JMS on CompuServe (Jan 03, 1998) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS* (1/2)
bbarrett at speedlink.com
bbarrett at speedlink.com
Sat Jan 3 17:17:07 EST 1998
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The following posts may contain SPOILERS for
upcoming Babylon 5 episodes.
Continue at your own risk.
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THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL IS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE
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PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR.
Note that JMS has expressed his public permission
that all of his messages may be reproduced freely.
I give permission for my summaries to be reposted in
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[ Summary of subjects in this section: ]
Sb: #11559-TNT Guide
Sb: #11622-#Babylon Project: Crusade
Sb: #11901-#B5 Dolls
Sb: #11897-B5 ITB TNT trailers
Sb: #11968-TNT Guide
Sb: #11924-#TNT Guide
Sb: #11720-#TNT Guide
Sb: #11894-#TNT Guide
Sb: #12175-TNT Guide
Sb: #11845-#The Guide To B5 on TNT
Sb: #11718-#The Guide To B5 on TNT
Sb: #11778-Babylon Project: Crusade
Sb: #11752-#"The Guide" on TNT
[ Summary: (See below.) ]
#: 11669 S2/Bab 5: General
28-Dec-97 21:26:01
Sb: #11559-TNT Guide
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
"betcha the girls that used to know you are more chagrined than the ones that
used to know me..."
Keed, take my word for it, having gone to my 20th reunion a bit ago,
none of them even remembered me to *be* chagrined....
jms
#: 11622 S2/Bab 5: General
28-Dec-97 15:50:05
Sb: #Babylon Project: Crusade
Fm: SHAWN D. RATNER
Dear Mr. Straczynski,
I remember a few weeks ago you mentioned that you were in final negotiations
concerning Babylon Project: Crusade. Do you have any updates about the status
of Crusade? I hope it becomes reality!
Thank you,
Shawn
#: 11670 S2/Bab 5: General
28-Dec-97 21:34:05
Sb: #11622-#Babylon Project: Crusade
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
There's nothing I can say about Crusade for the moment.
Soon, though.
jms
#: 11901 S2/Bab 5: General
29-Dec-97 18:59:03
Sb: #11222-B5 Dolls
Fm: PHILIP HORNSEY
>> Given my luck when still dating, perhaps there should be a jms
"no-action" figure....
Well you could give it "attributes" and show all the girls what they were
missing...
this thread is degenerating...rapidly
only one thing to do...ADOLPH HITLER!
Phil^^^^
FREE MARS!
#: 11922 S2/Bab 5: General
29-Dec-97 21:37:11
Sb: #11901-#B5 Dolls
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
"Well you could give it "attributes" and show all the girls what they were
missing..."
Too dangerous...the accompanying magnifying glass could get broken
during shipping.
jms
#: 11897 S2/Bab 5: General
29-Dec-97 18:59:02
Sb: #11223-B5 ITB TNT trailers
Fm: PHILIP HORNSEY
>> At its core, B5 is a thinking man's (and woman's) show. A viewer has to
bring a lot to the table, pay attention, and be willing to be reflective to
get out of it all that the show has to offer.
There is an old adage that no one ever went broke underestimeting the
intelligence of the American people, but then again...
There are a few million Trekkies, among that number there are lots of drooling
fanboys who can't get dates, and a pretty fair number of intellects who just
love SF. You are going to get all of the latter, and that will make you a
popular cult show.
But in the words of the rather unnervingly mortal Kosh, "You have forgotton
something."
The number of intellectually acute people in this country (let alone the rest
of the world), is *far* greater than the number of Trekkies, and *that* is
your real audience. War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, and the other
classics of early SF are the province of *literate* persons, not simply
literate SF fans. You made a show for the literate community, not the SF
community.
I personally, will tell any bright, witty, engaging or engaged person to check
out B5. I do that at the drop of a hat (add to that I am running 9 for ten on
new viewers). I tell Trekkies only if I suspect they are discouraged by the
storytelling in Trek, or if they comment that the writing seems to be getting
better (it is, but not by much).
