If you had one question to ask JMS, what would it be?
B5JMS Poster
b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu
Mon Jul 1 06:30:37 EDT 1996
Subject: If you had one question to ask JMS, what would it be?
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No. | DATE | FROM
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+ 1: Jun 26, 1996: pfingsea at ucunix.san.uc.edu (Erik A Pfingsten )
+ 4: Jun 28, 1996: swd2 at po.CWRU.Edu (Steven W. Difranco)
* 5: Jun 28, 1996: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
* 6: Jun 28, 1996: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
+ 13: Jun 28, 1996: jeffv at physics.ubc.ca (Jeff Vavasour)
* 14: Jun 28, 1996: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
* 15: Jun 28, 1996: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
+ 29: Jul 1, 1996: richardh at apache.wildstar.net (Richard Hudson)
* 30: Jul 1, 1996: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
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From: pfingsea at ucunix.san.uc.edu (Erik A Pfingsten )
Lines: 18
I was looking at all the ATTN JMS posts and started wondering. If you
could ask JMS any ONE question about B5 that he would give a complete,
open, and honest answer about, what would it be? Would it be a really
broad general question (ie. Where is the series going?) or would it be
something really specific (ie. What exactly is the third age of mankind?)?
--
Erik Pfingsten, University of Cincinnati | My shoes are too tight,
E-Mail: pfingsea at ucunix.san.uc.edu <-- | but it doesn't matter because
pfingsea at email.uc.edu | I've forgotten how to dance.
WWW: http://ucunix.san.uc.edu/~pfingsea | --Londo Mollari
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From: swd2 at po.CWRU.Edu (Steven W. Difranco)
Lines: 30
In a previous article, pfingsea at ucunix.san.uc.edu (Erik A Pfingsten) says:
>I was looking at all the ATTN JMS posts and started wondering. If you
>could ask JMS any ONE question about B5 that he would give a complete,
>open, and honest answer about, what would it be? Would it be a really
>broad general question (ie. Where is the series going?) or would it be
>something really specific (ie. What exactly is the third age of mankind?)?
>
>
>
>
>
My question would be:
"Exactly what is the relation between the Shadows and the
Vorlons, and how does this impact the Earthers and the other
sentient races of the galaxy?"
But I guess that would be telling.....
>
>
>
>
--
[ Steven W. DiFranco, CEO, WEBCRAFT Data Resources ][ Coming soon through
corporate right-sizing and merging: "Domino's Pizza-Pizza Hut McHero King"
Home of the "Stuffed-crust-wopp-arch-deluxe"(tm) - the Ultimate in fast-food
One-stop indulgence ][ Zathras not good at ordering...good at eating ]
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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Lines: 20
"If I could ask JMS one question and get a complete and truthful answer, I
think it
would be: "What would it take to convince you *not* to retire from
television after
B5?"
1) An anthology show.
2) A B5 spinoff that would be a complement to, not a capitalization upon,
the primary B5 series.
3) Something that would be as revolutionary for TV as the 5-year arc
structure, a project which could change the way TV is done, technically
and story-wise. If you can't top the last thing you did...don't do it.
jms
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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Lines: 16
"How would the story have differed if it were a written novel rather than
a novel for television."
More descriptions, more internal monologue. More locations off-station.
Larger cast of characters. Shorter arc (5 years at 22 episodes per and 45
pages per script is a hell of a lot more than you can get into any novel
or series of novels.)
jms
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From: jeffv at physics.ubc.ca (Jeff Vavasour)
Lines: 14
In <4r049g$koj at newsbf02.news.aol.com> jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5) writes:
>1) An anthology show.
>2) A B5 spinoff that would be a complement to, not a capitalization upon,
>the primary B5 series.
>3) Something that would be as revolutionary for TV as the 5-year arc
>structure, a project which could change the way TV is done, technically
>and story-wise. If you can't top the last thing you did...don't do it.
So if you were offered to opportunity to do an anthology series complimenting
B5, in a style that revolutionised the way TV was done, there's no way you
could refuse, right? :-)
- Jeff
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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Lines: 12
"If you had the choice of _any_ writer, director, cinematographer, etc.,
etc., etc., living or dead, to work on one episode of B-5, who would they
be? What's your ideal, once-in-a-life-time "dream team"?"
Rod Serling, script. (Second choice: Charles Beaumont.) Director: John
Frankenheimer (from his "Seconds" period).
jms
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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Lines: 40
"The five year arc has created a unique opportunity for other writers.
Babylon 5 is slowly reaching a leave of popularity that will rival that of
Star Trek. But people (at least most people) aren't forming the slavish
devotion to the B5 universe that seems to follow Star Trek. They aren't
afraid to take an objective look at the show and say "I don't like this
episode.""
Let me agree and disagree with you simultaneously. On the disagree side:
I'm on a number of forums where ST fans also tend to congregate, and if
there's an episode they don't like...they say so. With breahtaking
enthusiasm. I think they're savvy enough and discriminating enough to
speak forthrightly.
As for the part where I agree..in the ST series, at the end of the show,
there usually isn't a great deal of ambiguity left to the issues. Our
guys were right, their guys were wrong, and there tend not to be a lot of
ethical loose threads still hanging around. (This shouldn't be taken as a
blanket statement; there are the occasional episodes where you get close
to this, but they're not the norm.)
As a result, you more often get "I did/didn't like this *episode*" as
opposed to a heated debate over the ethical, moral and political issues
involved. That's the danger when your characters always take the moral
high ground, are always right, and rarely if ever make mistakes.
