JMS Usenet messages for November 1996. Date: 1 Nov 1996 23:07:17 -0500 Subject: joe's heart (from jms) Honestly, people...I can't believe anyone still falls for this stuff. So there I was, over in the editing bays (away from the B5 stages), editing 406, merrily nipping and tucking and rearranging, when a phone call comes from the stage. In a harrassed voice, the person on the other end explains that they have been flooded with calls asking about a rumor that I'd passed out on the way to work and had been taken to the hospital with a heart attack. C'mon, people...this is the oldest gag in the book. It's been done to Harlan, Walter, Jimmy Doohan (which makes me thing a ST person is behind this) and others. Lemme put it to you this way: if anything should ever happen to me, you will never have to hear about it from someone else, or a rumor. I have people here who will post the information, and all pertinent details, direct from Babylonian on my behalf. If you hear this sort of nonsense from anyone else, you can totally ignore it. And to the person who says he "heard it:" you obviously did not hear anything of the kind, and you made it up deliberately to cause trouble. If you did hear it from someone else, let's hear a name. If not, then you are to be held responsible for this. And, frankly, for the grief caused to the set, the stage, and many other people who called out of concern, the person responsible for this is less than a creep. This is just another form of interneterrorism. jms Date: 3 Nov 1996 01:06:52 -0500 Subject: Re: Sorry! (jms in hospital) James: let me explain why what you did was a Bad Thing. And let me now proceed to bust your chops over this. A rumor like that is started for only one reason: to hurt. By passing it along, you compound the problem. You become the instrument of their assault. Too many people have a tendency to take what they see on the nets as either true, or worth investigating, and they then pass it on to the next net, and the next net...it becomes a kind of interactive virus, spreading further. The result: the small staff at Babylonian were harried with endless numbers of phone calls. People got annoyed. Time was wasted. I got pulled out of editing to deal with this. I spent several *hours* last night tracking this down and posting messages to other systems putting people's minds to rest. Hours that could (and should) have been spent writing. Very close friends of mine overseas and elsewhere saw this and panicked, some were deeply emotionally upset, and would like to get your throat someplace near their fingers for posting this in the first place. Make no mistake: though it was not your intent, *you did harm*. As does anyone who takes what some jerk says in IRC or elsewhere like this and reposts it without doing the least amount of checking. And don't take the "I wanted more information" line with me, James. You want information, all you have to do is send email to the moderators of this forum, who can call the stage, and find out. Then you have your answer, real easy. Instead what you did was the effect of lobbing a hand grenade into a herd of horses. So don't blame the other person. You posted the original message, and added two more "clarifications" to it that were equally bogus. You started the stampede. "Sorry" doesn't cut it. "Sorry" doesn't restore the lost hours of work, the annoyed employees, or placate the friends of mine who you deeply distressed. Never, ever, ever do this to me again. Or I will be most upset. You wouldn't like me when I'm upset, James. jms Date: 3 Nov 1996 19:54:32 -0500 Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Censorship and "Wolf" (no spoilers) "In "The Hour of the Wolf" there are two scenes -- you know which ones -- that seemed quite a departure from what one usually sees on TV. Did you write "Wolf" before or after your revelation that you were not bound by Standards and Practices. 'Cause if you wrote this *before*, then we're in for quite a ride." Aside from the desk scene, which was the other you're referring to? Oh...and the answer is...before. Hang on. It's going to be a bumpy night. jms Date: 4 Nov 1996 19:54:46 -0500 Subject: Re: ATTN:JMS:Newsweek and E-Mail Darn, I was going to look for that one today and I forgot.... Yeah, we're a fully wired show. Scary, innit...? jms Date: 4 Nov 1996 19:55:19 -0500 Subject: Re: Hour of the Wolf (NitPick :) The ships provided by Delenn are White Star class ships, hence the useage. jms Date: 5 Nov 1996 08:16:51 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN:JMS thanks from a new viewer "Does it hurt to give birth to an entire universe?" Not really, but the post-partum depression is a bitch. jms Date: 5 Nov 1996 08:18:06 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Great Book!! Thanks! Thanks. The script is a good example of how things work,and how the writer forms what the director does. I'll try to stop by Bix...it's just the pace of so much stuff makes it hard. jms Date: 5 Nov 1996 08:22:38 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: The lost hours of work and the worried people as a result of THE RUMOR "As much as you hate to admit it, you're an important person, not just out there, but in the lives -- right there, in our faces, guiding us for a small, or large part of the day -- in the lives of millions of people. We care about you enough to cause chaos. But it's not any one person's fualt." I'm not important. The story, yes, maybe...but not me. James was the one who initially posted it, having been exposed to the one person in IRC who wanted to do this. If B5 is about choices, consequences and responsibility, we have to own up to making a choice to go public with something rather than check it out, recognize that there are consequences to other people when you do this, and then accept the responsibility for those consequences. "Quite frankly, when it comes to B5, I find that the people are a lot more polite and honest than other 'netters, and I have come to trust people." This part I agree with. I can't tell you how often I've had convention organizers, from Worldcon and elsewhere, tell me how pleasantly surprised and pleased they were that the B5 fans were invariably well-spoken, polite, intelligent, and friendly. We've got a good rep, and I guess I want to protect that. jms Date: 6 Nov 1996 05:52:59 GMT Subject: Re: JMS's "Complete Book of Scriptwriting" The date stated obviously refers