ATTN JMS: B5 theme question

[B5JMS Poster]

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From: RTBautista <RTBautista at aol.com>
Date: 3 Jan 1998 14:39:10 -0700
Lines: 28


jms,

     I finally caught "Guide to Babylon 5" this morning on TNT, and right
after it was an episode of New Twilight Zone from 1989, penned by none other
than you.  Was TNT even conscious that they were doing this, or was it merely
strange luck?  The episode of NTZ was the one where a secret military project
accidently opened up a wormhole.  The lead character was sent through for
"risk assessment" and also to find the others that had been sent through
before him.

     One of the names the general(?) said in the list of those that had gone
missing was Sinclair.  I didn't catch the first name, but it sounded like it
could have been Jeffrey.  At any rate, the general theme of the episode seemed
very B5ish, in terms of personal responsibility, making sacrifices for the
greater good, questions of duty and honor, etc.  Which brings me to my
question.  

     Did these themes become important to you in 1986(?) when you first had
the whole B5 story come to you in a flash, or did the B5 story come to you
because you had been dwelling on these themes for much of your life?

     Thanks for a great show, and I'm looking forward expectantly to "In The 
Beginning" and season 5.


Reg Bautista
rtbautista at aol.com

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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: 4 Jan 1998 09:20:25 -0700
Lines: 53

> I finally caught "Guide to Babylon 5" this morning on TNT, and right
>after it was an episode of New Twilight Zone from 1989, penned by none other
>than you.  Was TNT even conscious that they were doing this, or was it merely
>strange luck?

I certainly didn't know about it.

>The episode of NTZ was the one where a secret military project
>accidently opened up a wormhole.  The lead character was sent through for
>"risk assessment" and also to find the others that had been sent through
>before him.

Ah..."The Wall."
>the general theme of the episode seemed
>very B5ish, in terms of personal responsibility, making sacrifices for the
>greater good, questions of duty and honor, etc.  Which brings me to my
>question.  
> Did these themes become important to you in 1986(?) when you first had
>the whole B5 story come to you in a flash, or did the B5 story come to you
>because you had been dwelling on these themes for much of your life?

I've always tried to deal with issues that matter to me in what I write.  I
can't do it any other way.  If you pull out any of my work, from whatever show,
I try to sneak in the issues that get caught in my filter.  Hell, it's even in
the animated series I wrote.  

I was with friends recently, and just for (as John Copeland says) shits and
grins, I fired up an old episode of He Man a few weeks ago, which was my first
TV staff writing gig of any substance.  I picked up "Origin of the Sorceress." 
And the friends commented that virtually all of the themes in B5 are right
there in that one episode.  Not the plot, the characters, none of that...the
*themes*, the points of personal sacrifice, responsibility, on and on.

I believe, very strongly, that TV should not be just entertainment.  It must
entertain, yes, because if it doesn't entertain ain't nobody gonna watch
it...but as Mark Twain said, while it must not overtly preach or overtly teach,
it must *covertly* teach and covertly preach.

It's there in about 95% of all my work...especially on The Twilight Zone, and
in other shows to varying extents.  I don't tend to do moral shows -- if you
haven't figured out by now that racism is bad, a TeeVee show ain't gonna teach
it to you -- but I do try to do ethical shows, which get people to talk about
what's at issue.

No matter how dopey the show, as long as you approach it with, as Balzac said,
"clean hands and composure," and tell the stories that matter to you, about the
issues that count, the work is valid.

 jms

(jmsatb5 at aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com
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