JMS on CompuServe (Jun 09, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*
bbarrett at speedlink.com
bbarrett at speedlink.com
Mon Jun 9 20:16:39 EDT 1997
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[ Summary of subjects in this section: ]
Sb: #675759-The Big Day!
Sb: #675700-'Drop Dead' Date?
Sb: #675739-Newsweek
Sb: #675702-TNT Movies
Sb: #675699-#Isometic <Excercise...)
#: 675759 S5/Babylon 5: General
08-Jun-97 20:33:47
Sb: #675014-#The Big Day!
Fm: CARL CANTARELLA
>> Well, it's the first time they've done it.<<
Joe,
I just learned about the new July 15th deadline which Warner Bros.
requested on another Service, and I'm just wondering if you're looking at this
as a good sign, or not something to necessarily get all too hopeful about. Care
to give me a clue? <g>
I know this is a rather unusual move for WB to make, and I can only
assume that perhaps it has something to do with the PTEN folding matter.
#: 675820 S5/Babylon 5: General
08-Jun-97 23:58:03
Sb: #675759-The Big Day!
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
It's a means of making time for them to work out the limitations of the
PTEN contract, and the new syndicated market, which has been going through
massive changes in the last year or two; basically the market has collapsed or
been driven out (depending on the market you're in) by all the new networks and
program glut. Virtually every syndicated show has dropped from last year to
this year; the only ones that have improved over last year are B5 (7%) and Xena
(18%). Just about everything else has dropped bigtime.
jms
#: 675700 S5/Babylon 5: General
08-Jun-97 16:38:27
Sb: #675691-#'Drop Dead' Date?
Fm: PHYLLIS SCHMULENSON
This may be a very stupid question but why aren't all the shows aired on the
year that they were made for i.e. all of year four's shows in year four?
Thanks
Phyl
P.S.S.
I was wondering if you knew if the actors who did Blake's7 were still around
they were an unusually talened group.
#: 675821 S5/Babylon 5: General
08-Jun-97 23:58:06
Sb: #675700-'Drop Dead' Date?
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Because TV defines a year as being from November to November, so you jump
across a year in the process.
jms
#: 675739 S5/Babylon 5: General
08-Jun-97 19:39:43
Sb: #675692-#Newsweek
Fm: SYSOP DUPA T PARROT
Joe,
Does TNT broadcast in stereo?
My annoying cable system (TCI) has TNT in mono. Would be a pity to broadcast in
mono.
Time to buy DSS!
#: 675822 S5/Babylon 5: General
08-Jun-97 23:58:08
Sb: #675739-Newsweek
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Good question...I dunno.
jms
#: 675702 S5/Babylon 5: General
08-Jun-97 16:39:41
Sb: #675545-#TNT Movies
Fm: RAE AUGENSTEIN
>> Actors fees go up, writers fees go up, directors fees go up, crew fees go
up...so at the end of the day, you find you have a *little* more to spend, but
not really that much. <<
This makes me think of a question -- and I'm not trying to be nosy here, just
curious -- when you pull double-duty on an episode, like when you write the
episode as well as produce, and in one case even direct, are you paid for each
job? I know that Hollywood union rules are pretty strict about some things, and
it wouldn't surprise me if you *had* to receive at least scale for each hat you
wear.
Rae ^^^^
#: 675823 S5/Babylon 5: General
08-Jun-97 23:58:09
Sb: #675702-TNT Movies
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
There is a script fee that one receives as a writer, and if you are also
a producer there is a separate negotiated fee. The former is set by the WGA,
and can be improved by negotiation; the latter is strictly a matter of
negotiation.
jms
#: 675699 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
08-Jun-97 16:35:00
Sb: #Isometic <Excercise...)
Fm: REBECCA ESCHLIMAN
jms -
EoVP seemed to be an episode that placed various characters in a position of
tension that will lead to all hell breaking loose when the tension becomes too
great in later eps, a disquieting episode for all of its relatively quiet
action.