to the US, not to the UK. The US experiments in TV fell a bit by the wayside when the war hit. Some European communities kept at it. But question: are you sure, when the BBC refers to its founding in 1936, that they're not referring to BBC *radio*? jms Date: 6 Nov 1996 08:11:51 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: your reading list? I read him in college, but not much since then, I'm afraid. jms Date: 8 Nov 1996 07:04:33 GMT Subject: Re: B5 Filming/Studio Question No, we don't film on the Warner Bros. lot, and we're not set up to do any kind of tours. jms Date: 8 Nov 1996 07:06:25 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: B5 MIDI on Web Page? I cannot give permission for *anything*, as the copyright is owned by Warner Bros., not me. jms Date: 8 Nov 1996 07:08:18 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: HourOTWolf CGI *No Spoilers* The non-moving Centauri Prime shot is an original Foundation shot; the one where it's moving (with the cruiser fly-bys) is the new one, and there's a lot more detail now in the surface of the planet and other stuff. jms Date: 8 Nov 1996 07:11:54 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Questions About Scriptwriting Book I debated long and hard about including a section about comics in the script book, and finally opted against it, on several grounds. 1) I wanted to specialize in performance-style scriptwriting, involving living people, and 2) while I've written some comics, I don't feel enough of an expert yet to set down my poor understanding in book form. jms Date: 8 Nov 1996 07:38:54 GMT Subject: Re: For JMS Thanks, and good luck with your own writing. Follow your passion; the rest will take care of itself. jms Date: 8 Nov 1996 23:08:05 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Why is no one offended at BOTH old races?!? "After watching Z'ha'dum and "Wolf" (No spoilers here), my main thought was basically, who the hell are these old races who assume moral superiority based on technical superiority? How dare they interfere with our development as a species just to suit their own petty needs? I wonder if any character on the show will take that same line of thought and expand upon it?" Well, until now, that's been primarily unknown to the other species. Now, thanks to Sheridan's trip to Z'ha'dum, and stuff coming up, that information will start to get out. So yeah, you may find someone or someones picking this thread up.... jms Date: 9 Nov 1996 06:19:18 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: WOLF reaction (no spoilers) I seem to vaguely remember the title "It's a Very Nice Day," but will have to work to connect it to a story. And thanks...it's a good start to the season. jms Date: 9 Nov 1996 22:56:49 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Why the Theme Change? We change the theme every season to reflect the tonaity and direction of that season's story. Every season when it butts up against the previous season's intent, a lot of folks ask why change it, it was better before...and then, by the end of the season, when people see how it fits in, generally they like it a lot...and then ask why it got changed for the *next* season.... jms Date: 9 Nov 1996 23:03:50 GMT Subject: Re: New FX "The first S4 episode (Hour of the Wolf) doesn't have nearly as many FX as the later S3 episodes, and what is there is mostly stock shots of the station rotating, etc." There are as many CGI shots in "Wolf" as in most of our episodes, and more than in "Rock," a later S3 episode. There's also the new establishers of Centauri Prime the planet, the revised Palace shots, new establishers of the station, a big new shot of the interior of the Garden that pans down, the beside-Z'ha'dum sequence...there's a LOT there. So a) your latter observation is, I gently point out, factually inaccurate, and b) most station shots have been recycled stock since year one, adding new ones each season then dropping them into rotation (so to speak). We always balance big EFX shows with smaller ones, building up to some big stuff. We're doing the same thing here this year as we've ever done. \ jms Date: 9 Nov 1996 23:05:26 GMT Subject: Re: Hour of the Wolf: non-spoiler(?) question There's more to Lorien than meets the eye. jms Date: 10 Nov 1996 06:09:09 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: New Novels Known? The first book is by Jeanne Cavellos, following Anna Sheridan and the Icarus to Z'ha'dum; the second follows Vir and Londo to Centauri Prime at the time of the events in these first six episode; and the third follows Sinclair to Minbar after leaving B5 and setting up the rangers. This time out, I decided to assign out the stories, to make sure they were accurate and in continuity. The first one up may be the best to date, I'm 2/3rds through it and haven't made a note yet. jms Date: 10 Nov 1996 08:58:03 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Another Hour Nit...*minor spoiler* "best I can tell from my (admittedly limited) knowledge of Centauri physiology, he would have been looking in the wrong place - kinda like looking down a human woman's socks, or something." Tell that to a foot fetishist. jms Date: 11 Nov 1996 06:53:55 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Regarding B5 sets on 'FutureQuest' They asked if they could borrow our sets, and we said sure...anything to help. jms Date: 11 Nov 1996 03:57:14 GMT Subject: Re: The Hour of the Wolf -- homonym question (* Spoilers *) It's definitely born, not borne. jms Date: 11 Nov 1996 09:01:39 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Spoilers in the "...Garibaldi" trailer for Ep #403 Correct, I have no editorial control or influence over the trailers; I see them when everyone else does. jms Date: 12 Nov 1996 20:42:51 GMT Subject: Re: Wow! "Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi" & a concern "when we were watching "Hour of the Wolf" G'kar had a line (when answering Zack) that caused all of us to bust out laughing because of it's relation to rec.humor. Was this intentional?" As I've no idea what this refers to...nope. And thanks. jms Date: 13 Nov 1996 00:31:23 GMT Subject: Re: Rumor of first season actually (finally) being released on video... No, like all WB rumors, this one isn't true either. Understand...if there were going to be a video release, I'd be all over the place announcing it. If you hear a rumor, and it didn't come directly from me, you can almost always discount it. What happens, I talk about. jms Date: 12 Nov 1996 20:41:13 GMT Subject: Re: To JMS and the gang Thanks, and yes, there was a hint of Gene in her dialolgue about Turhan. jms Date: 12 Nov 1996 20:37:41 GMT Subject: Re: Attn JMS: You Did It (WHt Mr. Garibaldi? *SPOILERS*) Thanks. The script was easy to write story-wise, I think it only took me a few days (in general, the faster the write, the better the script, when it comes to something like this...writing in white heat is best), but *very* difficult from an emotional standpoint. I was just about as wasted after writing it as you were after seeing it. There's a lot of stuff in there that's difficult or painful to touch, and you can only hope that it comes out okay. I'm happy it did. jms Date: 13 Nov 1996 09:46:20 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS "The" Tony Dow? Yup, it's him. He's also directing "Atonement" for us this season.