JMS on CompuServe (May 31, 1996) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS* 1/2
Brent Barrett
bbarrett at speedlink.com
Fri May 31 12:24:45 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: #515243-Scriptwriting Text
Sb: #515246-<WWE pt2>
Sb: #515296-Just curious...
Sb: #515357-JMS:Chicago Blues Fest
Sb: #515361-Londo & G'Kar
Sb: #515381-How Time Flies
Sb: #515770-<<UK Dust 2 Dust>>
Sb: #515507-#Mira's words on JMS/B5
Sb: #515477-jms on radio in LA
Sb: #515718-Just curious...
Sb: #515738-Just curious...
Sb: #515805-Just curious...
Sb: #515618-KJAZZ 14 SLC
Sb: #515888-#Delenn's Cycles
[ Summary: Asks if we'll see Dr. Franklin again. ]
#: 515404 S5/Babylon 5: General
30-May-96 12:17:44
Sb: #515243-Scriptwriting Text
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Franklin isn't gone from the show; he's in the very next episode, in a
major way, and has a big part in "Shadow Dancing." He just has a lot to work
out right now.
jms
#: 515246 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
30-May-96 05:10:26
Sb: #513905-#<WWE pt2>
Fm: SHANE S. SHELLENBARGER
Joe,
Would stating who said hello to Delenn in her flash-forward be too much
of a spoiler?
Shane
#: 515405 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
30-May-96 12:17:45
Sb: #515246-<WWE pt2>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Absolutely.
jms
[ Summary: Asks JMS how the growing popularity of Babylon 5 has affected
him. ]
#: 515407 S5/Babylon 5: General
30-May-96 12:17:54
Sb: #515296-Just curious...
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
What an interesting question....
I don't think it *has* affected me, but that's my my subjective point of
view, and that's a self-serving analysis, so let's start from the assumption
that that may be flawed, and proceed from there.
Main reason I think it hasn't affected or changed me is that I haven't
had *time* for it. Once we got the go-ahead for the series, I stuck my head in
a B5 shaped hole in the ground and haven't had time to come up for air yet.
Once I've finished the show, and can take a moment to look around, will I
become a complete butthead? Possible, but I don't think so.
My problem is the same as it's always been...I'm *extremely* self
critical. The doofus in the mirror today, 3 years into B5 is the same doofus I
saw there 3-4 years ago. I know the areas in which I'm a jerk, and the areas
in which I'm golden...they haven't changed much. I also have a hard time
applying the reaction to *the show* to myself. The show is a thing apart,
somehow. Whenever someone thanks me for the show, I tend to get kinda abashed
about the whole thing...which is why you don't tend to see messages from me
elaborating on someone's appreciation. Usually it's just a "thanks" and we
move on. If I wanted to feed that, or keep it going, I could do so. But for
me, the Babylon 5 universe has a certain reality about it, somewhere deep in my
brain, and I'm just writing down what happens there. (No, I can still tell
fact from fiction...but I've just been living in that fictional place so long
that it becomes second nature...imagine your best friend walking across the den
late at night, and banging his/her shin on the coffee table. It doesn't take a
great leap of imagination to figure out what your friend will say in
reaction...it comes naturally. So do the events in B5, by virtue of knowing
the characters and the universe as well as I do.)
I will tell you a terrible but true thing: when I go to a convention and
take the stage...I never hear the applause. I'm so concerned with what I'm
going to say, the need to find some way to appear even *remotely* interesting
when I know the reality is far from it, to make sure these good people get
their money's worth, a performance...that I don't hear it, try as I might. I
want to, I would like to...but it's as if it's intended for someone else, and
he or she couldn't make it, and I'm being thrust out onto the stage to
substitute for someone interesting.
I think that if I've changed at all, it's to become a little more
cautious and introspective. (Witness this message.) As that famous Greek
philosopher Peter Parker once pointed out, "With power comes responsibility."
Because of this show, I have an unexpected platform; so I have become more wary
in how I use it in order to avoid abusing it. With that comes the desire to
find ways to use it in a positive fashion...to encourage other people to find
their own dreams, to ask questions and put out good information on how TV
works, so that people can better influence what they see and hear in this
medium, and get what they want, not what somebody *thinks* they want.
