JMS on CompuServe (Nov 03, 1996) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*
Brent Barrett
bbarrett at speedlink.com
Sun Nov 3 15:38:07 EST 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.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Archives of this material may be found at:
ftp://ftp.speedlink.com/pub/bbarrett/cis/
- or -
http://www.speedlink.com/bbarrett/b5/
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[ Summary of subjects in this section: ]
Sb: #603559-#Season 4 Title
Sb: #603582-# << Z'ha'dum>>
Sb: #603585-#<Z'Ha'Dum........ wow.>
Sb: #603458-Conf 2nd Nov
Sb: #603478-Season 4 Title
Sb: #603706-Season 4 Title
Sb: #603685-<Z>
Sb: #603616-<Z'Ha'Dum........ wow.>
Sb: #603603-#<<ZDH question>>
Sb: #603625-#<Z - praise part 104>
#: 603559 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Nov-96 19:40:41
Sb: #601353-#Season 4 Title
Fm: RICK SHARON
Joe,
re: Oh, be assured, the interesting times for Londo haven't even *started*
yet. But they will, real soon.
<shaking my head side-to-side as I read the above, close eyes, sigh>. What
next???!? I know you won't answer that - the show will "in the fullness of
time", better it happens that way. You are a wicked wicked man (and we love
it). After recently watching the last episode of season 3, then reading the
above ... ulp. <head shaking side to side> I have this sinking feeling that
the best is yet to come. Of course, everytime I've seen your best, more better
did come later. Scary. Delightfully scary. But, scary nonetheless. As I've
said before, we must be riding this roller coaster backwards - the hills just
keep getting bigger and bigger!
It's been awhile since I've said this (didn't want to seem repitiously
redundant):
Thanks! - for presenting simply the best fiction on television (aside from the
election campaign speeches; at least -your- fiction is believeable <grin>).
Babylon 5 is wonderfully written, excellently acted, beautifully choreographed,
so much attention to detail, so much subtle detail, ... so much you and your
team do so well. As usual, the last few episodes of season 3 were no
exceptions, you've presented us with characters we can care about, characters
we do care about, then you put them in situations test their character and tax
our emotions - situations that make us care about them. After the season 3
finale, there are several characters I'm worried about. The final episode
closing voice over (I don't want to give anything away to those that haven't
heard it) - chilling, nerviously quiet, worrisome, made me think "calm before
the storm". After the storms your characters have been through I have this
sinking feeling the biggest storms lie ahead. Ominous, scary, cause for worry
about (y)our characters. Nicely done. You and the B5 gang are definitely
"getting the hang of this TV thing".
Now, any chance you could broadcast ALL of season 4 one night this week?? The
sooner the better! <sigh>
--Rick Sharon
#: 603591 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Nov-96 21:36:35
Sb: #603559-#Season 4 Title
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks. The details are everything, in a show like this, and it's great
when they're appreciated.
As for season one...we learned last week that when the show is finally
over, TNT will be stripping the show, starting with the pilot straight through
all the seasons. Stripping means airing every day, 5 days a week. I think
it'll be great.
jms
[ Summary: Jokes that the WB lawyers must have been the ones to hold over
the Final Five until the start of the new season, because if he had seen
"Z'Ha'Dum" months ago and had to wait until now for the resolution, he'd
have joined in a class action suit against WB for "emotional travail." ]
#: 603592 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Nov-96 21:36:38
Sb: #603582-# << Z'ha'dum>>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I thank you, and our lawyers thank you....
jms
#: 603585 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Nov-96 21:00:47
Sb: #<Z'Ha'Dum........ wow.>
Fm: MERYL YOURISH
Okay. So I missed your conference today, because I wound up working until five.
So I decided to go to my brother's for dinner after all, and crossed my fingers
that my VCR didn't crap out on me, or that the old electrical wiring in my very
old town didn't decide to cause a power outage. Okay, so I didn't get home
until 45 minutes past WWOR's rerun of today's episode, which meant that if my
VCR HAD screwed up on me, I wouldn't get to see Z'Ha'Dum until I found someone
else with a tape. And then after all that, I decided to wait another hour and
watch Xena while we can still see Lucy Lawless hopping around on her own sans
broken pelvis.
So I watched Z'Ha'Dum eight hours after I'd really wanted to.
And boy, the wait was worth it!
I was captivated from the first moment. I kept trying to figure your angles.
Did Anna have a Keeper? Was that the epidermal scarring? Was she real, or was
she Memorex? Was this the end of John and Delenn? What did Sheridan ask
Garibaldi to do? And what was the fourth part of the post you put on Usenet
months ago, when you finally broke down and gave us a synopsis of the episode?
"Someone dies. Someone nearly dies. Someone is reborn." I remember that part.
Okay. Anna died. Sheridan nearly died. (Yeah, like I really might even begin to
think he's dead.)
