JMS on CompuServe (Mar 31, 1998) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*
bbarrett at johndelenn.com
bbarrett at johndelenn.com
Tue Mar 31 21:29:18 EST 1998
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[ Summary of subjects in this section: ]
Sb: #25576-Word on Severed DVD yet?
Sb: #25490-#B5 after TNT?
Sb: #25946-B5 after TNT?
Sb: #25760-Arthur on Narn
Sb: #26018-Newbie comments
Sb: #25949-Babylon Squared
Sb: #26328-#TNT ALERT S5 Schedule
Sb: #26357-#Babylon Project: Crusade
Sb: #26628-Netter Digital
Sb: #26450-#Vir's wife
Sb: #26597-#Na'toth - yay
Sb: #26598-#Lyndisty
#: 25576 S2/Bab 5: General
24-Mar-98 11:20:08
Sb: Word on Severed DVD yet?
Fm: BRIAN PROTHERO
Hi,
Any word on the "Severed Dreams" DVD yet? I just bought a new Sony DVP-S3000
DVD player a couple weeks ago and I would just love to pop that baby in.<g>
And the entire series !!!
If you do go ahead with the DVD, do you know if it will be released in 16:9
"anamorphic" widescreen (aka enhanced wide screen)? This allows for the
highest possible resolution while filling the entire screen on a widescreen
TV. The film is still displayed in letterbox on standard 4:3 TVs.
I was curious about the opening title credits in regards to future wide screen
TVs. During the opening title (at least season 5), the actor's name appears
on top of the filmed image but the character's name appears in the black
letterbox borders.
Does that mean that the character name will be cut off when viewed in
widescreen?
I have seen that a few Xena/Hercules episodes are now available on DVD. They
have put 3 episodes on a single side of a dual layer DVD. Do you have any
idea if/when Babylon 5 is released there will be 3 episodes on each DVD? Two
episodes per DVD would also be ok and would avoid the dual layer (I think).
..Or you could be really nice and cram as many episodes on a single DVD as
you can (using dual layers on both sides)... of course, in the correct
order.<g>
Brian
#: 25659 S2/Bab 5: General
24-Mar-98 22:31:02
Sb: #25576-Word on Severed DVD yet?
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Haven't heard anything new, no.
jms
#: 25490 S2/Bab 5: General
23-Mar-98 17:43:05
Sb: #25368-B5 after TNT?
Fm: JOSEPH DEMARTINO
Well, you have to remember that Showtime *produces* those series. Since it is
a non-commercial channel, the best way to get a return on investment is to
re-sell them to the syndication market. TNT doesn't produce B5, Warner
Brothers does. I assume that B5 is produced at a loss, like most TV shows,
and the WB's chance to recoup its investment is to re-sell the program after
the initial run to some second-run venue - of which broadcast syndication is
the best known. The problem is that in this case, TNT *is* the "second run
venue".
TNT has an exclusive deal not only to run Season 5, but to rebroadcast *all*
Babylon 5 seasons. I'm not sure how long the contract with WB runs, but I do
know that talk from the very beginning has been that Season 5 will eventually
go into the 7 PM weekday strip, and that TNT plans to keep running the eps in
that timeslot "until the sprocket holes wear out" - I believe that last is an
exact quotation from Dean Treadwell of TNT programming.
Given how happy TNT has been with both the 7 PM and 10 PM ratings, and how
much they have done to promote the show and build an audience for it, I don't
see them letting go for a good long time. Sorry.
Regards,
Joe
#: 25913 S2/Bab 5: General
26-Mar-98 13:02:08
Sb: #25490-#B5 after TNT?
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Interestingly, one of the requirements of the shows that began under
PTEN is that they must show a profit *the very first year*, rather than having
to wait for the long run...so B5 has been turning a profit for WB since the
first day.
Not that my statement reflects this, natch, and never will, because then
they'd have to actually *pay* me some of those profits....
jms
#: 25946 S2/Bab 5: General
26-Mar-98 16:43:13
Sb: #25913-#B5 after TNT?
