JMS on CompuServe (Sep 06, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*

[bbarrett at speedlink.com]

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 [ Summary of subjects in this section: ]
    Sb: #697776-#Lochley=Tracy Scoggins!
    Sb: #697800-#DS9 = Babylon 5
    Sb: #697761-#5th season
    Sb: #698008-Ghostbusters goes PC


 [ Summary: Argues that Tracy Scoggins isn't likely to be the best
   actor for the job, as they didn't have enough time to see enough 
   actors to know that for sure. ]

 #: 697956 S5/Babylon 5: General
    04-Sep-97  18:14:29
Sb: #697776-#Lochley=Tracy Scoggins!
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       You're mixing up your terms.  You don't use "better" in the way that you
are using them here.  You look for the actor who most embodies the character
you're looking for.  When we were casting Cartagia, for instance, there were
several actors who you could look at and say, "Okay, this actor has more
technique than *that* actor."  But that ain't the issue.  Wortham Krimmer is
mainly noted for being an actor on daytime soap operas, and he was competing
against people trained at the Royal Shakespeare Academy in some cases.  The
latter may have been more classically trained...but Wortham WAS Cartagia.

       And we knew it in the first five minutes.  The hard part was then
sitting through all the other auditions knowing that we had already decided
instantly on Wortham.

       The casting director's job is to winnow down the list to those who are
real prospects.  So by the time they get to me, the selection is already very
solid.  When Tracy walked in, we instantly felt, "Okay, this is the character."
One other person came in and was also the character, with a somewhat different
take.  So we brought both of them back and had them audition one after the
other, so we could compare and see which worked best for the character.  It was
Tracy, hands down.

       The casting process was no different for this character as any other. We
knew within moments.

                                                                       jms


 [ Summary: In the Trek conference, a poster comments on Trek's seeming use
   of B5 character names, such as the Bjoran prophet with a name that sounds
   like "G'Kar." ]

 #: 697959 S3/Star Trek: DS9
    04-Sep-97  18:24:42
Sb: #697800-#DS9 = Babylon 5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       And of course there's the red-headed Leeta on DS9, and the red-headed
Lyta on B5....

                                                                       jms


 [ Summary: "Although, if JMS wants Lochley to be a sex kitten, Scroggins'
   prior credits seem to indicate she could handle the role..." ]

 #: 697960 S5/Babylon 5: General
    04-Sep-97  18:24:43
Sb: #697761-#5th season
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       Lochley is going to be anything *but* a sex kitten....

                                                                       jms



 #: 698008 S5/Babylon 5: General
    04-Sep-97  21:05:27
Sb: #Ghostbusters goes PC
Fm: RAY PELZER

Joe:  I'll try not to take up a lot of space with this, but I was curious about
your thoughts about the attempt to resurrect TRGB this fall.  Not that anyone
cares, but here's my thoughts:

       "Extreme Ghostbusters".  I didn't even know it was coming out, but I
happened to be up early Monday morning, and thought I heard Maurice LaMarche
doing Egon Spengler's voice as the TV was warming up.  Sure enough, it was
Egon!   But, he's blonde, and his hair is in a ponytail!  And Slimer is
floating around with Popeye-style exaggerated forearms!  And Janine looks
heavier.  What the heck is this?
       The problem was, I turned the TV on halfway into the show, so I didn't
catch the beginning.  It seems that Egon is teaching a college course, and
Janine is his teaching assistant.  I couldn't tell from what I saw, but I THINK
they finally have some sort of romantic relationship.  The rest of the
Ghostbusters are nowhere to be seen (maybe the first half explained what
happened to them?), but he's teaching a small group of students who look like
replacements:  A black guy with an out-of-date fade cut, a non-descript (maybe
latino) guy with goatee, earring, and bizarre accent with Peter Venkman's
personality, and a wheelchair-bound redheaded jock-type as the Ray Stantz clone
(although much more in-sync with life than Ray was played).  We also have a
girl who looks like a grown-up Lydia from the Beetlejuice cartoons (same gray
make-up and black bags under the eyes) to round out the team, and she's
enamored of Egon to boot (Egon responds to her comprehension: "You sure know
your Spengler!", to which she replies "I've read your book cover-to-cover six
times").

       According to the first episode, the Ghostbusters have disbanded, and the
firehouse closed for the last ten years.  Why?  Because there are no more
ghosts in New York. (eh?) Suddenly, a spirit comes in and wants to "infect"
everyone with some sort of ectoplasmic boils (ghost acne), but needs a willing
host mortal.  It backs off when people tell it to get away, but it tricks the
female student into thinking it's her late great-granny.  She screams at it to
get away, but it takes her as the host anyway!  Then, it infects Egon when he
comes alone to help her (it even growls, "Feel my disease!"). He doesn't save
her, but comes back to the firehouse to try to cure himself.  The other
students offer to help, asking him to teach THEM to be Ghostbusters, he agrees,
and the first day's show is over.

       I missed the second half on Tuesday because the station carrying it went
down early for maintenance, so I don't know what happened, although I know the
girl got saved from a snippet of Wednesday's show I saw. Something about a
Synagogue being vandalized, and they managed to resurrect the Golem from a
sacred scroll they'd just received, but instead of protecting them, it went
amok.
       So far, I just can't get into it.  Maybe I'm still remembering stories
about the Grendel and Samhain and the like, but it has too much of a
politically correct wannabe feel to me.  Probably the best clue to me was that
of the original cast, only Maurice LaMarche remained.... Frank Welker wasn't
even doing Slimer's voice!  I guess, in my mind, TRGB will always be YOUR show.

               Ray


 #: 698103 S5/Babylon 5: General
    05-Sep-97  03:05:45
Sb: #698008-Ghostbusters goes PC
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      Sigh....

      Oh, well, thus does the past glow brighter in memory....

                                                                    jms



[END]

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