JMS on CompuServe (Feb 08, 1998) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*
bbarrett at speedlink.com
bbarrett at speedlink.com
Sun Feb 8 15:03:04 EST 1998
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 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: #18835-#Any Seas.1-4 re-edited?
Sb: #18586-Director Kevin Dobson
Sb: #18795-TNT Orders 4th Movie!
Sb: #18888-Marcus....why
Sb: #18597-B2
Sb: #18865-Delenn's role in war
Sb: #18683-#<Paragon>
Sb: #18695-#The Paragon of Animals
Sb: #18815-#The Paragon of Animals
Sb: #18808-#>> Future First Ones<<
Sb: #18809-Londo's Journey
Sb: #18831-<tPoA:Imphili>
[ Summary: "I would have sworn that Bill Mumy didn't have a credit in
the first season shows before he first appeared, but he did on TNT." ]
#: 18869 S2/Bab 5: General
08-Feb-98 00:57:07
Sb: #18835-#Any Seas.1-4 re-edited?
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
No, Bill had a credit from the start; and each year, Andreas and Peter
trade off the last position in credits.
jms
[ Summary: "Is the Kevin Dobson who directed 'Whatever Happened To Mr.
Garibaldi' the same person who starred in 'F/X: the Series?'" ]
#: 18867 S2/Bab 5: General
08-Feb-98 00:03:09
Sb: #18586-Director Kevin Dobson
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
No, the actor is a different person from the director.
jms
#: 18795 S2/Bab 5: General
07-Feb-98 13:07:06
Sb: TNT Orders 4th Movie!
Fm: KEVIN KENNEY
At least that's what I assume after reading your Usenet post, responding to
someone asking what you're keeping busy with now. Can you verify this sneaky
revelation?
Also, what is the genre for the optioned miniseries? Mystery, horror, sf?
And it gives me pain to bring it up, but might you be checking with Claudia's
people to see if she is willing to be in at least one of these last two movies
at the available price? I'd assume you'd want it in writing before starting a
script. I'd love to see her and Lochley going head to head... Or even just a
cameo... Or is that situation still too painful?
Truely sorry to reopen that wound,
KpK
partial jms response from Usenet...
>Writing the next 2 movies, to be shot in April/May; doing all the other
>production stuff (working with the various departments -- costume,
prosthetics,
>CGI, sets, directors, actors), post production stuff (doing the editing,
>working with the composer on music, others on sound, more CGI, other stuff),
>dealing with the mountain of licensing approvals that has piled up on my desk
>due to being more interested in the show than that stuff, and (one hopes)
>shortly gearing up for Crusade.
>Also just had a new 4-hour miniseries that I wrote optioned by a major
company.
>Other than that, not much going on.
> jms
#: 18870 S2/Bab 5: General
08-Feb-98 00:57:07
Sb: #18795-TNT Orders 4th Movie!
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Two of the points I can't comment on; on the third, the original
miniseries I just sold is based on a true story about a year researching some
time ago. I've been trying to find the right market for a long time, and
finally came across the right company, which believes in telling this story.
There's still mountains to cross before it can get produced, lots of things
can still go wrong, but now at least a studio is involved and spending money,
that's a big jump.
jms
[ Summary: "Have you ever had the chance to talk to George Lucas?" ]
#: 18899 S4/Seas. 1-4 SPOILERS
08-Feb-98 03:41:14
Sb: #18888-Marcus....why
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
No, never spoke to Lucas, only saw him once at the Emmys, from the back;
that's it.
jms
#: 18597 S4/Seas. 1-4 SPOILERS
06-Feb-98 12:49:05
Sb: #B2
Fm: KOSLOSKY
JMS,
In B2 there's a scene where Sinclair "flashes" to a place where there's lots
of fighting and Garibaldi tells him to go while he fights off an apparantly
unseen enemy. So far every thing portended in B2 and WWE seems to have been
explained up to a point, but not this scene. I know you don't explain what's
going to happen regarding B5, but can you elaborate on this scene? The
Lurker's Guide conjectured it was on the station and that the attackers may
have been Shadows. But the Shadows are gone as is Sinclair. When in time did
this scene occur, where, and what happened?
