JMS CIS Digest: 03-Jan-96 18:56:23 through 04-Jan-96 00:56:53 (8 msgs)
b5jms-owner at cs.columbia.edu
b5jms-owner at cs.columbia.edu
Mon Jan 8 06:39:54 EST 1996
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From: jhardin at wolfenet.com (John Hardin)
Lines: 213
RFC 1153 Digest of messages from
J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644 at compuserve.com>
03-Jan-96 18:56:23 through 04-Jan-96 00:56:53 (8 messages)
WARNING: This digest may contain information about episodes
you haven't seen yet. Proceed with caution.
Subjects in digest:
Bester PsiCorp Shadows ?
From jms: info
ITS OVER
Administrivia:
Contact me (John Hardin) at <jhardin at wolfenet.com> with comments
and requests. I am willing to do limited retrieval and reposting
of files related to B5 from the archives on CIS.
Replies to this digest currently go to me.
obSpoiler-space...
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Date: 03-Jan-96 18:56:23
From: John Van Aken <76712.1204 at compuserve.com>
To: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644 at compuserve.com>
Subject: Bester PsiCorp Shadows ?
Message-ID: <forum.sfmediaone.425236 at compuserve.com>
References: <forum.sfmediaone.424280 at compuserve.com>
<<No, it wasn't Bester at the Senator's office.>>
This is probably one of those Questions Which Will Not Be
Answered, but...
..any reason why?
JVA
------------------------------
Date: 04-Jan-96 00:47:39
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644 at compuserve.com>
To: John Van Aken <76712.1204 at compuserve.com>
Subject: Bester PsiCorp Shadows ?
Message-ID: <forum.sfmediaone.425351 at compuserve.com>
References: <forum.sfmediaone.425236 at compuserve.com>
Yes.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 03-Jan-96 19:20:26
From: Joe Salemi [ZD Net] <72631.23 at compuserve.com>
To: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644 at compuserve.com>
Subject: From jms: info
Message-ID: <forum.sfmediaone.425264 at compuserve.com>
References: <forum.sfmediaone.425082 at compuserve.com>
> Walter is also in "Ship of Tears."
Thanks. BTW, I wrote a "thanks for carrying B5" letter to
WDCA-20, and got a very nice letter back from them in response.
After thanking me for writing, the Programming Coordinator added a
sentence you might be interested in:
"For your information BABYLON 5 is one of our highest rated
programs based on the Nielsen ratings."
Good news indeed, especially since WDCA-20 is a UPN station, and
is in fact owned by Paramount. It was deliciously ironic getting
a letter saying they like carrying B5 when the letterhead says "A
Paramount Station." <g>
------------------------------
Date: 04-Jan-96 00:47:41
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644 at compuserve.com>
To: Joe Salemi [ZD Net] <72631.23 at compuserve.com>
Subject: From jms: info
Message-ID: <forum.sfmediaone.425352 at compuserve.com>
References: <forum.sfmediaone.425264 at compuserve.com>
That's good to know; WDCA has been very supportive of B5 from the
very beginning, hence the show is, as you quote, "one of (their)
highest rated programs." Those that treat the show well, find it
*does* well.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 03-Jan-96 19:46:53
From: Tom LeCompte <76711.572 at compuserve.com>
To: John Van Aken <76712.1204 at compuserve.com>
Subject: Bester PsiCorp Shadows ?
Message-ID: <forum.sfmediaone.425283 at compuserve.com>
References: <forum.sfmediaone.425236 at compuserve.com>
Having a different Psi Cop in the Senator's office does two
things:
1. Reinforces that the difficulties with the Psi Cops
don't begin and end with Bester. Remember, P-12's are pretty
rare. (1 in 100,000 Psi Corps members?) We have seen something
like 4 of them so far in the series. One died in Mind War - one
ran the Abel Horne "project" - one is Bester, and now we see a
fourth, talking to Morden. When there aren't many of these
people around, and 3/4 of them (maybe 4/4) are up to no good, it
sends a pretty strong signal.
2. Leaves Bester's personal role in the whole Shadow biz
a little bit ambiguous. Here's a for instance for you: suppose
Bester is not involved with the more conspiratorial activities of
the Psi Corps (there has been no explicitly stated link to either
Abel Horne, or Bureau 13, for example, and only a little poking
around about the death of Santiago). Further suppose that he
would be opposed to these sorts of conspiracies - he is certainly
not the nicest of people, and he is certainly overzealous (the
Dirty Harry of Psi Cops?), but that doesn't mean that he would
participate in this particular evil. Such a person could prove to
be an important *ally* in the struggle against the conspiracy
enveloping the EA government.
Now, I'm not saying this is what *will* happen, or even
that it is likely to happen. (However, given JMS's writing
ability and WK's acting ability, I have no doubt that they could
pull this off if that's what they intend.) But it leaves Bester's
motivations and the limits to which he will go still ambiguous.
And this ambiguity is important - it maintains our interest in
Bester, because we don't *know* (at least not for certain) how he
will behave in a given situation, whereas we would know if he were
just another cookie-cutter villain wearing a black hat. As
strange as it may sound, part of the storyteller's art is when
*not* to tell us something about the character.
------------------------------
Date: 04-Jan-96 00:56:52
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644 at compuserve.com>
To: Tom LeCompte <76711.572 at compuserve.com>
Subject: Bester PsiCorp Shadows ?
Message-ID: <forum.sfmediaone.425354 at compuserve.com>
References: <forum.sfmediaone.425283 at compuserve.com>
"To define is to kill; to suggest is to create." Mallarme.
jms
------------------------------
Date: 03-Jan-96 21:10:52
From: James A. Du Bois <72237.32 at compuserve.com>
To: Jeff Frank <70402.3015 at compuserve.com>
Subject: ITS OVER
Message-ID: <forum.sfmediaone.425315 at compuserve.com>
Just to pick a nit that drives me up the fraggen wall: The
millennia doesn't end on December 31, 1999, but on December 31,
2000. There was no year 0 so the end of the first thousand years
occurred on December 31, 1000.
Jeff,
There was also no year 1, no year 2, no year 3, ect. The date
of Christ's birth was "calculated" ( short for W.A.G.) sometime in
the 500's by a monk with nothing better to do. Therefore there
were no year numbers for over 500 years. The concept of zero
didn't arrive in Europe until the mid 1500's. Therefore, 19991231
is the last day of this millenium.
James A. Du Bois via AutoPilot, only on the Amiga! Artificial
intelligence is better than none at all.
------------------------------
Date: 04-Jan-96 00:56:53
From: J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644 at compuserve.com>
To: James A. Du Bois <72237.32 at compuserve.com>
Subject: ITS OVER
Message-ID: <forum.sfmediaone.425355 at compuserve.com>
References: <forum.sfmediaone.425315 at compuserve.com>
Funny thing is, some mathematicians disagree with this
assessment; no, there was no year 0, but there was a year 10 and 20 and
30 and so on (though all, as you note, assigned in retrospect). So
some of them have taken the position that the first century was simply
short one year, rather than rolling every other century back one year.
jms
------------------------------
End of JMS CIS Digest 03-Jan-96 18:56:23 through 04-Jan-96 00:56:53
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