Fm: JOSEPH DEMARTINO
Amazing. I didn't know that any dramatic (or comedic) series had been *made*
in the black since - I don't know when. That makes your achievement even more
impressive - and I didn't think *that* was possible. Congratulations on
reaching the end of your own personal five-year mission. I look forward to
the final chapters, and especially to getting onto to the TNT board and
saying, "*Now* do you see what he was doing?!" to all the S5 naysayers. I've
enjoyed all the shows thus far, though I can understand why some people think
the season has been "slow" after the non-stop rush of S4. But I've been
watching this thing long enough to know that you are building to a lot of
*serious* whams as we get nearer the end, and I'm enjoying the process of
being told this wonderful story one week at a time. I don't understand people
who want to know "what happens next" before it *happens*. (Except for the
purely intellectual pleasure of trying to figure out your next move, then
seeing if I'm right. My record in that area has been pretty dismal. Which
has been another one of the pleasures of this show. I *like* surprises.)
Thanks again.
Joe
P.S. Without saying too much, I've heard that we should keep our ears open
around April 2? Should we?
J.
#: 26023 S2/Bab 5: General
26-Mar-98 23:36:01
Sb: #25946-B5 after TNT?
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Exactly. What a number of people tend to overlook is that if you look
at the structure of the show, the bigger the zetz that you're about to get,
the more I allow you a bit of breathing time in between zetzes. So it's a
safe bet that the longer the breathing time, the bigger the ball bat....
jms
#: 25760 S4/Seas. 1-4 SPOILERS
25-Mar-98 17:54:11
Sb: Arthur on Narn
Fm: WILL CARAWAY
Joe,
After watching "A Late Delivery form Avalon", I have a question. Will we
hear about any of "Arthur's" exploits in the Narn resistence?
Looking Forward to Tonight's Episode,
Will
#: 25813 S4/Seas. 1-4 SPOILERS
25-Mar-98 22:47:09
Sb: #25760-Arthur on Narn
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
It's one of those stories I doubt we'll hear much about.
jms
#: 26018 S4/Seas. 1-4 SPOILERS
26-Mar-98 22:07:05
Sb: #Newbie comments
Fm: JOE SALEMI [ZD NET]
Joe,
Long time no chat! Just wanted to pass on some comments from a friend that
I've just turned on to B5, now that I have all the episodes on tape (I missed
season 1 the first time around, and didn't get all of season 2 on tape at
first -- thank you, TNT!). He's a musician and works at night, so he's never
seen the show. I've been feeding him tapes, and he's about 1/3 of the way
into Season 2 now. Anyway, here's what he said in an email to me today:
"Holy Babylon, Batman! Just when you think you're getting a good solid handle
on things in the B-5 universe, up jumps the devil. (Or should I say, up jump
about 18 devils at once.) As you may have surmised, I was up last night
addressing the postcards for the mailing list, so I put on B-5, and saw
"Coming of Shadows" and "Gropos", among others. Good Lord! Factions appearing
and colliding out of nowhere. Chekov (that is to say, "Bester"), and his
ruthless renegade Psi-Corps gang, up to who knows what. Earth force getting
entangled is somebody's damn civil war. Meanwhile, what a P***K Londo has
become. He'd better quit messing with those bad boys out on the rim; I
expect they'll turn on him someday. And if he doesn't rediscover his
conscience pretty darn quick, well, I'll be really annoyed with him, and he'll
deserve whatever he gets. I'm feeling really bad for G'kar, and at this point
I'm rooting for the Narns. And Kosh, if you know something, SPILL IT!
Yes, things have taken a very, very dark turn. It almost makes you homesick
for the happier, simpler days of Season #1.
I'm really enjoying the hell out of this series. The author is a frigging
genius."
The last sentence says it all, and I don't argue with it in the slightest.
Thank you, Joe, for a great ride!
(The best part is that he doesn't have a CLUE what's coming! I'll have fun
watching his head explode soon <evil grin>.)
#: 26024 S4/Seas. 1-4 SPOILERS
26-Mar-98 23:36:01
Sb: #26018-Newbie comments
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Cool...thanks.
jms
[ Summary: A new viewer asks if the Babylon 4 issues raised in "Babylon
Squared" are ever revisited. ]
#: 26025 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
26-Mar-98 23:36:02
Sb: #25949-Babylon Squared
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
We did deal with the B4 issue in a later episode, War Without End.
jms
#: 26328 S2/Bab 5: General
28-Mar-98 19:53:10
Sb: #25966-#TNT ALERT S5 Schedule
Fm: SYSOP LEE WHITESIDE
A couple of unnoficial things to add to the new schedule info that has
surfaced from other sources.