\ jms Date: 13 Nov 1996 09:53:11 GMT Subject: small jms email rules Okay, it's time for the usual recitation of email rules. 1) Please do not send me inquiries about the storyline in private email. You may think, "Well, it's just me," but at last Neilsen count there were about 15 million of you out there, and only one of me. I can't get into lengthy discussions about the plot or storylines in email. I end up answering the same questions multiple times, and the answers go to only one person at a time. If you have a story question, ASK IT IN A PUBLIC FORUM, NOT IN EMAIL, so that others can benefit from the answers. (Here's where this gets silly. Often, when I'm speaking at a convention, I'll ask, at the end, "Any other questions?" And nobody puts their hands up, even though we've got a few minutes left. Then, as soon as the presentation is over, 50 people rush the stage with questions they want to ask...many of them very good, and which the audience would've loved to hear answered. You tend to be a very smart, perceptive bunch...don't deny others the quality of your questions.) 2) Please, please, PLEASE do not send me story ideas in email. 3) Do not send jpgs or anything else that requires downloading; I was hit by a trojan horse and virus lately, and consequently I have a very firm no-download policy on anything else coming into me via email. 4) Private email should be used for things you cannot discuss in a public forum, or for which confidentiality is needed for other reasons. I'm swamped with 500 messages a day...if it doesn't have to be sent email, please don't do so. 5) Requests for agent suggestions, or requests to read your scripts or stories, will be met by stony silence. 6) We cannot give studio tours, or afford to send out scripts, or story bibles, or actor photographs. When the actors do this, bear in mind that it is a kindness *that comes out of their own pockets*, as there is no budget from WB to send photos. I hate to be as brusque as this, but I'm starting to get overloaded with email, and an occasional advisory seems necessary. Many thanks. jms Date: 13 Nov 1996 23:32:08 GMT Subject: Re: Attn JMS: What ever happened to Quality? The characters figure it out later this season. jms Date: 13 Nov 1996 23:37:20 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS Stealing scenes from other works But the thing is, I wasn't *thinking* of LoTR...I was thinking of Orpheus going into the underworld, of the classical notion of descending into hell to find oneself or something else...it just bugs me when someone assumes that they know what was in my head at a time when I wrote something, and then take that as a given and start making me explain it or acting as if this is true, when it ain't. jms Date: 13 Nov 1996 23:33:29 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Faith in Future Eps? Belief in one thing or another is *always* important. Only the subject is sometimes worrisome. jms Date: 14 Nov 1996 06:00:53 GMT Subject: Re: Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi (* Spoilers *) "I watched _What Ever Happened to Mr Garibaldi_ last night and was struck by the scene where Mr. G was being questioned by the disembodied voice. That scene was very similar to the style of another one of my favorite shows _Homicide: Life on the Streets_. I'm just wondering if that was an intentional nod to that show." This is kind of embarrassing, but...see, I don't watch much TV anymore. I don't have time. I think I've seen maybe two episodes of Homicide, total. So we were in with the editor to do our producer's cut of 402, and I was trying to describe what I wanted...jarring, disorienting cuts, don't worry if it matches, use conflicting takes or overlaps of takes...and finally the editor said, "Oh, you mean the Homicide look." And it'd been so long that I asked them to explain to me what that meant, and John got into it, me with him, and ended up with what we've got. I've got to start watching TV again, beyond X-Files, 60 Minutes and Simpsons. (Well, I've added Millennium, so that helps.) "Second question. Last year on ABC the show _Murder One_ tried having one main story, like an arc, through the whole season. It was following a single trial (I assume you know this). That show basically got a "that's nice" from the crowd and not much else. Do you think that the concept of an ongoing story works better in a science fiction show than say a cop show? Was it more the execution of _Murder One_ that did in the idea of one trial per season? I would be curious to hear your thoughts." No, I don't really think it's genre specific. Frankly, I think the viewing audience was *so* sick to death of the OJ trial that the idea of watching ANOTHER homicide trial take a week was just too much for them. jms Date: 15 Nov 1996 07:54:25 GMT Subject: Re: *SPOILERS* [ATTN:JMS] Observations after 'Whatever Happened ...' "They are being made to choose between life and death, action and inaction, hope and despair. They are in the position of having to either lose faith, or keep it." Yup. Got it in one.... jms Date: 15 Nov 1996 07:57:27 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Expanding Symmetries (No Spoilers) I briefly considered giving G'Kar a second, after the revolving door Na'Toths, but as I looked at it...as you say, the others all DO have one like that, and I figured it might be good to have someone *without* that...especially after the fall of Narn, when the staff would be canceled. And there's something