Eerie experience -- I was admiring the lighting effect of the Mars shuttle tube
with Wade and Garibaldi, with the virtual structual arches casting real shadows
on the characters, when Wade came out with that line, "Everything is illusion,
Mr. Garibaldi: concepts of language, light, metaphor -- nothing is real." I
was instantly reminded of two things simultaneously: that the virtual/real
interplay I had been admiring was illusion and speeches by Puck ("If we shadows
[again, with shadows! <g>] have offended, Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here, While these visions did appear, And this weak
and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream...") and Prospero ("And, like the
baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all that it inherit, shall
dissolve, And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack
behind..."). But the while Puck's and Prospero's pronouncements about illusion
come at the end of the plays as apologies, Wade's statement comes at the
beginning, as a warning.
Prospero remained for me a "Shadow" for this entire ep. There seemed to be
several potential Prosperos, master magicians manipulating what is perceived as
real with the assistance of chained spirits of the air in the form of
telepaths, reacting to very real political situations (which in themselves turn
out to be illusions of a sort, after all). Edgars is an obvious Prospero, and
he seems to be turning Garibaldi into an unwitting and deluded Caliban. But
Sheridan, too, is now being cast as a Prospero, determined to use his captive
"Ariels" in some as-yet-unspecified dire way.
Garibaldi, Sheridan, Lyta, Stephen, and Edgars all seem to be "exercising vital
powers." But their actions actually prevent others from that same "exercise."
Edgars is determined to prevent telepaths from exercising unfair vital powers,
and his explanation does have a chilling plausibility. Sheridan & Co. want
very badly to prevent Clarke from further exercise of his vital powers (and
vital firepower), again, for seemingly valid reasons. Garibaldi wants to stop
Sheridan from his exercise of vital powers, and I, for one, waver on the
fulcrum of sympathy with his reasoning. All in all, isometric tension set up
that must be later released.
Miscellany-R-Us:
Edgars likes people working for him "presentable, well-spoken," creating and
preserving an illusion, much like the discomfiting tidiness of the Village in
the Prisoner series.
Stephen seems now almost as wired as he was on stims. The rapidly greying hair
is a nice symptom of his increasing tension.
The objet d'art on Edgars' bar, for me, called vividly to mind a crematory urn
(possibly a first trophy telepath?).
Ironic that Garibaldi would so readily trust (or *seem* to trust) a megacorps
head, surely an absolute wizard in illusion-dealing.
In Garibaldi's interrogation, Garibaldi becomes the second character in the
last few eps to foreshadow what you have said will be the focus of a possible
feature film. Both Lyta and Garibaldi have now expressed reluctance to be
alive for the eventual telepath wars (and, given B5, they may *not* be), but I
must admit to a reaction of "Arrggh!" that what they (read that, you) are
foreshadowing won't achieve resolution during the final eps of S4 (or S5,
G'Quon, Valeria or any other deity willing). It cements the idea that there is
history/future surrounding the B5 with which we have become acquainted, but it
is too tantalizing -- I wanna know more *now*!
Garibaldi talking to his own reflection in talking to Edgars -- nice echo of
Real/Illusion.
Ms. Constance' silence reinforces the idea that she functions as a disposable
tool for Edgars.
Stephen's assurance of "You're safe; no-one's gonna hurt you," is ironic -- who
knows how further damaged they will be after what Sheridan has planned for
them?
The line about the war of "information, secrets, intimidation" seemed to me a
parallel to the forecasts of the social consequences of a society divided
between the netted/non-netted.
Lise's and Garibaldi's history also seems to echo the real/illusion chord --
Garibaldi's view of the relationship now seems an illusion, but the genuineness
of Garibaldi's feeling for Lise seems like an illusion to Lise, given what she
wanted.
Thanks again for the atypical experience of "engage-brain" television.
-rje-
#: 675824 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
08-Jun-97 23:58:13
Sb: #675699-#Isometic <Excercise...)
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks...again, excellent points.
One thing on the line Wade speaks...the actor consistently got the line
wrong. It read, "Everything is illusion, Mr. Garibaldi; constructs of light,
language, metaphor," rather than concepts. ~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~
There is a subtle but distinct difference. But the points you raise
obtain in any event.
jms
[END]
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