JMS on CompuServe (Mar 09, 1996) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS* 1/2
Brent Barrett
brent.barrett at 24stex.com
Sat Mar 9 15:34:01 EST 1996
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.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The following posts may contain SPOILERS for
upcoming Babylon 5 episodes.
Continue at your own risk.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[ Note from Brent: Before you ask, no I cannot forward
your questions to JMS. He has asked that questions
not originating from CIS accounts not be posted to
CIS. He encourages all of us to wait for the
moderated USENET group, to which he plans to
subscribe. ]
#: 466474 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
07-Mar-96 19:31:09
Sb: #<Tallman Episodes>
Fm: JOHN M. KAHANE
Hullo, Joe,
Got a question for you. So far this year, we've seen Patricia Tallman's
Lyta Alexander in one episode, "Passing Through Gethsemane." I've heard that
Lyta will return for at least one more episode this year. Can you tell us what
episodes she'll be appearing in for the remainder of the third season, if any?
Thanks.
jmk
#: 467184 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
08-Mar-96 23:42:02
Sb: #466474-<Tallman Episodes>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
She's also in "Walkabout" this season.
jms
[ Summary: Thanks JMS for the show and tells him that she and a bunch of
other Boston area fans get together "religiously" on Sunday nights to
watch B5. ]
#: 467185 S5/Babylon 5: General
08-Mar-96 23:42:02
Sb: #466597-Violating Your Privacy
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks. If one watches the show "religiously," does that mean one must
angle the TV so one faces Mecca, or is simple genuflection sufficient?
jms
[ Summary: William tries to get a general yes or no answer to the question
of whether or not we'll ever see a resolution to the "future" scenes. ]
#: 467186 S5/Babylon 5: General
08-Mar-96 23:42:05
Sb: #466659-#The Future of B5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Then let me put it as straightforwardly as possible: I *hate* loose
ends, and thus the odds of very many things left dangling at the end of the
story are fairly small.
jms
[ Summary: Asks if the PO Box for the fan club is active, and, if so, could
JMS give it out so that people could sign up now. ]
#: 467192 S5/Babylon 5: General
09-Mar-96 00:20:49
Sb: #466580-Fan Club
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
We'll give the info out when we've settled for sure on what we're going
to be charging, and offering, for the club. (Unlike some clubs, which charge
as much as $20 or more, we're trying to keep it down to something a little more
reasonable, to keep it more accessible to people.)
jms
[ Summary: Says he's "intrigued by the mechanics of writing for an ensemble
cast." ]
#: 467193 S5/Babylon 5: General
09-Mar-96 00:20:49
Sb: #466696-The Ensemble Look
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
The key to writing an ensemble show is to use those characters that
serve the story, and for no other reason, not becuase you think they should get
more on-air time for egos or any other rationale.
jms
[ Summary: Asks for confirmation that JMS and Walter Koenig will be at the
Chicago Comicon. ]
#: 467194 S5/Babylon 5: General
09-Mar-96 00:20:52
Sb: #466939-The Ensemble Look
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Yes, Walter Koenig, Harlan Ellison and I will *all* be at Chicago
ComicCon. This should be most interesting....
jms
[ Summary: Says he'll "miss some of our central characters if they're
killed off" because "I've grown fond of most of them...we *care* about
what happens to these peope and these aliens." ]
#: 467195 S5/Babylon 5: General
09-Mar-96 00:20:56
Sb: #467081-The Ensemble Look
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
"We care what happens to these people and aliens."
Which is essential, whatever happens. If something happens to someone,
and you don't care for the character, it's meaningless.
jms
[ Summary: Wants to know if, considering what Andrea Thompson (aka Mrs.
Jerry Doyle) has said recently, Jerry Doyle is having a tough time
mixing his professional and personal lives. ]
#: 467196 S5/Babylon 5: General
09-Mar-96 00:20:56
Sb: #467106-The Ensemble Look
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
No, Jerry's great to work with, there hasn't been a problem.
jms
#: 466735 S5/Babylon 5: General
08-Mar-96 06:05:19
Sb: #466351-#The Future of B5
Fm: ANNE L. WARNER
So, Joe,
How DO you create a character like Delenn? How DID you create Delenn?
Whatever...
Anne
#: 467197 S5/Babylon 5: General
09-Mar-96 00:21:00
Sb: #466735-#The Future of B5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
As with any character I create, I tend to peel off a small piece of
myself to make the core of it. There are certain aspects of me scattered in
all the B5 characters, Delenn in particular. Then you start adding elements
that seem to shore up those traits. For Delenn I pulled in some aspects of Zen
mysticism, Japanese culture, certain Moslem influences in government and
culture (minbar is the name for the pulpit in a mosque)...next comes the
layering of history, where she came from, who her parents were, what happened
to them (which, btw, you'll hear this season)...where she was when the war
started, what she felt about it, what she did at the time, what happened
later....
Our personalities are formed in large measure by our history, what we
have seen and done and learned. Once you have all those details, you're a long
way toward building the character. A character is like a well-reared child, it
has aspects of its parents, but is more than just a reflection, and forms its
own life after a while.
The final element comes in when you have an actor in the role, and you
look at the actor and the character and try to merge them, so the truth of the
person behind the name becomes the truth of the character. For Mira, that
meant hitting those aspects of Minbari culture which I knew would resonate with
her background from the former Yugoslavia. I know that if I put her in the
middle of a scene in which she has to deal with her government unraveling, what
the actor felt when the real thing began to happen will seep out, whether it's
wanted or not. Is it manipulative of the actor? Absolutely. Several of the
actors have come to me and noted that the character is hitting something that's
very close to them, and how did I know to hit them with this? Half of being a
writer is observation.
It's the same reason I assigned David Gerrold to write "Believers," even
though he couldn't at first figure out why he, mainly noted for his light comic
work, would be given this heavy dramatic story...until he was well into it, and
-- having just adopted a young boy -- had to go through the emotional turmoil I
wanted those parents to go through.
You have to be part oracle, part counselor, part parent, part boss and
partly mad to make this show work....
jms
#: 466755 S5/Babylon 5: General
08-Mar-96 07:16:02
Sb: #466351-#The Future of B5
Fm: PHILIP HORNSEY
>> See, this is a puzzlement to me. If I answer your question about when and
how we'll see Londo's future, that ruins the show.
Is it safe to say that one day we *will* see a resoution of the Londo-G'Kar
thread that will dispose of the dream in *some manner*, even if that is Londo
doing something that makes that unlikely to happen?
Phil^^^^
FREE MARS!
#: 467198 S5/Babylon 5: General
09-Mar-96 00:21:03
Sb: #466755-The Future of B5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
But of course....
jms
#: 466754 S5/Babylon 5: General
08-Mar-96 07:15:59
Sb: #466354-#Enjoying Babylon 5
Fm: PHILIP HORNSEY
>> The last V movie ended with the armistice, as I recall; and 3 acts
means the 3 dramatic sections between commercials.
So this would have been made *instead* of the *amazingly* pathetic series?
Phil^^^^
FREE MARS!
#: 467199 S5/Babylon 5: General
09-Mar-96 00:21:07
Sb: #466754-Enjoying Babylon 5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
This would've followed the last version, and have been truer to the
original miniseries.
jms
[ Continued in next section -- BB ]
/*********************************************
* Brent Barrett brent.barrett at 24stex.com *
* Senior Software Engineer Automedia, Inc *
* -- Watch Babylon-5! -- *
*********************************************/
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