I like about G'Kar being alone in all this. Anyway, it varies the mix a bit. jms Date: 15 Nov 1996 08:01:19 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: I was right... Good luck to you. In doing what you're doing, you are removing yourself from the system, and the system always objects to that. Follow your voice, and your passion, and you will never go wrong. Again, good luck. jms Date: 15 Nov 1996 08:10:43 GMT Subject: Re: ATT JMS: personal ? SPOILERS for Walkabout and after "Are you *still* dealing with this, in Sheridan's situation on Z'ha'dum, and the decision he has to make? Is this where you get your strength of will, that you've faced this decision yourself?.....You've been dealing with the whole issue of finding something worth living for, rather than something worth dying for, since when, "Infection"? " In retrospect, that was something I probably should not have mentioned, and would not have, had the thing not just utterly blindsided me in the middle of the conference. What got me through the attack, and its aftermath, those years ago, was sheer unadulterated rage...that I would not allow them to take my life because I had stories left in me to tell. And no matter what, I'd tell those stories. At first, I'd made my peace with myself...I'd never gone out of my way to hurt anyone, had helped where I could, had done some good work...I had a few things on the shelf, not a lot, but a start...but then I just started to get mad about it, and pulled myself back from the edge. So yeah, in a sense, I've faced that black, implacable wall...and it does drive you, after a while. And I do think, to a large degree, I'm still trying to define myself, to find what it is that's at the center for me, beyond the work. But then, I don't think that's terribly special...it seems to be the standard dilemma in an industrial society. jms Date: 15 Nov 1996 08:11:53 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Claudia Christian & Episode 402 (spoilers for "Whatever...") No, those scenes were always written with Franklin in mind. There was a brief scene with Ivanova originally in the ep, but it was snipped for time. jms Date: 15 Nov 1996 09:35:02 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: General B5 question "Does reading through all these Internet discussions of your work, speculations, and analyses help you not only generate ideas but maintain a higher level of cohesion and complexity in the saga?" No, for one primary reason: there is no continuity of opinion about much of ANYdamnthing among the netizens out there. Which is the good thing about all this; no two people see the same show. But from this end, the story is the story is the story. jms Date: 15 Nov 1996 09:39:35 GMT Subject: Re: JMS: Archetypes in B5? ---->*My question, then, is this: "Is babylon5 intended to be a modern myth? If so, what influences might have lead to the scripting of the B5 saga? Jung? Campbell perhaps?"*<---- Yes and no. I'm aware of Campbell's work, and have read much of it...but bear in mind that his analyses came *after* the creative fact. If you try to consciously implement that during the writing, it can start making the writing feel artificial. It's the difference between the first two Road Warrior movies and Thunderdome...in the gap between 2 and 3, he read Campbell, and started doing things by the numbers rather than following his gut instinct. Consequently, 3 feels the least natural. It's the job of the storyteller to provide myth, or perhaps more properly, to reinterpret and reinvent myth, since myth tends not so much to be created as to be newly understood, as we remake the world in our own image every 15 years. This is one responsibility that TV has, for the most part, abrogated. So I'm trying as best I can to draw some archetypes and myths out of the collective ether and stitch them together into new patterns for new audiences.... jms Date: 15 Nov 1996 09:32:45 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS "Poss. Spoiler for next ep after Whatever Happened..." The scene was snipped for time. jms Date: 16 Nov 1996 06:42:25 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: sory if you got this before, but I'm not sure it went through No, I didn't write for the V series, only did a 4-hour miniseries that was not produced because it was too costly for syndication...and no, haven't read the Niven book. jms Date: 16 Nov 1996 06:41:01 GMT Subject: Re: jms and TV was: Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi (* NO Spoilers *) I love the history channel. I end up landing there late at night and watching whatever's on, especially the newsreel stuff. Just terrific. Interestingly, of all the new channels, THC is the one growing the fastest right now. It gives me a small glimmer of hope.... jms Date: 17 Nov 1996 10:23:27 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: WHTMG Timeline inconsistencies? (SPOILERS) No, this is a case where jms screwed up. Originally, the script read, "It's now 14 days since Captain Sheridan left for Z'ha'dum and was presumed killed. Nine days since Mr. Garibaldi disappeared while on patrol." I went to edit the first sentence to make it active rather than passive syntax. In handwriting on the page (after the first draft, the typists take revisions and implement them), I meant to write, "It is now 9 days since Captain Sheridan was presumed killed at Z'ha'dum." I either missed changing the days, or the typist didn't put it in (it happens), and that draft of the script is long gone. But without knowing which, I'll just take the rap for it. jms Date: 17 Nov 1996 10:24:05 GMT Subject: Re: JMS:Contract with Foundation dropped? We were unable to make a deal with Foundation this season. All the new B5 effects for fourth season, including the first two aired, were done in-house. jms Date: 17 Nov 1996 10:14:27 GMT Subject: Re: Attn JMS: More Homicide/B5 similarities of technique . . . "HANNAH: It's all trivial . . . It's wanting to know that makes us matter. Otherwise we're going out the way we came in. -Tom Stoppard, "Arcadia"" Saw this play while I was in London about a year and a half ago. Liked parts of it, but as much as I like Tom Stoppard's work overall, I think that if they're going to produce a play like this they should at least have the politeness to TELL you that there's math involved. I didn't know there would be a test. (And since somebody's bound to ask...in addition to Stoppard, I'm