Ohmigod, I hope Garibaldi being stuck in that Shadow ship isn't the one who
gets reborn.
So once again, Joe, I get to post a fan letter direct to the Great Maker. No
other television show has ever given me as much pleasure as has Babylon 5. No
other television show has ever been as finely crafted. No other television show
has me sitting on the edge of my seat as often, and certainly never yelling at
a character to jump to his probable death.
You snookered me again. I watched Z'Ha'Dum and even though I knew that Sheridan
and Delenn were together seventeen years later, I thought that this might be
the beginning of a >very< long breakup. I got extremely unhappy over that
thought. Then you showed us some of John's message to Delenn, and set my mind
at ease.
I had thought you'd bring the whole crew to Z'Ha'Dum, and make me REALLY
nervous that someone was going to buy it, but you had Sheridan sneak
away--quite cleverly, I might add--and made me breathe a huge sigh of relief
regarding Ivanova and Garibaldi. Then you surrounded Babylon 5 with Shadow
vessels. You are a sneaky devil.
And you made me wonder something else: Last week, we found out that the Shadows
haven't attacked the station because someone on board--we suspect--is
preventing them from doing so. If that someone is John Sheridan, with his
absence, B5 became vulnerable. Sure, he's been off-station before, but only for
a few hours or a few days, and he hardly publicizes his absences. So he's got
something they want, and maybe it's more than just the fact that he's the heart
of the alliance. Now that their plan to subvert him has failed, we may find out
more, eh?
"You are the hand." The hand also creates, when you stop to think about
artists, or carpenters, or cooks, or--you get the picture.
"The man in between is searching for you." I'm beginning to think that Kosh is
the man in between. He's not quite dead, but he's not alive. Okay, so he's not
technically a man--it was a dream, not a dictionary. Then again, we don't
really know what a Vorlon looks like, do we?
And after all this, I STILL can't figure out what the greater danger is going
to be. I'm sure you've dropped hints. I think I'm going to have to go back and
rewatch the series again. Damn. That's going to take some time. If only I were
still unemployed. (NOT!)
Thanks again, Joe. I'm looking forward to the fourth season more than I ever
looked forward to any other show. I told you before I started watching B5
waiting for it to impress me. That wait has been over for quite some time. This
series has grown on me like nothing else has ever done.
Meryl
#: 603593 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Nov-96 21:36:40
Sb: #603585-#<Z'Ha'Dum........ wow.>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thank you. You're most kind.
Funny, on the line about "started watching B5 waiting for it to impress
me." I've heard much the same from many others. I think we've all been burned
so many times by SF shows that we had a real burden here to prove what we could
do, and how we would do it. You kinda don't want to have your heart broken
anymore. I'm glad we were able to come through. It's a show I'm very proud
of.
jms
[ Summary: Thanks JMS for the recent conference on CIS. Asks if the fan
club has any plans to release the blooper tapes. ]
#: 603594 S7/Babylon 5 in the UK
02-Nov-96 21:36:42
Sb: #603458-Conf 2nd Nov
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
No immediate plans for the bloopers...and thanks.
jms
[ Summary: One poster asks another if he thinks the White Star survived. ]
#: 603712 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
03-Nov-96 01:42:44
Sb: #603478-Season 4 Title
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
White Star blowed up REAL good.
jms
[ Summary: Asks if TNT will run Babylon 5 more than once. ]
#: 603714 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
03-Nov-96 01:51:14
Sb: #603706-Season 4 Title
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Yes, they'll continue to run it as long as it does well.
jms
[ Summary: The poster who couldn't give "Z'Ha'Dum" a 10 score on the
Poll 5 explains why he rates things so hard. It's to make JMS keep
doing better to achieve absolute perfection. ]
#: 603715 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
03-Nov-96 01:51:17
Sb: #603685-<Z>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Fine.
Just fine.
Break a mother's heart....
jms
[ Summary: Loved "Z'Ha'Dum" and comments on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
having a very similar episode airing this week with the theme of a
"wife taken over" by bad guys. ]
#: 603716 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
03-Nov-96 01:51:18
Sb: #603616-<Z'Ha'Dum........ wow.>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks, and yeah, it was kind of serendipity about the two shows with
"wife taken over" premises. Can't help but lead to "compare and contrast."
jms
[ Summary: Loved "Z'Ha'Dum" and asks what became of Morden. ]
#: 603718 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
03-Nov-96 01:51:22
Sb: #603603-#<<ZDH question>>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
What about Morden? Oh, wait about 7 days, you'll find out.
And thanks.
jms
[ Summary: Loved "Z'Ha'Dum" and asks what other episodes Adam Nimoy has
directed. ]
#: 603719 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
03-Nov-96 01:51:25
Sb: #603625-#<Z - praise part 104>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks....
Adam also directed "Passing Through Gethsemane," and is unfortunately now
off doing network shows, and not available to us.
jms
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