JMS on AOL: 04/29/96 to 05/07/96

Tue May 7 18:25:42 EDT 1996

The following is a compilation of the posts of JMS on AOL.  If you have
comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at <kpmooney at acsu.buffalo.edu>

WARNING:  Possible spoilers may lurk below.

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Subj:  Re:Two questions
Date:  96-04-29 01:39:47 EDT
From:  Jms at B5       

"Avalon" and "Vir" were reversed in order to a) finish effects on Avalon, and
b) to give a lighter episode after "Ceremonies" (also to hold York for
sweeps).  That may account for some of your feeling here.

And yes, Earthgov sees B5 in much the way China now sees Taiwan.  (Though on
reflection that may not be the best metaphor....)

jms

Subj:  Re:Some questions
Date:  96-05-07 04:21:31 EDT
From:  Jms at B5       

The only database I use is the one in my head, and some notes here and
there....

jms

Subj:  Re:Marcus (continued)
Date:  96-05-07 04:22:01 EDT
From:  Jms at B5       

We're all hiding something or other.

jms

Subj:  Re:Renewal
Date:  96-05-07 04:22:57 EDT
From:  Jms at B5       

We'll know by the middle or end of this month; it's 50/50 because of the
changing economics of the syndication marketplace right now.  It's all nuts
at the moment.

jms

Subj:  Re:B5 legal status
Date:  96-05-07 04:23:30 EDT
From:  Jms at B5       

No, you only send an ambassador if you recognize something as legitimate, and
EA will never recognize an independent B5.

jms

Subj:  Re:After the Series
Date:  96-05-07 04:24:33 EDT
From:  Jms at B5       

That period is so far outside my ability to even see right now that it's
beyond my ken.  The show is all I can see right now.  

jms

Subj:  Re:Michael York
Date:  96-05-07 04:25:46 EDT
From:  Jms at B5       

We look around for who might be right for the role, and then who of that is
available and within our price range.  Sometimes the actor doesn't come in,
if the actor has a lot of credits, but most will audition.  Then we make our
selection.

jms

Subj:  Re:jms?monkmusic?
Date:  96-05-07 04:26:21 EDT
From:  Jms at B5       

No, the music was the music, it wouldn't change by the hearer.

jms

Subj:  Re:JMS-B5 Origins?
Date:  96-05-07 04:28:35 EDT
From:  Jms at B5       

The story kind of came in all at once; and yes, in a way, it's the story I've
been preparing to write from day one.  The eclectic, weird background I have
is what enables me to tell this story this way.  This is, I think, my seminal
work in the field.  To invoke greater names for a moment, Heinlein wrote lots
of books, but he's known for Stranger in a Strange Land; Frank Herbert wrote
lots of books, but he's known for Dune.  I've done a lot before this, and
hope to do a lot after, but I suspect that this is what I'll be most known
for when it's all said and done.

jms

Subj:  Re:JMS at home
Date:  96-05-07 04:34:35 EDT
From:  Jms at B5       

"I'm assuming when you are the creator/writer/executive producer of a running
series that you must spend an enormous amount of time either "doing" things
related to it or "thinking" about things related to it."

Absolutely.  Even when I'm not actively working on it, it comes up constantly
in conversation, or in other ways.  It never goes away, and I'm always
jotting down notes for future use.

"How does this affect your lifestyle?  Can one be in your position and still
have a personal life - or is literally everything you do somehow involved
with, wrapped up in or connected to "the series"?"

Not if you're going to be this involved with the process.  It's really a 24
hour a day job.  I haven't seen a movie at a theater in the 8 months
preceding the wrap; haven't gone to a party except the B5 christmas and wrap
parties in about a year.  For the six years it'll take to make this show --
you count the pilot and post-production on the last year -- I went into this
knowing that my personal life would pretty much go to hell for that period of
time.  The show is the single dominant concern; has to be, or it won't be
done right.  

"Are you able to go out and have a good time and not think about anything to
do with B5, or is it always there, in the back of your mind?"

It's always there.

"I very much admire what you do, but feel it must, at some point, drive you a
little nuts........"

Sometimes, but only a little.  I fought for 5 years to get this show on the
air; it's a great privilege, and a terrible responsibility; WB has entrusted
me to do this properly, and that's a great compliment.  In the media, it's
unspeakably rare to get one singular vision on the air, without compromise or
committee...I'm not *about* to complain about the hours.  I've got absolutely
no grounds to complain about ANYthing.

jms

Subj:  Re:great love story
Date:  96-05-07 04:35:16 EDT
From:  Jms at B5       

It's fair to say that the Sheridan/Delenn relationship has some very
interesting times ahead.

jms

Subj:  Re:Vir? Babble?
Date:  96-05-07 04:36:59 EDT
From:  Jms at B5       

Even the babble is pretty tightly scripted.  The hesitations and occasional
stumble-restatements are the actor's delivery.  There's occasionally a very
tiny bit of improv in that kind of scene, but very little.

jms

Subj:  Re:Rules for Epics
Date:  96-05-07 04:43:11 EDT
From:  Jms at B5       

Actually, it's Chekov's rule of playwriting: If there's a gun on the wall in
act 1 scene 1, you must use it by act 3 scene 3.  Similarly, if you fire the
gun in act 3, you must show it in act one.  I do try to play fair with the
audience, and either hint at or point to what's coming in various ways, so
that if you back up all the episodes, it's right there in front of you.

jms

Subj:  Re:Interludes  & Examination
Date:  96-05-07 04:47:28 EDT
From:  Jms at B5       

The Delenn/Sheridan axis is proceeding, but I've been very deliberately
holding off the kiss, and what would follow that, so I could do it in a very
special way.  You'll see soon enough....

jms

Subj:  Re:Seasons 4 and 5
Date:  96-05-07 04:48:08 EDT
From:  Jms at B5       

There was never the intention of carrying the shadow war through seasons 4
and 5.  That'd get boring.

jms

Subj:  Re:The Wrath Of Kosh
Date:  96-05-07 04:49:30 EDT
From:  Jms at B5       

Kosh fought and fought hard.  And he did not go down easily...and one might
say that yes, he did not go down alone...but not entirely in the way you're
thinking.

jms

----

End Compilation
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