Finally, I think I'm fairly aware of my relative position in society;
can there be any lesser celebrity than a producer, anything more ephemeral than
a television writer? Between writing, prep, shooting, and post, it takes us
about 3 months to make one episode...which is gone in an hour, phosphor dots
sent cruising toward Andromeda at the speed of starlight. It's been debated
here before, but I still hold fast to the notion that the really important
people, the ones doing the work that will influence the next hundred years, are
the teachers and the builders and the researchers who are creating the *real*
future, not writing about a fictional one. I can write 1,000 episodes of
B5...and it won't cure one person of polio, that took Dr. Jonas Salk.
Television as a medium is too important to turn over to the visigoths,
can be used to great purpose...it can ignite controversy, entertain, educate
and ennoble; it can propel us toward the stars or bring down a president. But
it is always ephemeral, of the moment; it does not last, does not endure. If
you're very lucky, your show can last 10 years before it becomes dated, out of
style, behind the times. Where it can inspire people to do more with their
lives in ways that make a permanent difference, then it is of greater value,
and that is my hope for this show.
But that's the show. Not me.
I'm still the doofus in the mirror.
jms
[ Summary: The schedule for the Chicago Blues Fest. Hopes JMS can make it. ]
#: 515408 S5/Babylon 5: General
30-May-96 12:17:55
Sb: #515357-JMS:Chicago Blues Fest
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks; if I can, I will.
jms
[ Summary: Will we see Londo & G'Kar together again before the end of the
season? The poster is curious about how they will react since "Dust to
Dust." ]
#: 515409 S6/Babylon 5: Upcoming
30-May-96 12:17:59
Sb: #515361-Londo & G'Kar
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Will you see Londo and G'Kar together later this season?
Hmmmm......
Yes and no.
jms
[ Summary: Thanks JMS for his work to date in TV and hopes he will
reconsider leaving it after Babylon 5. ]
#: 515410 S5/Babylon 5: General
30-May-96 12:18:01
Sb: #515381-How Time Flies
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks...we'll see what happens when it happens.
jms
[ Summary: This poster examined the montage of Londo clips in "Dust to
Dust" and points out that he liked "the way you made the transition from
Londo coughing in 'The Long Twilight Struggle' to the aged Londo coughing
in 'The Coming of Shadows'." ]
#: 515937 S5/Babylon 5: General
31-May-96 00:18:47
Sb: #515770-<<UK Dust 2 Dust>>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Ah...noticed that, eh...?
jms
[ Summary: Asks, "Are you a Vorlon? You always type in riddles." ]
#: 515938 S5/Babylon 5: General
31-May-96 00:18:50
Sb: #515507-#Mira's words on JMS/B5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
"You always type in riddles"
Well, I *tried* typing in Iambic Pentameter, but nobody got it.
jms
[ Summary: Asks if tapes will be available of JMS' HOUR 25 visit. ]
#: 515939 S5/Babylon 5: General
31-May-96 00:18:52
Sb: #515477-jms on radio in LA
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
No, tapes aren't generally available.
jms
#: 515718 S5/Babylon 5: General
30-May-96 19:52:50
Sb: #515407-#Just curious...
Fm: MERYL YOURISH
Joe, no, your television work will never cure polio. But you are really
overlooking some of the positive things television can and does achieve: It
reaches people. It touches them. On an emotional level, sometimes, and
sometimes on an inspirational level.
I told you that my aunt from San Diego praised your show. I was out there
because her husband had died a few weeks ago, and she was all alone for the
first time in her life. My cousins are all grown and have jobs--I'm currently
unemployed. So I went to stay with Aunt Edith and help her get through the
initial stages of grief. While I was there, "Ceremonies of Light and Dark" was
on. I really wanted to watch it, and she watched it with me. When Delenn talked
to Marcus about letting go of the blame he felt for his brother's death, I
could see the words sinking in. She didn't say anything, but they had an effect
on her. They definitely touched her deeply.
Sometimes even a soap opera can have a profound emotional effect on a person.
Words are powerful, powerful things.
So stop calling yourself a doofus and try to remember that you ARE having a
good effect on people. You're a wordsmith, Joe, and that is one hell of a great
achievement.
Meryl
#: 515940 S5/Babylon 5: General
31-May-96 00:18:54
Sb: #515718-Just curious...
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
That's great to hear, and I'm happy the words touched your aunt; that
makes it all worthwhile. Thanks.
jms
#: 515738 S5/Babylon 5: General
30-May-96 20:22:18
Sb: #515407-#Just curious...
