JMS Speaks (again)

[Wizz]

<font face="georgia"><font color="red">He not only wrote for the show, he was a co-producer credit for the 8th season. The Internet Movie Database does not list the individual episodes he wrote, it lists two episodes each for the eighth and ninth season as being written by JMS, as well as the TV movie.</font>

Just for the record, since this comes up from time to time and I've never listed them all in one place, I think...the episodes of M,SW that I wrote are:

SEASON EIGHT
Night Fears
Lines of Excellence
The Committee
Incident in Lot 7
To the End Will I Grapple With Thee

SEASON NINE
The Wind Around the Tower
Final Curtain
(I titled it that because it was to be my last M,SW script since I had to leave mid-season to do B5.)

And the TV movie "A Story to Die For" which was produced after the series itself was finished.

jms
<hr width="75%"
<font color="red">I wonder if JMS can provide any further details, now that this official spec sheet is out? </font>


The disk has an on-camera introduction by me (despite my warnings that this would undoubtedly drive down sales), a letter of introduction each by me and Doug Netter, and the half-hour piece features new interviews with Rick Biggs, Stephen Furst, me, Doug, efx maven Mitch Suskin, makeup whiz John Vulich, and others.

They're tentatively targeting next April for season 2, and the following November for season 3.

jms
<hr width="75%">
<font color="red">and i think it's been stated recently that mj and peter being married will be dropped too, so as not to confuse the movie customer pickups.</font>

Nope. Marvel never stated it to me, and I've certainly never stated it to anyone.

Definitely not true.

jms
<hr width="50%">
<font color="red">So my question was: How much of Spider-Man's continuity are you familiar with? You're a big comics fan -- how much of his history have you read? And is anyone at Marvel doing anything to get you up to speed on continuity that you may have missed?</font>

I was a huge Spidey fan for many years, starting with his first appearance right up through about maybe five, six years ago when it wandered away (for my tastes anyway, ymmv) from what I was interested in following.

What I tend to do is check with Axel to find out what's current to make sure I don't step on anything significant (though there's so much out there that it's nigh impossible not to step on *something*). For instance, when I did the Doc Ock story out now, I asked Axel for the latest on the doc, what he did and didn't know, what his relation was currently if any with Aunt May, and so on. He checked it out at his end, and gave me the skinny. Which is what a good editor does.

The problem with being strict on continuity is that there's so much that has been done in and around the character, for so many years, that it begins to wall you in dramatically. So my take on this is that you have to be mindful of the major themes and major stories and broad strokes of the character's history. They are there and they work for a *reason*. But in the small strokes, you need to have some measure of flexibility.

What art is about -- and I'm going to call comics art because I've always believed that's what they are -- is not regurgitation of facts; it's about interpretation. In his plays, Shakespeare took liberty with stories and histories that preceded him, bending them to the story he wanted to tell.

Similarly, in present, you'll often see many of his plays presented in modern dress, or with a female in the lead role of Hamlet; you look at what's there and re-interpret things to see how they look when you turn the mirror just a bit to one side.

Otherwise, if you don't have this freedom, you may as well have one of those computer programs where you input the names, histories, and powers of the various Spidey characters, input plot complications, and let it keep regurgitating elements of the same formula, over and over. Or you turn the book over to supporting characters, which I think is what happened over the last few years.

I think you have to be mindful and respectful of continuity; but a writer's *job* is to reinterpret the world, and the past, in new and interesting ways. If you ain't doing that, you ain't doing the job.

jms
<hr width="50%">
<font color="red">I thought that here would be a good place to let you know that your recent work has brought a long time spiderman fan back into the web, so to speak. I too drifted during the clone saga, however in the last 6 -12 or so months, i have thoroughly enjoyed once again reading spiderman books. Thanks.</font>

You're most definitely welcome, and just as definitely not alone. I've been hearing this from a lot of folks. I wish I could take more credit for it than this, but it's really just a matter of getting out of the way and letting Peter be who and what he is...that, and John's art. The character is solid, the mythos is solid, and all you really have to do is not screw it up.

