JMS on CompuServe (Jan 18, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*
bbarrett at speedlink.com
bbarrett at speedlink.com
Sat Jan 18 17:31:58 EST 1997
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 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/
**********************************************
###### Support Babylon 5! ######
## To get a fifth season of this ##
# ### wonderful epic, we need to # ###
. ## let local stations and Warner . ##
## ## Brothers know we want it! ## ##
##### www.babylon5.com/cmp/support #####
**********************************************
[ Summary of subjects in this section: ]
Sb: #638652-#From jms re: yr 4/5
Sb: #638634-From jms re: yr 4/5
Sb: #638673-#From jms re: yr 4/5
Sb: #638639-Sneak Attacks.
Sb: #638784-#From jms re: yr 4/5
Sb: #638892-#Stargazer creditors mtg
Sb: #638935-#From jms re: yr 4/5
Sb: #638948-From jms re: yr 4/5
Sb: #638954-B5 TV ratings?
Sb: #638992-#B5 TV ratings?
Sb: #639046-From jms re: yr 4/5
Sb: #639075-From jms re: yr 4/5
Sb: #639009-From jms re: yr 4/5
Sb: #639010-From jms re: yr 4/5
Sb: #639045-B5 TV ratings?
#: 638652 S5/Babylon 5: General
16-Jan-97 18:25:35
Sb: #638327-#From jms re: yr 4/5
Fm: MICHAEL R. BREHMER
Joe:
<<how the networks view viewers... "...Our programming more and more will have
to turn to those who don't have any real education or money for other
programming options.">>
Do you believe that "network suites" are following that philosophy to a certain
degree? Or is that many people's perception that network TV used to be better
mere nostalgia?
I'm curious. Even with your busy schedule, do you ever get a chance to watch
any network TV?
#: 638746 S5/Babylon 5: General
16-Jan-97 22:01:46
Sb: #638652-#From jms re: yr 4/5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I don't get much chance to watch TV these days, for obvious reasons. I
try to carve out room for X-Files, Simpsons, 60 Minutes, The Tick, the Larry
Sanders Show, Dateline, Nightline and a couple of others, but that's about it
for the week.
jms
#: 638634 S5/Babylon 5: General
16-Jan-97 16:53:31
Sb: #637535-#From jms re: yr 4/5
Fm: JOHN M. GRAHAM
On this topic of B5 as a "TV Novel". I have an acquaintance in the TV
syndication business (he sells programs to the various stations). Although he
doesn't watch B5, he is aware of it. He insisted that in the industry, B5 is
termed a "Soap" because the story lines continue from show to show, some
winding up, some continuing and other beginning. I, on the otherhand, tried to
convince of the main differences between B5 and your average soap -- from a
story line point of view, not special effects. Unlike a soap, which goes on ad
nauseum, you have a beginning, a middle and an end. You have an overall story
line, to which the sub-plots are mostly tied, not five or more story lines of
equal importance. In the end, I think that had I not had this forum to educate
me, I would not have been aware of what B5 was meant to be until well into the
first season, and possibly into season 2. It did at first look much like a
"space soap". Someone in the industry who does not watch the show regularly is
going to form impressions early, and is going to assume B5 is a soap.
I am curious of whether my friend's view is prevalent in the industry, whether
it is technically accurate, and whether such a view has hampered (or maybe
helped?) to some extent your ability to market B5 accross the country?
Can't wait for the new shows to start next month-- are we going to get more
than four (if not, you'll have five seasons just getting through season 4!<G>)
-John
#: 638747 S5/Babylon 5: General
16-Jan-97 22:01:48
Sb: #638634-From jms re: yr 4/5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
All I know is that in 4 years, I've never heard anyone in the industry
refer to B5 as a soap. So that may answer your question.
jms
[ Summary: Asks if the TV business would work better if the front-line
guys worked the backoffice for a while and the suits guys worked the
trenches. ]
#: 638748 S5/Babylon 5: General
16-Jan-97 22:01:51
Sb: #638673-#From jms re: yr 4/5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I dunno...sometimes I think that's the *problem*. It used to be the case
that network suits stayed in one place for a long time, and held sway for
years...now you've got kids coming in who know nothing BUT TV running the show.
The median age at the networks is very low these days, and the turnover is
quite high. The longer you can stay at the job (within common sense limits)
the more confident you can get and start taking some chances (until you get TOO
comfortable, natch). Now the rule seems to be "cover your ass and don't make
trouble" competing with "I've gotta do something big to make a splash so I can
get a better deal with I go to another network."
