JMS on CompuServe (Jul 29, 1996) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*
Brent Barrett
bbarrett at speedlink.com
Mon Jul 29 13:44:04 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: #548280-Keonig on B5!!!
Sb: #548316-Apology to jms
Sb: #548318-TV Zone
Sb: #548176-#TV GUIDE article
Sb: #548760-Keonig on B5!!!
Sb: #548597-Apology to jms
Sb: #548602-Post B5 Years...
Sb: #548436-#<IaE in UK>
Sb: #548781-The Greyest of the Grey
[ Summary: Kiddingly asks why, if JMS claims there's no rivalry between B5
and Trek, he ordered his softball players to beat the DS9 team or not
come back. ]
#: 548438 S2/Star Trek: General
28-Jul-96 14:00:15
Sb: #548280-Keonig on B5!!!
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
A man's gotta have *some* fun....
jms
[ Summary: Asks if the technology in the B5 universe runs, from highest to
lowest, "Shadows, Vorlons, Minbari, Centauri, Earth, then Narn." Also
asks if the Minbari are First Ones. ]
#: 548439 S5/Babylon 5: General
28-Jul-96 14:00:17
Sb: #548316-Apology to jms
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
That breakdown is about right; and no, Minbari don't count as First Ones.
jms
[ Summary: A U.K. fan who bought the latest TV Zone magazine jokes that
she should have taken it back: "Excuse me, can I return this magazine?
It has photographs of that Straczynski man in it, and there was no
warning on the cover!" ]
#: 548440 S5/Babylon 5: General
28-Jul-96 14:00:19
Sb: #548318-TV Zone
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Agreed, darned careless of them.
jms
[ Summary: Comments that he didn't like the way TV Guide depicted JMS as
somehow wrong or bad for being passionate about Babylon 5. ]
#: 548821 S5/Babylon 5: General
28-Jul-96 20:51:13
Sb: #548176-#TV GUIDE article
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
It's common today, in our age of cynicism, to deride anything in which
the people involved feel passionately about what they do. We should all be
laid back, do it for the money, just churn out sausage between commercials; if
you get passionate about something, you're told to chill out, because passion
is passe.
jms
[ Summary: Asks if the baseball shirt seen being worn by Garibaldi in
"Knives" was one of the real B5 softball team shirts. ]
#: 548823 S2/Star Trek: General
28-Jul-96 21:06:01
Sb: #548760-Keonig on B5!!!
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
No, I don't believe it is.
jms
[ Summary: Asks if JMS needs to use Warner Brothers to do a B5 sequel. ]
#: 548824 S5/Babylon 5: General
28-Jul-96 21:06:03
Sb: #548597-Apology to jms
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
The B5 copyright belongs to PTEN/WB.
jms
#: 548602 S5/Babylon 5: General
28-Jul-96 15:51:56
Sb: #Post B5 Years...
Fm: MR. TRACY SCHELL
>> All I can say for now is that WB has asked us to make a presentation
to them on a possible sequel; this has been done. They've now asked us to go
to the next step of making a demo reel. In addition, there's some very
exciting stuff going on with TNT that I can't talk about yet, but hope to be
able to do so soon. <<
What exactly is a "demo reel"? Is it more like a pilot episode complete with
actors or more like a series of highlight clips?
I know the sequel is in the B5 universe but time-wise would it be before, after
or during the current timeline?
Does the TNT deal have to do with the broadcast of B5 reruns? I thought you
mentioned that once.
Mr.T- On Florida's Space Coast
#: 548826 S5/Babylon 5: General
28-Jul-96 21:06:05
Sb: #548602-Post B5 Years...
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
No, the TNT situation involves something else, though it relates to B5.
More on this when things are settled.
jms
#: 548436 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
28-Jul-96 13:56:07
Sb: #<IaE in UK>
Fm: NEVILLE WHITE
What a roller coaster!
It was great to see Sheridan arguing with Kosh (and Kosh's comment - that "he
(Sheridan) didn't understand" - applies with equal force to us viewers!).
Kosh's personality took two giant steps into the foreground here, and there was
a feeling that we were getting to see the "real" Kosh.
Then we lost him. Drat.
The Vorlon intervention into the space battle was fantastic, I was virtually
cheering to see the Vorlons in action, and the Shadows getting a kicking for a
change. I noticed that the Vorlon ships seemed particularly resistant to the
Shadow purple-beam weapon... i.e. damaged rather than carved into itty-bitty
pieces.
The retribution against Kosh was genuinely shocking, though. It's still
difficult to imagine him gone. To paraphase from Star Trek "The needs of the
story outweigh the needs of the one". That is one of the things that makes B5
so important a work, in my opinion. Typically you can go to a scifi film and
you know that whatever threats there are, the good guys will ultimately win
through, (with perhaps a "token" death, if there can be such a thing) no matter
how dark things may seem. We don't have anything like the same luxury here...
