JMS on CompuServe (Sep 14, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*

bbarrett at speedlink.com bbarrett at speedlink.com
Sun Sep 14 18:53:49 EDT 1997


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 [ Summary of subjects in this section: ]
    Sb: #700029-<ST:Voyager>
    Sb: #700033-#Leesons Learned
    Sb: #700056-Can you check something
    Sb: #Convention Concerns
    Sb: Hugos:  Past and Future
    Sb: Hugos:  Past and Future
    Sb: #700370-#Convention Concerns
    Sb: #700570-Convention Concerns
    Sb: #700520-Convention Concerns


 #: 700029 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
    12-Sep-97  06:22:13
Sb: #699744-#<ST:Voyager>
Fm: ROSEANN M. CAPUTO

Joe,

I pretty much stopped watching the show last year.  I know that Jeri Taylor is
a friend of yours, but who the heck has control and is making these aweful
decisions?  I feel for her in a way because she's being connected with this
show and who knows if these decsions are hers.  I never thought I would stop
watching Trek (been watching since day one when I was six), but the writing in
the show is aweful.  It could even be viewed that they ripped off the whole
Wesley thing from TNG.

Why they didn't  just kill the character and make a really interesting
storyline for an episode or two of her friends morning her is beyond me.  I
didn't watch the episode, but my boyfriend told me the particulars.  He's
pretty much had it as well.

RE:  The AOL thing.  I hope this doesn't mean that we're going to get the
massive amounts of junk mail that made me cancel AOL.  In one week on AOL I
would get more junk mail than my internet and C-serve accounts get in a month.
Pretty annoying.

Congrats on the Hugo!!!!  I wouldn't mind seeing a third year either.

B-T-W, if you're up late on a Wednesday and have not yet caught South Park on
Comedy Central, check it out.  It's an animated show that is sick, twisted,
bizarre and hysterical.  It's the next step beyond the Simpsons.  It's on at
10:00.  Next Friday, (the 19th), they're gonig to rerun the first six episodes
back-to-back.

Have a great weekend....

Roseann


 #: 700158 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
    12-Sep-97  17:32:12
Sb: #700029-<ST:Voyager>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       I'd seen the 5-minute South Park pilot, and last week's episode was the
first one I'd watched through.

       Sick and twisted and funny....

                                                                       jms


 [ Summary: What has JMS learned from doing B5?  And was the name of the
   ship in "No Surrender, No Retreat" "Furies" or "Furious"? ]

 #: 700159 S5/Babylon 5: General
    12-Sep-97  17:32:13
Sb: #700033-#Leesons Learned
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       I think what I learned was, never ever do this again....

       It's hard to pin it all down, really.  Since no one's ever really done
this sort of thing before, you have to make up the rules as you go. Every day
is a new decision, a different fork in the road...I'm not even sure how I'd pin
it down to any one thing in specific.  It's like saying "what did you learn
different going from an automatic transmission to a manual?"  It's just
different ways of thinking and working.

       And it was the EAS Furies.

                                                                       jms


 [ Summary: Asks if Bruce Boxleitner will be at the Creation Con in 
   Pasadena the weekend of November 29-30. ]

 #: 700160 S5/Babylon 5: General
    12-Sep-97  17:32:16
Sb: #700056-Can you check something
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       Last I heard he was still planning to be there, but that was a bit ago.
He's left for the day, will try to remember to ask when I see him next week.

                                                                       jms


 [ Summary: (See below.) ]

 #: 700416 S5/Babylon 5: General
    14-Sep-97  02:07:56
Sb: #Convention Concerns
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

"So you think you can run a BIG fan convention well enough to satisfy gusets
and attendees on purely voluntary labour?"

      Happens all the time.  About a month or two ago, I was at Westercon in
Seattle, about 3,000 people showed up...and it was one of the most efficiently
run conventions I'd ever attended...all on voluntary work by those involved
(who were comp'd into the convention).

                                                                    jms


 [ Summary: Suggests "Intersections in Realtime" as a possible Hugo nominee
   next year. ]

 #: 700417 S5/Babylon 5: General
    14-Sep-97  02:07:59
Sb: Hugos:  Past and Future
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      Weird thing is, about next year's Hugo possibilities, I keep forgetting
No Surrender, No Retreat, possibly one of our best eps from this season.

                                                                    jms



 #: 700378 S5/Babylon 5: General
    13-Sep-97  19:45:00
Sb: Hugos:  Past and Future
Fm: DAVID DERUBEIS

>>Actually, I'm hoping Intersections gets the nod, although I know mot everyone
liked it.  I just like to see shows get rewarded for trying to stretch TV
boundaries.  And of course I liked the episode<g>.<<

The problem with IiRT for the Hugo is not the quality of the episode, it is a
good piece of TV drama, but that it really has little to set it apart as a
science fiction story.  It could basically occur in the bowels of a POW camp in
a war anywhere.

This is not a criticism of the story.  I liked it (although not nearly as
effusively as many).  It's just that the Hugo is an award for outstanding SF&F,
and the voters tend to reward strories which excell in that area.

