JMS on CompuServe (Jul 03, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS* (1/2)
bbarrett at speedlink.com
bbarrett at speedlink.com
Thu Jul 3 14:26:35 EDT 1997
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The following posts may contain SPOILERS for
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[ Summary of subjects in this section: ]
Sb: #682117-#Last 4 - have to redo?
Sb: #682107-The 5th Season
Sb: #682522-#Last 4 - have to redo?
Sb: #682536-Last 4 - have to redo?
Sb: #682327-B5 *only* on cable now??
Sb: #682363-Now this is Scary...
Sb: #682451-Honor the achievement
Sb: #682455-What might be different?
Sb: #682752-#The 5th Season
Sb: #682734-makeup in new movies
Sb: #682740-#B5 *only* on cable now??
Sb: #682652-#B5 finally on Video.DVD?
[ Summary: (JMS realized that he had previously responded to someone whose
name he recognized.) ]
#: 682459 S5/Babylon 5: General
01-Jul-97 22:40:51
Sb: #682117-#Last 4 - have to redo?
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Waitaminnit...just looked at the name again...is this *the* James Morrow?
As in the writer?
jms
#: 682107 S5/Babylon 5: General
01-Jul-97 01:13:49
Sb: #The 5th Season
Fm: RAY PELZER
Joe: I've been kinda on the sidelines over this weekend, but I'd like to add my
congratulations to the rest of the folks here.
You have a lot to be proud of. You've bested Rod Serling's record of
continuous episode-writing (and continue to boost that record with each new
show). You've created a place where underestimated actors and actresses have
been given the opportunity to shine and show their true mettle. You've created
a science-fiction program that networks have fought over (and the winner wants
to hold it up as a "shining beacon"). You have people around the globe
clamoring to find out what's going to happen next at a level probably only
close to Star Wars when it was first released. You've given we drivel-weary
viewers a truly epic-proportion story to sink our collective teeth into for
four (and now, five) straight years. You've put together a TV series that
Harlan Ellison is proud to associate himself with (and we all know that THAT is
no mean feat!).
And probably most important, you've had the opportunity to tell YOUR
story the way YOU wanted.
Although we've never met in person, I'm proud to be able to say I've
made your electronic acquaintance. Ya done good. :)
Ray
#: 682460 S5/Babylon 5: General
01-Jul-97 22:40:53
Sb: #682107-The 5th Season
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks...not too bad for a day's work....
jms
#: 682522 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Jul-97 04:54:35
Sb: #681799-#Last 4 - have to redo?
Fm: ALAN MULVIE
Hi Joe,
Don't worry I'm not going to ask about "fillers" in season 5. I'd just like to
throw in my tupence worth as to what could continue in season 5 and beyond,
although I know it should end and not continue ALA trek. (which is going down
hill rapidly, or are my expectations more after Babylon 5?)
Ive only seen up to 412, so some of this may be resolved before 421 so here
goes loose threads or things I would like to see tied up. (some are best left
to the viewers imaginations IMHO)
Whats the score with Mr Garibaldi?
Ditto Valen/Sinclair - his descendants?
How did Babylon 5 get destroyed? (from flash forwards)
Who/what was on the ship escaping?
What/where are all the Shadow/Vorlon ships/equipment.
Will the Narn and Centari find peace?
Who where the enemys referred to in War without End (Delann in the future)
Does Sheridan Die (in 20 years) or evolve Like Lionheart?
Whats the score with Lionheart?
Did the Vorlons genetically engineer Telepaths?
What else did they genetically engineer?
Will Clark get booted out?
What happens to Centari Prime (in the future - war without end)
What will Sheridans Son be like- Do?
If Lyta can be "enhanced2 by the Vorlons, what did the shadows do to their
servants?
How does the army of Light cope with that?
If "Mankind" has some of that technology, what will we do with it?
Whats "The Rim" and whats beyond it?
Why wont there be a Babylon 6?
Will Mars become independent or unify with earth?
Ditto Proxima.
Now the big boys have gone, are the children gonna fight?
Will JMS let someone else write a script?
