JMS on CompuServe (Feb 05, 1998) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*

[bbarrett at speedlink.com]

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 [ Summary of subjects in this section: ]
    Sb: #18270-Claudia
    Sb: #18232-TNT & accuracy
    Sb: #18317-Episode numbers...
    Sb: #18288-<Paragon>
    Sb: #18316-<TPoA: Powerful Themes>
    Sb: #18367-Beyond Season 5
    Sb: #18397-Voice in the Wilderness
    Sb: #18354-#<Paragon>


 #: 18270 S2/Bab 5: General
    04-Feb-98  17:50:10
Sb: #17514-Claudia
Fm: SHANE SHELLENBARGER

Joe,
     What are your feelings, now that the final episode of your "brainchild" 
is stored in your computer, and nearing birth?

 #: 18324 S2/Bab 5: General
    04-Feb-98  23:44:12
Sb: #18270-Claudia
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      I'm so caught between different emotions, I can't even begin to sort 
them all out.

                                                                    jms

 #: 18232 S2/Bab 5: General
    04-Feb-98  14:53:07
Sb: #TNT & accuracy
Fm: THOMAS W. RACKERS

[note to sysop & digest maintainers: this message may be freely duplicated in 
all the usual places, esp. B5JMS List.  T.W.Rackers]

Hi Joe, 
I don't drop messages in very often because I can't possibly say how much I 
and my family (wife and 13-yr daughter) enjoy B5 nearly as well as some of the 
other folks have already said it, but it is one show that I will not miss 
under any circumstances.  (Actually caught myself saying the other night, 
"DS9?  Was that on tonight?  I forgot.")

The main reason I'm dropping you this note is to mention some concerns about 
little things TNT is doing in promoting the show.  I know you probably have 
little to no input on how they do things, but if you're in regular contact 
with any of the powers-that-be there, perhaps you could mention some of these 
points to them if it might do some good.  (Or can you give me a name and 
e-address at TNT where I could pass along a note?)

(1) TNT is kinda loose on the start and end times of the show.  It's making my 
VCR nuts to get the whole show, prologue to credits.  Some days the total run 
of an episode goes a bit over 60 minutes.  This I will deal with somehow.  

(2) In the promo for "Points of Departure" which aired during "Chrysalis", 
they used the phrase, "Sherman is in charge!"  Sherman?  I had to run the tape 
back to make sure I heard right.  

(3) The episode descriptions in the TNT B5 web site are sprinkled with factual 
errors too.  In the "PoD" description, we are told that Sheridan destroyed a 
"Minbari outpost" during the War.  Also, Keffer apparently leads the defense 
against an attack by "a Tragati warship".

Maybe I'm just being picky about such things, but since TNT's B5 web site is 
probably the show's most visible presence on the web these days, I hate to see 
people mess up the facts on something on which you've worked so hard to get 
the details right and the facts consistent.

Again, I want to congratulate you and thank you for an extraordinary job at 
creating "Babylon 5" for this and future generations, and my best wishes for 
your next projects, B5 and otherwise.

P.S. Love the Antioch calendar and the Starfury MK 1 model kit, the latter 
already 80% complete.

Thomas Rackers
Panama City, Florida
rackers-t at worldnet.att.net


 #: 18325 S2/Bab 5: General
    04-Feb-98  23:44:12
Sb: #18232-TNT & accuracy
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      TNT is doing what it can to improve in all those areas.  We're working 
with them on it.

                                                                    jms


 #: 18317 S2/Bab 5: General
    04-Feb-98  22:07:00
Sb: #Episode numbers...
Fm: BRENT BARRETT

Joe,

    Something that's been bugging me now for a few weeks...

    When "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars" aired, it aired with the 
production number (in the final credit) of 422.  But TNT is numbering it as 
501, and I've seen you refer to it as 501 and this season's premier as 502.

    Which is it?  Will SiL also be 422?  Or will it be 522?

Thanks,

  -- Brent

 #: 18326 S2/Bab 5: General
    04-Feb-98  23:44:12
Sb: #18317-Episode numbers...
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      It'll be 522a.