very fond of the work of Joe Orton, Harold Pinter (though a little of that goes a long way), and Alan Ayckbourn (whose "Norman Conquests" is/are wonderful). I also saw "Dancing at Luhnasa," and to this day don't understand what all the furor was about, though it was a fine enough play.) Whenever I'm in London, I try to see as much theater as I can, because so much of it is so well done there. Though, I must confess, I dozed off halfway through a Restoration period sex farce (well, an attempt at same) at the RSC Swan Theater that was dry as sawdust. "The Woman in Black" remains one of the most entertaining small plays in London, a terrific little ghost story that draws you in whether you want to be drawn in or not. (The Buddy Holly autobiographical play is thin on plot, great on music. But then, so was "Return to Forbidden Planet," and that was a hoot also.) And the new staging of "An Inspector Calls" is just terrific. This has been your theater review for the day. Thankyew. jms Date: 19 Nov 1996 02:04:16 GMT Subject: Re: Universe Today #2 ??? I have the new edition on my desk, in final form, and it's going out now. The problem is that normally, when licensed stuff comes through for approval, I get it in and out the door in 48 hours. But since this is our own license, I can't approve our own stuff, and it has to go through WB. WB sat on this thing for about two months. We're trying to work it out with them to get things approved more quickly. It's kinda ridiculous. jms Date: 19 Nov 1996 02:06:51 GMT Subject: Re: Attn: JMS, videos, e-mail, 'n stuff The problem is in getting WB to kick loose of the rights to the videos. We've been negotiating endlessly with them to let us do them...but they're kinda like a monkey with its hand around a nut in a jar...it can't get it out, but won't let go, either. jms Date: 19 Nov 1996 02:08:27 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Have you read... Nope, haven't read it, have no intention of reading it. jms Date: 19 Nov 1996 02:07:43 GMT Subject: Re: Att JMS: Yes, I know you don't celebrate Christmas ... :-) Oh, I know Levenger's, believe me...they have whole barrels of my money over there. Great catalog, and nifty stuff. jms Date: 19 Nov 1996 02:10:27 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: How far away is the rim from B5? They are separated by an infinite number of plot points.... jms Date: 19 Nov 1996 02:05:22 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Pythonesque cat in episode 402? The cat was my idea. Cats are endless sources of humor. jms Date: 19 Nov 1996 20:31:57 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS (and everyone else) : Why reruns after only four eps? Yes, it was just 4 of 4, but you also had the last 5 of season 3, so that's 9 in a row. Basically, WB airs the show during sweeps periods. That means you've got November, February, May and sometimes July. They've always done this. jms Date: 19 Nov 1996 20:37:16 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Okay, this is dumb, but we've always wondered about it The "teeth" sections, which overlap the door, have metal dowels that slide into place into the door itself, holding it absolutely tight in case of a hull breach or other decompression. jms Date: 19 Nov 1996 20:52:11 GMT Subject: Re: The Summoning: Welcome back to the 50's, kids! (Spoilers) Re: "magictech"...I believe it was Arthur C. Clarke who pointed out, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." You wanna go argue with Clarke, feel free. Lemme just make one point here. In the handful of decades between the discovery of the atom, and its use at Hiroshima, we learned how to blow up substantial portions of the planet and render it uninhabitable. But it would've taken a lot of them, hundreds, to do the job. In the 50 years since then, with the development of thermonuclear weaponry, the job is even easier. It's been reckoned that you'd only need about 75 really decent sized thermonuclear detonations to render the entire continental United States dead and uninhabitable. The shadows and the vorlons are *millions* of years ahead of us. We're talking differences in technology that are orders of magnitude beyond what we can hope to comprehend. I think a planet killer eminently achievable. jms Date: 19 Nov 1996 20:45:09 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Season 5 rumor I've been repeating this time and again...and I'm going to stop now for a while, because I don't want to keep doing this 5 times a week. Nothing has been firmly decided by WB yet. If there were, you would've heard it. Every season, we're barely into the new stories, and everyone asks, "Is this it? Is it? Huh? ANSWER ME? WHAT ARE YOU HIDING? WHY WON'T YOU CONFIRM OR DENY THIS?" Because I don't know. Because WB doesn't know. Nobody will know ANYthing for sure until probably February. Which is what I said last year, and the year before. I don't mean to be sharp about this, your message was fine, I'm just getting a bit worn down by this every year. jms Date: 19 Nov 1996 20:40:07 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: WHtMG music (spoilers!) During the music spotting session, where I indicate where music comes in and goes out, my main note to Chris on that final sequence was, "Break our heart." He did. jms Date: 19 Nov 1996 20:41:41 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: WHtMG music (spoilers!) "Was this scene redone for WHtMG? I'd have to compare, but I think I would've noticed that hopeful smile at the end of Z. It would've been just a -little- out of place, under the circumstances." It's *exactly* the same footage, frame for frame. Only your perspective has changed. Sort of like Shroedinger's TV show. jms Date: 21 Nov 1996 00:10:08 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Scripts? Dunno if they'll ever be released...currently the only commercially available copy of a B5 script is in my Complete Book of Scriptwriting, for "The Coming of Shadows." jms Date: 21 Nov 1996 00:12:29 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS : Spoiler credits! Credits are done through screen actors guild regulations, and thus can't be helped if they appear in inconvenient places, I'm afraid. jms Date: 21 Nov 1996 00:15:13 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Summoning (minor spoilers) "Joe, as I just said to a friend, you're spreading a madness with your writing. Have you no shame, sir? No