So to follow the thread of logic one step further...because B5 tends to
highlight those areas instead of minimizing them -- neither better nor
worse than the other approach, just a difference -- you end up
pre-selecting for an audience more given to analyze, critique, debate and
in general speak their minds on a variety of levels. There's a lot less
jingoism in the B5 fan community, it seems to me, than in other SF shows,
because there's more ambiguity involved. The lines aren't so clearly
drawn.
Which I think is only terrific.\
jms
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From: richardh at apache.wildstar.net (Richard Hudson)
Lines: 136
bkbragg at mindspring.com (Brian K. Bragg) writes:
>jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5) wrote:
>>"If I could ask JMS one question and get a complete and truthful answer, I
>>think it
>>would be: "What would it take to convince you *not* to retire from
>>television after
>>B5?"
>>1) An anthology show.
How abut an anthology series based on the works of Harlan Ellison.
>>2) A B5 spinoff that would be a complement to, not a capitalization upon,
>>the primary B5 series.
>>3) Something that would be as revolutionary for TV as the 5-year arc
>>structure, a project which could change the way TV is done, technically
>>and story-wise. If you can't top the last thing you did...don't do it.
>> jms
>Actually I was woundering if someday the arc might just end up
>classified as a literary format like the novel, the autobiography, the
>poem, ect. I never understood why some people were willing to
>classify stage plays as litirature and exclude screne and tele plays.
>Some amazingly deep work has been done in both field, although I think
>television is not so far along as film in this department because it
>is so much more audience sensitive then cinima. Not that making money
>isn't important to film, but it is a lot easier to get funding for a
>one time deal were no one really knows how the audience will react
>until after the project is complete than it is to sustain funding for
>a show that has a small audience. in other words, it is easier to do
>more lireray work in film and easier to cater to the masses in
>television. That's why shows like B5 are so special. They don't
>cater to the masses. They tell their story. I love the structure of
>it. Forshadowing is my favorite literary device because I love trying
>to figuer out what is going to happen next, and I'm never more
>delighted than when I get it completely wrong but look back and the
>forshadowing points in exactely that direction if you look at it
>differantly. I love it when someone throws me a curve ball. Most of
>the time I will watch a show for a while, lose interest and stop
>watching, then later I might come back and pick up where I left off.
>It is disapointing when you are gone for a season or two and come bakc
>and nothing has changed. When you can watch the episodes in any order
>and the only thing that seems displaced is the actors hait cut.
>I am babeling but it is had to express what I have to say. Let me try
>from a differant angel. The five year arc has created a unique
>opportunity for other writers. Babylon 5 is slowly reaching a leave
>of popularity that will rival that of Star Trek. But people (at least
>most people) aren't forming the slavish devotion to the B5 universe
>that seems to follow Star Trek. They aren't afraid to take an
>objective look at the show and say "I don't like this episode.". What
>is happening is that a demand for quality is developing where the
>market was full of brain candy before. If Babylon 5 becomes as much
>of a comecial success as Star Trek, without comprimising its quality,
>then maybe more writers capable of work on this level will be give
>series, and the opportunity to creat literatur instead of fluf.
>As for finding something else as revolutionary to television, I hope
>you can. I don't know what it could be, but then at the moment I
>don't need to because your the one looking and if I did I couldn't say
>it. But let me say this. You posted a message about new tools you
>were adding to yur writting and said that the trick was not to go
>crazy with it and forget your old tools in favor of the new. The old
>tool I'm refering to is the X year arc, and to quote my favorite ST
>character "Remember..."
>As for the sequel series, would it run concurrentaly with the current
>series, or would it begin in 2263 or latter?
>**********************************************rom b5mod Mon Jul 1 01:44:51 1996
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Subject: Re: Memories from Chicago Comicon (includes question for JMS)
Date: 30 Jun 96 23:39:04 +1000
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In article <31D4DD0A.4C3D at informix.com>, "David L. Kosenko" <davek at informix.com> writes:
> Jms at B5 wrote:
>> A book of my philosophy about this sort of thing, with anecdotes? I
>> can't imagine anything that could be more boring and self-serving.\
>
> Hey, it's made Robert Fulgham a small fortune. Why not do the same for
> yourself? "Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Writing the Third
> Season of Babylon5".
My favorite bon mot on RF is:
"The subtitle of this book is 'Some Observations from Both Sides of
the Refrigerator Door,' which is appropriate, since it could have been
written by a cabbage, either before or after conversion to coleslaw."
-- Ralph Novak
I couldn't have said it better, except perhaps, to point out that if
you learned everything you really needed to know in kindergarden, there
is something profoundly deficient in your education. :-)
ObB5: A B5 book that might contain, among other things, some of the
things we might have seen, we almost saw, etc. would be worth a read.
larry crawford
lcrawfor at wittenberg.edu
still putting the psycho in psychobiology
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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Lines: 27
"If you had to do it all over again, what would do you do differently, or
would you even do ANYTHING differently?"
Professionally? No. I wouldn't change a thing.
If "it" includes the personal side...
(he looks off, a long moment, smiles sadly and shakes his head)
There are an infinite number of moments I would like to rewrite, words I'd
recall, opportunities lost I'd give a right arm for one more chance to
take...five minutes when I would've stopped going through my life like a
man late for a bus, missing the moments, because in the final analysis,
the moments are all we have.
Would I do some things in my life differently? Yes. Most definitely.
Goes with the territory.
jms
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