[B5JMS] ATTN JMS: B5 Backbiting from actors wins no fans here

[b5jms-admin at cs.columbia.edu]

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
From: talandir at aol.com (John C. Anderson)
Date: 06 Dec 2002 07:42:47 GMT
Lines: 44

The BIg Cheese wrote:

<< And who, exactly, are you to determine, years after the fact, what was an
"unreasonable" or resaonable request?  Or whether it was grossly unreasonable? 
Again, were you in the room?  Yes or no, were you in the room?  Then how do you
know what was asked?
 >>


Abso-friggin-lutely! Many of us here, myself included, have opinions about what
happened behind the scenes. Whether they're just gut instinct, or based on
interviews or other research. We have opinions on changes in the story arc,
changes in the cast, off-camera disagreements and studio politics spilling over
into the show itself. 

But none of us were there, except JMS and the cast and crew of B5. And even
their statements should be taken with a grain of salt. Everyone has a different
perspective, and no one has perfect and unbiased memory. I, for one, don't take
anyone's word as gospel. Though I certainly think some, including JMS, are more
credible than others. 

For example, I am one who thinks MOH was shafted and that the main storyline
was rather signifigantly altered by the replacement of Sinclair by Sheridan as
lead chracter. I'm one of those who would have been accused of "calling JMS a
liar" in the recent thread on the subject, if I had posted my side instead of
just lurking through the latest round of that debate. I don't believe that JMS
has been completely forthcoming in either the circumstances of MOH's departure,
or the resulting changes in B5.

But, and this is the relevant part, this is only my *opinion*. I would never
call JMS, or any of the other people involved who have spoken on the subject,
liars. I make no claims to know what happened in any of those meetings between
JMS, MOH and the fine folks at WB. Nor do I claim to have access to JMS's
creative process or story notes.  I can make suppositions and deductions from
the various interviews and statements of those involved, as well as from the
show as aired. I just don't present them as facts.

Unless anyone else here is omniscient, I think we should all remember the line
between opinion and fact.


"Oh, no. Not again."
Douglas Adams


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: 06 Dec 2002 09:23:56 GMT
Lines: 39

>But none of us were there, except JMS and the cast and crew of B5. And even
>their statements should be taken with a grain of salt. Everyone has a
>different
>perspective, and no one has perfect and unbiased memory.

I don't necessarily disagree with this, there is a certain amount of that in
any kind of human discourse, but there are also other elements to factor into
this.

Here, for me, is the biggest one.  If you go to jmsnews.com, you will find
16,694 messages that I posted to the net between November 1991 and five seconds
ago.  All of this was done in real-time, without having to fall back on
memories of events five or ten years down the road.  So the information there
was as current as the event itself.

Lots of other recollections have been found to be flawed.  Claudia's statement,
for instance, that she was fired, where I had insisted she'd quit, only to have
her say, in later interviews, that yeah, she did indeed quit.  (After having
left me to bear the brunt of that allegation for a very long time.)

But in 11 years and 16,694 messags (of which this will become 16,695), not one
of them has ever been shown to have strayed from the truth after the fact. 
They have uniformly passed the test of time.

If I have one benefit, it's that I come from a journalist's background, and I'm
very good at reporting what happens, without much in the way of elaboration.

Personally, I think that counts for a lot.

 jms

(jmsatb5 at aol.com)
(all message content (c) 2002 by synthetic worlds, ltd., 
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine 
and don't send me story ideas)