JMS on CompuServe (Jun 08, 1998) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*

bbarrett at johndelenn.com bbarrett at johndelenn.com
Mon Jun 8 22:00:49 EDT 1998


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 [ Summary of subjects in this section: ]
    Sb: #35094-<Darkness Ascending>
    Sb: #35224-<Darkness Ascending>
    Sb: #35215-<Darkness Ascending>
    Sb: #35274-#<Darkness Ascending>


 [ Summary: "I'm just hoping that we might see what's up with Earth." ]

 #: 35157 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
    04-Jun-98  21:35:11
Sb: #35094-<Darkness Ascending>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      Having spent a lot of time on Earth at the end of S4, I'd rather do a 
few other things this time.

                                                                    jms


 #: 35224 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
    05-Jun-98  10:49:06
Sb: #34995-#<Darkness Ascending>
Fm: PHILIP HORNSEY

>>"you ain't getting it, but since you were still wondering..."  A friendly 
plink.

I considered that exchange *brilliant*. For a little less than four years we 
have seen G'Kar evolve into a holy character. He has become utterly spiritual 
and this was a *perfect* means of calling attention to the fact that some 
thing simply do not change. 

G'Kar is a friendly lecher. He has a scandalous appriciation for non-Narn 
females, it didn't go away, he just didn't have time for it for a while, and 
now would probably eschew such things because he feels he must set a proper 
example, but under the appropriate circumstances...discreet 
circumstances...with someone he actually has respectful feelings for...

That exchange was *resonant*, it was, in my opinion, one of the finest scenes 
you have ever written. It was totally *real*, like a perfect gemstone peeking 
out of an otherwise lovely rock strata, perfection in the midst of beauty. 
*That* is *very* hard to acomplish.

Your stories are always *good*, often *excellent* but it is these individual 
moments, that make the entire series so compelling. They happen a couple of 
times a season, like Londo in the window of the battlecruiser, or EF1 blowing 
up, or the sequence in ItB where Londo is narrating the fall of the Alliance 
*followed by* the President's speech (two in a row!).

It is impossible to do these constantly, Shakespear couldn't and he know 
everything, but you get more than anyone on televison.

I don't write notes like this often, you do it too much and it smacks of @ss 
kissing, but that one really hit me hard. 

You really have changed my opinion of SF, I no longer think that it is 
possible to do justice to SF in a movie format, you *need* a series, the 
concepts are just to complex (with the possible exception of Star Wars, and 
that is a series).

I hope you can continue this with Crusade, it's going to become progressively 
harder as you go on to avoid banailty and cliche, but if *anyone* is capable 
you are.

Just one thing, one piece of advice from a lontime and observant viewer. You 
have a "voice", expressions you use here, comments like "will attend to 
itself" and the like. Sometimes, occasionally, *very* dissimiler characters 
will use *exactly* the same verbage. It's the only time they seem to lose 
their own voice. I suspect that this is the sort of thing that tends to become 
more of a progressive problem, and I commit it to your attention.

Phil^^^^
FREE MARS!

 #: 35252 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
    05-Jun-98  14:56:14
Sb: #35224-<Darkness Ascending>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      Thanks, I tend to agree...they are indeed very hard to pull off, and we 
only get a few here and there.

      The remarkable thing is...there are at least 4 or 5 of them in the next 
3 episodes alone.


                                                                    jms


 #: 35215 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
    05-Jun-98  09:59:02
Sb: #34994-#<Darkness Ascending>
Fm: PAM JERNIGAN

>>  See, that's where I get nuts about some of the other comments.  A number 
of folks said last week's was just filler... <<

I'm sorry, Joe, I didn't mean to make you nuts... I know you've got to do the 
breather eps to set up the payoff eps; with so many balls in the air, we need 
reminded of where they all are before you start juggling again.  And I did say 
that it was well-done, at least <g>

And while I may have used the dreaded "filler" word, I'm quite sure I didn't 
dismiss it as non-arc, because I knew better than that.

PJ ^^^^

 #: 35253 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
    05-Jun-98  14:56:14
Sb: #35215-<Darkness Ascending>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      s'okay....

                                                                    jms


 #: 35274 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
    05-Jun-98  18:16:03
Sb: #35081-<Darkness Ascending>
Fm: MARTE BRENGLE

So...  how *would* a human and a Narn mate, anyway?  :)


                                                --M--



 #: 35392 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
    06-Jun-98  22:27:06
Sb: #35274-#<Darkness Ascending>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      Well, as G'Kar said in the pilot, there would have to be rather 
substantial genetic manipulation and adjustment to allow for the different DNA 
structures to mix.

      After that, it would require the usual: dinner, flowers, and being 
willing to sit through a chick-flick....

                                                                    jms


[END]

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