JMS on CompuServe (Sep 04, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*
bbarrett at speedlink.com
bbarrett at speedlink.com
Thu Sep 4 18:19:56 EDT 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: #697236-B5 Fanclub Merchandise
Sb: #697304-#Congratulations
Sb: #697471-!intense Garibaldi News
Sb: #697485-DS9 = Babylon 5
Sb: #697373-Season 5 Main Title
Sb: #697578-Kristen Cloke on B5 ;>)
Sb: #697580-Kristen Cloke on B5 ;>)
[ Summary: Suggests that more people man the Fan Club merchandise table
at the next con, as the two ladies who were at the World Con table
were being swamped with business. ]
#: 697311 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Sep-97 16:06:08
Sb: #697236-B5 Fanclub Merchandise
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
We didn't know how much demand there would be for the stuff...now we
know a little better.
jms
[ Summary: Congratulates JMS on the Hugo win for "Severed Dreams." States
that she was late to come to the show as a fan, and she thanks JMS for
"pushing the standard for quality TV higher." ]
#: 697313 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Sep-97 16:11:46
Sb: #697304-#Congratulations
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks, and welcome to the party...it's okay to come late as long as you
enjoy yourself.
jms
#: 697471 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
03-Sep-97 07:24:44
Sb: #695772-#!intense Garibaldi News
Fm: ROB CARR
Today's Pittsburgh Post Gazette had a nice article on Babylon 5. It seems to
be based on an article in the Baltimore Sun by Tamara Ikenberg.
Basically nice, although it made B5 fans sound a little trekkie-ish.
Say how you want it - mailed, faxed, or scanned and it's yours.
Rob
#: 697509 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
03-Sep-97 12:35:25
Sb: #697471-!intense Garibaldi News
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I've got the original Baltimore one, so I have it covered, thanks.
jms
[ Summary: "It makes me darn right irritable to think these people may
have 'used' your ideas to make 'the same old trek' look new and
refreshing." ]
#: 697510 S3/Star Trek: DS9
03-Sep-97 12:35:27
Sb: #697485-DS9 = Babylon 5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I was irritable about it at first. Very much so, since it jeapordized
B5 ever being picked up as a series. We had a huge battle to fight on the
premise that there was room enough for two space SF series (virtually all the
studios had conceded that one), then to say that there was room for, and the
market could sustain, two *space station* SF series, well, suffice to say it
caused us a lot of hassle.
But in the final analysis, you come down to some basic fundamentals.
First, it comes down to making a good show. I'd rather compete in the
marketplace of free ideas; if we make a good show, it'll succeed...if not, not,
and it's a moot point. Second, as much as I may suspect that the development
of DS9 was guided by some of the execs at Paramount who had access to all our
material, I don't *know for sure* that it was...and if you're going to be fair
you *have* to allow for the possibility of simultaneous, independent creation.
So I'm fairly sanguine about it, as much as can be, anyway.
jms
#: 697373 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Sep-97 19:37:22
Sb: #697139-#Season 5 Main Title
Fm: TOM KNUDSEN
Joe,
<No, I'm in the process of designing the S5 titles now.>
Are you still thining of using silence during the opening credits?
Tom^^^^
#: 697665 S5/Babylon 5: General
03-Sep-97 22:16:21
Sb: #697373-Season 5 Main Title
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Playing with several options....
jms
[ Summary: (See below.) ]
#: 697667 S5/Babylon 5: General
03-Sep-97 22:41:20
Sb: #697578-Kristen Cloke on B5 ;>)
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
"But we *don't* have to follow the US Navy command structure, or faithfully
capitulate the command structure of ANY historical service. B5 is a fictional
universe. And I maintain that by the internal logic of that fictional
universe, a younger captain would not entirely be out of line."
Speaking as the guy who made up that internal logic and that fictional
universe...there is a profound difference between the examples you were citing
from the Revolutionary and Civil Wars and the situation in B5. To command a
starship you have to have experience in combat situations, and also in how to
be level-headed enough to talk your way out when you have to. The average
career military person may enter at 18 years of age, or wait until finishing
college or OTS (Officer Training School) at 20-21. You may enter respectively
as an ensign, or as a Lieutenant, and be assigned to your first unit at that
point. This has nothing to do with any particular country's military scheme as
simply with the math involved.
Promotion in EVERY military is based in large measure on combat
experience. (Which is why women officers are fighting so hard to get access to
battlefield postings.) Working your way up the ranks simply takes *time*.
There's a profound difference between an Air Force captain, who is
responsible only for his own plane, and a Captain of a large vessel who must
command a staff and be responsible for the lives of hundreds of crew members.
Before they will entrust you with that responsibility, you have to have proven
yourself over the long-haul. This is all the more true with something like B5,
where the CO also operates as a military governor of sorts. With a
quarter-million lives on the line, a person in his or her 20s simply does not
have the years of experience required for the job...and there is no way to gain
that experience other than with time. It's not strictly a question of
maturity, it's a question of experience as well, and the bureaucracy that comes
with *any* military structure that says "you must pay your way, and earn your
stripes."
Just because something is SF doesn't mean we must throw away *external*
logic in our attempt to make the *internal* logic into something just because
we want it to be so.
jms
[ Summary: One poster argues with another that the B5 system isn't
specifically bound by the example of the U.S. Navy, so younger
naval captains might be possible. ]
#: 697668 S5/Babylon 5: General
03-Sep-97 22:41:23
Sb: #697580-Kristen Cloke on B5 ;>)
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
No, it isn't specifically or exclusively based on the US Navy, no, but
also bear in mind that if you're going to look outside the US military system,
you will find that promotions generally take even *longer* than in our own
system...so that may not be in the best interests of your argument.
jms
[END]
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