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Subject: Re: Jms interview on Spider-Man
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=red>I've taken a look at the thread containing the reactions and they're almost all extreme, dismissive and resistant to change, with the exception of Warren Ellis himself.</font>
I actually couldn't find it, so I have no way to judge it. I think they're likely responding to something they *think* I'm doing rather than what I'm actually doing.
jms
Subject: Re: Thanks, JMS!
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=red>But the most amazing thing is, it was taped over a year before it was
shown. During that year I never saw a single hint anywhere of the contents. I do not believe any movie or TV program was ever shown such respect before.</font>
That was the remarkable thing about the series...everybody kind of knew it was
something special, and nobody wanted to be the ones to mess it up. The actors all stayed mum about it, people on the set didn't say anything...a few media folks got hold of the script, but on seeing what it was, chose to say nothing out of respect. It's kind of unparalleled.
But it's also emblematic of B5 folks...when I've done a presentation at a con, and told the audience something new, but asked them not to repeat it on the nets...guess what...they didn't repeat it. In 6 years of B5 and Crusade, if I asked a net-wired audience to keep this between me and them...they complied, out of good manner, kindness and respect. I think it speaks volumes about the quality of viewer we attract.
jms
Subject: Re: The Final Battle for...the Teapot
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=red>Well it looks as though the dreaded Teapot has returned to "Midnight on the Firing Line". I imagine that this problem will be corrected for the DVD release.</font>
I'll be posting this to the cifi.com/babylon5 board in a bit, but the jist of it is this....
I sat in the room with the editor while they corrected this error, and the revised copy of the episode that I received on vhs was, indeed, corrected.
My suspicion is that they've put all their emphasis on getting the correct S2-4 widescreen eps delivered to SFC in a comparitively short amount of time, and
haven't sent them the new master yet. (The closed captioning that appears there now is a different process.)
I have a call in to WB now about this, but I suspect that the above scenario is correct. I think they preferred at this stage to put all their efforts into getting the big problems done first, focusing on the smaller problems later.
jms
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: Have you or any of Bab5 peeps been Down Under?
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
I attended WorldCon in Australia a year or so ago, and enjoyed it quite a bit. It's a terrific country.
jms
Subject: Re: Why the Station's Fate Still Doesn't Make Sense (spoilers I
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
1) Remember that this was the cheapest of all the B5 stations, it wasn't built to last forever.
2) You'd have to go through that thing and pull out literally tens of miles of computer equipment, sensors, records, and other material before you could sell it to anybody. Not to mention all the remaining weapons systems.
3) It's now like a town bypassed by the railroad...the IA now does most of what
B5 was intended to do. So as Zack says, nobody comes there anymore. The cost
to maintain it in the lack of supporting business is heinous in the extreme.
So do you set guards to something that nobody uses anymore? Pay all the money to pull out all the classified stuff you don't want removed intact by salvage operations?
Or do you just spend a few bucks to blow it up, the way folks blow up old buildings now?
jms
Subject: Re: Why the Station's Fate Still Doesn't Make Sense (spoilers I
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=red>The one thing that never made sense to me was that by blowing up the
station, you create and disperse all that debris which then becomes a much greater hazard to navigation than one big chunk. </font>
Except of course that nobody much goes by there anymore to begin with, which is one of the main reasons for blowing it up, and 80% of the debris would be pulled down by the local planet's gravity field and burn up the atmosphere.
Jms
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: It was a GOOD story!
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=red>It's as if you intended for this show to be aired at 7 p.m. every day on
cable from the very beginning...</font>
Yes and no. No particular time slot was conceived of, but I wrote this with an
eye to knowing what happens to series in syndication: they end up being stripped daily. So I knew it would end up being seen this way, and that was going to be the preferred way of both watching and writing it. It's when you see it that way that it actually works best, because the threads in the garment are pulled closer together, rather than years apart, and you can see the
connections and the patterns more clearly.
<font color=red>Anyway, *good* story. We really enjoyed it.</font>
Thanks.
jms
Subject: Re: Attn: JMS - New short story book
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=red>I received an intersting email today.
"Although the Bookface.com web site is no more, the company lives on through its first book (published by Wildside Press): OUTSIDE THE BOX: THE BEST SHORT FICTION FROM BOOKFACE.COM, edited by Lou Anders.
This book features work by J. Michael Straczynski, Graham Joyce, John Grant, Fiona Avery, and many other familiar names from bookface.com."
I enjoyed the story 'We Killed Them in the Ratings by J. Michael Straczynski'.
All now I have to do is work out how to buy the book in the United Kingdom, overseas mail is a little on the expensive side.</font>
The book is available for purchase online from a variety of online resources. You can get more info at:
http://www.fionaavery.com/otb/
jms
Subject: Motor City Con error
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Just to let folks know...apparently I was accidentally listed as being a guest at the Motor City Convention in Detroit this May...I found out about this by literally picking up a genre publication and seeing my name listed there. I called the folks there, and found out what had happened, who made the mistake (not the con, it appears, but someone who was booking folks) and it's been cleared up, but just so's we're clear, the info as stated in the ads isn't correct, I won't be there due to a variety of commitments. At this juncture the only con I plan to attend this year will be San Diego Comic Con.
jms
Subject: Re: JMS and JC: Galens Backstory
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=red>How much of the Galens backstory did Peter Woodward know proir to playing him? (I really must find a copy of Well of Forever now it will mean so much more.)</font>
He knew a fair amount, just enough needed to play the role.
jms