JMS on CompuServe (Feb 24, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*
bbarrett at speedlink.com
bbarrett at speedlink.com
Mon Feb 24 23:21:59 EST 1997
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The following posts may contain SPOILERS for
upcoming Babylon 5 episodes.
Continue at your own risk.
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[ Summary of subjects in this section: ]
Sb: #650682-#Lessons of 'Epiphanies'
Sb: #650857-Cindy LOVED Demon Night
Sb: #650874-#Cindy LOVED Demon Night
Sb: #650691-He Did What?!
Sb: #650789-B5 in MacUser
Sb: #650871-#Illusion of Truth
Sb: #650782-#Lessons of 'Epiphanies'
Sb: #650828-<TIoT> Ill-/De-/Coll-
Sb: #650864-<IoT--cryo-cameos>
Sb: #650881-Cindy LOVED Demon Night
[ Summary: JMS' quoting speaks for itself... ]
#: 650880 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
23-Feb-97 22:44:39
Sb: #650682-#Lessons of 'Epiphanies'
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
"1. Sure the witch-hunt was probably a bad thing but let's all remember that
Hollywood was indeed full of Commies."
Sigh...
Darwin was wrong.
jms
#: 650857 S5/Babylon 5: General
23-Feb-97 20:20:04
Sb: #650550-#Cindy LOVED Demon Night
Fm: REBECCA ESCHLIMAN
<< But the next one will be better. >>
"And still he bore...a banner with a strange device, "Excelsior."
jms-
Even though you've achieved success in here-and-now based writing with
MSW and J&tFM, you seem most drawn to SF when initiating your own
projects. I'm just curious, is this because the here-and-now is too
confining for the stories you want to tell, or SF allows you to play
with what we know in the here-and-now more effectively, or...?
-rje-
To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else. --
Emily Dickinson
#: 650886 S5/Babylon 5: General
23-Feb-97 23:16:35
Sb: #650857-Cindy LOVED Demon Night
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I tend to lean toward SF because that's what gets caught in my filter.
I'm an SF fan. Always have been. I like other genres, and tend to play with
them from time to time, but SF remains my first and foremost love.
jms
#: 650874 S5/Babylon 5: General
23-Feb-97 21:50:10
Sb: #650550-#Cindy LOVED Demon Night
Fm: JEAN S MCKNIGHT
> But the next one will be better.<
Does the next one have a title or expected publication date yet?
Jean McKnight
#: 650887 S5/Babylon 5: General
23-Feb-97 23:16:37
Sb: #650874-#Cindy LOVED Demon Night
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Title, yeah, but I'm holding that for now; no pub date, I want to finish
it first, then auction it.
jms
#: 650691 S5/Babylon 5: General
23-Feb-97 11:27:34
Sb: #650551-#He Did What?!
Fm: BRENT BARRETT
If no one around there taped it, I did. I'd be happy to mail off a copy to
the regular mail drop, if you like.
-- Brent
#: 650888 S5/Babylon 5: General
23-Feb-97 23:16:39
Sb: #650691-He Did What?!
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks...lemme check around here first, in case we can get an aircheck
from the studio first. If not, I'll take you up on the offer, thanks.
jms
[ Summary: Says that an article in MacUser gave Babylon 5 a good plug. The
URL is: http://www.zdnet.com/macuser/mu_0497/columns/ihnatko.html. ]
#: 650889 S5/Babylon 5: General
23-Feb-97 23:16:40
Sb: #650789-B5 in MacUser
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks...yeah, I saw it. Nice article.
jms
[ Summary: "Thanks for exposing the truth about how the major mass media
"manufactures" the "news" that we read, hear, and watch. FWIW, that
was your most courageous episode yet, IMHO." ]
#: 650890 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
23-Feb-97 23:16:43
Sb: #650871-#Illusion of Truth
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
"FWIW, that was your most courageous episode yet, IMHO."
I appreciate the sentiment, so don't take this as lack of gratitude on my
part; I'm happy you perceive it that way.
But courageous? No.
Courageous as an apellation belongs to the South American writers who
insist on telling the truth about their governments, who risk death on a daily
basis for doing so...and to other writers doing similar work in other
countries.