What's been gratifying also has been the slow but steady rise in the book's sales figures, so that it just recently broke 100,000 copies for the first time in a very, very long time. That tells me that the character, and the venue, is still valid; it's just a matter of being honest with the book.

jms
<hr width="50%">
<font color="red">And, lest we forget, Paul Jenkins has had a large hand in this renaissance. While JMS is doing some outstanding work now, Mr Jenkins was producing a quality Spider book amongst a pile of dross. Some of the nicest Peter Parker stories that have been told for years.</font>

Boy, do I ever agree with that. When I was asked to come onto Spidey, they sent me a bunch of the ASMs preceding me, and Paul's books, and -- and the thing is, I don't like to rag on somebody else because I don't like it when it happens to me, but -- I'd read one of the ASMs and just run to one of Paul's issues to regain my sanity. He's been doing great work for a long time, and the only thing I regret about my run on Spidey is that the PR has been so heavily ASM related (and again now with Kevin coming on board) that his book hasn't been getting the press or attention it really deserves, in my opinion.

jms

([email protected])
(all message content (c) 2002 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)

[Wizz]

<font face="georgia">Cartoon Network's new He-Man

No, I'm not involved with the new show. I watched the first ep out of curiosity, and it felt like a high school reunion of people you never thought you'd see again.

Funnily enough, while at comiccon, I went by the booth advertising the new He-Man series and mentioned to one of the folks there that I used to write for the show.

Not having any idea who I was, he looked at me with something akin to pity in his eyes, as if this was the one big thing I'd ever done and I had come by to relive that moment of accomplishment...and he asks if I did anything after that, and I said Babylon 5...he didn't have a clue what it was and said, "So, did that work out okay for you?"

If he hadn't been sitting in a chair I would've hit him with it.

jms
<hr width="75%">

<font color="red">You'll be waiting a very long time. JMS seems to be quite rigidly partisan - In his world, Democrats are always paragons of virtue and common sense, Republicans are always stupid, evil, and insane. </font>

Please show me where I said this. Which should be difficult, since I never did.

Clinton screwed an intern. This was a serious moral lapse that shamed the office. But it really has no effect on the way the country is run; Whitewater, after eight years of searching and millions of dollars, turned out to be nothing but hot air.

Bush is screwing the *country*.and that's a very different thing.

<font color="red">The only nice word I have seen from JMS about any Republican was when he was campaigning for McCain in the primary. I posted then that I thought this was because he expected McCain to be easier to beat in November, and asked for his word of honor that, if McCain were to win the primary, he would still be campaigning for him and vote for him in November. For whatever reason, he didn't reply.</font>


Never saw the message to reply to it.

I contributed to the McCain campaign, in a fairly large amount. I would've been happy with him or Gore in the white house. Both are men of strong convictions and intellect who have dedicated their lives to public service.

Bush ran two businesses into the ground and was only rescued by friends of the family and others who bailed him out in order to get close to the Bush family, didn't even bother to show up for most of his national guard service, and has the least amount of prior government work of any candidate in history, and that is painfully evident with every passing day.

If the race were McCain against Gore, I honestly don't know who I would've voted for. If I were prescient, and could see 9/11 coming, I probably would've voted for McCain.

Meanwhile, please do not put words or intentions in my mouth to which I do not subscribe; I get in enough trouble with what I *do* say, I don't need help in that area by adding things I didn't say.

jms
<hr width="75%">
<font color="red">I noticed there is another "Murder She Wrote," movie coming out. Did you write that one too, as you did the last one?</font>

No, I've kind of been too busy to take on anything else, and didn't make myself available.

