[B5JMS] Babylon 5 Scripts Site Nearly Ready, And More!

[b5jms at mail.fsl.cs.sunysb.edu]

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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 13:39:14 +0000 (UTC)
Lines: 70

First, an advance word to those who are looking on...as noted here
earlier, all of the B5 scripts that I wrote are going to be published
in book form via www.babylon5scripts.com (a clever and inventive
title), and I just had it confirmed to me that the site will be going
on line right around the 28th of this month, give or take a day or so.

There will be 14 volumes, containing all the episodic scripts that I
wrote, plus "In the Beginning" (in the 14th) and in volume 1 the
ORIGINAL 1989 version of "The Gathering" that was used to sell the show
but which was massively changed prior to production, which features
different characters and gave Kosh a life-mate named Velana.

The 15th volume will be given without charge to those who pick up all
14 volumes...even the shipping charges will be covered.  That volume
will contain the lost Soul Hunter script (well, not lost, I recalled it
because I'd unwittingly written a Star Trek style script instead of a
B5 style script), a never-before-seen draft of Midnight on the Firing
Line written a YEAR before we got the go-ahead for the series to show
WB how the series would work, which is *massively* different (and a bit
more surreal) from what was filmed...the original B5 series bible...the
5 year arc overview given to WB before we started filming season one to
show how the series would work (and which followed Sinclair's character
all through those five years on B5)...and the script used in the
now-famous (or infamous) practical joke played on Andreas and Peter
which had G'Kar changing genders and ending up in bed with Londo.

Each volume also has an original introduction from me, and a lengthy
discussion of each episode, averaging about 40 pages per book, with a
lot of behind the scenes information never revealed before, along with
what went into the writing and producing.

There will also be a collection of B&W photos from my private
collection taken behind the scenes, which have never been seen by
anyone before.  (Some books will have more photos than others,
depending on how often I made it to set that week.)

As noted before, for the first week or so after each new volume is
released, they'll be knocking ten bucks off the price of each volume to
reward the B5 community for keeping an eye on this.  And yes, they do
ship internationally.

Moving on to other topics for a moment....

The same week, the 26th, will also see the publcation of issue one of
"The Book of Lost Souls," the new comic I'm doing with Colleen Doran,
and published by Marvel.  This book is not like anything I've ever
written before (the closest would be Midnight Nation), and it's
definitely not like anything else Marvel is doing, and it's just
gorgeous to look at (and not bad to read, either).  No spandex, no
costumes...a kind of modern dark fantasy, very adult, sometimes very
dark but ultimately hopeful...and best of all, it has a talking cat
named Mystery who is modeled after Buddy the Miracle Cat, so really,
how can you go wrong?

Finally...and I almost hate to type these words for fear of jinxing
anything...but in addition to the network project in development, I've
been offered show-runner on another series which should, if all goes
according to plan start shooting up in Vancouver in the spring.  That's
all I can say about it for now, except that I've accepted the offer and
we're now concluding negotiations.  More on this as it develops.

jms

(message content (c) 2005
Synthetic Worlds, Ltd.
Reprint permission specifically
denied to SFX magazine)




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From: "Cornholio" <cornholio at chello.at>
Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 02:19:04 +0000 (UTC)
Lines: 39

jmsatb5 at aol.com wrote:
> The 15th volume will be given without charge to those who pick up all
> 14 volumes...even the shipping charges will be covered.  That volume
> will contain the lost Soul Hunter script (well, not lost, I recalled it
> because I'd unwittingly written a Star Trek style script instead of a
> B5 style script), a never-before-seen draft of Midnight on the Firing
> Line written a YEAR before we got the go-ahead for the series to show
> WB how the series would work, which is *massively* different (and a bit
> more surreal) from what was filmed...the original B5 series bible...the
> 5 year arc overview given to WB before we started filming season one to
> show how the series would work (and which followed Sinclair's character
> all through those five years on B5)...and the script used in the
> now-famous (or infamous) practical joke played on Andreas and Peter
> which had G'Kar changing genders and ending up in bed with Londo.

I really do not want to sound greedy, but... what happened with the
production draft for "The Gathering"? Wasn't it supposed to be included
in the 15th volume too? Did you simply forget to mention it, or was it
dropped to include something else?

And wasn't the S1-script included in the 15th volume supposed to be
"And the sky, full of stars"?

Anyway, great news, I'm really looking forward to it, and I think it's
really great that the publisher will even SHIP the 15th volume for
free. Can't wait until the site goes online and I'm able to order the
first volume.

