JMS on CompuServe (Oct 03, 1996) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*
Brent Barrett
bbarrett at speedlink.com
Fri Oct 4 19:34:40 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.
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Archives of this material may be found at:
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[ Summary of subjects in this section: ]
Sb: #585916-NEW SIMM GROUP FOR B5
Sb: #585971-CHEK Victoria
Sb: #585972-SF Vortex on SCI-FI
Sb: #586099-#I Found Demon Knight!
Sb: #586060-#New Season HELP!
Sb: #586137-<<Walkabout!>>
Sb: #586175-#B5 Tapes
Sb: #586237-USENET SFWA post
Sb: #586390-Two comments
Sb: #586402-Hug Mr. Ellison for me
Sb: #586402-#Hug Mr. Ellison for me
Sb: #586424-jms Songwriter ?
Sb: #586521-B5 Tapes
[ Summary: The SIMM organizer asks how he can become "nice and legal." ]
#: 586041 S5/Babylon 5: General
01-Oct-96 20:19:22
Sb: #585916-NEW SIMM GROUP FOR B5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Send a note to ken_parks at warnerbros.com and inquire directly of legal
affairs.
jms
[ Summary: Asks what can be done about the station in British Columbia that
didn't bother to air "The Coming of Shadows." ]
#: 586042 S5/Babylon 5: General
01-Oct-96 20:19:23
Sb: #585971-CHEK Victoria
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
There's very little we can do about local situations such as this; the
main contract period where they have to follow the schedule is during new
episodes. During reruns, they're often all over the map.
jms
#: 585972 S5/Babylon 5: General
01-Oct-96 17:45:24
Sb: #SF Vortex on SCI-FI
Fm: JULIA E. LINTHICUM
I know this is slightly old news, but I just wanted to say I caught the SF
Vortex episode on the Sci-Fi Channel with Jerry Doyle, Bruce Boxleitner, and
John Copeland. I'm glad someone listens to fan requests. After reading his
posts on AOL for so long, it was nice to actually put a face and voice to
Copeland. And to see Bruce and Jerry out of character, just talking about the
show. I've never had a chance to attend any of the conventions, so I've only
had the stories and print interviews as my guide. If nothing else, the little
interactions (the word associations and wisecracks) confirmed what you've been
telling us all along... you're pretty weird bunch... but I mean that in the
best possible way. <g>
Julia L.
#: 586043 S5/Babylon 5: General
01-Oct-96 20:19:25
Sb: #585972-SF Vortex on SCI-FI
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Yeah, they're all remarkably unrestrained. Which is great. It makes
coming to work each day a fascinating and terrifying proposition....
jms
#: 586099 S5/Babylon 5: General
01-Oct-96 23:42:09
Sb: #582966-#I Found Demon Knight!
Fm: DAVID BELT
Hi, Joe!
Did the books arrive?
Dave
#: 586100 S5/Babylon 5: General
01-Oct-96 23:55:53
Sb: #586099-#I Found Demon Knight!
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Yes, and they're going back in a few days.
jms
[ Summary: Asks when the new season will start on KCOP in Los Angeles. ]
#: 586101 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
01-Oct-96 23:55:55
Sb: #586060-#New Season HELP!
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
This Thursday the new season starts on KCOP.
jms
#: 586137 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Oct-96 01:56:55
Sb: #<<Walkabout!>>
Fm: S J NICHOLSON
Congrats Joe,
We have watched "Walkabout" and it is great! Somehow all the different pieces
and storylines all worked together quite wonderfully. I haven't been overly
fond of Franklin stories (although Gropos was exceptional) but I did like the
singer and enjoyed your songs. They were good!
So fantastic to have new B5 again in Dallas and this season we get to see it on
Mondays. So we're excited about seeing it on the first day. We have had B5 on
about nearly every day at one time or another but the worst was waiting until
Sunday night for the new episode so you can imagine how happy we are now.
Sal
"He's a Vorlon alright."
#: 586376 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Oct-96 13:26:18
Sb: #586137-<<Walkabout!>>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks. It came out pretty well; it's exceeded by Shadow Dancing,
Z'ha'dum and Rock, but it ain't bad.
jms
#: 586175 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Oct-96 05:15:45
Sb: #585429-#B5 Tapes
Fm: SHANE S. SHELLENBARGER
Joe:
Have you written all of the 4th season episodes to date?
Shane
#: 586378 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Oct-96 13:26:20
Sb: #586175-#B5 Tapes
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Er...yes.
jms
[ Summary: The fellow author and member of the SFWA offers some more
insights and opinions. ]
#: 586379 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Oct-96 13:26:24
Sb: #586237-USENET SFWA post
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I think your points are valid...the question, for me, is *why* they are
valid. Yes, what you describe is what the studio folks *think* is SF. Because
they don't know any better.
Lemme take this away from SF for a moment to make the point. For the
last 45 years, the networks and studios thought cop shows were all of a piece.
If you really sit back and look at them objectively, most cop shows were more
adventure shoot-em-ups than anything else, the bad guy has a plot, the good
guys try and stop him...they had very little bearing on reality. The occasional
exception, like a Hill Street Blues, was just that, an exception and not
repeated. The networks thought that's what a cop show WAS. Police Story and
Jake and the Fatman and Cannon and all the rest.
Then along came a book...Homicide: Life in the Killing Streets, which
was trotted over to the networks with startling speed. It was a gritty, inside
look at how this stuff *really* works. And as with one voice, the networks
said, "Oh, so THAT'S how it works," and then you instantly had the Homicide TV
series, and NYPD Blue and others fast-tracking to be real cop shows.
