JMS on CompuServe (Oct 1, 1996) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*

Brent Barrett bbarrett at speedlink.com
Wed Oct 2 02:39:07 EDT 1996


 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 The following posts may contain SPOILERS for
 upcoming Babylon 5 episodes.

 Continue at your own risk.

 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 S
  P
   O
    I
     L
      E
       R

         P
          R
           O
            T
             E
              C
               T
                I
                 O
                  N

 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 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: #585052-#NEW SIMM GROUP FOR B5
    Sb: #585201-Framing a shot
    Sb: #585254-B5 Tapes
    Sb: #585343-NEW SIMM GROUP FOR B5
    Sb: #585385-B5 Tapes
    Sb: #585484-#NEW SIMM GROUP FOR B5
    Sb: #585535-Hug Mr. Ellison for me
    Sb: #585582-Season Four: 403
    Sb: #585587-jms Songwriter ?
    Sb: #585673-USENET SFWA post


 [ Summary: Asks if the use of Chameleon's upcoming RPG is a copyright issue
   or if it's covered in their license from Warner Brothers.  Also, wonders
   if said license would extend to playing a game on-line. ]

 #: 585423 S5/Babylon 5: General
    30-Sep-96  17:59:04
Sb: #585052-#NEW SIMM GROUP FOR B5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       The use of the Chameleon game is fully covered by their license.  If one
is having online games using that, for which users are paying access time,
that's something I don't know.  I'll have to find out.

                                                                       jms


 [ Summary: Wonders how JMS goes about framing shots in wide-screen that
   will be aired on normal-sized screens. ]

 #: 585425 S5/Babylon 5: General
    30-Sep-96  17:59:07
Sb: #585201-Framing a shot
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       We slide it back and forth.  Some shots are composed for narrow, some
for the wider aspect ratio.  Sometimes a character's face is somewhat off
center or out of frame for that reason.  It's whatever looks best per shot.

                                                                       jms


 [ Summary: Asks how U.S. fans can order U.K. tapes. ]

 #: 585426 S5/Babylon 5: General
    30-Sep-96  17:59:10
Sb: #585254-B5 Tapes
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       Can't.  And even if you could, you couldn't play them on American VHS
players.

                                                                       jms


 [ Summary: The fellow who commented on creating a B5 SIMM responds:
   "why? Its only a SIMM! . . . what can they do sue me?" ]

 #: 585428 S5/Babylon 5: General
    30-Sep-96  17:59:14
Sb: #585343-NEW SIMM GROUP FOR B5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       "What can they do, sue me?"

       Yup.  They've shut down several others doing this that way.

       "C'mon, like they're gonna sue a 17 year old."

       Nope, they'll just sue your parents.

       And bear in mind, you don't have to sue someone to get a restraining
order against them...which is what WB did to a couple of other unlicensed
SIMMS.  You (or your parents) just end up spending a lot of time in court.

       Don't mess with the Shield.  Trust me on this.

                                                                       jms



 #: 585385 S5/Babylon 5: General
    30-Sep-96  16:48:58
Sb: #584687-#B5 Tapes
Fm: CHRIS CROUGHTON (UK)

> But the bottom-line problem is that WB Video mainly only handles
> guaranteed big sale stuff like their movies.  You very rarely see ANY tv
> show sold on cassette from WB Home Video.

Which makes it strange that they *have* released them in the UK at all.  Not
that I'm complaining, of course <g>, but I'd think that if they were going to
put in the effort anyway they might as well do both UK and US releases.
Admittedly we don't have the massive reruns the US has, so perhaps they're
afraid of competing with their rerun figures...

> We may call in Jimmy Carter to see if he can work out a release of the
> hostages.

<g>  Or send in a SWAT team...

How's season 4 going?

Chris


 #: 585429 S5/Babylon 5: General
    30-Sep-96  17:59:16
Sb: #585385-B5 Tapes
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       Season 4's going well; just about to settle down and watch the
director's cut of 403.

                                                                       jms


 [ Summary: Asks who he can write to about the issue of playing the B5 RPG
   on-line. ]

 #: 585770 S5/Babylon 5: General
    01-Oct-96  12:55:13
Sb: #585484-#NEW SIMM GROUP FOR B5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       Best to drop a note to ken_parks at warnerbros.com and ask directly of the
source at WB legal.  That way you'll be copacetic from the start.

                                                                       jms


 [ Summary: A warm review of Harlan Ellison's "City on the Edge of Forever"
   book, as well as comments about the original Star Trek series. ]

 #: 585771 S5/Babylon 5: General
    01-Oct-96  12:55:14
Sb: #585535-Hug Mr. Ellison for me
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       Thanks on Harlan's behalf, and I'll send him a copy of this.  I think
he'll be pleaed....

                                                                       jms



 #: 585582 S5/Babylon 5: General
    30-Sep-96  23:21:22
Sb: #Season Four: 403
Fm: BRENT BARRETT

Howdy, Joe;

>>    Season 4's going well; just about to settle down and watch the director's
cut of 403. <<

When you're done, could you let me know (generally, of course :-), how you feel
it came out?  For some odd reason, I'm just a little curious about that episode
. . .

Thanks,

  -- Brent


 #: 585772 S5/Babylon 5: General
    01-Oct-96  12:55:15
Sb: #585582-Season Four: 403
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       They're all coming out nicely...very different feel this season, which
takes some getting used to, but overall, very very nice.

                                                                       jms



 #: 585587 S5/Babylon 5: General
    01-Oct-96  00:46:14
Sb: #jms Songwriter ?
Fm: MR. TRACY SCHELL

  [Reply to #550006, which has already scrolled]

>>        No, the songs are in "Walkabout," which is the next episode up after
"War Without End." <<

Is "Walkabout" the first new episode back from the long reruns? I saw it on
dish but wondered if new shows started the week before?

Mr.T- On Florida's Space Coast


 #: 585774 S5/Babylon 5: General
    01-Oct-96  12:55:20
Sb: #585587-jms Songwriter ?
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       No, Walkabout is the first of the final 5 held back from year 3.

                                                                       jms


 [ Summary: An SFWA member and fellow author disputes that there is such a
   thing as the "SF Establishment."  Also asks when the new season starts. ]

 #: 585779 S5/Babylon 5: General
    01-Oct-96  12:55:32
Sb: #585673-USENET SFWA post
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       All good points...might even be true.  I have nothing to do with 'em
anymore, so it's moot in any event.

       The new season starts this week.

       There's one other aspect to this whole thing which was brought home to
me in something Ellen Datlow said on MSNBC the other week.  She pointed out,
with deadly accuracy, that once upon a time, movies tended to mine SF novels
for their stories.  Now, it's movies and TV that drive novels, with endless ST
books, books based on movies, novelizations, the whole Star Wars Empire stuff,
on and on and on.  You'd think that an organization of SF writers would want to
be more involved in the mass media that was changing the way their field buys
books, and what they buy, since it has a direct effect on their livelihood.

       By working *with* the media, they would have a better chance of helping
SF film and TV producers understand what SF is, and what books are out there
they can option.  That could lead to more movies based on books, more option
money for writers, and so on.  It's a provincial attitude that is going to
continue to do them great harm in the long run.  But SFWA, for all its SF
trappings, is remarkably short-sighted when it comes to alternate storytelling
technologies.

                                                                       jms



-***
-*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages in this list go to the list
-*** maintainer, <b5jms-owner at cs.columbia.edu>.  If you want to reply
-*** elsewhere, adjust the "To" field.  The best way to reach JMS is to post
-*** to rastb5m, which can be done by sending email to <rastb5 at solon.com>.



More information about the B5JMS mailing list