David


 #: 700418 S5/Babylon 5: General
    14-Sep-97  02:08:00
Sb: Hugos:  Past and Future
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      Much as I like IiRT, I agree that it ain't Hugo stuff.

                                                                    jms



 #: 700370 S5/Babylon 5: General
    13-Sep-97  19:19:37
Sb: #700057-#Convention Concerns
Fm: DAVID DERUBEIS

>>Bruce may be at a convention in Pasadena, CA in November.  Its still
tentive.<<

Being two tie zones away, I have no inkling of the convention scene in CA, but
I would suspect that this in not an actual convention, but a Creation show,
featuring presentations by actors, an autograph session, and a dealers room,
but few opportunities for fan interaction or social activities.  Actors usually
charge a much higher appearance fee than a fan convention can shell out.

David


 #: 700419 S5/Babylon 5: General
    14-Sep-97  02:08:03
Sb: #700370-#Convention Concerns
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

"Actors usually charge a much higher appearance fee than a fan convention can
shell out."

      Actually, a lot of our cast do fan run conventions...Jerry and Richard
were at Shoreleave and a cruise, Rick has been to Marcon, a slew of other local
fan-run conventions as well as others overseas, Stephen was at Rebelcon a few
weeks ago, Pat does an assortment of fan conventions, so this ain't as true as
might be assumed.

                                                                    jms



 #: 700570 S5/Babylon 5: General
    14-Sep-97  11:49:22
Sb: #700416-#Convention Concerns
Fm: CHRISTINE FOX

Dear Joe

I'm glad to hear that Big fan conventions are a genuine possibility. The fact
that Wolf 359 was announced as the biggest in the UK means that you know that
convention that big are not the norm here.

I'm sorry that you have been so dissatisfied  and await with interest your
thoughts/proposals for conventions that come up to your high ideals for what
the fans should be able to expect from anyone associated with B5. As my chances
of getting to LA are small to the point of zero I hope you can find a vehicle
which will allow us to have the pleasure of you company in the UK again.

Looking forward to series 5 - I'm desperate to know what happens!

Regards
Chris


 #: 700631 S5/Babylon 5: General
    14-Sep-97  15:14:45
Sb: #700570-Convention Concerns
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      Thanks.  My main concern at these things is always with the fans.  My
belief is that these people came a long way, and paid a fair amount of money,
and they deserve to get what they paid for with the least amount of
inconvenience.  I tend to be very hands-on when my name is attached to ANY
convention.  At my first Wolf, for instance, I made it a point to check out the
area where we'd be doing our main presentations the night before, and found
that a number of the chairs had been set up behind pillers and supports so that
their view would be, essentially, blocked.  When I talked to one of the people
doing the arranging, and was told that no, that was the way it had to be
("that's why we've got some monitors back there, so they can watch it on
TeeVee," I was told, which was a completely unacceptable response), I (and
Kathryn) got in there and personally began rearranging the chairs, spending a
fair amount of time doing so until we found a configuration that would let
people see the stage.  (We drew quite a few startled glances from some fans who
happened to wander in at one point.)

      Having been (and still being) a fan for most of my life, I can't condone
anything which, in my view, ends up with the fans getting shafted. If that
means being a pain in the ass on occasion, them's the breaks.  But I'd rather
do that than something that violated my conscience.

                                                                    jms



 #: 700520 S5/Babylon 5: General
    14-Sep-97  08:50:51
Sb: #700419-#Convention Concerns
Fm: DAVID DERUBEIS

>>  Actually, a lot of our cast do fan run conventions...Jerry and Richard were
at Shoreleave and a cruise, Rick has been to Marcon, a slew of other local
fan-run conventions as well as others overseas, Stephen was at Rebelcon a few
weeks ago, Pat does an assortment of fan conventions, so this ain't as true as
might be assumed.<<

I guess I was rather overstating my point.  Houston has been a con vacuum since
an unscrupulous individual took a number of fans and supporters for a lot of
money organizing a big con event some years ago, along with several other
unfortunate convention related misfortunes over the years.  Therefore, my info
tends to be based on observing what goes on elsewhere.

It just seems that when I see the names of series regulars listed to appear a
conventions, they're generally at a Creation show.  It's nice to see that a lot
of your B5 folks do fit that stereotype.  On the other hand, I had heard that
Pat Tallman was a convention scene regular before, so I should have qualified
that.

David


 #: 700632 S5/Babylon 5: General
    14-Sep-97  15:14:48
Sb: #700520-Convention Concerns
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      Yeah, Pat and Bill are, I think, our only cast members who had any real
convention experience prior to B5, which is why I've taken pains to try and
help them understand the whole fan scene...which is where the "nobody gets cut
off the autograph line" notion came from, for instance.  By helping them
understand the venue, they're more comfortable with it, and thus spend time not
just hiding in their rooms as is often the case with other shows, but instead
go down to the bar, the lounge, the room parties, and hang out with the fans.
(The tales of Richard Biggs dancing on tables at Marcon, Bill Mumy at the
parties in the UK, others...they go on and on.)

                                                                    jms



[END]

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