[B5JMS] JMS: Midnight Nation

[b5jms-admin at cs.columbia.edu]

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
From: PsicopJeffG at webtv.net (Jeffrey Gustafson)
Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2002 23:33:37 -0400 (EDT)
Lines: 58

Midnight Nation is your greatest work.  Well, so far, anyway.

It may be unfair to compare MN to Babylon 5 (the only other thing that
comes close); it really is apples and oranges, two utterly different
monsters, and not just because of the different media that each was
published in.  But looking at the two stories, each *as a whole,*
Midnight Nation soars above just about everything that I have ever read
or seen... B5 included.   

It is a triumph of words and art; an utterly flawless story.All the
elements are important, yet it doesn't smack of import; the story adds
up and the ending, while it has it's surprises, is not surprising for
the sake thereof.  The ending really is beautiful and satisfying.
Midnight Nation is Perfect.

You wrote (or said) a couple of years ago that you will not reach your
prime for at least "10 years."  Reading that, then, it was hard to
imagine that you could ever top B5.  I was thinking in terms of the
majesty of the B5 story... Even with all it's flaws what could top it?
And in short order you gave us Midnight Nation. It's such a simple
story, yet it says so much. There were far too many bits that hit far
too close to home... not because I can relate to a specific part, but
because the humanity of the story makes it so.  There was sooo much to
this story that made it better than the rest.  Now I find it hard to
imagine what could top this... 

It's cliche, but words cannot describe how much I have enjoyed MN or how
good it truly is...  So I digress.

You wrote:

>There have been some inquiries about
>optioning MN, but I've deliberately held off
>listening to anything until the story was
>complete. 

As I read MN I kinda wondered to myself how it can be done... Can you
have something on a network and still retain it's adult edginess and
intelligence?  Can you make a feature that includes all the wonderful
"side" stories that really amplify the story?  Is it viable (or even
possible) to make a multi-part premium cable mini-series?  Ideally, it
would be a cable series, 12 or 13 episodes, etc.  But that's a stretch.
But then again I don't see it as a stretch to rewrite the whole shebang
so that it fits into a more accessible form without loosing a thing.
Anything is possible.  This would be a "wait and see" situation.  And
even if there isn't a moving picture form of Midnight Nation, while it
wouldn't hurt as more people would probably be exposed to the story, the
comics are good enough to stand on their own.  They are truly great, and
to repeat something you've read a thousand times... Thanks, Joe.

Enough gushing, back to lurking...

     -The Jeff

Sheridan:"So how did you find out all of this?"
Bester:"I'm a telepath.  Work it out." <*>



=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: 26 Jun 2002 05:08:39 GMT
Lines: 53

>Midnight Nation soars above just about everything that I have ever read
>or seen... B5 included.   
>
>It is a triumph of words and art; an utterly flawless story.

Thank you.  It's a story that I'm inestimably proud of; I still can't get
through the last issue without falling apart, for some reason it just hits me
hard.  It's a very personal story for me, and there's a lot of me in the
characters and what they're working through.  

>You wrote (or said) a couple of years ago that you will not reach your
>prime for at least "10 years."  Reading that, then, it was hard to
>imagine that you could ever top B5.  I was thinking in terms of the
>majesty of the B5 story... Even with all it's flaws what could top it?
>And in short order you gave us Midnight Nation. 

It came out far better than I could've hoped, and it's definitely my favorite
prose work to date.  To compare it with B5, I dunno, that's kind of in a
separate category from everything else.  It's the old comparins apples and
woodchucks thing.

BTW, two asides (and I'm putting this here because I generally am not posting
as much while my hand goes through therapy, I'm trying to do only the typing I
absolutely *have* to do)....

On the DVDs, last I heard they'll be out around mid-November, with the whole
first season at about a hundred bucks.  I did the commentaries on Signs and
Portents and Chrysalis, and an on-camera intro and interview.  They've also
done new interviews with Rick Biggs, Claudia, John Iacovelli, John Copeland,
Stephen Furst, Jerry Doyle and others.  So it should be a pretty big deal
overall, much better than the movie dvd.

Item two, just for the humor of it...when we finished B5, all the sets were
demolished, no bits and pieces of it remain...with one exception, and it's a
doozy.  The last remaining set piece from not only the B5 series, but from the
set of Babylon 4.  An absolute rarity.  I mention this because I just saw it
come up on ebay (I'd handed it off as a souvenir some time ago).  I especially
liked the final line, where it said that the seller could not be held
responsible for temporal abnormalities that make the buyer's house disapper
mysteriously....

Funny stuff. 

 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)