I'm not confident about the ability of any of the characters to survive to the
end of the final year!
It does leave me with a few questions though.
1. presumably Adira was actually poisoned by Mordens cronies, since he was
looking for a way to hurt Londo, and we saw him finding out information about
her?
2. In the final credits, a ranger is mentioned. I don't remember seeing any
rangers in this episode - where did he come in?
3. Will we ever find out why Kosh allowed himself to be "poisoned" in the pilot
episode now?
4. What was the flash of light running across B5 when Kosh died?
5. Early on, when Sheriden was talking to Delenn, he wants to know "what the
Shadows are really after". Delenn looks like she is resolutely not saying
anything and hoping that the conversation moves on before Sheriden presses for
an answer... which it does. Does Delenn know what the shadows are after
(considering the war from a 1000 years ago, I would have thought that the star
faring Minbari would have had pretty good records)?
6. Will you tell us? (answer = cryptic "YES" no doubt!)
7. What happens to the information Kosh recorded about Talia back in year1?
I hope you don't mind the array of questions, but hey - at least the show makes
me think!
Regards
Neville White
(UK)
#: 548827 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
28-Jul-96 21:06:08
Sb: #548436-#<IaE in UK>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks...to your questions:
"1. presumably Adira was actually poisoned by Mordens cronies, since he was
looking for a way to hurt Londo, and we saw him finding out information about
her?"
Correct.
"2. In the final credits, a ranger is mentioned. I don't remember seeing any
rangers in this episode - where did he come in?"
His scene was snipped for time, it was a small one, didn't add much to the
story, but you have to keep those credits in under SAG rules.
"3. Will we ever find out why Kosh allowed himself to be "poisoned" in the
pilot episode now?"
You're assuming he allowed it.
"4. What was the flash of light running across B5 when Kosh died?"
A non-localized phenomenon.
"5. Early on, when Sheriden was talking to Delenn, he wants to know "what the
Shadows are really after". Delenn looks like she is resolutely not saying
anything and hoping that the conversation moves on before Sheriden presses for
an answer... which it does. Does Delenn know what the shadows are after
(considering the war from a 1000 years ago, I would have thought that the star
faring Minbari would have had pretty good records)?"
They do, and she does, and she's making a few mistakes that may come back to
haunt her in the not too distant future.
"6. Will you tell us? (answer = cryptic "YES" no doubt!)"
In the fullness of time.
jms
#: 548781 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
28-Jul-96 19:32:31
Sb: #The Greyest of the Grey
Fm: REBECCA ESCHLIMAN
There is one benefit to the damnably long rerun season. One has the
opportunity to sift through themes and find new patterns. After re-viewing
"Matters of Honor," "Severed Dreams" and both WWE's this weekend, among all of
your shades of grey, a group suddenly coalesced for me.
You have stated previously that choice and assuming responsibility are key to
the drama of B5. The theme-group that jumped out at me was the assuming of
responsibility for others. It struck me that this has the deepest vein of
drama of all, because the very nature of assuming responsibility for another
(individual, group, universe) invites potential conflict. I realized that you
have shown a whole gamut, from those who assume responsibility for others as a
commodity (the Keepers for the Centauri, the Centauri for the Narn), those who
assume responsibility for others almost parentally (the Minbari and Vorlon for
almost everyone else, Franklin for his patients) and those who assume
responsibility for others with the others' full knowledge and cooperation
(Sheridan in forming the War Council, Sinclair--finally--in assuming his Valen
role).
My question is: given the fact that the overall plan for B5 and the themes
involved were pre-organized, do you ever find themes that are there, but that
you did not consciously plan, and, if so, do those "themes trouves" influence
how you write future episodes?
- rje -
#: 548828 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
28-Jul-96 21:06:12
Sb: #548781-The Greyest of the Grey
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
To the two parts of this...yes, there's always been the undercurrent in
the series that says we are our brother's keeper, that we have an obligation to
look out for one another. If we're bound and determined to seek our own
destruction nothing can stop that...but anything less, and a kind word in the
right place, an action taken at the right time, can bend history and help
others. This is part of the community sense that comes through so strongly in
B5.
And yes, there are sometimes themes that come out without my knowing it;
sometimes I wear my heart on my sleeve more than I intended, and stuff slips
through, thematically and dialogue-wise, that later I see and wish I'd left
out. Sometimes it'll be much later when I'll realize what a character was
REALLY saying when s/he whispered a line or two into my brain, and I'll
perceive again that the characters are smarter than I am sometimes...and take
that thematic element and run with it.
And no, I won't tell you which was which....
jms
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