conscience? No compassion for the minds you're destroying?" Don't be silly...remember, I'm a television producer.... jms Date: 21 Nov 1996 02:58:16 GMT Subject: Re: JMS' Purpose for B5 (Philosophical) "JMS leaves us to find our own answers and that looks like, to me, his message in Babylon 5. You can't just have someone give you all the answers. At some point you have to break away and find your own answers to your own questions. This seems to be the idea in a lot of his scriptwriting and his posts. In fact, the essence of B5 revolves around it. You don't know what other people are thinking, the good guys arent always what they appear to be, and life is NOT black and white. Relying on others for answers makes you a slave to them because you believe whatever they tell you." DING! Give that man a ceegar. jms Date: 21 Nov 1996 20:53:13 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: The Summoning (* Spoilers *) Actually, to your question, I've taught before, and would enjoy doing so again in some kind of university environment. (I taught writing at San Diego State University for a semester as well, but the other instructors didn't much like that a working writer was teaching writing instead of an academic doing it, as they felt it sullied the program and made it too commercial.) jms Date: 21 Nov 1996 22:57:42 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: B5 Jackets Those jackets are exclusively for cast and crew. jms Date: 21 Nov 1996 22:56:19 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Who, What, Why (Philosophical) That only works if you define yourself by what you do...not what you are. But as Lorien says, there's never a good answer to it. jms Date: 22 Nov 1996 09:21:29 GMT Subject: Re: Pasadena Convention "And please JMS, don't be hard on Andreas--he's had a hard time the last few eposides, and with the stress of Peter messing with his nipples, you could see why he broke and did the gag." Oh, no...he doesn't get off that easy. I've got 9 episodes left to write this season, and that's ample opportunity to make his life a living hell. "Let's see...he's my employer...he can make me do ANYthing he wants me to do...I've got an idea, let's fuck with his mind!" Oh, but I'm going to enjoy this *mightily*. jms Date: 22 Nov 1996 09:22:11 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: New B5 Advertisement!!!!! Cool, I gotta see that! Thanks, I didn't know. jms Date: 22 Nov 1996 09:22:49 GMT Subject: Re: Attn. JMS: Kevin Dobson? No, this Kevin is an Australian director. jms Date: 22 Nov 1996 09:33:47 GMT Subject: Re: Attn JMS: A Thank You Thank you, your words are most kind. I guess you have to understand...I come at this from the perspective of having been an SF fan myself, I've *stood* in those lines. And been cut off. I swore, up one side and down the other, that if I should ever get my chance to do something of merit, if I ever got known (outside of America's Most Wanted), that I wouldn't allow ANYone to experience that feeling. I've signed for sometimes 3, 4 hours at a time. Doesn't matter. Nobody leaves emptyhanded. Nobody. This has infected many members of our cast, who feel as I do...and they go far, far, FAR beyond the call of duty. 'Cause, basically...it's the right thing to do. jms Date: 22 Nov 1996 09:26:34 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Frightening Speech in Summoning (spoilers for same) Yup, I'd say it's very likely that some people close to Sheridan are going to be wondering about his attitude...and maybe even acting on it. jms Date: 22 Nov 1996 09:53:21 GMT Subject: Audio Advisory (from jms) So earlier this week we did the audio mix on almost all of 404, "Falling Toward Apotheosis," which airs this coming week. We did all but 7 minutes, because they were seven...big...minutes. Last night, after working at the stage from early morning on, John Copeland, George Johnsen and I left about 7 p.m. to go and mix the audio for those seven minutes. We finished at 2:30 a.m. (And I had to get up at 7:30 a.m. for a meeting, no less.) Point being...if you've got a friend with a good TV and a spiffy audio or surround sound system, you may want to watch this next one over at their place. Just a thought. jms Date: 23 Nov 1996 02:55:30 GMT Subject: Re: JMS over on CIS It's a combination of the ease of the CIS interface, that I can do it offline more easily, and the type of questions. jms Date: 24 Nov 1996 05:21:28 GMT Subject: Re: Question to JMS about the background of developing the alien nations & organizations Yes, I certainly tend to draw on historical parallels for parts of the B5 universe backstory. jms Date: 24 Nov 1996 03:26:25 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS Ode to JMS: In honor of season four ....hrmpfrh.... jms Date: 24 Nov 1996 03:34:34 GMT Subject: jms conference on Monday Just a quick advisory...I'll be doing the first major online conference on the B5 website at 6:00 p.m. Pacific time this coming Monday. That's http://www.thestation.com for the official B5 fanclub site. jms Date: 25 Nov 1996 00:17:12 GMT Subject: Re: Attn:JMS Babylon 5:Crusaders-Reality check Actually, I've said pretty much from the very beginning of the first season, that there was a side-story that could go off, which I'd be interested in telling. And that may be a possibility. And it's not Crusaders (which always makes me think of Crusader Rabbit); it's The Babylon Project: Crusade. (That's the working title, anyway.) jms Date: 25 Nov 1996 00:15:52 GMT Subject: Re: Falling Toward Apotheosis (* Spoilers *) Remember, they do have a certain physicality about them, even in that form, and the nature of the poison was such that it would affect that kind of life form using a crystalline base (note in the pilot the screen reads analyzing crystallne structure, and you filter light or refract or distort it using a crystalline structure). jms Date: 25 Nov 1996 09:08:54 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS (B5 Videos) Yes, we shoot widescreen, and hope to release in that form eventually. jms Date: 26 Nov 1996 01:15:33 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Arc ending this season? "I then pick up a copy of TV Zone(UK Magazine for sci-fi etc) and read in it an interview with Bruce Boxleitner which clearly states the shows 5 year arc is ending this year. And then I pick up a copy of Cult TV, with an interview with JMS in it, and this also features the same info, except