JMS on CompuServe (Jun 05, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*
bbarrett at speedlink.com
bbarrett at speedlink.com
Thu Jun 5 16:13:51 EDT 1997
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 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.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Archives of this material may be found at:
ftp://ftp.johndelenn.com/pub/bbarrett/cis/
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http://www.johndelenn.com/
**********************************************
[ Summary: Theorizes that since Babylon 5 is like a good book, people
may be longing for "just one more story, just one more episode."
The poster goes on to guess, "The story of B5 is coming to a close,
and on some level, people are reacting to that." ]
#: 674340 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
04-Jun-97 13:45:15
Sb: #674179-Lorien
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Hadn't considered that prospect; who knows, you could be right.
jms
[ Summary: Loves the character of Bester. "Give my congratulations
to Walter." ]
#: 674341 S5/Babylon 5: General
04-Jun-97 13:45:16
Sb: #674272-BESTER?!!
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks, will do.
jms
#: 674336 S5/Babylon 5: General
04-Jun-97 13:18:03
Sb: #673763-#Season 5
Fm: DR JOHN A PURVIS
Joe,
I hope you'll bear with a few queries,
In the fullness of time (ie 1-2 yrs) will the movies be shown outside the US,
ie either on Channel 4 in uk or uk video release
Also I know things are very much pending re Season 5 but what news, my Lord
Straczynski, of possible sequel at present.
Thanks
JP
#: 674343 S5/Babylon 5: General
04-Jun-97 13:49:51
Sb: #674336-#Season 5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
The movies will almost certainly be released overseas, and since I think
TNT is carried on Sky TV, that would in theory mean that it would hit there the
same time as here.
jms
#: 674381 S5/Babylon 5: General
04-Jun-97 16:04:20
Sb: #JMS/B5 in Newsweek!
Fm: RAE AUGENSTEIN
The latest edition of Newsweek (June 9) has a story about JMS and Babylon 5
toward the back of the issue. It's a pretty good article, either written by a
fan or someone who did some *really* good research.
The Lurker's Guide says that the June 5 issue of Christian Science Monitor also
has a B5 story, but I don't have access to that.
(hey, I just found it online at
http://www.csmonitor.com/todays_paper/graphical/today/feat/tv.1.html)
---------------
Now a question for you, Joe: why the simultaneous coverage all of a sudden? Is
your publicist finally getting through to people, or is the media independently
discovering the show?
Congrats!!
Rae ^^^^
#: 674536 S5/Babylon 5: General
05-Jun-97 02:37:02
Sb: #674381-JMS/B5 in Newsweek!
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
TNT has come in and has begun getting us some long overdue publicity.
jms
[ Summary: A new fan club member asks for the URL to the fan club web
site. ]
#: 674537 S5/Babylon 5: General
05-Jun-97 02:37:03
Sb: #674407-Fan Club
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
www.thestation.com.
Welcome to the madhouse.
jms
#: 674422 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
04-Jun-97 17:51:24
Sb: #<NSNR> Tight Focus
Fm: REBECCA ESCHLIMAN
jms -
"No Surrender, No Retreat" echoed visually the insistent percussion of Franke's
music in the teaser. The teaser's quick cuts and later unusal visuals (Susan
front & center when the dialogue is going on behind her, Sheridan's review of
the troops, the ominous view of Corwin in the "bull's-eye" of the C&C window)
added to the unsettling feel to the development of Sheridan's new agenda.
The one thing that leaped out for me was the extreme closeups of various
characters juxtaposed to the wonderful CGI (I'm not alone in appreciating some
of the inventive virtual viewpoints) -- a reminder that B5's ultimate theme is
personal responsibility in relationship to global consequences. It helped to
underline the personal in both Mackie/Sheridan and Sheridan/Clarke (which does
seem to me a very personal conflict).
Other Reactions-on-the-Fly:
Sheridan casts his demand of treaty-abrogation in terms that the
Non-Aligned-Worlds can best appreciate -- taking back home. With the Shadows a
very recent memory, preservation of home is probably still uppermost in the
NAL's various minds.
Vir's dream & drink -- there's no way I'm going to speculate on what Vir's
dream concerned, but I love the way you have recurring images in B5 -- in this
case, the cup. Not only is the cup echoed in numerous episodes of B5 (Londo's
falling cup in WWEII, the cup as entrance to the dreaming for the Minbari, the
cup as symbol of diplomatic alliance between Narn and Centauri, the cup as
herald of Refa's eventual downfall), but one can't help but feel the resonance
of other literary uses of the cup -- the Holy Grail as the most obvious. I'd
like to know one other television series that uses the power of cultural image
to the extent that B5 does.
Even though we haven't seen him in the intervening episodes, Corwin has matured
as though he were present and accounted for.
G'Kar seems to know that it's Mollari at his door -- why else would he wait so
long to call, "Enter?" But how did he know -- was it an official request by
Londo?
The Londo/G'kar scenes were extraordinarily powerful, perhaps because they were
underplayed. Both characters' natural inclination is to the bombastic, but
both operated in a quite muted fashion -- does this indicate honesty? Londo's
approach to G'Kar is all the more powerful because it goes counter to the usual
Centauri grandiosity and vainglory.
Londo's admission of, "If I can become the enemy, how can I know who the enemy
is," (extreme paraphrase) may be a leitmotif for the whole of the remaining
episodes, or the entire series.
Londo's speech about not maybe knowing his enemies, but knowing his friends and
need to do better by them is his acceptance of personal responsibility. Hurrah
that he sees it now, but boo that it took him so long.
Ivanova's Voice of the Resistance seems to be a new incarnation of the Greek
Chorus, and a skillful translation to TV of the GC it is.
-rje- To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else. --
Emily Dickinson
#: 674538 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
05-Jun-97 02:37:05
Sb: #674422-<NSNR> Tight Focus
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
"G'Kar seems to know that it's Mollari at his door -- why else would he wait so
long to call, "Enter?" But how did he know -- was it an official request by
Londo?"
If you recall, when Garibaldi visited Vir, Vir mentioned that Londo was
arranging a meeting with G'Kar, so it was definitely set up in advance.
jms
#: 674460 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
04-Jun-97 18:54:28
Sb: #<Irritation Threshold>
Fm: WILL CARAWAY
Joe,
just wanted to let you know that if your goal in life is to push my
irritation level to new heights you've been successful. First, you develop a
warrior with a soul who finally understands what a true warrior is and then at
that moment you kill him. Just in case you're not aware of it every show (even
Seinfield) needs a true warrior. Next, just when I'm thinking G'Kar has become
a truly evolved being you shatter that illusion. Then just for good measure,
after having left me depressed for the whole episode, you reveal that my
original impression wasn't that far off. Now, finally, this week after weeks
of waiting to find out what Sheridan has planned for the telepaths, you take us
all the way up to the telling and then the next thing I see is a shaken Steven
walking out of Med Lab. This is making me crazy. If you keep this up, I'm
going to have to buy a plane ticket and come speak harshly to you in person. :)
Hope you get year 5.
Gratefully,
Will
#: 674539 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
05-Jun-97 02:37:08
Sb: #674460-<Irritation Threshold>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
We try.
jms
[END]
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