                                                                    jms


 #: 18288 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
    04-Feb-98  20:25:07
Sb: <Paragon>
Fm: ELYSE M. GRASSO

This was an amazing episode. I thought last week was great, but it's a little 
scary that you've already surpassed it. Like G'Kar's revision, "It's better." 
The declaration of principles made the hair stand up on my neck, and I'm not 
sure I remembered to breathe during Byron's speech that was placed in 
counterpoint to it.

This one was poetry.

Elyse

 #: 18327 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
    04-Feb-98  23:44:12
Sb: #18288-<Paragon>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      Thanks...I like the declaration a lot.

                                                                    jms


 #: 18316 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
    04-Feb-98  22:06:14
Sb: #<TPoA: Powerful Themes>
Fm: BRENT BARRETT

Joe,

    You LIAR!

    You said that you'd never make a cameo in B5.  But there you were, 
tonight, in "Paragon of Animals."  You thought we wouldn't notice that you 
cast G'Kar to play you, did you?  Well, we noticed!

    Byron really worries me.  He reminds me so much of that atheist editor you 
spoke of before... the one who didn't want to find a way for atheists to live 
with religion, she wanted to abolish religion altogether.  He also reminds me 
a tad of the charismatic radical black leaders who didn't teach understanding 
and co-existence, like the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, but taught 
violence and superiority of their people over those who were different.  
That's a very powerful theme and a very potent societal nerve you've touched 
there.

    With that attitude, the telepaths can never win.  All you have to do is 
compare the sacrifice of the "mundane" Ranger to their views on helping others 
to see which has that one, undeniable property of a people destined to 
survive.

    Twice in this episode, you mention "six thousand years."  Are you 
referring to recorded human history here?

    I have to wonder... Why didn't Garibaldi report Byron's total hatred of 
"mundanes."  You'd think that would be entirely opposite of what Sheridan is 
hoping for that particular group of telepaths. Wouldn't he really like to know 
how they feel?

    The death of the Ranger was emotional, but it was even more emotional when 
viewed a second time, with the knowledge of what being there was doing to 
Lyta.  She could have left, but she stayed. That must have been a very 
difficult thing for her to do, which makes it all the more powerful to watch.

    Nice shot of Lyta at the end, watching the Alliance members in celebration 
of their new agreement, yet feeling so outside... It was a very bittersweet 
moment.

  -- Brent

 #: 18328 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
    04-Feb-98  23:44:13
Sb: #18316-<TPoA: Powerful Themes>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      Byron's feelings about mundanes comes out later in more detail...I 
wouldn't call it a hatred.  A resentment, yes, and certainly there's a sense 
of having been mistreated...but he's surprisingly not a violent person, as 
we'll find.

                                                                    jms

 [ Summary: "Is there any chance that B5 will be renewed for seasons 
   beyond Season 5?" ]

 #: 18424 S2/Bab 5: General
    05-Feb-98  16:56:10
Sb: #18367-Beyond Season 5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      B5 was written to end in year 5.

                                                                    jms

 [ Summary: Noticed that a segment from "Voice in the Wilderness" was
   missing when it re-aired on TNT recently. ]

 #: 18425 S2/Bab 5: General
    05-Feb-98  16:56:10
Sb: #18397-Voice in the Wilderness
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      I talked to TNT about this, and apparently a technician plugged in the 
wrong timecode for the act out.  Nothing more than that; nothing else has been 
snipped, it was a one-time incident.

                                                                    jms


 #: 18354 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
    05-Feb-98  05:50:03
Sb: #18327-<Paragon>
Fm: SCOTT J. EPSTEIN

Joe,

This was really a writer's episode, wasn't it? G'Kar's attention to linguistic 
detail, the insistance in re-writing until it was *right*, pulling back the 
earlier drafts, being right that it *was* better... 

SJE

 #: 18426 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
    05-Feb-98  16:56:11
Sb: #18354-#<Paragon>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      The funny part of it is...the editors made a point of dropping in my 
writing credit just when G'Kar says his muse is talking to him....

                                                                    jms


[END]

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