this time it states quite clearly that Warner Brothers have asked JMS to resolve the shows 5 year arc this season." Yes, I have those two magazines as well, both from the same publisher. And I was rather upset when I saw them, because, if you will go back and read them again, you will see that nowhere are Bruce or I quoted as SAYING that there is only going to be 4 years. The *magazine* says that, the writer says that, but they nowhere provide a quote from anyone backing that up. I *sure* as hell didn't say that, and Bruce has indicated the same thing to me. The magazine is making assumptions. Let me state this again: nothing has yet been decided for certain. If it had been, I would tell you. Look...let's be logical about this, shall we? If I knew this would be the last year, what possible mileage is there in keeping this secret? I'd want to put this info out there in hopes of either a) getting a campaign going, or b) bracing the fans for the inevitable, if it were inevitable (the joke about your mom's on the roof and we can't get her down). Let me repeat this: I DON'T KNOW. WB DOESN'T KNOW. Nothing has yet been decided for certain. jms Date: 26 Nov 1996 05:59:14 GMT Subject: Monday chat screwup Just a note to apologize to those who showed up at thestation.com for the chat Monday night. DirectNet, the people who handle the server (and as of this moment we are giving strong consideration to going elsewhere, after this fiasco), figured (without asking us) that they'd get maybe about 100 or so people, based on other chats. They allocated memory and other resources accordingly. So when about 2,000 people showed up...it blew the system to hell and back again. Result: chaos, confusion, lock-outs, angry calls to DirectNet, server errors...a mess. (It's always the same deal...at conventions, online...they always underestimate how many people are going to show up. It's almost funny enough to make me reconsider gouging out the eyes of several DirectNet personnel and feeding them to hamsters. Almost.) I can only apologize, and say that as with all things we try for the first time...this will *not* happen again. jms Date: 26 Nov 1996 09:44:18 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN:JMS: A 5 Year Universe Done in 4 Years? The story will be finished, one way or another. jms Date: 27 Nov 1996 01:48:14 GMT Subject: Re: JMS: Next time, use IRC. =) No, it wouldn't have been as bad if they'd been prepared for us. Also, while many boast about IRCs being the end-all of these things, the IRC that I did while in Tampa had just as many servers blow up, all over the place. Final figure was that 6,000 tried to get into this thing...there ain't a server on the planet that can handle that. jms Date: 28 Nov 1996 01:03:15 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: how we spend Saturday evenings Thanks. I'm happy that the show can provide a bridge between so many diverse and interesting people. It makes the efforth worthwhile. jms Date: 28 Nov 1996 01:04:51 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS Bright Mountain Range Those are city lights, visible as any big city is visible from space by the lights. jms Date: 28 Nov 1996 01:14:08 GMT Subject: Re: Paradigm shifts and B5/Trek "I felt as if I had been *deprogrammed,* and stopped thinking of the future in terms of that one vision of it, and being a hard scientist, that's a pretty embarrassing admission to make. But it was stunning to*feel* it happen to myself. After a lifetime of watching Trek as the *only* vision of the future that most people were aware of, it's amazing to become fully aware of the depth of the belief suspension, until it seems like the "real" future is the one with the Crayola uniforms and the communicators on the chest." This was something I began to really understand during the first season, and was something I hadn't anticipated going in. Some of the reaction against B5 was so strong from some groups of ST fans...it wasn't just one show vs. another, there was a vehemence in it that was coming from something deeper. Eventually I began to figure it out, that it was also two competing visions of the future. I've mentioned before the angry letter I got that, among other things, said that the person was thrown every time one of our characters used a hand link when "everyone *knows* that by then we'll be using chest communicators." It was a vision thing (to use a fairly recent campaign slogan). The problem then becomes, for lack of a better term, a religious problem...competing ideologies, notions to which one has committed oneself. And the most heated wars are always religious wars. It's been...interesting. jms Date: 28 Nov 1996 04:35:52 GMT Subject: Re: What's happening this season? Deanna: thanks. Your words are most kind, and eminently appreciated. jms Date: 28 Nov 1996 04:44:32 GMT Subject: jms & co at LosCon (LA) This Thanksgiving Sunday, from 2:30-4:30 p.m., there will be a B5 presentation at LosCon, an annual fan-run convention here in Los Angeles. LosCon was the very first convention to get behind B5 and support it, and our appearance there every year is something that means a lot to all involved. It also tends to be the biggest event of each year's convention. For the first hour it'll be me, with clips from episodes as yet unaired, the first pass at the season four bloopers (shown here for the first time, still in rough form, some elements of which will be cut as we get further along), a music video or two, and the like. The second hour I'll be joined by producer John Copeland (aka pigdog13 on AOL, frequent SF Vortex guest, and resident Media Sex God), co-producer George Johnsen, and conceptual consultant Harlan Ellison. Peter Jurasik may make it by, contingent upon family obligations, but that's unconfirmed. We always try and debut stuff there. LosCon is a good sized (1,000 or so) fan-run convention that's been going on here in LA for decades, and a great deal of fun. This year it's taking place at the Burbank Airport Hilton, just abaft from, well, Burbank Aiport. Because the B5 presentations are the biggest thing at each year's LosCon, you may want to show up a bit early. jms Date: 29 Nov 1996 06:43:59 GMT Subject: Re: Paradigm shifts and B5/Trek "No one's claiming Trek doesn't have its failings. The issue at hand is the B5 folk who feel compelled to constantly ridicule Trek. There's not much point, and the attitude is suspiciously cult-like, even