Respectfully,
Bob
#: 18868 S4/Seas. 1-4 SPOILERS
08-Feb-98 00:03:10
Sb: #18597-B2
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
No, as it stated in WWE, the point is to *prevent* that future, which
they did.
jms
[ Summary: (See below.) ]
#: 18871 S4/Seas. 1-4 SPOILERS
08-Feb-98 00:57:07
Sb: #18865-Delenn's role in war
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
"1) was Mira told in seaon 1 about Delenn's role in the Earth-Minbari war? coz
Delenn looked like she was lying about something when talking about the war."
She was told some...but not all, only what was needed for that scene:
that she was holding stuff back.
jms
#: 18683 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
06-Feb-98 21:29:01
Sb: #18327-#<Paragon>
Fm: PHILIP HORNSEY
>> Thanks...I like the declaration a lot.
Joe,
I hope you know me by now, and thus know I would not write a critique like
this unless I though I was "doing good"...whew...here goes...
I don't think that Declaration quite makes it. It isn't a Declaration of
Principles worth dying for, it's closer to a simple tune any clunk can dance
to. I don't say this lightly, especially since it's well written, but it just
isn't heavy enough. Anybody can say "evil is bad". What is important is what
are we going to do about it?
What you are trying to do is the single hardest thing when it comes to
designing a new government. I've been running RPG's of 20 years, I'm a
frustrated writer and a *total* perfectionist, and I have a *very* political
style, as a result I've written 3 Constitutions (complete, and for three
different *types* of governments). That was the easy part.
An analogue to the Declaration of Independence is *ultra-hard*.
My observations from numerous failures (I have *never* come up with one I
liked) is that you *must* follow Jefferson's format if you want *impact* That
formula is basically
1) Tell them why you are writing it. Jefferson begins with "When in the course
of human events..." and then states that we are going to seperate.
2) Tell them what you believe and what you are doing. "We hold these truths to
be self evident.." This is of course, arguably, the best writing in history
and thus hard to match, but Jefferson compresses the whole spirit of America
into one paragraph which says: We believe in liberty. The assurance of liberty
is the *only* function of governent. We have the right to change a government
which does not provide liberty. We recognize changing government is momentus
and not done lightly. We *are* changing this government. We are doing so for
the following general reasons.
3) Justify, Justify, Justify. "He has..." what follows is some of the finest
agitprop ever written.
Once again I would submit that you have a *piece* of your Declaration of
Principles. You have some excellent and poetic justification. You might move
"We are One" to the front and use it as part of the second piece of
Jefferson's formula. I would like to suggest, as a fan and also because if you
can come up with a really good Declaration, it might even have some
inspirational value in a world sadly devoid of heros, that you consider the
preceeding. As it stands, the Declaration as read by Sheridan is quite moving,
but has no "weight". It's a tune anyone can dance to. Sure, "We are One". Big
deal.
Jefferson said we were free, but he also said that we were going to fight, and
wreck our nation, and we were going to do so because of horrors inflicted by
evil men, and for all this we would do these things and "pledge our lives,
fortunes and sacred honor."
I didn't hear the price tag in G'Kar's work.
My next msg is also about as good...
Phil^^^^
FREE MARS!
#: 18872 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
08-Feb-98 00:57:08
Sb: #18683-#<Paragon>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
That's fine, if this were a constitution or something based on coming
out from under an opressive government, as the colonies did. This is an
incremental process; get the principles in place, and then build the laws and
the constitution on that. Get them on board for one thing they can sign, and
then use that as a platform to get them to sign the more restrictive stuff.
And bear in mind you only heard part of it; the full thing would go on for
many many pages.
jms
[ Summary: Various posters comment on the lack of use of Minbari,
Centauri, or other telepaths, such as Drazi. The energy devoted to
trying to convince hostile teeps to work for the Alliance seemed
more of a plot device. ]
#: 18873 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
08-Feb-98 00:57:08
Sb: #18695-#The Paragon of Animals
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Remember though that the purpose of the teeps is to gather covert
intelligence. There are two operative words there: covert and intelligence.