Yeah, it was kind of a shot to the midsection for some groups, with a
certain element of biting the hand that feeds you, but the truth is, ain't
nobody gonna come to my door in the middle of the night with death squads, take
me away, and torture me. If you want to hear about real courage, join PEN
International, or Amnesty International. They can always use the help.
jms
[ Summary: Following up on a previous message, this poster comments that
being a communist isn't illegal today. The implication is that it
was in the past. ]
#: 650891 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
23-Feb-97 23:16:46
Sb: #650782-#Lessons of 'Epiphanies'
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Actually, being a communist wasn't illegal back in the McCarthy period,
either...they just destroyed you for it.
jms
#: 650828 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
23-Feb-97 19:02:48
Sb: #<TIoT> Ill-/De-/Coll-
Fm: REBECCA ESCHLIMAN
The illusion of truth that formed the second half of the ep come close to
making me physically ill (which I have to assume is what you intended.) Much
has been made of the lessons to be learned about our current blind acceptance
of TV news reports, but the thing that struck me is that the horror of this
episode is the revelation of the alien in the consummately familiar -- it is
not surprising to us that we are suspicious of or horrified by the recognizably
alien (the essential "otherness" of the Shadows, Vorlons, even Minbari, e.g.).
But what can really make our skin crawl is the sudden jolt of recognition that
there is absolute alienness roiling in the psyches of members of whatever group
we recognize as "us." We don't have to go very far to see the absolute alien
within the "us" -- the McCarthy hearings (as underlined by this ep), the
Holocaust, the Ku Klux Klan, the murderer of JonBenet Ramsey (and the Baby
Beauty Pageant culture within which it was framed), the murdered of Chicago's
"Girl X," and the anti-immigrant/anti-poor hysteria alive in the land and in
the legislatures, to name but a few out of a regrettably long list of "aliens
among us."
On to other reactions:
- It was nice to see that, with the fate of the known universe settled for a
moment, Sheridan's first concern is back to the necessarily abandoned personal
-- his family back in Earthgov-controlled territory.
- Garibaldi's mordant flippancy and willingness to bend the rules suit him well
for his current position of soldier-of-fortune/private eye. But his instant
reaction to Sheridan, either from sight or mention, gives me the chilling
feeling of someone under "operant conditioning."
It's eerie -- what he *says* makes perfect sense, but I feel an uneasiness all
the same... Can what Garibaldi says be counted as illusion or truth, these
days?
- The "little truth is better than no truth at all" line by Dan Randall is
revealed to be one of the ultimate Great Lies. A little truth told baldly may
be better than no truth at all, but a little truth costumed in a poisonous lie
is infinitely worse. I had a strange flash to the X-Files: Apology Is Policy
(and there was a hint of that in Dan Randall and Doctor Indiri) becomes
Plausibility Is Policy. All one has to do is make a Great Lie plausible, and
it becomes a Great Accepted Poisonous Truth.
- I like the projection into the future of the suggestions for downloads during
the broadcasts. In addition, kudos to the actors and Stephen Furst for the
dead-on feel of broadcasting and commentary.
I have to say congratulations on this ep's effectiveness, but that same
effectiveness means that it will *not* be one that is re-viewed (except to
revisit hints dropped in this ep that will flower in future eps).
-rje-
To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else. -- Emily
Dickinson
#: 650892 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
23-Feb-97 23:16:48
Sb: #650828-<TIoT> Ill-/De-/Coll-
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks...your reaction is about on a par with most folks...that this ep
is one that'll be discussed a lot, but not rewatched a lot, because it's just
really hard to watch, knowing what's coming. It really does tend to upset
people.
jms
#: 650864 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
23-Feb-97 21:14:35
Sb: #<IoT--cryo-cameos>
Fm: MARA K. MALOVANY
Ok, I caught a couple of names I recognized on those cryo-units this
week. Carolyn Sanderson, of course, but what had me laughing out loud (and
then struggling to explain it quickly to the folks) was John Flinn! The man
really gets around, eh?<g> Anybody else interesting in cryo-units we should
look out for?
Mara
#: 650893 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
23-Feb-97 23:16:50
Sb: #650864-<IoT--cryo-cameos>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I'll probably be there sooner or later....
jms
#: 650881 S5/Babylon 5: General
23-Feb-97 23:07:34
Sb: #650550-#Cindy LOVED Demon Night
Fm: DAVID BELT
<< They're pretty good books.>>
I know. I read both of them when you first sent them back to me, before I
wrapped them up for Christmas!
<< But the next one will be better.>>
The next novel? You mean there is something coming after Othersyde? I hope
so!
Dave
#: 650897 S5/Babylon 5: General
23-Feb-97 23:46:50
Sb: #650881-Cindy LOVED Demon Night
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Yeah, I started my next novel...it's going to be a slow haul, because I
still have to give B5 my primary concern, but I've been going batty not doing
some prose work, and I decided I finally had to start it, just for my own soul.
jms
[END]
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