And I am really looking forward to more info concerning that TV show...

HAVE A NICE DAY
Cornholio

PS: btw, could someone please explain to me how I can quote properly in
here? I'm new to this newsgroup and do not seem to be able to figure it
out on my own. thx




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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com
Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 00:18:55 +0000 (UTC)
Lines: 57


Cornholio wrote:
> I really do not want to sound greedy, but... what happened with the
> production draft for "The Gathering"? Wasn't it supposed to be included
> in the 15th volume too? Did you simply forget to mention it, or was it
> dropped to include something else?
>

It's there, I simply forgot to mention it.

> And wasn't the S1-script included in the 15th volume supposed to be
> "And the sky, full of stars"?
>

Yeah, another brain-glitch.

> Anyway, great news, I'm really looking forward to it, and I think it's
> really great that the publisher will even SHIP the 15th volume for
> free. Can't wait until the site goes online and I'm able to order the
> first volume.
>

I'm told it may all go on-line later tonight at some point.

The full length on the first book has just continued to balloon, it's
now about 454 pages all in, with about 52 pages of intro, 28 pages of
memos that were written before, during and after "The Gathering" that
establish the rules of the B5 universe, costumes, prosthetics, set
design, the history of various alien races, production elements, CGI,
on and on, and a clutch of photos on top of that.

The first few volumes are more writing-oriented, I wasn't planning on
this being a real Making Of series of books, but that's what they're
turning into, so I've given into it and we start getting even more real
hard-core "making of" stuff starting with the third book.  As it is,
there's lots of stuff in the first volume alone on production, casting
(the other choices we were considering for Sheridan, for instance), my
initial casting notes on The Gathering, who my prototypes were, how the
show was sold, the reason Lyta was in "The Gathering" but not the first
couple of seasons, the day B5 almost died...it's crammed with
behind-the-scenes stuff.

Interestingly, in my memos, I discovered the premise-notes that I gave
to WB at the start of the first few seasons.  I told them that I don't
do outlines, but they still wanted some sense of what the stories would
be, so I'd write out about eight or nine stories for them in one- or
two-paragraph form, and some of those were never written into full
episodes, so it's been fun to read these lost (if rather short) B5
stories (which will be included starting around volume 3).

This is going to be pretty much THE definitive story of the making of
B5, told from the inside, with all the stuff nobody's ever heard
before.

jms



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From: Wendy of NJ <voxwoman at gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 05:21:40 +0000 (UTC)
Lines: 31

On Sun, 30 Oct 2005 00:18:55 +0000 (UTC), jmsatb5 at aol.com wrote:

>
>Cornholio wrote:
>> I really do not want to sound greedy, but... what happened with the
>> production draft for "The Gathering"? Wasn't it supposed to be included
>> in the 15th volume too? Did you simply forget to mention it, or was it
>> dropped to include something else?
>>
>
>It's there, I simply forgot to mention it.
>
>> And wasn't the S1-script included in the 15th volume supposed to be
>> "And the sky, full of stars"?
>>
>
>Yeah, another brain-glitch.
>
>> Anyway, great news, I'm really looking forward to it, and I think it's
>> really great that the publisher will even SHIP the 15th volume for
>> free. Can't wait until the site goes online and I'm able to order the
>> first volume.
>>
>
>I'm told it may all go on-line later tonight at some point.

Not yet :-/


-Wendy


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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com
Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 07:02:22 +0000 (UTC)
Lines: 13


Wendy of NJ wrote:
> >I'm told it may all go on-line later tonight at some point.
> 
> Not yet :-/
> 
> 

It's up now!!!

jms



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From: Trish Crowther <trix_mine at yahoo.com.au>
Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 07:43:48 +0000 (UTC)
Lines: 23

On Sun, 30 Oct 2005 07:02:22 +0000 (UTC), jmsatb5 at aol.com wrote:

>
>Wendy of NJ wrote:
>> >I'm told it may all go on-line later tonight at some point.
>> 
>> Not yet :-/
>> 
>> 
>
>It's up now!!!
>
>jms
>

Strange, I didn't get the email saying the site was up until I placed
my order - then I got three emails - one from Babylon 5 Scripts and
two from cafepress.com (including the receipt) all sent at the same
time! (I placed my order about half an hour after the message from JMS
hit my service provider's news service.

Trish


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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com
Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 08:09:37 +0000 (UTC)
Lines: 7

I got an email saying that about 80% of the notifications went through,
others hit walls of one sort or another.  They may go ahead and re-send
the things.

jms