<font color="red">PS - Aren't gray neco wafers licorice flavor? </font>

Who can tell?

jms

([email protected])
(all message content (c) 2002 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)

[Wizz]

<font face="georgia"><font color="green">The vice-president is always a suspect in an assassination. The investigation into the death of JFK was performed by congress.
</font>
<font color="red">Not by standing law, it wasn't.</font>

Here's the pertinent details from one of the many sites on the subject, just so its clear who was on the commission and how it was formed:

"By his order of November 29 establishing the Commission, President Johnson sought to avoid parallel investigations and to concentrate fact-finding in a body having the broadest national mandate. As Chairman of the Commission, President Johnson selected Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the United States, former Governor and attorney general of the State of California. From the U.S. Senate, he chose Richard B. Russell, Democratic Senator from Georgia and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, former Governor of, and county attorney in, the State of Georgia, and John Sherman Cooper, Republican Senator from Kentucky, former county and circuit judge, State of Kentucky, and U.S. Ambassador to India. Two members of the Commission were drawn from the U.S. House of Representatives: Hale Boggs, Democratic U.S. Representative from Louisiana and majority whip, and Gerald R. Ford, Republican, U.S. Representative from Michigan and chairman of the House Republican Conference. From private life, President Johnson selected two lawyers by profession, both of whom have served in the administrations of Democratic and Republican Presidents: Allen W. Dulles, former Director of Central Intelligence, and John J. McCloy, former President of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, former U.S. High Commissioner for Germany, and during World War II, the Assistant Secretary of War."


jms
<hr width="75%">

Just a quick note to the B5 folks in Vancouver...I'm slated to appear at V-Con in Vancouver at the Plaza 500 Hotel, Cambie and 12th, the weekend of October 12th. More on this as I know it.

jms
<hr width="50%">

<font color="red">Any idea when you'll be there,</font>

Haven't gotten a final yet, but probably Saturday or Sunday.

<font color="red">and in what shape or form? </font>

Just for the sheer variety of it, I was thinking of going as a bipedal humanoid....

jms
<hr width="75%">

<font color="red">With B5, it was a five day shoot, that almost always ended around 5pm. </font>

Not correct. It was a 7 day per episode shoot, with the exception of one season that went to 6 days, and we usually went 7 to 7 p.m.

<font color="red">The cast and crew found it an enjoyable atmosphere that was in danger of not being called work. Also, the budget was handled in a way that was one of the best kept records in Warner Brothers (all from your posts).</font>

Correct. We came in under budget every year for 5 years, at one point handing back a million bucks, which they couldn't (and still can't quite) believe.

<font color="red">The question is how is/was the Jeremiah production. Were the hours more chaotic due to outside shooting. Was the budget more difficult due to a larger payroll and more dynamic shooting environment?</font>

It was more daunting because whereas B5 was shot entirely indoors, Jeremiah has been primarily a road show, such that we're shooting outdoors, rain, snow, mud or yuck, as much as 6 days out of 7 (with some 7 days out of 7).

As for budget, everyone kind of expected we'd go over our first season, since it was such a big show, and all freshman shows tend to do that. But I don't allow such things. 20% of any budget usually is wasted on lack of preparation. By always having our scripts in on time, and well ahead of schedule, we were able to plan ahead and, as with B5, we came in under budget for our first season.

<font color="red">Ok, three questions, and about your least favorite part of the job.</font>

Getting up early when I've been writing until 3 a.m. or later.

jms
<hr width="50%">

<font color="red">Question: What has been the benefit of producing shows under budget from the higher ups? Is it like the military and you get less funding or more funding as you can be trusted with it? That B5 was always on the wire suggests neither and that its all about the ratings.</font>

The key thing is, if you can prove yourself fiscally responsible, they have a greater tendency to leave you alone creatively.

Ok, three questions, and about your least favorite part of the job.

Getting up early when I've been writing until 3 a.m. or later.

jms

<font color="red">I was talking about the producing side of the house but thanks for the info :^D</font>

That IS the producing side of it.

jms

([email protected])
(all message content (c) 2002 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)

[Wizz]

For reasons too obscure to explain right now, I need a reference point into B5 and because I can see only the overall story in my head, I'm having a hard time picking this moment.

What I'm looking for is the ending of a B5 episode that ends with action or a big moment right before fade-out, something that's kind of a visual wow moment, and I'm in forest-for-the-trees mode.

