jms-Racing The Night --Finally!-Some Spoilers

[B5JMS Poster]

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From: "Leo W." <leoaw at worldnet.att.net>
Date: 8 Aug 1999 15:55:03 -0600
Lines: 57

joe,
I think that if Racing The Night had been the first episode aired, we would
see more people excited about Crusade.  Before the first episode aired, I
e-mailed anyone and everyone who I knew was even marginally into B5.  Most
of them viewed the first couple of episodes and lost interest.  The post TNT
influenced episodes were hit or miss with me as well.  Meanwhile, Racing The
Night was more of what I expected out of the series.  In this episode I
almost think we were hit with more subplots than the previous eight
combined.  The story kept me spinning from the start.

I'll try to get my friends to give it another chance, I just worry they
might be too burned on the series at this point.  It's one of those cases
where if the series is going to be on for another year or two and can
produce a some hard hitting episodes with word of mouth, they'd give it
another chance.  One episode may not be enough to turn them around.

For B5, I was much the same way.  I occasionally caught the first season
episodes and a smattering of second season eps.  What really turned me
around was Divided Loyalties.  The way the story was written, it appeared
that you had planned for Talia to be sleeper from the start.  That was so
cool to me that I really got into the show.  I was looking forward to the
same momentum happening with Crusade.

***NOTE: SOME SPOILER INFO WILL BE FOUND IF YOU CONTINUE READING***

Some specific thoughts on Racing The Night.  I really don't see what
problems TNT had with the series.  The actors meshed together nicely and I
believe this was the only one shown so far to feature the whole cast
together as a tight unit.  The humor was nice and the uniforms weren't a
problem for me.  I am curious if TNT threw you some money for better FX.
The scene with Galen's hologram on the planet was entertaining, though a
little too ambitious.  After seeing Phantom Menace, I might be a bit spoiled
at what I expect out of computer animation and those scenes, along with
Gideon riding the floating motorcycle, were somewhat rough.  I'll have to
review the previous episodes, as I recall the graphics were much better
done.

Story wise, as mentioned previously, it was non-stop.  The extra information
about Gideon's deal with the Drahzi for year 4 is intriguing.  Finally we
get to see how he relates to the Apokolips Box.  Dureena trying to make a
deal with Galen for technomage is nice.  Too bad that wasn't built up in the
earlier episodes.

I'll work on my friends some more to give the show a second chance.
Meanwhile, how are things behind the scenes?  Do you have any other projects
you can talk about now?

Peace,
Leo
--

               Please join me at my home on the Web:
                     http://home.att.net/~leoaw/
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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: 8 Aug 1999 17:03:59 -0600
Lines: 32

>I am curious if TNT threw you some money for better FX.

No.

>I'll work on my friends some more to give the show a second chance.
>Meanwhile, how are things behind the scenes?  Do you have any other projects
>you can talk about now?

I can only talk about them in broad terms: I just finished writing a non-SF TV
movie for CBS which should go into production in a couple of months...I've been
agreed to adapt CM Kornbluth's classic short story "The Marching Morons" for a
high profile NPR radio drama series BEYOND 2000 which goes on the air next
year...just finished a lengthy outline for a novel that is going on the auction
block...I have a development deal in place on a feature... and biggest of all,
I just this week closed a deal to develop another new series, this one totally
outside the B5 universe.  

I can't tell you the details, because I'm not allowed to yet...but suffice to
say that it is as revolutionary in its way as B5 was.  It's about 98%
mainstream and 2% speculative fiction.  If it goes into production, it'll be
for a proper network, with a substantial budget, and it'll be a Big Deal.  But
one never knows.  So we'll see....

 jms

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




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