JMS on CompuServe (Dec 02, 1996) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*
Brent Barrett
bbarrett at speedlink.com
Mon Dec 2 17:06:05 EST 1996
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The following posts may contain SPOILERS for
upcoming Babylon 5 episodes.
Continue at your own risk.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
P
R
O
T
E
C
T
I
O
N
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Archives of this material may be found at:
ftp://ftp.speedlink.com/pub/bbarrett/cis/
- or -
http://www.speedlink.com/bbarrett/b5/
**********************************************
###### Support Babylon 5! ######
## To get a fifth season of this ##
# ### wonderful epic, we need to # ###
. ## let local stations and Warner . ##
## ## Brothers know we want it! ## ##
##### www.babylon5.com/cmp/support #####
**********************************************
[ Summary of subjects in this section: ]
Sb: #619650-Answers
Sb: #619337-Questions
Sb: #619625-B5 Laser Disc
Sb: #619732-Vindrizi
Sb: #619364-Kosh Question
Sb: #619426-<FTA - Questions>
Sb: #619448-<Kosh(s), clarification>
Sb: #619454-B5 encounter...
Sb: #619488-Vorlons/Shadows Motive??
Sb: #619642-New FX - no problems!
Sb: #619699-<FTA prophecy&future>
Sb: #619778-#Sheridan chgd the Arc?
Sb: #619803-Falliing Toward <Gulp!>
Sb: #619825-Falling Toward Reason
[ Summary: Offers cheat codes for Quake and asks if JMS has tried
Duke Nukem. ]
#: 619779 S5/Babylon 5: General
01-Dec-96 20:18:15
Sb: #619650-Answers
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks!
I've done some with Duke Nukem, but the thing's just a bit repetitive for
me, so I haven't gotten that deeply into the game yet.
jms
#: 619337 S5/Babylon 5: General
01-Dec-96 08:21:06
Sb: #Questions
Fm: DAVID CERRETA
Joe,
Now that we're in that holiday rerun season, my mind has turned to other
things. I was wondering...
Seeing what the production schedule is like for a 24 episode/season show like
X-Files, I wondered if you were *glad* you had only 22 eps or wished you had
24? Those folks are in production 10 1/2 months a year! I know that they do
lots of outdoors shots and therefore are subject to the whims of mother nature
creating all sorts of problems you probably don't have to deal with being
basically a show shot on indoor sets. I suspect there is a trade off in that
you have to allot time for SFX to be generated. Anyway, just how long are you
in production each year? Does your crew take much time off for the holidays or
do most work through?
The opposite question would be: would you wish you had *less* shows in a
season? I can't imagine that you would answer yes to this. Seems to me that
most storytellers don't want to be too restricted in how they tell their
stories.
I see from the fan club newsletter that a "creating of B5" book will be
released spring of '97. I was wondering if there were any articles that would
showcase the complete production of a single episode, from its inception down
until the final sound mix (or whatever comes last)? I(maybe I'm the only one)
would find that fascinating. I sometimes don't appreciate all the hard work
that goes into getting B5 on the air. Set designers, make-up, costumes, SFX,
music, sound effects, etcetera are all things I think would be fun to see, in
some detail. The only reason I ask is that it was recently done with the
Talitha Cumi episode from the X-Files third season episode guide and I found it
great reading. And it made me realize just how hard everyone must work to put
44 minutes of B5 on the air 22 times a year. I still find it amazing that you
can write, exec. produce, go to cons and still have time to answer silly e-mail
questions like mine<G>.
Congrats on your continued growth in the ratings, which is no surprise to me.
Your show deserves great ratings.
Best,Dave
#: 619780 S5/Babylon 5: General
01-Dec-96 20:18:17
Sb: #619337-Questions
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
No, no one's done an article like that, though Stephen Smith did spend a
week on the B5 sets for Sci-Fi Universe Magazine.
I'd much rather shoot 24 than 22, because it gives us more room to spread
things out, and try some different kinds of stories.
