ATTN JMS: Re: Inaccuracy and Comparative Analyses

[B5JMS Poster]

Subject: ATTN JMS: Re: Inaccuracy and Comparative Analyses
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 No. | DATE        |  FROM
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+  1: Jul  9, 1996: jrholmes at execpc.com (Mary Jean Holmes)
*  2: Jul  9, 1996: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)

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From: jrholmes at execpc.com (Mary Jean Holmes)
Lines: 46

jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5) wrote:

>"Unfortunately, JMS never answers these questions clearly or in a way that
>helps us to understand how it fits into the plot.  I'd like to ask *why*
>he doesn't answer these questions completely."
>
>Sometimes I do.  Sometimes I don't.  I do more times than I don't.  So
>your premise is flawed at the core of it, thus any resulting comments from
>me would only range further afield into even greater inaccuracy.
>
(Hi, Joe -- yes, I have ventured onto the boards at last....)

As a writer, I agree that there are times you don't want to say
much at all for fear of saying too much and giving away
everything (or worse, sending gaggles of fans flocking off into
rampant chasing of Red Herrings...).  Please forgive the
temporary lapse into Tolkienism (this is not a comparison, merely
an apt quote):  "Many folk like to know beforehand what is to be
set on the table; but those who have laboured to prepare the
feast like to keep their secret; for wonder makes the words of
praise louder." (Gandalf in RotK)

Personally, I have LOTS of burning questions about what is in
B5's future.  But I want to see YOU tell the story, played out in
full with your words and ideas realized and defined in the
performance.  Yes, the ever-curious part of me (y'know, the kind
that makes you want to skip ahead in a book just to be sure
everything's gonna work out in a satisfying fashion) would like
to be able to ask those burning questions and get answers.  But
patience is a virtue, and you haven't let us down yet, IMHO.

BTW, I fully understand your reactions to constant comparisons
with other authors' works (I had an instructor back in college
who insisted my writing reminded her of Ursula LeGuin.  I happen
to despise LeGuin's works, but I knew this was the highest
compliment the teacher could pay, so I took it in the spirit it
was offered.  Of course, it turned out I knew more about writing
SF than that teacher did, but...).  On the other hand, I find it
a compliment of the highest order that B5 is so often being
compared to great works of literature rather than just other TV
or cinema SF.  Be proud.  You are achieving something that I
believe will in time change the face and substance of TV as we
now know it.

Mary Jean


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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Lines: 11

Thanks.  It's a difficult dance to dance; between giving away too much,
and not saying enough.  Overall, things yet to come are best dealt with by
showing them in the series, as you say, instead of just telling folks. 
It's the difference between unwrapping one's gift, and being told what it
is before you have the chance to unwrap it.


 jms



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