[B5JMS] A matter of timing

[b5jms-admin at cs.columbia.edu]

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From: jdemarti at bellsouth.net (Joseph DeMartino)
Date: 17 May 2001 19:25:26 -0700
Lines: 34

I posted your comments on a "B5" board, and they drew the following response:
"I can't help but get the impression that JMS would rather see 'Crusade' 
die than live. I had hoped this 'third project' would BE Crusade, but after 
this post, it does not sound like it. If JMS is not interested in pursuing 
'Crusade', should we the fans be? I find myself wondering."

This is an odd phenomenon, but not an uncommon one. It seems that every 
reply where you discuss the *possibility* of "Crusades" return at some 
point, but stop short of saying, "We start shooting tomorrow", is greeted 
as the final death-knell of the show. People seem so eager to "read between 
the lines" of your posts that they don't read the lines themselves. It 
seems to me that you have had any number of opportunities to declare 
"Crusade" dead once and for all, or to say that you have no further 
interest in pursuing that particular story and have moved onto other 
things. Instead you have *always* seemed to leave this particular door 
open, while in no way minimizing the challenges involved in bringing the 
show back in some form, someday.

I mean, this last post began with the words, "It would be possible" and the 
guy from the other board immediately took this as a "sign" that you really 
want the show dead. Is he endowed with superior insight, or am I safe in 
assuming that when you say "it would be possible" you mean, "it would be 
possible"? <g>

Regards,

Joe



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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: 17 May 2001 19:57:19 -0700
Lines: 34

>I mean, this last post began with the words, "It would be possible" and the 
>guy from the other board immediately took this as a "sign" that you really 
>want the show dead. Is he endowed with superior insight, or am I safe in 
>assuming that when you say "it would be possible" you mean, "it would be 
>possible"? <g>

It is a sign that whoever posted that is a dork.

Things take the time they take.  The show just barely finished ariing on SFC. 
Look at the time frame between when B5 started airing on SFC, and when we got
the go-ahead to do Rangers.  TV doesn't work in idealized terms..."Gee it did
great so let's go out and make a deal RIGHTNOW!"  It is a slow, wearing,
grinding process.  TV is a cautious business.

I have not been told, definitively, "no" by SFC, nor have I been told "yes;" I
know what's in their budget to do at this moment, and I know they want to test
the B5 waters in general with Rangers.  I cannot imagine that, if the show does
well, they wouldn't want to revisit Crusade.

But to say that I want the show to die is right up there in the top two
percentile of the top ten percent of dumb things I've heard this year.  I would
love to be able to finish the story, and fnish it properly.  Until that
happens, it will always be an unresolved issue with me.

 jms

(jmsatb5 at aol.com)
(all message content (c) 2001 by synthetic worlds, ltd., 
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine 
and don't send me story ideas)