I know you did this story for people like us, but I suspect you may open wider
the gates of speculative fiction in doing so.
It is a common cynical reaction to say that no one is interested in good
literature these days, but that is IMHO just commentary from a person to
terrified to make a statement that is in conflict with received wisdom.
Americans (and this is the population I know best) have never been so blessed
with information and the availability of culture. I can buy any piece of
classical music ever produced. I can watch Grand Opera on my home theater, and
the Three Tenors come into my living room on PPV.
The only reason we think the intellectual a dying breed, is that you don't see
'em on Ricci Lake, and there, my friend, is your audience.
Phil^^^^
FREE MARS!
#: 11921 S2/Bab 5: General
29-Dec-97 21:37:10
Sb: #11897-B5 ITB TNT trailers
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
"I know you did this story for people like us, but I suspect you may open
wider the gates of speculative fiction in doing so."
If that should turn out to be the case, then all the effort was worth
it.
jms
#: 11968 S2/Bab 5: General
30-Dec-97 04:34:14
Sb: #11849-#TNT Guide
Fm: ANNE L. WARNER
>> If the satellite dish man gives me the go-ahead for a dish, I'm ditching
the cable company. I may be their least profitable customer. <<
Good luck with it! Greg and I are considering it, but we're not ready to put
out the up-front cost quite yet. And if you can shove it to the cable
company... Hooray!
Anne
#: 12177 S2/Bab 5: General
30-Dec-97 23:33:04
Sb: #11968-TNT Guide
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I have a directTV satellite dish, and I have to tell you I would *never*
go back to cable. The quality is substantially better, you have far more
options, it never goes out, the per-month charges are about the same, for more
services, and the initial cost of the setup has dropped dramatically in the
last few months to just a couple hundred bucks for a basic system.
jms
[ Summary: (See below.) ]
#: 11961 S2/Bab 5: General
30-Dec-97 02:26:04
Sb: #11924-#TNT Guide
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
"Regarding the one shot of Londo with hair down to his forehead... is that
from ITB? (if so, he sure lost a LOT of hair between ITB and The Gathering."
Yeah, well, so did I....
"Also, the scenes of what looks likes a riot on the station... is that from a
season 5 episode? I don't recall those scenes in season 4."
They're from Thirdspace.
jms
[ Summary: Talks about the TNT screw-up on timing for the first airing
of "The Guide to Babylon 5." ]
#: 11915 S2/Bab 5: General
29-Dec-97 21:37:08
Sb: #11720-#TNT Guide
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Oddly, the newspapers had it right, TV Guide didn't.
But they're going to be airing the Guide sandwiched in between the two
TV movies airing next Sunday, so we're golden.
(ItB got a great review in TV Guide...called it "stunning" and
"riveting.")
jms
#: 11894 S2/Bab 5: General
29-Dec-97 18:57:12
Sb: #11525-TNT Guide
Fm: PHILIP HORNSEY
>>You're talking to a guy here who couldn't get a date in high school, for
cryin' out loud....
I suppose now would not be the time to bring up the old one about the starlet
who was so new to Hollywood she slept with the writer...
Phil^^^^
FREE MARS!
#: 11914 S2/Bab 5: General
29-Dec-97 21:37:08
Sb: #11894-#TNT Guide
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
"I suppose now would not be the time to bring up the old one about the starlet
who was so new to Hollywood she slept with the writer..."
But that was only because she heard that in Hollywood, *everyone* screws
the writer.
jms
#: 12175 S2/Bab 5: General
30-Dec-97 23:12:12
Sb: #11914-#TNT Guide
Fm: RAY PELZER
Heh, or like Jack Valente's simplified ratings system:
In a G or PG movie, the good guy gets the girl.
In an R movie, the bad guy gets the girl.
In an X movie, EVERYBODY gets the girl.