Fm: TOM KNUDSEN
Joe,
<but I still hold fast to the notion that the really important people,
the ones doing the work that will influence the next hundred years, are the
teachers and the builders and the researchers who are creating the *real*
future, not writing about a fictional one. I can write 1,000 episodes of
B5...and it won't cure one person of polio, that took Dr. Jonas Salk.>
Well, in a certain way you ARE a teacher. Here, online, you're
teaching facts about how a television show is written and made and the
dedication it takes to do so. Hell, you've stated numerous times that this is
one of your main goals here. With Babylon 5, and some of the, shall we say
discussive type posts, you're not teaching facts, but you are teaching. You're
teaching people to think about subjects, but not WHAT to think about them.
You're teaching people to examine their lives and beliefs. You're also
increasing people's expectations for television and their ability to follow
complex storylines. These are good things. I think your Executive Producer
credit is almost incidental to the amount of education you're accomplishing.
<I'm still the doofus in the mirror.>
As long as you have this attitude, I have no fear that you'll turn into
the typical celebrity butthead. As far as I can tell, the only difference I
can see in you over the last two years is that you've become more confident in
what you are doing with the show. That's only natural considering how much
you've learned about producing in general and about making B5 in particular.
Tom^^^^
"The avalanche has ALREADY started. It is too late
for the pebbles to vote." - Kosh Naranek
#: 515941 S5/Babylon 5: General
31-May-96 00:18:56
Sb: #515738-Just curious...
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks. There's always a danger in trying too hard to teach, of course,
and I try to avoid that. (It's just that I actually love teaching.) Back a few
years ago, when I still used to teach writing here and there, I trained my
class that when I started to go off and start pontificating to excess, they
were to say, as with one voice, "Shuuuuuttt uppppp."
Worked every time.
jms
#: 515805 S5/Babylon 5: General
30-May-96 21:37:18
Sb: #515407-#Just curious...
Fm: REBECCA ESCHLIMAN
Since humankind operates via symbols, and you have created a new group of
symbols...that is no small thing.
Since the value of humans in the B5 world is their creation of communities, and
you, yourself, have expresed your appreciation that B5 has created communities,
and that is no small thing.
Since the production of B5 sets a standard which should be followed in the
future, and that is no small thing.
Since B5 leads people to associations with Dickens, Tolkien, Mallory, [insert
epic of choice]; that is no small thing.
Methinks the doofus in the mirror should take lessons from Lewis Carroll and go
THROUGH the mirror and experience what the recipients of your work appreciate.
But,maybe, the ironic justice of the world is that the minute you truly feel
the importance/impact of your work is the minute you become a right royal SOB.
I can guaranteethat I would still delight in B5 for 2 more seasons even if
some as-yet-to-be-determined phenomenal success turned you into a right royal
SOB. So, you are correct -- the work overshadows (ouch! no pun intended!) the
worker. But I would hope that the worker does get some sort of gratification
from the appreciation of his work.
- rje -
..but then there was a star danced, and under that was I born.
#: 515942 S5/Babylon 5: General
31-May-96 00:18:59
Sb: #515805-Just curious...
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I dunno...the last time I peeked through the mirror to the other side all
I saw was gears, wheels, fan belts and 27 pairs of yellow slitted eyes.
jms
[ Summary: Informs JMS that his local station, KJAZZ, in Salt Lake City, has
told him that they plan to renew B5 so long as Warner Brothers continues
to make it. ]
#: 515945 S5/Babylon 5: General
31-May-96 00:19:05
Sb: #515618-KJAZZ 14 SLC
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks....
jms
#: 515888 S5/Babylon 5: General
30-May-96 22:23:47
Sb: #Delenn's Cycles
Fm: BRENT BARRETT
Hi, Joe.
I was watching some older episodes and noticed something that I hope you can
clear up for me. In "All Alone in the Night," Delenn tells the Grey Council
that she has served for twenty cycles. Yet in "Severed Dreams," she tells the
acolyte that she has served the Council for sixteen cycles.
Which is correct, or are they both correct?
Thanks.
P.S. How old (in standard/Earth years) is Delenn anyway?
-- Brent Barrett
#: 515946 S5/Babylon 5: General
31-May-96 00:19:06
Sb: #515888-#Delenn's Cycles
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I think it's the difference between serving the council in general, and
being *on* the Council.
(That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)
jms
[ Continued in next section -- BB ]
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