JMS on CompuServe (Dec 16, 1998) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS* (1/5)

[bbarrett at johndelenn.com]

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 The following posts may contain SPOILERS for
 upcoming Babylon 5 episodes.

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 [ Summary of subjects in this section: ]
    Sb: #52881-#Babylon 5
    Sb: #52962-#Babylon 5
    Sb: #53101-#Babylon 5
    Sb: #52901-#It's over.
    Sb: #52907-#Well done, sir.
    Sb: #52937-#That was a good story
    Sb: #52970-That was a good story
    Sb: #52995-#That was a good story
    Sb: #52939-#Bravo!!
    Sb: #52971-#Many thanks
    Sb: #52989-#How did it feel?
    Sb: #53173-#More soggy tissues :-)
    Sb: #53967-More soggy tissues :-)
    Sb: #53311-#A little bit of history
    Sb: #53312-From my husband...


  [ Note: There were lots of "Thank you" messages to which JMS simply 
    replied with a "Thank you."  I've removed them from this posting
    to save room, and only kept those which added something to the
    understanding of the show or the people involved.  -- Brent ]
    

 [ Summary: Did Vir have a Keeper? ]

 #: 53024 S2/Bab 5: General
    26-Nov-98  13:47:04
Sb: #52962-#Babylon 5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      No, Vir did not have a Keeper.  He helped to free Centauri Prime.

                                                                    jms

 [ Summary: (See below.) ]

 #: 53360 S2/Bab 5: General
    29-Nov-98  23:24:04
Sb: #53101-#Babylon 5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      Thanks...and that's the desired sense of it, that this is a place that 
goes on, and we saw this part of it.

                                                                    jms


 [ Summary: Was that you who turned out the lights? ]

 #: 52928 S2/Bab 5: General
    25-Nov-98  22:14:06
Sb: #52907-#Well done, sir.
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      Thank you, I appreciate hearing all that...and yeah, that was me....

                                                                    jms

 [ Summary: (See below.) ]

 #: 53026 S2/Bab 5: General
    26-Nov-98  13:47:05
Sb: #52995-#That was a good story
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      Thanks, and yeah, it was definitely pretty intense on-set for that ep.

                                                                    jms

 #: 52989 S2/Bab 5: General
    26-Nov-98  09:07:13
Sb: #How did it feel?
Fm: MICHAEL KALUS

Hi,

I am sure you got this message at least a 100 times, but how did it feel to 
flip the switch that everything ended, after 4 years, and how was the feeling 
after you could carry on with your Story?

Michael

 #: 53028 S2/Bab 5: General
    26-Nov-98  13:47:05
Sb: #52989-#How did it feel?
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      As noted elsewhere here...it was just real hard.

                                                                    jms


 [ Summary: (See below.) ]

 #: 53366 S2/Bab 5: General
    30-Nov-98  00:06:10
Sb: #53311-#A little bit of history
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

"The biggest difference I noticed in your old posts was the "tone" -- you 
seemed more "upbeat". I guess the past 5 years of working 26 hour days, 
dealing with online jerks, and fighting with the various suits over renewal 
EVERY DAMN YEAR have taken a toll on your overall outlook."

      It was a number of different factors, really...those wars, the daily 
grind of writing and producing this show, the online experiment (which was 90% 
terrific and 10% nutcases)...over time, it all takes a real toll.

      (Somewhat related aside...I was redoing my list of credits the other day 
for the PR file, which goes to reporters, and started adding up how much of 
what I've written has been produced, on a per-hour basis.  These are just the 
produced TV episodes -- half-hour and hour -- and TV movies, nothing else.

      (Came out that if you started watching it all, no repeats, 8 hours a 
day, it would take you slightly over 3 weeks to see it all.  I went to lie 
down for a while after that one.)

                                                                    jms


 [ Summary: (See below.) ]

 #: 53367 S2/Bab 5: General
    30-Nov-98  00:06:10
Sb: #53312-From my husband...
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      Thanks for the kind words, and good luck with your ventures.

      What's the final result?  I hope a document, thousands of pages long, 
that chronicles the making of a show on every level, so that average folks can 
better understand the process and, thus, better communicate what it is they 
want, on the theory that you can never have what you want until you know how 
to ask for it, and what your options are.

      That, and maybe making some people think...if even that is accomplished, 
then the experiment was worthwhile.

                                                                    jms


 [ Continued in next section -- BB ]

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