Unix. There ARE other operating systems
out there (AmigaDOS, what I use, is one). It would be nice if there were an
"other" option there. I put in UNIX figuring that would close enough. 2) once
done I was presented with a blank page...what's supposed to happen next? Is
this a problem due to my not using Netscape?
It was nice to see the site up though.....
Asha
@}-`---,---
#: 562448 S5/Babylon 5: General
18-Aug-96 21:15:19
Sb: #562390-Fan Club Site
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
It's a feature of not using netscape (assuming there wasn't an operating
glitch)...you're presented with your own Babcom screen, which is you launch
point into the rest of the site. Again, it's still being added to and worked
out, we haven't officially put the darned thing up yet.
jms
#: 562113 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
18-Aug-96 10:33:40
Sb: #561706-#Lyta--Season 4
Fm: DAVID CERRETA
I hope our discussion hasn't precipitated anything<G>
Glad to see the characters are still surprising you. It means the rest of us
are in for a great ride.
By the by, and since this has been discussed ad nauseum last year, I'm very
interested in how you write/wrote the first few shows to bring new viewers up
to speed. I'm always amazed at how, at least to me, seamless you bring
backstory into a show without having to have someone do some cheesy recap.
And...my wife and I have been watching season 1 shows and are amazed at how
they work, ESPECIALLY how you devoted time to fleshing out each character and
told us good stories simultaneously. Without getting to know everybody in the
first season, we wouldn't care what happened to them in season 2, 3 and now, 4.
Yeah, there might have been one or two clunkers, but you should be as proud of
Season 1, not just for the acheivement of getting it on the air, but for the
quality of shows. Just thought you'd like to know<G>
Best, Dave
#: 562449 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
18-Aug-96 21:15:23
Sb: #562113-Lyta--Season 4
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks. A lot of people are looking back at season 1 and finding it
better than they remembered, now that they know the characters. They also now
see the little touches here and there pointing forward in the storyline.
The plot-recap stuff is difficult to pull off without being obvious; you
have to slip in the backstory a line at a time, here and there, so new viewers
can follow it but without annoying the constant viewer.
jms
#: 562231 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
18-Aug-96 14:54:57
Sb: #<<Walkabout>>
Fm: SIMON PALLETT
Joe,
I just wanted to congratulate you, once again, on another powerful and
moving script. Walkabout certainly clarrified a few things for me, and, in
fact, I was quite surprised to discover that all my suspicions about Lyta
so-far, have been quite accurate.
I found the scenes involving Franklin very refreshing. The character, until
now, seems to have been underused a little, IMO. It was good to see the human
side of the Doctor come out. I found myself wondering if Franklin shall
eventually find what he seeks, or if has he already discovered it, and just
needs to realise that for himself?
And as for the songs...well, Joe, what can I say? <g>
(Was that your idea, with the credits, BTW?)
Just one more question...<g>
Is it pure co-incidence that all Vorlon suits shown so far, with the exception
of that belonging to Kosh, are similar in design? Why is his the only
encounter suit that I have seen so far, that is predominantly green?
Simon Pallett
#: 562450 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
18-Aug-96 21:15:24
Sb: #562231-<<Walkabout>>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Actually, the new Vorlon's encounter suit is more purple/red than green.
The design is a matter of form following function.
And yeah, I figured it might be cool to continue the song over the
credits. That happens one more time this season.
jms
[ Summary: Loves the review of JMS' adaptation of Snow White and suggests
that someone put a production of it on at one of the big cons. ]
#: 562458 S5/Babylon 5: General
18-Aug-96 21:41:19
Sb: #561909-Snow White
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
"Maybe if someone can get the script a production could be put on at one of the
big cons?"
don't...
you...
dare....
jms
#: 562210 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
18-Aug-96 14:30:26
Sb: #<Walkabout>
Fm: LAURENCE MORONEY
Yes YEs YES!
"And so it begins...."
"We are all Kosh"
What more can I say! Wonderful episode....excellent songs! And great news!
Quickie question : What did Kosh2 see on the door behind Lyta? They sure looked
like Shadow warriors to me, but what are they doing following _her_? And why
did Kosh2 ignore them? Surely they also followed her onto the White Star....why
not wreak havoc then? Something odd is up here.....
Laurence
!We kicked some Shadow Butt!!!
#: 562459 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
18-Aug-96 21:41:20
Sb: #562210-<Walkabout>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
They weren't following Lyta. We were in Kosh's old quarters, and those
images were burned into the wall when Kosh died. Bear in mind that she doesn't
actually meet the new ambassador until the next scene.
jms
#: 562273 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
18-Aug-96 15:49:19
Sb: #562231-#<<Walkabout>>
Fm: NIGEL NIXON
Simon,
>> And as for the songs...well, Joe, what can I say? <g><<
That they were extremely good and when will they be available on CD?<g>
Seriously, when I heard about them I thought, "Oh dear..." (rough translation)
but they were _way_ better than I thought they'd be and wouldn't be out of
place on a "proper" (note quotes) album.
And I still reckon the ship said "I just came through the jump-gate and there
was this bear floating about..."<eg>
Did you notice Lyta was wearing her gill dress when she first came on board?
Joe type questions.
Who did the music?
Where did the Narn heavy fighter come from?
Praise section.
Excellent episode (good bits: Kosh^2s arrival, all of Franklins' stuff, Kosh^2
(no more mister nice Vorlon), Sheridan and Lennier on the White Star ("yes
sir"). Bad bits: Umm....nope, can't think of any (apart from the blood from
Lyta's eye, but she could have wiped it away so...)).
Nigel
"My brain has failed you! Bad brain! Bad bad brain!!"
Dictator of France, Duck of Normandy, Minister of Bad Puns.
Chancellor of the Ex-Keffer. Attractive dude! Official!
#: 562460 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
18-Aug-96 21:41:22
Sb: #562273-<<Walkabout>>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
"Who did the music?"
I wrote the lyrics, Chris Franke did the music.
jms
#: 562442 S5/Babylon 5: General
18-Aug-96 21:10:26
Sb: #Rerun Order
Fm: WILLIAM H. DIPAOLA
Joe,
I don't know if you have any control over this or not, but I'm
perplexed by the apparent decision making process when it comes to the airing
of B5 reruns. Not long after the end of season 3 we found ourselves getting a
second, even a third look at "Shattered Dreams" --a great ep BTW. However, I'm
confused as to why it is we see repeats of the latest the soonest after their
initial broadcast, and the earliest of the season's crop at the end of the
rerun phase prior to the beginning of the new season. For one thing, the story
arc is thrown into complete disarray, and any potential newbies that might be
tempted to come on board would find difficult at best in trying to put together
the storyline given this seemingly chaotic way of doing things. Perhaps I sound
a bit harsh here, and I hope not, but being a loyal follower of the show and
knowing how things took shape in the first place, I can easily see how it would
be hard for someone just jumping into the pool(so to speak) to get a firm grasp
on events and happenings within the overall plot and story line. Is this
something that disturbs you as well, or do you take part in the decision making
process as to which episodes will air when? Somehow I get the feeling that you
don't, but I would like to understand just how these decisions are arrived at
in the first place, and by who. ;-)
Thanks ever so much.
#: 562537 S5/Babylon 5: General
19-Aug-96 01:55:29
Sb: #562442-Rerun Order
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
It's WB that decides on the rerun order...it's beyond my control or
influence.
jms
[ Continued in next section -- BB ]
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