#: 12180 S2/Bab 5: General
30-Dec-97 23:45:10
Sb: #12175-TNT Guide
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
And in an NC-17 movie everybody gets the girl and one guy gets the guy
and everybody feels bad about it later while they sit around in a French cafe
reading Kirkegaard....
jms
#: 11845 S2/Bab 5: General
29-Dec-97 15:06:04
Sb: #11727-The Guide To B5 on TNT
Fm: ANNE L. WARNER
>> I think they're being able to put in the 12 hour days as opposed to the
standard 16 hour days has to do with the fact that Joe is responsible for so
much of the writing for the show, <<
>From what I've read, the difference started from the first year, when he
wasn't doing all that much of the writing, and his input may have added time
to the schedule, from concept to finished episode.
No, I think the difference is that they have instituted critical path
sceduling concepts. Their scripts are complete before they schedule the
shooting sequences. They don't wind up going back to shoot more stuff on set
x, simply because the script didn't include those scenes whent they started.
Ask jms, but I think the scheduling has more to do with the compact shooting
days than his writing, per se.
Anne
#: 11960 S2/Bab 5: General
30-Dec-97 02:21:06
Sb: #11845-#The Guide To B5 on TNT
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
It's both. Even in the first two years of the show, we kept to 12 hour
days by virtue of making sure we were always 3-4 scripts ahead of where we
were shooting, which is what makes all the difference in the world (on most
shows you're lucky if you're one ahead, and sometimes pages are landing on the
stage while you're shooting). You get your writers working early, and make
your notes clear, to minimize mistakes.
Also, bear in mind that with the exception of maybe a half-dozen
scripts, most of them by Larry, all but one of the freelance S1-2 scripts were
based on premises I assigned to the writers...which in turn were based on my
notes, which I give to John each season as a kind of crib sheet for the
overall production of that season's shows, allowing our people to have months
of cognitive lead time (where possible) on sets, costumes, that sort of thing.
jms
#: 11718 S2/Bab 5: General
29-Dec-97 05:58:06
Sb: #11526-#The Guide To B5 on TNT
Fm: ANNE L. WARNER
>> We're doing what we've been doing for 5 years now, <<
To us, what you've been doing looks so sensible and ordinary, that it's hard
to believe Hollyweird is only now noticing. After all, most of what you've
done about scheduling is to apply well-known construction scheduling
techniques to filming, so as to cut way down on delays and rework. Greg and I
were stunned to realize that this was something *new* in your industry.
And on top of that, you do it so very, very well.
Anne
#: 11916 S2/Bab 5: General
29-Dec-97 21:37:09
Sb: #11718-#The Guide To B5 on TNT
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I agree...it's just common sense, really.
Who knew it was in such short supply?
jms
#: 11778 S2/Bab 5: General
29-Dec-97 12:36:14
Sb: #11670-Babylon Project: Crusade
Fm: ED BRANDT
I have heard that Thirdspace might be the pilot or lead-up to Crusade.
True,untrue?
Ed
Raanana, Israel
#: 11917 S2/Bab 5: General
29-Dec-97 21:37:09
Sb: #11778-Babylon Project: Crusade
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
"I have heard that Thirdspace might be the pilot or lead-up to Crusade.
True,untrue?"
Untrue.
jms
#: 11752 S2/Bab 5: General
29-Dec-97 09:33:06
Sb: "The Guide" on TNT
Fm: NEIL S. TURKENKOPF
Hi Joe,
In all the technical confusion about air-times,early vs
late,etc... I never got around to saying how much I enjoyed watching the
'Guide' ! It was really neat to see & hear you and John
talk about this and that,and of course all the footage and behind the scenes
stuff was terrific!
Once I actually got to view the entire show,it seemed much longer than a
half-hour production!
My thanks to you and all your crew,and to all at TNT!
#: 11918 S2/Bab 5: General
29-Dec-97 21:37:09
Sb: #11752-#"The Guide" on TNT
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
The scary thing is to look at the promos John and I did for WB for the
pilot and first season. I didn't have a grey hair on my head, and there was
more of it; John had a few, but has since gone totally grey-white from the
rigors of this show, all in five years.
Thing is, though, I look at the promises we made in those early
interviews, and by golly, we kept every one of them.
jms
[ Continued in next section -- BB ]
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