if they aren't really a cult." One fallacy in your thinking: while there are many ST fans who haven't seen B5, there are insofar as I know *no* B5 fans who haven't seen ST, and in most cases, began as ST fans. These are the same complaints many of them have had with ST for a time long before B5 ever came on the map...only now in some cases they have a show which is doing what they have been saying should be done for some time now. This is not a B5 problem...it's an internal ST problem. jms Date: 29 Nov 1996 09:44:24 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS- Ever Been to Toronto? "I have noticed that you make appearances at many conventions and even went overseas but I have yet to hear you make an appearence in Toronto or any other part of Canada. Is it a matter of being invited or is it a lack of free time?" Yes, no, and none of the above. There is a time question, in that that's a LONG flight from L.A., and getting away is tough. I do happen to like Toronto, I was there several times while working on Captain Power and The Twilight Zone, and when I was nominated there for a Gemini Award (the Canadian equivilent of an Emmy). I've always enjoyed my time there, so it's nothing against the city, believe me. The other problem is venue. I've been invited by Toronto Trek, for instance, by some very nice people there...but I have kind of a standing policy about not going to any conventions whose names relate to Star Trek, because when I did them I always got gigged for "poaching" by many ST fans who still perceive this as a zero-sum game. I don't put this onto my cast, who can go as they choose, but again they don't have the same onus in this regard that I do. Aside from that one, I haven't heard from any cons of sufficient size to make the long trip worth doing. Going that far for less than about 1500 people is hard to justify in the midst of filming. (That's turned into one of my few rules about conventions...the further away it is, the more there has to be a goodly number of people to justify it...because I *hate* traveling, and really long trips also cut into my work on the show...so the more time away from the show, the more I have to justify it logistically.) jms Date: 30 Nov 1996 00:06:09 GMT Subject: Re: ***ATTN JMS: Atonement*** Thanks...I really do think that this show will be around for a long, long time.... jms Date: 30 Nov 1996 00:07:43 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Londo and "Falling Towards Apotheosis" Thanks. The Londo stuff is nice, and you do get a sense of the kind of person he was before the empire began to slip, and his fortunes with it. He can definitely pull it out when he wants to. jms Date: 30 Nov 1996 00:08:26 GMT Subject: Re: Attn: JMS: Does this apply (Andreas/Peter) Suffice to say you'll hear about it..... jms Date: 30 Nov 1996 00:10:00 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS another compliment (possible *Spoilers*) "What I like most about B5, I guess, is this: Shit happens. Shit happens to us, not the guest aliens of the week. Shit STAYS happened." That's a great last line...I may refer to that in future, thanks. jms Date: 30 Nov 1996 06:13:33 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Biggus Headus "I have been wondering for a while...with the constant inundation of respect, adoration and awe from most on this newsgroup(not to mention conventions and fan mail), just how do you keep it all from going to your head? I would personally find being dubbed 'Great Maker' a little intoxicating." I guess it's easy to not let that happen since, for me, it's all for the show, not for me personally. I have a very hard time applying that to me...the show is the show. I'm still the same goofball I was before I made B5. And I find that whenever I start getting cocky, the universe whaps me upside the head, and makes me humble *real* fast. Example...the other day, we were finishing up the editing on 408, "The Illusion of Truth." Making the producer's cut is the hardest thing I do, and I'm just exhausted at the end of it. So I'm taking a five minute break, waiting for the elevator to go downstairs and grab a coke, just to wake up...and I'm alone, walking back and forth in the hall...in that kinda dopey way you do when you're just utterly whacked...I go a few paces, swing my leg around, half/stagger back the other direction, go a few paces, repeat...my mind elsewhere.... And the door opens, mid-swing...and I start for it...and being off-balance I end up doing this drunken-looking stagger right past the elevator doors.... The way it would've looked from the inside is as if the elevator doors opened up on the fourth deck of the Lusitania, tilted and going down, and some crew member was tumbling down the angled deck....and the door closes again. I was too embarrassed to get into it, and waited for the next one. So it's real easy for me to keep modest...I don't think I have much choice. "Do you ever find it affecting your writing? Your dealing with the cast & crew? No, they also have their ways of keeping me modest...hence Andreas' recent little gag...for which he will pay dearly.... jms Date: 30 Nov 1996 09:10:13 GMT Subject: Re: JMS makes my wife squeal Saturday Nights! "My petite, demure wife, a professional woman of letters, turns the lights down on Saturday nights (when the show airs), sprawls on the floor, demands total control, and then when some piece of dailoge strikes her just so, shreeks, holding in laughter, so she can hear the rest. Then when there is a great space scene, load moaning commentary like, "No, no, no... YES! Yes, yes!!!" is shouted." (laying back, lighting a cigarette) I'm sorry, what were you saying? Okay, who wants pizza? jms Date: 30 Nov 1996 09:16:51 GMT Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Congratulations on your current ratings trend! Yeah, the rankings sometimes drop even when the hard numbers increase when you're in sweeps period, and everybody's fighting it out and there's a lot of stunt programming going on. To stay in the top 25 is a great thing, and the growth in households is even better. That's between 10-15 million core viewers, and that's very good for a syndicated show, especially when other dramatic shows like the ST series have seen definite drops (as per the latest Entertainment Weekly). And our demographics remain the highest for any syndicated series, so that makes the show extremely attractive to advertisers. jms