Very few people make decisions based on what they think will work, it's
all based on research now, focus groups and other means of being able to point
to someone else and say, "I did my job, research said it was a good show, it's
not my fault."
Most of the really imaginative work being done in TV these days is
happening in cable, frankly.
jms
#: 638639 S5/Babylon 5: General
16-Jan-97 17:15:48
Sb: #Sneak Attacks.
Fm: JOHN M. GRAHAM
Joe, I just love watching the first season episodes again, cause there is so
much wonderful foreshadowing. And, then again, maybe not....
Take for example Sinclair talking to G'Kar in the garden about sneak attacks.
"Sneak Attacks are the last resort of a coward," or something like that. "The
Minbari would never pull a sneak attack; they are too honorable."
Enter John Sheridan. Winner of the only battle of the Earth-Minbari war. How,
with a sneak attack. Sinclair's statements certainly foreshadowed the
Minbari's incredible hatred for Sheridan (which Delenn has somehow forgotten?)
But, Sheridan has now not only pulled off another sneak attack, but upon a
civilian target! He has destroyed the main population center of a race older
than dirt so to speak. He accepted an invitation to peace talks, bought just
happen to bring along two nuclear missles with him which could not be detected
by the enemy (and just why didn't the "Eye" detect his ploy? -- don't answer
that one <g>?)
John Sheridan can be called desparate, but certainly not a coward. My problem
here is, after such a sneak attack, why do the Minbari still rally around him?
Why don't they change his knick-name to "City-Killer" and go off to fight this
war the honorable way?
-John
#: 638749 S5/Babylon 5: General
16-Jan-97 22:01:54
Sb: #638639-Sneak Attacks.
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Well, you're looking at very different scenarios. A "sneak attack" a la
Pearl Harbor is against a nation that is not at war.
In the Black Star situation, Sheridan's ship was damaged, and they used
that to lure in the aggressor ship (which was coming in to eliminate them) and
destroy it. They were already at war, and they were taking drastic steps to
keep from being destroyed themselves.
In the Z'ha'dum situation, again, there was a war of aggression on,
pursued by the shadows. In wartime, one does sometimes bomb the capital cities
of aggressor nations, from Iraq to Dresden to Tokyo, on and on.
But neither situation is in the *least* comparable to a sneak attack. Was
there cleverness? Sure. But sometimes you need that to beat a technically
superior enemy.
jms
[ Summary: Relays the story of a Trek executive who asked him, when he
and his company wanted to release a CD-ROM version of the "Star Trek
Encyclopedia," if they had done a focus group to determine if fans
really wanted one. ]
#: 638930 S5/Babylon 5: General
17-Jan-97 15:02:59
Sb: #638784-#From jms re: yr 4/5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Back at you:
WB did a focus group for B5. Peeled of 20 folks for an in-room review,
the rest of us watching through mirrored glass. One guy hates the show
vehemently, keeps saying it's not science fiction. Finally the guy running the
group says, "Could you tell us what you feel is an example of good science
fiction?"
And the guy says, "Power Rangers."
I damn near went through the glass at him.
jms
[ Summary: "Highlights from the Stargazer Creditors' meeting." ]
#: 638931 S7/Babylon 5: UK/World
17-Jan-97 15:10:44
Sb: #638892-#Stargazer creditors mtg
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Btw, could someone over in the UK who knows somebody over at the CultTV
awards let them know that we still haven't received the awards from last year's
presentation...and we're building an awards cabinet, and they'd look great in
it....
jms
[ Summary: Asks if JMS has ever had fans complain about opposite problems
with the same episode, like too much CGI and too little CGI. ]
#: 638995 S5/Babylon 5: General
17-Jan-97 18:05:14
Sb: #638935-#From jms re: yr 4/5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Yeah, that's common...one person wants more EFX, another more character,
another more arc...and if it doesn't have one of those things, that which works
for them best, sometimes it gets written off. That's one of the things you
learn in workshops...that you didn't like it doesn't mean it's bad, only that
it didn't work for *you*. But on many occasions I've seen a note from someone
who felt that, because it had no CGI in it, it was perforce bad.