(you must have a time slowing machine, or never sleep)
So thats 22 loose ends (from the top of my head) and 32 episodes that I havent
seen (assuming 22 in season 5) so thats about 1.5 episodes per loose end. And
their are plenty of other loose ends if I take time to think about it, so the
question isnt if you will have a season 5 of fillers, but will you have enough
episodes to wrap up everything by the end of season 5? IMHO I think youll
still leave a lot to our imagination and hopefully force us to think.
Mlv
#: 682639 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Jul-97 13:44:58
Sb: #682522-#Last 4 - have to redo?
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
At least a third of those are resolved in the next batch; and a bulk of
the rest in the fifth season, plus a lot of other threads you missed.
jms
#: 682536 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Jul-97 06:48:53
Sb: #682288-#Last 4 - have to redo?
Fm: VADIM NARODITSKY
<< Yeah, I've often done non-SF stuff...comedy, cop shows, mystery shows,
historical stuff, horror, essays, articles...a little of everything.>>
I meant a big book, a novel that will be a bestseller now and that people would
still read in 20 years. (re: Forcait, Tom Clancy...). IMO you could create a
masterpice in this geanre.
Vadim
#: 682640 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Jul-97 13:44:59
Sb: #682536-Last 4 - have to redo?
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
No big books, though I've had two medium-sizednovels published so far.
jms
#: 682327 S5/Babylon 5: General
01-Jul-97 14:23:43
Sb: #682291-#B5 *only* on cable now??
Fm: NEIL BLEVINS
>It'll only be on cable, that's correct.<
Is it possible that it will be picked up by Non-cable stations in such areas
where TNT isn't available (such as here in Montreal)?
- Neil
#: 682792 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Jul-97 21:36:22
Sb: #682327-B5 *only* on cable now??
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I don't know the Canadian situation yet, but can't imagine that they
would let that market go by the boards for long.
jms
#: 682363 S5/Babylon 5: General
01-Jul-97 17:15:36
Sb: #Now this is Scary...
Fm: KEVIN P. KENNEY
A coworkers' children have been utterly caught up in their dad's fanhood of B5.
When listening to the 2nd CD in the car, they speak the opening passages. They
compete in yelling out the names of the speakers of each phrase of the season 4
opening. The 7-year old daughter did a school report on B5, with crudely drawn
shadow ships on the cover, "you must understand one thing: If you go to
Z'ha'Dum you will die." (my misquoting) on the inside cover, and dowloaded pics
from the Lurker's Guide... They have the card sets memorized...
And I didn't think the father that rabid of a fan?!?
The conversion process seems to be ahead of schedule...
(Thirty years from now they'll be bugging you for one more sequel...)
Remember the Pinky & the Brain's Beany & Cecil spoof?
What are you REALLY creating here???
Just beginning to understand,
KpK
#: 682793 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Jul-97 21:36:25
Sb: #682363-Now this is Scary...
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Give me them until they're 10 and they're mine for life...insert evil
cackle here....
jms
#: 682451 S5/Babylon 5: General
01-Jul-97 21:50:08
Sb: #Honor the achievement
Fm: MERYL YOURISH
Joe,
Don't know if anyone has said this yet, but you deserve the biggest pat on the
back you've ever received. Take the longest bow you can stand. Imagine all of
the B5 fans applauding you at once. Because, Joe, you did it.
You conceived Babylon 5 as a novel for television. You pitched it,
successfully, to a major studio, and ignoring the thievery of that nameless
Other Show that appeared at the same time. You outlined the five-year story
arc, stuck to your creative guns, found the finest actors and writers and
effects magicians and directors and crew, and you put on what I consider to be
the best science fiction show ever to have aired. In fact, I consider Babylon
5 to be one of the best television shows ever to have aired.
You broke ground that has never before been touched. You've set scriptwriting
records while keeping the quality of that writing excellent. You have shaped
your vision into something that we fans can't conceive of doing without.
I, for one, am thrilled to death that you got your wish--and ours--and will
have a fifth season to finish the story.