Any suggestions appreciated.

jms

([email protected])
(all message content (c) 2002 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)

[Wizz]

<font face="georgia"><font color="red">I was just curious about the status of the book of Babylon 5 quotes JMS mentioned some time ago. I'm looking forward to reading it and was just wondering if any new information about it is out there (i.e. possible release date etc.)</font>

The book, plus emails and suggestions, is being compiled now, and they're targeting February, the 10th anniversary of B5, for the pub date.

jms

([email protected])
(all message content (c) 2002 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)
</font>

[Wizz]

<font face="georgia"><font color="red">I just heard the news about <u>No Honor</u> being adapted for TV. Wondering if you'd mind passing on a congratulatory note to her?</font>

I'll convey that. She's actually appearing this week at ConJose, so if there are any fans out there who'd like to say hi, that's where she can be found.


jms
<hr width="75%">

RE: Stupid Request


<font color="red">Well, there was Sheridan's fat ass frogging off of the precipice in Z'ha'dum.</font>

Thanks to all, and especially to all who suggested "Z'ha'dum," because that's the one I think that will fit our needs. Not that I can *explain* that need at the moment, but with hope, in time, all will become clear.

Thanks again to all who helped.

jms

([email protected])
(all message content (c) 2002 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)
</font>

[Wizz]

<font face="georgia">Re: UK DVDs not widescreen

Insofar as I know, they are the same in both versions, WB has never indicated that they are doing anything different for the overseas market.

jms
<hr width="75%">

Re: It isn't all Sci Fi's fault
<font color="red">I don't know - he hasn't managed to keep a readily franchisable show in production (ie: B5 spinoffs) as yet.</font>

I find this a very weird statement, on a number of levels. In relation to B5, Crusade never had the *chance* to get anywhere because TNT pulled out before a single ep was ever aired.

And let me ask you: what is enough? If I created B5, and it endures, are you saying that my skills aren't much because I haven't had ten zillion franchise spinoffs out there? Is that what the measure of success has become, spinoff-heaven?

Hell, I wasn't even sure I wanted B5 to become a franchise; I just wanted to tell a good story.

The fact is that, from the time it debuted, to now, almost 10 years, B5 has been in constant broadcast, first in its debut, then in constant reruns. If I'd done *nothing else* ever, that would be a lifetime's worth of accomplishment.

But your comment also ignores other items, such as the fact that I was one of two producers who launched Walker, Texas Ranger, which became a franchise; that I came on board Murder, She Wrote at a time when it was in the 30s ratings-wise and helped bring it up to the top 10 again, where it continued to be an ongoing franchise for many years; that I (insert chagrined expression here) did He-Man, which became the ultimate franchise. I've also taken Spider-Man, which was selling poorly, and taken it to Marvel's #3 comic (PRIOR to the movie coming out).

So I can do the franchise thing just fine, thanks.

But making a franchise, and telling a story, are not the same things. I don't care much about the former; I do care about the latter.


jms

([email protected])
(all message content (c) 2002 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)

[Wizz]

<font face="georgia"><font color = "red"> Given the recent announcement that Farscape, the Sci-Fi Channels third highest rated show (as of latest ratings, IIRC) has been cancelled, and considering their cancelling of other well-rated shows (Invisible Man for one), I wanted to ask a couple of questions.

What do you think of this recent situation? And more importantly, do they lead you toward or away from trying to work with them any more? Most importantly, do you think that this bodes well for the future of serious science fiction on television?</font>

I don't think the Farscape situation much impacts my stuff with SFC one way or another. I suspect there were a number of factors, including the cost of the show (which was the highest on the network, from what I've heard, but that's second-hand and may not be accurate) combined with the fact that SFC (via their parent company USA Networks) didn't own the show.

Lemme splain....

If a network owns the show they air, they can reap long-term profits from syndication of the program. More and more, USA Network (and other cable outlets) is under pressure to own what they produce, otherwise they're paying huge sums of money to produce shows that they air a few times, then the money goes to the studio that did the actual production. The higher the cost, the iffier the proposition.

So that may have been an issue here. They needed Farscape to help build their audience, but now that this seems to be coming together for them, the logical (for a network) thing would be to start paring away what they don't own, and which is costly, to replace it with their own stuff.

One of the things you can never allow yourself to forget is that TV is a business designed around making a profit, and determining who owns what long-term revenue streams.

