JMS on CompuServe (Jun 28, 1996) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*

Brent Barrett bbarrett at speedlink.com
Fri Jun 28 21:33:20 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: #530461-Just curious...
    Sb: #530590-Ta'Lon?
    Sb: #530636-Hyperspace vs. Distance
    Sb: #530690-<<WWE2 Question/Spo>>
    Sb: #530768-Series Renewal
    Sb: #530797-#Marcus Cole/Jason Carter
    Sb: #530933-Series Renewal
    Sb: #530902-#Marcus Cole/Jason Carter
    Sb: #530964-Special B5 episode
    Sb: #531059-B5 in Spain
    Sb: #531110-#Marcus Cole/Jason Carter
    Sb: #531139-<Another Death?>


 [ Summary: Asks how JMS came up with the story for Babylon 5. ]

 #: 530706 S5/Babylon 5: General
    27-Jun-96  13:53:07
Sb: #530461-Just curious...
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       I started with the place, but basically saw the story in one full blown
moment of clarity...dunno where that sort of thing comes from.

                                                                       jms



 #: 530590 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
    27-Jun-96  09:36:23
Sb: #530407-#Ta'Lon?
Fm: TOM KNUDSEN

Joe,

        <Wouldn't mind seeing more of him.>

        I've seen you say this about just about every character someone has
asked you about.  Are there any regular or semi-regular characters you never
want to see again on the show??

     Tom^^^^

     The Shadows have returned to Capistrano.


 #: 530708 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
    27-Jun-96  13:53:10
Sb: #530590-Ta'Lon?
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       Sure, but those I just don't mention.

                                                                       jms


 [ Summary: Asks if time in hyperspace is the same as time in normal space. ]

 #: 530709 S5/Babylon 5: General
    27-Jun-96  13:53:12
Sb: #530636-Hyperspace vs. Distance
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       Hyperspace isn't like warp speed, you don't generally run into the same
problems with time dilation.  It's largely the same in both places.

                                                                       jms



 #: 530690 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
    27-Jun-96  13:07:18
Sb: #<<WWE2 Question/Spo>>
Fm: JONATHAN KASS

following is a question based on one of the bigger revelations in WWE2...
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Mr. S.,

Something that just occurred to me (but probably occurred to others already
:)...

Regarding Sinclair/Valen's prophecies...I'm curious what you might think about
why Sinclair did not try to avert the Earth-Minbari war using some form of
prophecy... I realize this is one of those pandora's box type scenarios, but he
was clearly willing to try to warn Garibaldi about being shot in the back...
with his direct, personal experience in the War, and knowing now that the War
itself may have been stopped by simply changing the Minbari practice of
approaching unknown aliens with gunports open, it seems like a reasonable thing
to try to change...

Given that Valen's prophecy leads to many of Delenn's actions, it could be
argued that he had already "affected" the timeline, so just curious if you had
thought about it...

Jonathan
(just the idle wanderings of someone on new-episode withdrawal!)


 #: 530710 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
    27-Jun-96  13:53:13
Sb: #530690-<<WWE2 Question/Spo>>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       I think his message to Garibaldi was a momentary lapse, it wasn't
something he'd planned, his emotions momentarily got in the way of his reason.
To do so would be dangerous, so it wasn't done by him.

                                                                       jms


 [ Summary: A poster offers JMS the following quote:

    "Instead of seeing the modern world emerge as the victory of the children
     of light over the children of darkness in any generation, it is at least
     better to see it emerge as the result of a clash of wills, a result
     which often neither party wanted or even dreamed of, a result which 
     indeed in some cases both parties would equally have hated, but a result
     for the achievement of which the existence of both and the clash of both
     were necessary."

         -- H. Butterfield, "The Whig Interpretation of History," p. 28. ]

 #: 530892 S5/Babylon 5: General
    27-Jun-96  19:51:32
Sb: #530768-Series Renewal
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      Nice quote, thanks....