Which is why, in the final analysis, one must listen to the small voice
in the back of one's head when writing. If networks comprise one sort of
committee, fandom -- well-intentioned as they all are, and as sharp as they all
tend to be -- is still another (and larger) committee, even more diverse. As
you say, there's no one thing the fans want...they're not some monolithic
group...they're a diverse and fasacinating group.
jms
[ Summary: "Does it work out that people who can *MAKE DECISIONS* and
*STICK TO THEM* tend to last longer?" ]
#: 638996 S5/Babylon 5: General
17-Jan-97 18:05:15
Sb: #638948-From jms re: yr 4/5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
You never know...it's a mug's game, TeeVee....
jms
[ Summary: "BTW, my five-year-old can watch my two sets of "Real
Ghostbuster" episodes whenever he wants to....(I wish Cartoon Network
would pick *that* up!)." ]
#: 638997 S5/Babylon 5: General
17-Jan-97 18:05:16
Sb: #638954-B5 TV ratings?
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Yeah, it was a good show, wish it were around more.
jms
[ Summary: Of the ABC show "Politically Incorrect," this poster writes,
"Would love to see you on the show as a guest!" ]
#: 638998 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
17-Jan-97 18:05:18
Sb: #638992-#B5 TV ratings?
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I have no special urge to see my face on TeeVee, frankly...I'm a writer,
and happy just with that.
jms
#: 639046 S5/Babylon 5: General
17-Jan-97 22:20:28
Sb: #638329-#From jms re: yr 4/5
Fm: SANJIV S. PURBA
Joe,
Who does the licencing for B5 novels?
Sanjiv
#: 639090 S5/Babylon 5: General
18-Jan-97 01:36:59
Sb: #639046-From jms re: yr 4/5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Dell has thus far licensed the right to do the books; the current three
books under contract are all filled.
jms
[ Summary: About nearly going through the glass after the guy who didn't
think B5 was good Science Fiction but "Power Rangers" was, this poster
asks, "Why didn't you?" ]
#: 639091 S5/Babylon 5: General
18-Jan-97 01:37:01
Sb: #639075-From jms re: yr 4/5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I think it may have had something to do with the three guys who tackled
me....
jms
#: 639009 S5/Babylon 5: General
17-Jan-97 19:43:02
Sb: #638748-#From jms re: yr 4/5
Fm: TOM KNUDSEN
Joe,
<Very few people make decisions based on what they think will work,
it's all based on research now, focus groups and other means of being able to
point to someone else and say, "I did my job, research said it was a good show,
it's not my fault.">
Has there ever, in the history of television that you know of, been a
hit show (a big hit, not just a show that stuck around a couple of years) that
was instigated/designed based upon this research??
Tom^^^^
#: 639092 S5/Babylon 5: General
18-Jan-97 01:37:03
Sb: #639009-From jms re: yr 4/5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Not that I know of.
jms
#: 639010 S5/Babylon 5: General
17-Jan-97 19:48:12
Sb: #637535-#From jms re: yr 4/5
Fm: BEN DIBBLE
Joe,
do you ever wonder if your doing ever so many episodes for B5 is
going to make any others following in your footsteps have second thoughts
about "the arc thing?"
I seem to recall that you hope that B5's success helps other shows
get done. But it's got to be intimidating to see the guy ahead of you
cranking out so many stories. Your devotion and willingness to abandon
normal life is great from our point, but others could just be wondering
about you...
thanks,
Ben
#: 639093 S5/Babylon 5: General
18-Jan-97 01:37:05
Sb: #639010-From jms re: yr 4/5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I think a *lot* of people wonder about me.
And it doesn't have to be done by one person; the third year it came
about because so much was changing, so much was happening, it made it hard to
bring in anyone...in year four, I've had to structure this extremely elaborate
tree so I can flip either way depending on whether or not we get a fifth year,
and again you just can't farm that out in any realistic way.
I'm *very* much looking forward to never, ever doing this (writing an
entire season or two singlehanded) again for the rest of my natural life....
jms
#: 639045 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
17-Jan-97 22:16:42
Sb: #638998-#B5 TV ratings?
Fm: SANJIV S. PURBA
Joe,
When are new episodes of B5 going to air? I can't wait to see what happens
next. The last episode shown on our local station (VR) showed Londo planning
to take the Emperor to the Narn homeworld, and the Vorlons moving deeper into
Shadow infested worlds. I am sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to see
what happens next.
Sanjiv
#: 639094 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
18-Jan-97 01:37:08
Sb: #639045-B5 TV ratings?
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
New eps start around the week of January 27th.
jms
[END]
-***
-*** 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