One of the reasons to move the show up is that they have been getting hurt in
the ratings by South Park (likely especially when it is a new episode of SP
which have been doing very good ratings for a cable channel, especially
compared to the number of homes Comedy Central is in).
The down side of this is that in the western time zones, it will be on before
prime time, although when the TNT West coast feed starts up, that will move it
back into prime time on the West Coast. This could happen as early as June.
(My own speculation here) there could be a significant number of people
catching up on the series but avoiding the season 5 episodes that would be
able to Jump in with the Season 5 repeats, giving those a boost during the
slow summer viewing time and increasing the audience
for the final five and subsequent movies and Crusade.
The setting of River of Souls appears to be in the time frame between "Objects
at Rest" and "Sleeping in Light", which makes it airing a few days before
"Sleeping in Light" very logical.
That will also make the airing of SoL about a year and a half after it was
filmed!
#: 26573 S2/Bab 5: General
29-Mar-98 22:06:07
Sb: #26328-#TNT ALERT S5 Schedule
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
You're correct; a number of folks have told TNT that they're waiting
until seeing all the S1-4 episodes before watching season 5, so they're timing
the new cycle of S5 eps, starting from the beginning, so these folks can catch
up after the end of the S1-4 episodes.
jms
#: 26357 S2/Bab 5: General
29-Mar-98 00:15:03
Sb: #Babylon Project: Crusade
Fm: SHAWN D. RATNER
Dear Mr. Straczynski,
I have heard rumors that TNT is planning on making an official annoucement
regarding Crusade on April 2nd. I also heard that Jeff Conaway and Tracy
Scoggins were asked if they were interested in doing Crusade. Can you please
confirm if this is true or just a rumor.
Thank you,
Shawn
#: 26574 S2/Bab 5: General
29-Mar-98 22:06:08
Sb: #26357-#Babylon Project: Crusade
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
One part or another of that may be accurate; one part or another may
not.
jms
#: 26628 S2/Bab 5: General
30-Mar-98 05:58:00
Sb: #Netter Digital
Fm: DAVID & RITA MCLAUGHLIN
Joe,
I just got an email from my salesman about the DEC Alpha computer platform
being used for CGI effects on the movie "Titanic". In the release many movie
studios were mentioned as having Alpha computers to render CGI. Among the
other (non-movie) studios mentioned as using the Alpha was Netter Digital.
"Other studios include ..... and Netter Digital, which is producing all the
new episodes of the TV series Babylon5 with special effects powered by Alpha."
Babylon 5 was the only TV production mentioned by name.
David
#: 26799 S2/Bab 5: General
31-Mar-98 02:34:12
Sb: #26628-Netter Digital
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Cool....
jms
#: 26450 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
29-Mar-98 10:07:03
Sb: #Vir's wife
Fm: MIKE LOVITT
Mr. Straczynski:
Is Vir still married?
I would also like to thank you for putting together a GREAT show.
Mike
#: 26575 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
29-Mar-98 22:06:08
Sb: #26450-#Vir's wife
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
He was never married, she came to B5 for a pre-marriage visit, but
remember that it got postponed indefinitely.
jms
[ Summary: Complains that Na'Toth appearing in the opening credits
ruined the surprise of the character's appearance later in the
episode. Also asks how the Na'Toth re-appearance came about.]
#: 26800 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
31-Mar-98 02:34:12
Sb: #26597-#Na'toth - yay
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
SAG rules specify where credits go; it's sometimes a bummer if you're
trying to keep something secret, but there you go.
The Na'Toth thing was something I wanted to do, called Caitlin, she was
up for it, and I wrote the ep.
jms
[ Summary: Believes that the woman who played Lyndisty in "Sic Transit
Vir" was the same woman who played Julie Musante in "Voices of
Authority." ]
#: 26801 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
31-Mar-98 02:34:12
Sb: #26598-#Lyndisty
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
No, different person.
Remember, the Credits are our Friends....
jms
[END]
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