They can course correct *real* fast if you know how to approach them. Do
the studio heads *really* appreciate cop stories now more than before? No, not
really, their eyes are still on the bottom line of finances. But they now
allow these sorts of stories to be done.
You can do the same thing with SF. We've done a little of that with B5,
and now there are more shows coming up with long-range story arcs, from Space
Cases to Dark Skies to others now in development. We've done stories in aresa
not usually considered covered by SF, from religion to the death penalty to
other areas. We've educated. Not a lot, I'm not exaggerating our influence,
but a little...and that's a start. More could be done if the SF publishing
community got off its butt and addressed the media rather than running from it
or deriding it or simply ignoring it, in the belief that if they close their
eyes it's not there anymore.
SF writers, more than anyone else, should understand the dangers of not
keeping up with changes in technology in the areas in which you work.
jms
#: 586390 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Oct-96 13:37:14
Sb: #Two comments
Fm: JUANMA BARRANQUERO
Two brief comments/questions:
- Why did you use Jack the Ripper as a character? I mean, are you fascinated by
the story of JtR (as many of us do), or simply you used him for dramatic
effect?
- Don't know if you've heard of a PBEM game called VGA Planets. His author, Tim
Wiseman, is now designing version 4.0/5.0, and it's using a copyrighted
logotype *remarkably* similar to the Earth Alliance one, only slightly deformed
and with the E made into a V with a G inside. If you feel curious, just point
your web browser to http://www.wilmington.net/vgaplanets/
#: 586466 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Oct-96 17:20:09
Sb: #586390-Two comments
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I used Jack because he was perfect for that particular job, which was
what the Vorlons had decided as well. Simple as that.
jms
#: 586402 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Oct-96 14:07:14
Sb: #585771-#Hug Mr. Ellison for me
Fm: SUSAN PEAK
PMFJI, but how *is* Harlan? I haven't picked up any news recently, quadruple
heart [four hearts?!!] by-pass is tough, and he is one of my favourite writers
(saving your presence..!!).
Thanks,
susan.
#: 586468 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Oct-96 17:20:11
Sb: #586402-Hug Mr. Ellison for me
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Harlan's doing great, even better than he was before the surgery; he has
more energy, he's all over the place, he's writing more now...it's great.
jms
#: 586469 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Oct-96 17:20:16
Sb: #586402-#Hug Mr. Ellison for me
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I sent your note to Harlan, and today received this message in return.
Any typos that may have crept in here are my responsibility.
jms
*****
2 October 1996 TO: Joe Straczynski FROM: Harlan Ellison Re: Posting on B5
General topic pursuant to your fax of 1 October 96
Joe: Here's the response we discussed via telecon this morning. If you would
post it for me, I'd be appreciative. - he
Dear Mary Cree:
As you likely know, I am--how shall I happily put this?--"netless in
Gaza." That is to say, Joe Straczynski is posting this for me. Had I your
home address, I would have hand-typed an actual letter, and signed it with one
of my lovely fountain pens, and mailed it directly to you; and you'd have had a
small, but for-real, artifact. Rather than this nebulous electronic
simulacrum, sans human signature...the traditional mark of establishing that
the message comes from the heart of the sender.
Here's the long and the short of it: I have waited thirty and more years
for your letter. I cannot, in any human tongue, express my gratitude for your
comments and encomia.
I hint, in the introductory essay to CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER, at the
circumstances that conspired to jostle, prod, and chivvy me to the point of
writing the book. Delineating those circumstances would take yet *another*
45,000 word essay. I choose to give *that* odious chore a regal pass.
Insofar as the reality of writing the long introductory material to CITY
is concerned, I was an *extremely* reluctant virgin brought to that nuptial
bed. Had I let the whole idea go a-bornilng, I would probably have been just
as content...and continued to live with that ugly little feral hatred gnawing
at my composure for the remaining years of my life. But the forces massed, and
I wrote the book, and now it's out there doing incredibly well (much to my
suprirse), and I guess it's all worth it. Because, in some measure, I received
your note.
I never realized, till I got into the writing of CITY, just how angry I
was, nor even how deeply I'd been hurt by what happened. The writing was like
crawling across the most exhausting Gobi Altai one could imagine, only to be
offered, at the oasis, not a glass of Perrier, but a large peanut butter
sandwich. Nonetheless, I did it, and it was done, and out there-- twice-- and
I could cease ruminating on what a crappy chapter it had been in my carer.
I didn't realize I was waiting for your letter. That I'd written the
book *just to get your letter*. But now I know.
Thank you, every so much. Respectfully,
#: 586424 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Oct-96 15:28:13
Sb: #585774-#jms Songwriter ?
Fm: MR. TRACY SCHELL
>> No, Walkabout is the first of the final 5 held back from year 3. <<
Is this where we get 8-9 new ones in a row?
Mr.T- On Florida's Space Coast
#: 586471 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Oct-96 17:20:19
Sb: #586424-jms Songwriter ?
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Yup.
jms
#: 586521 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Oct-96 19:27:33
Sb: #586378-#B5 Tapes
Fm: TOM KNUDSEN
Joe,
<Er...yes.>
Oh man........you're definitely a glutton for punishment. PLEASE take
care of yourself. Not only do we want to make sure you can give us a fifth
season, but more importantly, we don't want to see you get burned out.
I will say though, that with a few notable exceptions, namely Believers
and the two Peter David episodes, I've enjoyed the episodes you've written much
more. Let's face it. You're the man with the plan and you know best where you
need to go with this puppy. I wish you luck and inspiration.
Tom^^^^
"The avalanche has ALREADY started. It is too late
for the pebbles to vote." - Kosh Naranek
#: 586586 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Oct-96 21:11:11
Sb: #586521-B5 Tapes
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks...I'm chugging along just fine.
jms
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