                                                                    jms


 [ Summary: Congratulates JMS on season four renewal and also wonders 
   if the character of Marcus was inspired by Aragorn in The Lord of 
   the Rings. ]

 #: 530893 S5/Babylon 5: General
    27-Jun-96  19:51:33
Sb: #530797-#Marcus Cole/Jason Carter
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      Thanks.  And no, Aragorn didn't inspire Marcus.  There's a lot of heroic
fantasy stuff that goes a long way beyond Tolkien, after all.

                                                                    jms



 #: 530933 S5/Babylon 5: General
    27-Jun-96  20:49:07
Sb: #530403-#Series Renewal
Fm: AL LIPSCOMB


In this thread you say:

      "The sad thing to me is to see folks who, if they don't instantly spark
to someone, say "Kill him!!!"  Which seems to me rather cruel and intolerant
for just not sparking to someone.  I wonder if they have friends, or if they
meet someone and instantly don't take to them, do they wait in an alley and
blow their brains out...or give them time to grow...or at least take a
wait-and-see attitude.  I sometimes wonder about a society that breeds the
notion that if you don't like a character, let's *kill* them. Not, "let's not
feature him," not "write him out," but KILL him.  There's something rather
disturbing in that."

In another you point out:

"when we get the word on renewal, we can then choose whether or not to bring an
actor back, assuming we haven't already decided this earlier and killed the
character off."


It seems that in the SF world (or at least the TV series world) the most common
thing to do to a character is to put them away with an off screen accident or
some such thing. I understand your thoughts, and agree that the desire to see a
character "die" is a bit morbid. However we can also see that the concept has
become so common that it is the phrase of choice to remove a character from a
serial production.

Just a thought, thanks for the show.


 #: 530996 S5/Babylon 5: General
    28-Jun-96  00:44:28
Sb: #530933-Series Renewal
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      Of course, there's a substantive difference between killing a character
to serve the plot, or because of real-world events, and offing somebody without
giving the person a fair chance.

                                                                    jms


 [ Summary: "So how many more LotR comparisons will it take for your head
   to implode?" ]

 #: 530997 S5/Babylon 5: General
    28-Jun-96  00:44:29
Sb: #530902-#Marcus Cole/Jason Carter
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      Just one.

                                                                    jms



 #: 530964 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
    27-Jun-96  21:28:26
Sb: #Special B5 episode
Fm: MARK SLOAN

This Sunday's episode in the UK is a special one not seen anywhere else in the
world before. Babylon 5 is infested by hundreds of tiny frogs....all riding
bicycles. <g>


 #: 530998 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
    28-Jun-96  00:47:45
Sb: #530964-Special B5 episode
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      Uh, huh....

      *

      Okay, buddy, back away from the keyboard and keep your hands where we can
see them.

                                                                    jms


 [ Summary: Notifies JMS that Babylon 5's first season has just started in
   Spain.  "And so it begins . . ." ]

 #: 531238 S5/Babylon 5: General
    28-Jun-96  12:55:36
Sb: #531059-B5 in Spain
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       That's great, thanks for letting me know.

                                                                       jms


 [ Summary: "Say, I was wondering about the role of Lobelia 
   Sackville-Baggins... <eg>" ]

 #: 531239 S5/Babylon 5: General
    28-Jun-96  12:55:37
Sb: #531110-#Marcus Cole/Jason Carter
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       Of course, if my head implodes, I won't be able to finish the story, now
will I...?

       Read "Scheherezade" lately?

                                               jm(probably misspelled that)s



 #: 531139 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
    28-Jun-96  09:25:18
Sb: #530406-#<Another Death?>
Fm: ANNIE

(may take actions to change them....that may make them happen>

Such as Delenn not telling anyone about her knowledge of B-4 and whatever
else she still has not revealed to Sheridan.  I can't believe she still doesn't
know
more than she's telling.

Oh, welcome back....and a belated congratulations on renewal...even though
one of my local stations (a WB station) Philly -17 isn't renewing.  At this
point
my cable still cares UPN 20 from DC and WNUV 54 in Baltimore.  It was wonderful
this year to have access to B-5 five times a week.  Even if the VCR didn't
co-operate
I still could catch the latest episode.

As always,
Annie


 #: 531240 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
    28-Jun-96  12:55:39
Sb: #531139-<Another Death?>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       Oh, Delenn definitely still knows more than she's telling....

                                                                       jms




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