Intelligence against whom? Logically, this would involve in part
keeping tabs on worlds not in the Alliance...and some that *are* in the
Alliance. If you think the Drazi are up to something, and you have Drazi
telepaths on your team...are they going to cooperate against their own
government? If you leave them out, won't they find out if they're in the
company of the other teeps on a daily basis? The covert part also goes out
the door.
jms
[ Summary: What about using Minbari teeps? ]
#: 18874 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
08-Feb-98 00:57:08
Sb: #18815-#The Paragon of Animals
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Yeah, I'm sure that some Minbari teeps could be trusted...but would they
function well in a covert situation? They're mainly out in the open.
One other thing I forgot to mention in my note to Nancy...if you put out
the word that you want 2 teeps from each world...that kind of kills any chance
of putting together a group of telepaths that's going to operate IN SECRET, a
covert unit, yes...?
jms
#: 18808 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
07-Feb-98 14:19:05
Sb: >> Future First Ones<<
Fm: WILL CARAWAY
Joe,
Now that I've rewatched the first season, a nagging question has finally
coelsessed in my mind with sufficient clarity to articulate it. In
Deconstruction we see a human ranger pop into an encounter suit indicating
that humans have achieved an evolutionary state equal to the first ones. This
matches with Delenn's first season comment that humans have the capacity to
walk amoung the stars like giants. A phrasing we will hear later when she
speaks of the first ones. This triggered one of Kosh's first season lines in
my head "They are a dieing people. We should let them pass." seemingly spoken
about the Narn and Centari. Which brings me to my question, did the Minbari,
the Narn, or the Centari also achieve the evolutionary state of the first
ones?
Regards,
Will
#: 18875 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
08-Feb-98 00:57:09
Sb: #18808-#>> Future First Ones<<
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
The Minbari eventually make it; the Narn and Centauri do not. They
don't die out, they just don't hit a state of First One-ishness, which is darn
close to immortality (barring violence).
jms
#: 18809 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
07-Feb-98 14:19:07
Sb: Londo's Journey
Fm: WILL CARAWAY
Joe,
While reading on the Lurker's Guide, I came across the following quote
attributed to you concerning Londo. "The karmic point of no return is the
whole of his life, from ItB's events through the bombing of Narn, which led to
the death of hundreds of thousands or more." Perhaps I'm just picking at
semantics, but it seems to me that a point of no return cannot last this long
and cover so many choices. It strikes me that he is on a karmic voyage to a
spiritual cliff (The Very Long Night). Along this voyage he has had
opportunities to reverse his course, to learn the lesson that the universe is
trying to teach him. Perhaps each of these is a point of no return; a path to
a better future that will never return. My perspective from the viewers
gallery has been that when the show started Londo and G'Kar where of similar
karmic "age". Both were karmic teenagers full of the unguided passions that
fuel that stage. Both were focused on a seemingly noble goal: the betterment
of their peoples. Unfortunately, in their immaturity, they both failed to see
that their people could not be bettered by tearing down other races. In
G'Kar's case, this realization came in a singular moment of enlightenment on a
path not of his choosing but perhaps of his making. In Londo's case, this
realization came in a slow dawning that built over time culminating in a final
realization. A realization that was born of a path that Londo both chose and
made in which the more he tried to serve his people the more stain he piled
upon his soul until finally he had no choice but to learn or die. That's the
way I see it anyway. Maybe I'm just picking semantic nits; maybe I just don't
get it. I eagerly await enlightenment from the source himself.
Regards,
Will
#: 18876 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
08-Feb-98 00:57:09
Sb: #18809-Londo's Journey
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
He can learn, yes, and he can better himself...but because of his
actions, so many have died, so much grief has occured, that perhaps no amount
of self-revelation can cover the blood on the floor.
There's an excellent moment in the Night Gallery movie, where a prison
camp commandant has fled to Brazil and, years later, is trying to live out his
life in peace, realizes that mistakes were made, is actually trying to find a
better life...but as one man dies at his hands says, "You have hung too many
Christs on crosses for any god to forgive you."
jms
[ Summary: Asks if there's any connection between the name of the new
race of people and the Minbari warship that was told to protect the
Drazi in "Shadow Dancing." ]
#: 18877 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
08-Feb-98 00:57:09
Sb: #18831-<tPoA:Imphili>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Coincidence.
jms
[END]
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