JMS on CompuServe (Jun 29, 1996) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*

[Brent Barrett]

 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 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: #531299-<Another Death?>
    Sb: #531575-Series Renewal
    Sb: #531588-Hyperspace vs. Distance
    Sb: #531788-<Another Death?>


 #: 531299 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
    28-Jun-96  14:42:56
Sb: #531240-#<Another Death?>
Fm: BRENT BARRETT

Joe,

Will we learn what Delenn is keeping to herself by the end of the season?  And
why she's been keeping it from Sheridan?

Thanks a bunch,

  -- Brent


 #: 531558 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
    29-Jun-96  00:25:17
Sb: #531299-<Another Death?>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      Yup.

                                                                    jms



 #: 531575 S5/Babylon 5: General
    29-Jun-96  02:13:30
Sb: #530403-#Series Renewal
Fm: ROCENA

Dear JMS,

Thank you for taking the time to answer my previous question.
You have also mentioned that you will not be attempting to write the entire 4th
season by your self and that you would hire other authors to write scripts for
the upcoming season.
Due to the timing of Warner Bros' decision to renew,  does this give you enough
time to assign scripts, and have those authors complete the job in time for
filming?  Or will you just take the first few episodes yourself?  I can not
even begin to understand a writer's creative process, but generally how long
does it take from the time of story assignment to the time the finished script
is submitted?

Thank you for all of your hard work.
Rocena

PS  I don't know exactly how this permission thing works.  To whomever takes
the messages and reposts them:  I hereby give my permission to repost any of my
questions to JMS.


 #: 531824 S5/Babylon 5: General
    29-Jun-96  15:44:32
Sb: #531575-Series Renewal
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      Depends on the writer.  Freelance writing almost always takes longer
because they don't know, and can't be *expected* to know, the show as well as
you do if you're on staff.  You can have several pitch meetings over the course
of weeks before a good story walks in (though in the case of B5 the stories are
generally assigned out by me, saving that process); then you wait anywhere from
1-3 weeks for the outline; you have a meeting about it; another week or so for
the revised outline; you have another meeting; then about 2-4 weeks for the
first draft script; then another meeting; then another 1-3 weeks for the second
draft.  (These are *optimal* periods, sometimes it's shorter, but usually it's
longer.)  And then, on a show as eccentric as B5, you often end up rewriting
large portions of it anyway.  So it can take as much as 2 months or more to
produce a shootable script.

      I can write a script in 7 days or less, that's ready to go before the
camera as written.  Which isn't to say anything qualitative, only to say that
it's easier and faster because I'm inside the bubble.

                                                                    jms


 [ Summary: Asks how distances can be the same in hyperspace as in normal
   space. ]

 #: 531825 S5/Babylon 5: General
    29-Jun-96  15:44:36
Sb: #531588-Hyperspace vs. Distance
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      No, what I said was that *time* works about the same way in hyperspace,
not distance, nor that there was necessarily a proportional 1-1 corrolation
between realspace and hyperspace.  There's still some distance involved in
hyperspace, yes, though again there isn't always a 1-1 corrolation.  It takes 3
days to get to Earth.  It takes 4 days to get to Centauri Prime, even though CP
is almost twice the distance from B5.  It's *extremely* confusing to navigate
hyperspace, which is why you need the beacons and transfer points, or it's
extremely easy to get permanently lost.

                                                                    jms


 [ Summary: Wonders how JMS can claim that Sheridan has no free will to 
   prevent the future seen in "War Without End," when he's said that 
   Babylon 5 is all about "choices, actions, consequences and 
   responsibilities." ]

 #: 531826 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
    29-Jun-96  15:44:39
Sb: #531788-<Another Death?>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      No, of course there's free will.  But if I pull a trigger, and the bullet
flies out hitting someone in the head, what happens between the moment of the
trigger, and the impact, has nothing to do with free will.  Sheridan made the
choice -- free will -- to do what was done in WWE.  There were two probable
results, depending on whether he did or didn't do as asked.  Once he did that,
the two probabilities folded into one actuality (a la Shroedinger's Cat).

      Which doesn't mean to say he won't *try* to change things....

                                                                    jms


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