We shoot from early August through May 5th, so the cast gets about 2-3
months off.
jms
[ Summary: Complains that he has to keep buying new copies of movies when
the latest sound technology changes and they are re-released. ]
#: 619781 S5/Babylon 5: General
01-Dec-96 20:18:20
Sb: #619625-B5 Laser Disc
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I'm with you...I've bought all the various Star Wars incarnations on
disk, and the Aliens and T2 movies the same way, right up through the AC3
disks. I hate buying the same movie more than 3 times....
jms
[ Summary: Asks if the Vindrizi thread from "Exogenesis" was dropped due
to time constraints. ]
#: 619782 S5/Babylon 5: General
01-Dec-96 20:18:22
Sb: #619732-Vindrizi
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
That was a one-time only.
jms
[ Summary: Asks why the two Vorlons were different colors and why Kosh
was gold. ]
#: 619783 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
01-Dec-96 20:18:24
Sb: #619364-Kosh Question
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Why not?
jms
[ Summary: Thinks that if a planet has been touched by the Shadows then
the Vorlons would consider all people from that planet as being
contaminated. ]
#: 619784 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
01-Dec-96 20:18:26
Sb: #619426-<FTA - Questions>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Not all of them....
jms
#: 619448 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
01-Dec-96 11:07:47
Sb: #<Kosh(s), clarification>
Fm: GOPHER
Greetings again from your resident clarification man. I'm again just looking
for clarification as to things already happened:
1) Have we now seen a real Vorlon?
2) Kosh-1 left his encounter suit to save Sheridan; Kosh-2 left his encounter
suit when he was attacked. Kosh's/Vorlons can exist outside their encounter
suits and breath earth-like air. So is the primary purpose of their encounter
suits only to hide their appearance?
3) At the end of FtA, Kosh-1 + Sheridan + Lorien looked an awful lot like
Kosh-2 sans suit. Since the yellow entity wasn't all Kosh-1, but still looked
like a "Vorlon", do all life-forces look the same? (i.e. only our encounter
suits are different)
4) Was Sheridan dead again (after Kosh-1 et al left him)?
That's all for now. I tried to phrase all in yes/no form, to make your
answering life as easy as possible...
>From perhaps the only person (other than Garibaldi) who thinks Lorien is just
another manipulating race taking advantage of Sheridan, and using "life" as the
means...
/Mark V. Pietrasanta - mpiet at cais.com
#: 619785 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
01-Dec-96 20:18:28
Sb: #619448-<Kosh(s), clarification>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Yes, yes, maybe, no.
jms
#: 619454 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
01-Dec-96 11:18:02
Sb: #B5 encounter...
Fm: GOPHER
I thought you'd like this:
I went to see ST:FC last night at a local cinema. I found a seat in the overly
packed theatre, and as usual started listening in to conversation around me.
The usual Trek conversations were abound.
Behind me, though, was an interesting conversation between a Mother, her
soon-to-be-graduated son, and an apparently new friend of the family. This
friend started talking about how he spent three years in Africa, three years in
Paris, and three years in Iowa. He has since forgotton Iowa, but wishes he
could forget Africa, since he had a lot of medical problems there. He got
measels, and had to be flown to Paris. He got rabies and had to be flown to
England. As a result of those diseases, he got viral encephalitus (sp?) and
had to be flown out again.
At which point, the mother chimed-in and said "But you watch Babylon 5 now, so
you're all better?"
And he replied "Yes, of course." And both went on to comment on the Vorlons
and their huge ship.
It's been wonderful to see B5 comments go from "What's that?" to "Isn't that
the show with the funny hair?" to "Oh, yeah, I've seen a couple" to now being a
part of normal conversation.
/Mark V. Pietrasanta - mpiet at cais.com
#: 619786 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
01-Dec-96 20:18:30
Sb: #619454-B5 encounter...
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
That's a great story, thanks.
jms
[ Summary: Asks if the Shadows and Vorlons are killing people to get more
"life entities" (souls, I assume) for themselves. ]
#: 619787 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
01-Dec-96 20:18:32
Sb: #619488-Vorlons/Shadows Motive??
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Nope.
jms
[ Summary: Noticed a drop in the lens flare CGI effect and wonders why. ]
#: 619788 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
01-Dec-96 20:18:35
Sb: #619642-New FX - no problems!
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Actually, we kinda decided to cut back a bit on lens flare...because that
particular one is now used in so many places, it's become a cliche. We tried
out a new kind of flare in the Kosh2 scene, when he nails Sheridan, you can
just sorta see it...once everyone else does what we've been doing, we tend to
move on to newer areas.
jms
#: 619699 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
01-Dec-96 17:15:45
Sb: #619196-#<FTA prophecy&future>
Fm: TOM KNUDSEN
Joe,
<Nope, it's the corret eye. We don't make those kinds of mistakes.>
Need I remind you of the West/East End faux pas?<G,D&R>
Tom^^^^
"The avalanche has ALREADY started. It is too late
for the pebbles to vote." - Kosh Naranek
#: 619789 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
01-Dec-96 20:18:37
Sb: #619699-<FTA prophecy&future>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
You could.
