JMS on CompuServe (Jun 27, 1998) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS* (2/2)
bbarrett at johndelenn.com
bbarrett at johndelenn.com
Sat Jun 27 14:44:32 EDT 1998
[ Continued from previous section -- BB ]
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 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
RESPECTIVE MESSAGE AUTHORS AND CANNOT BE
REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED
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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the right to revoke this permission at any time.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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[ Summary of subjects in this section: ]
Sb: #37545-JMS and "Ghostbusters"
Sb: #37574-JMS and "Ghostbusters"
Sb: #37373-# Town Has Turned to Dust
Sb: #37405-#Free New B5 Screening UK
Sb: #37584-One for the Wish-List
#: 37545 S2/Bab 5: General
26-Jun-98 07:48:11
Sb: #37523-#JMS and "Ghostbusters"
Fm: PHILIP HORNSEY
>> I wrote that one. I *think* it was called "Take Two."
That's one I saw. It was inspired.
To this day, when I am trying to explain B5 and it's attention to detail to
newbesI just show them that RGB and say "this guy is so obsessed about details
he couldn't stand not explaining why the cartoon characters looked different
and were voiced by different people."
Phil^^^^
FREE MARS!
#: 37590 S2/Bab 5: General
26-Jun-98 21:33:14
Sb: #37545-JMS and "Ghostbusters"
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
"To this day, when I am trying to explain B5 and it's attention to detail to
newbesI just show them that RGB and say "this guy is so obsessed about details
he couldn't stand not explaining why the cartoon characters looked different
and were voiced by different people.""
"Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle."
- Michelangelo
jms
[ Summary: (See below.) ]
#: 37591 S2/Bab 5: General
26-Jun-98 21:33:14
Sb: #37574-JMS and "Ghostbusters"
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
"What was Jayce?"
An adventure/SF series "Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors," a dopey concept
I again hijacked in an attempt to make it into something more.
"BTW: what was the situation with that other Ghostbusters show?"
Dunno...they revived it, I heard about it, they dumbed it up, that's all
I know.
jms
[ Summary: Asks how JMS feels about the Sci-Fi Channel re-making a version
of Rod Serling's "A Town Has Turned to Dust." ]
#: 37406 S2/Bab 5: General
24-Jun-98 13:47:05
Sb: #37373-# Town Has Turned to Dust
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
"So, what do YOU think, Joe? Do you think Rod Serling would approve of the
new adaptation or his name being attached to it?"
Unfortunately, I haven't seen it, and tend to shy away from making any
kind of sweeping comments about things I haven't seen. If I can take your
description as accurate, then my answer would probably be no. I would think
that by now, we could do the story as he had intended it to be done. Certainly
every generation stories get reinterpreted; I once saw Two Gentlemen of Verona
produced in a 1920s context, and if the Bard can be shuffled about in time,
anybody can.
That is somewhat different, however, from altering the text or the
dramatic intent. Herein lay the dilemma. Do we have any copies of Rod's
original work, as he had intended it to be done? Or were they working off the
only version, the altered one? If so, then it's altered one more iteration
from something that was not the proper version anyway, so yes, it's off
course, but is it demonstrably more off-course than the original softened
version?
On the other hand, if they did have the original version, it would have
been better served to go with that...however, if they did so, the odds are
that the SciFi Channel would never have produced it, since there's nothing SF
about it.
I dunno...again, I haven't seen it, so I'm trying to be measured in my
comments.
"Also, to get this somewhat back on topic, do you agree with Harlan Ellison's
"scorched earth" policy with regard to unfinished works? If you had suffered
a fatal stroke a year or so ago, would you have approved of someone else
stepping in to finish B5 "just the way Joe would've wanted it" or for B5 to
have died with you? Would you want your unfinished works archived, with the
ever-present possibility that someone might later acquire "rights" to produce
them, or used as fuel for your funeral pyre?"
I don't want anybody rifling through my stuff and putting it out there
after I'm gone, especially in unfinished form. I come to this opinion by a
hard road; when doing Twilight Zone, I was assigned to write a teleplay based
on one of Rod's unproduced outlines, and for me that was one of the highlights
since it let me kind of see into his creative process a little, and the story
was a good one. At the time, the issue of posthumous literary use really
hadn't occured to me. Since then, I've had a great deal of time to think
about it, and have finally come down on the side of "no." If I had expired
prior to finishing B5, I would rather let it end at that than have someone
else finish it for me, in a way not what I would've wanted...as a painter
would not generally let someone else finish his painting after his passing.
jms
[ Summary: Tells JMS that the cost of admission to the Wolf convention
has dropped, and urges him to return. ]
#: 37407 S3/Bab 5:International
24-Jun-98 13:47:05
Sb: #37405-#Free New B5 Screening UK
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
However there are a lot of hidden costs in the Wolf conventions. For
instance, at the SFX awards, we (John Copeland and I) were under the
impression that that was just a part of the convention's overall umbrella,
only to discover that the fans attending sprung for an additional 30 pounds
each to be at the tables. (When we discovered this, rather to our horror,
John and I decided we had better be damned more entertaining, and used our
drink chits to take care of the table all night, so it would balance out at
lesat a little.) At the end of the day, when you add up the hidden costs, it
works out about the same, as when they tried to charge for the ItB screening
that was supposed to be free to convention attendees.
jms
#: 37584 S8/Bab 5 Merchandise
26-Jun-98 18:10:11
Sb: #One for the Wish-List
Fm: REBECCA ESCHLIMAN
jms --
After rewatching "Revelations" tonight and doing the usual mind-dance of
<discover new foreshadowings and rediscover favorite moments>, I just realized
one thing (actually, a series of things) that I would love to see in the book
division.
The Book of G'Kar ...and the Book of Mollari ...and the Book of Delenn ...and
the Book of Garibaldi ...you get the picture...
It seems that one of the immediate exercises that gets started on various
mailing lists and BBS' (especially during a Long Hiatus) is "What Is Your
Favorite Quote," because your characters are so compulsively quotable.
I would love to see a series of books, each devoted to a character or group
(The Book of the Rangers, The Book of Telepaths) compiling quotes from the
whole series, interleaved with appropriate screen-shots. It'd be a rare
circumstance that I would have 110 (plus, if the movies are added in) hours to
rewatch all episodes, but a quote-series would allow me to recall B5 in a
condensed fashion.
One benefit for you is that, for this sort of product, you've already done the
work; someone with the skills of Stephen Smith could do the requisite
compilations.
I hope you could put a flea in the ear of someone at Del Rey. <Initiating
"Holding Breath Maneuver> I Want Them.
-rje- Never look a gifted horse in the mouth.
#: 37592 S8/Bab 5 Merchandise
26-Jun-98 21:33:14
Sb: #37584-One for the Wish-List
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
One more for the list....
jms
[END]
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