<font color="green">I hope that JMS can take Polaris somewhere other than the Sci-Fi Channel. If I were him, I'd get far away from them. As it is, their decision to cancel Farscape makes me glad that I recently started getting into anime. Most anime is never shown on US TV or in US theaters--fans tell each other about new stuff mostly by word of mouth. I like the whole spirit of the US anime scene because I am so disillusioned by our general entertainment scene in America right now. We care too much about money & not enough about quality & good storytelling.</font>

Doesn't affect Polaris one way or another, since if that goes, it would be under the aegis of the network.

jms
<hr width="50%">
<font color="red">So shouldn't the studio that owns a show be giving Sci-Fi a better deal to offset that, and get a studio's show on the air? That way, everybody can win.</font>

That's the logical thing, but logic and show business rarely dine at the same table.

Most studios would rather own 100% of nothing than 50% of something. That sounds outrageous, but it's all a part of that all-or-nothing profit thing that they ALL have going. And they're all in competition with one another.

This came into play on the Rangers situation, where WB was reluctant to let SFC own a part of the show, since SFC is owned by Universal Vivendi, and WB is in competition with Universal.

So it's a real balancing act. If Rangers had gotten a higher rating (had it not been killed on the East Coast by the biggest football playoff in the last decade), even though it was owned by WB, they would almost certainly have committed to a series, since that rating would balance out not owning the show...on the flip side, had Rangers been owned by SFC/Universal, and gotten the same rating that it actually got, they would've been able to say "Okay, let it grow, because we own it and we're willing to take the risk and we're losing less money in license fees since we're paying them to ourselves in any event and we can get the merchandising revenues," which only the studio gets.

Studio logic is kind of like looking at the gorgon...too close and you're turned to stone.

jms

([email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>)
(all message content (c) 2002 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)
<font>

[Wizz]

<font face="Times New Roman">
A number of people, who were not able to get hold of ASM36, asked if I could repost the text of that issue in commemoration of the anniversary since it's pretty much unavailable now. With some modifications to make the statement more general, the text follows. It may be freely posted anywhere it may do some good.

jms
</font>
<hr width = "95%">
<font face="verdana">
We interrupt our regularly scheduled program to bring you the following special bulletin.
Longitude: 74 degrees, 0 minutes, 23 seconds West.
Latitude: 40 degrees, 42 minutes, 51 seconds North.
</font>
<font face="arial">Follow the sound of sirens.</font>
<font face="verdana">
Some things are beyond words.
Beyond comprehension.
Beyond forgiveness.
The questions come:
</font><font face="georgia">
How could you let this happen?
Why didn't you know this was coming?</font>
<font face="verdana">
How do you say we didn't know? We couldn't know.
We couldn't imagine.
Only madmen could contain the thought, execute the act, fly the planes.
Even those we thought our enemies are moved. Because some things surpass rivalries and borders.
Because the story of humanity is written not in towers but in tears.
In the common coin of blood and bone.
In the voice that speaks within even the worst of us, and says This is not right.

Also here are those who face fire without fear or armor.
Those who step into the darkness without assurances of ever walking out again, because they know there are others waiting in the dark.
Awaiting salvation.
Awaiting word.
Awaiting justice.

Ordinary men.
Ordinary women.
Made extraordinary by acts of compassion.
And courage.
And terrible sacrifice.

We've voted, and we're going to try to take the plane. It's the only way to stop them hitting Washington. I love you.

Ordinary men.
Ordinary women.
Refusing to surrender.

Ordinary men.
Ordinary women.
Refusing to accept the self-serving proclamations of holy warriors of every stripe, who announce that somehow we had this coming.
</font><font face="georgia">[/b]
...probably what we deserve....
All of them who have tried to secularize America...the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians and the ACLU....I point the finger in their face and I say, "You helped this happen."

-- it is God's will that America should fall through their iniquity and their sin --
[/b]</font><font face="verdana">
We reject them both in the knowledge that our tragedy is greater than the sum of our transgressions.