If ever there was an occasion for kudos, this is it. This is what the Greeks
invented the word for. So Joe--take that bow, and relax for a while, and watch
yourself go into the television history books. And thank you, thank you, THANK
you for giving us Babylon 5.
Meryl
#: 682794 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Jul-97 21:36:27
Sb: #682451-Honor the achievement
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks...y'know, someone else said that the other day, a reporter during
an interview, that there were now two paradigms of the best SF ever prouduced
in this country: ST and B5. That's a weighty compliment, and my first reaction
was to get really, really tired...but bottom line, we did what we set out to
do, kept every promise we made, and nothing can ever take that away. We went
the distance.
jms
#: 682455 S5/Babylon 5: General
01-Jul-97 22:00:07
Sb: #What might be different?
Fm: CARL CANTARELLA
Joe,
This has been bugging me a bit every since the great news about the fifth
season got reported, and I can't help but wonder ....if you had been assured of
a fifth season going into season four, are there many things you would have
done differently? Is season five a mixed blessing for you, coupled with any
regret about having had to expedite the arc to end by season four, a year ahead
of your predetermined five year game plan?
#: 682795 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Jul-97 21:36:30
Sb: #682455-What might be different?
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
"...coupled with any regret about having had to expedite the arc to end by
season four, a year ahead of your predetermined five year game plan?"
This is, again, a misnomer. The arc didn't *end* in year 4, nor did I
end it. Which becomes utterly evident once you see the final episodes. All I
did was to more or less isolate the incidents in year 5 from the preceding
year, so we could go into them or not.
What you have to do, which I've noted before, is to step back for a
moment and look at the series as a whole. Every season, we do basically the
same thing: we end on a cliffhanger, then the first 4-5 episodes of the next
season resolve the threads and the cliffhanger from the prior season, and then
we're off onto the next thread. They overlap by about 4-5 episodes.
So what I did was to pull those 4 episodes from the start of season 5
into season 4, which would otherwise have ended at 418 as the cliffhanger. So
there wasn't really that much crammed into 4, and everything that was going to
be in 5 is still there, with room for about 3-4 standalones, which will be a
nice break.
jms
[ Summary: (See below.) ]
#: 682848 S5/Babylon 5: General
03-Jul-97 03:20:54
Sb: #682752-#The 5th Season
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
"When you look back and reflect on what you've accomplished down the road, I
hope the reality matches the vision you had when you were pitching the idea
lo those many years ago."
A few glitches notwithstanding...it *exceeds* the vision. I'm happy.
It's the main piece that I will end up putting on the mantle to remind folks
I was here.
"Now, when you're done, could you please do a fantasy series, so I can find a
job for the troll in the well at the bottom of the hill near my barn? He's
irritating the hoses and I think he'll work for scale. . ."
^^^^^
Irritating the hoses?
May I suggest, rather than fantasy, perhaps a version of "Enema Mine."
jms
#: 682734 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Jul-97 19:06:10
Sb: #682289-#makeup in new movies
Fm: CATHERINE BECIC
[[ No, we're using the series makeup, rather than add one more
permutation.]]
In that case, for the newbies, will there be some explanation of why Delenn
changes looks from In the Beginning to The Gathering and then back for the
episodes?
#: 682849 S5/Babylon 5: General
03-Jul-97 03:20:57
Sb: #682734-makeup in new movies
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Well, I could run a crawl on the bottom of the screen...or insert a
commercial explaining it...otherwise, I think just letting it go would be best.
jms
[ Summary: "Will the early episodes ever be released in a collectors
video set?" ]
#: 682850 S5/Babylon 5: General
03-Jul-97 03:20:59
Sb: #682740-#B5 *only* on cable now??
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Columbia House will be releasing the show on cassette via mail-order this
Fall, I believe.
jms
[ Summary: DVD? ]
#: 682851 S5/Babylon 5: General
03-Jul-97 03:21:01
Sb: #682652-#B5 finally on Video.DVD?
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
We're *talking* to the DVD folks, and things look positive, but that's
still a long bit down the road.
jms
[ Continued in next section -- BB ]
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