But of course it would be hideously dangerous of you to do so.
Besides, in our soviet revisionism style, that error no longer exists, so
there you are.
jms
[ Summary: Asks what changed because of Sheridan taking over for Sinclair. ]
#: 619887 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Dec-96 02:48:58
Sb: #619778-#Sheridan chgd the Arc?
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
You'd be surprised how much it *didn't* change.....
jms
#: 619803 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
01-Dec-96 20:52:25
Sb: #Falliing Toward <Gulp!>
Fm: REBECCA ESCHLIMAN
jms -
Stunned amazement time.
I found the beginning of the teaser particularly effective, aimed directly at
the viewer, drawing the viewer into the action as a participant.
Bruce Boxleitner is doing an amazing job. It seemed to me that from the shift
in his tone, Sheridan has been pruned on Z'Ha'Dum of the dross and the trivial
-- a tempered sword. I'm glad that Delenn was in the "pure metal" category of
the elements of his life. I almost get the feeling that Delenn is also being
tempered by the knowledge of his lessened life-span.
Jerry Doyle equally amazing. His hyper edginess makes me think that Garibaldi
has sandpaper in his soul (whether Psi Corps-induced or no, we'll discover in
due course, I assume). As in Bruce's case, the style of the words remains the
same, but the impression is now different.
Again, wonderful use of Londo-speech, where he can tell the absolute truth
couched in terms guaranteed to hook Cartagia. I imagine that Londo actually
does want intergalactic recognition of Cartagia's "wisdom" as validation for
his eventual murder. Poor Londo's assumption of responsibility for his people
does seem to leave him open to letting details slip (like poor G'Kar's eye).
I imagine that, even with the troubles with his "children," Lorien is amazed at
the diversity and rambunctiousness of the younger races.
I saw an extension of the possible mask theme from the last episode -- the gas
masks for the Vorlon's chamber scenes, Kosh's mask of the encounter suit broken
the way he broke the Security Team's earlier, Ivanova's mask of calm,
Sheridan's unmasking of the Kosh particle, the need to mask Garibaldi in
ignorance of strategy, Sheridan's decision not to mask the truth of his
life-span for Delenn, Cartagia's masking his intent from Morden, Londo's
masking his intent from Cartagia -- I feel punch-drunk in a hall of mirrors.
What intensity in the Vorlon battle! I particularly liked the luminescent
shock-wave passing over the station. And to find out that the Vorlon
energy-form resembles their ships was wonderful. And you managed another eerie
linkage -- Sheridan's being maintained by bioelectric energies perhaps allowed
him to battle a being of bioelectric energy. But a requiem for Kosh-I...
I'm almost glad for the respite of reruns, especially with all of the new
information. Thanks so much for "engage-brain and jumpstart-heart" television.
-rje-
I can almost feel the rustling-in of some kind of enchantment already.
#: 619888 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Dec-96 02:48:59
Sb: #619803-Falliing Toward <Gulp!>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks...it's a nicely intense sequence. And the next two are moreso.
jms
#: 619825 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
01-Dec-96 21:42:54
Sb: #Falling Toward Reason
Fm: BRENT BARRETT
Howdy, Joe;
Something's been abuggin' me since I saw 404, "Falling Toward Apotheosis."
I know Delenn had to be at the Great Vorlon Battle for the sake of the
story, but, as the author, can you tell us why she decided to go there? Was it
the noise of the battle that attacted her? Was she informed of the battle
beforehand, and we just didn't know about it? Did someone clue her in, and she
ran down there to witness it and/or look out for John?
It seemed pretty clear once she got there that the sight of a Vorlon in its
true form was enough to captivate her and keep her there, but I'm just a little
curious about the why and how of her showing up in the first place.
Thanks,
-- Brent
#: 619889 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Dec-96 02:49:01
Sb: #619825-Falling Toward Reason
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Well, I think it's pretty obvious she would've known about it, given her
proximity to Sheridan...and if I knew something this big was going on, sure as
heck *I'd* want to be there to see it.
jms
-***
-*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages in this list go to the list
-*** maintainer, <b5jms-owner at cs.columbia.edu>. If you want to reply
-*** elsewhere, adjust the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post
-*** to rastb5m, which can be done by sending email to <rastb5 at solon.com>.
More information about the B5JMS
mailing list