Bodies in freefall on the evening news.
Madness in mosques, shouting down fourteen centuries of earnest prayers, forgetting the lessons of crusades past:
That the most harmed are the least deserving.

There are no words.
There are no words.

The death of innocents and the death of innocence.
Rage compounded upon rage. Rage enough to blot out the sun.
And the air still filled with questions.
</font><font face="georgia">
Is it going to happen again?
What do I tell my children?
Why did this happen?

What do we tell the children?
Do we tell them the evil is a foreign face?
</font><font face="verdana">
No. The evil is the thought behind the face, and it can look just like yours.
</font><font face="georgia">
Do we tell them evil is tangible, with defined borders and names and geometries and destinies?
</font><font face="verdana">
No. They will have nightmares enough.

Perhaps we tell them that we are sorry.
Sorry that we were not able to deliver unto them the world we wished them to have. That our eagerness to shout is not the equal of our willingness to listen. That the burdens of distant people are the responsibility of all men and women of conscience, or their burdens will one day become our tragedy.

Or perhaps we simply tell them that we love them, and that we will protect them. That we would give our lives for theirs and do it gladly, so great is the burden of our love.

In a universe of Gameboys and VCRs, it is, perhaps, an insubstantial gift. But it is the only one that will wash away the tears and knit the wounds and make the world a sane place to live in.

We could not see it coming. No one could. We could not stop it. No one could.
But we are still here. With you.
Today. Tomorrow. And the day after.

We live in each blow you strike for infinite justice, but always in the hope of infinite wisdom.

Because we live as well in the quiet turning of your considered conscience.
The voice that says all wars have innocents.
The voice that says you are a kind and a merciful people.
The voice that says do not do as they do, or the war is lost before it is even begun.

Do not let that knowledge be washed away in blood.

When you move, we will move with you. Where you go, we will go with you. Where you are, we are in you.

Because the future belongs to ordinary men and ordinary women, and that future must be built free of such acts as these, must be fought for and renewed like fresh water.

Because a message must be sent to those who mistake compassion for weakness. A message sent across six thousand years of recorded blood and struggle.

And the message is this:

Whatever our history, whatever the root of our surnames, we remain a good and decent people, and we do not bow down and we do not give up.

The fire of the human spirit cannot be quenched by bomb blasts or body counts.

Cannot be intimidated forever into silence or drowned by tears.

We have endured worse before; we will bear this burden and all that come after, because that's what ordinary men and women do. We persevere.

No matter what.
This has not weakened us.
It has only made us stronger.

In recent years we as a people have been tribalized and factionalized by a thousand casual unkindnesses.

But in this we are one.

Flags sprout in uncommon places, the ground made fertile by tears and shared resolve.

We have become one in our grief.
We are now one in our determination.
One as we recover.
One as we rebuild.

You wanted to send a message, and in so doing you awakened us from our self involvement.

Message received.

Look for your reply in the thunder.

In such days as these are heroes born. The true heroes of the twenty-first century. You, the human being singular. You, who are nobler than you know and stronger than you think. You, the heroes of this moment chosen out of history.

We stand blinded by the light of your unbroken will. Before that light, no darkness can prevail.

They knocked down two tall towers. In their memory, draft a covenant with your conscience, that we will create a world in which such things need not occur.

A world which will not require apologies to children, but also a world whose roads are not paved with the husks of their inalienable rights.

They knocked down two tall towers. Graft now their echo onto your spine. Become girders and glass, stone and steel, so that when the world sees you, it sees them.

And stand tall.

Stand tall.

Stand tall.


J. Michael Straczynski
</font>

[Wizz]

<font face="georgia"><font color="red">Is "Polaris" TWCNBN previously, Joe? Has any information about it been posted?</font>

Polaris is a new SF series of mine under development for the Sci-Fi Channel. I've turned in the final draft of the two-hour pilot, and now we will wait to see what occurs.

I've kept the basic storyline of Polaris under lock and key because it's the kind of thing which, once you hear it, you know instantly why SFC picked it up to develop, even though it's a fairly pristine area inside the genre, and I'm trying to keep competition to a minimum for now.

jms

([email protected])
(all message content (c) 2002 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)
</font>