From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Tue Jul 1 06:10:16 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:54 2005 Subject: ATTN JMS: Synchronicity? Message-ID: <199707011010.GAA08123@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jegolf@MCS.COM (J.M.Egolf) Date: 29 Jun 1997 20:32:39 -0400 Lines: 52 In article <19970628232501.TAA01297@ladder02.news.aol.com>, Jms at B5 wrote: >Everyone said we couldn't do it. Wouldn't do it. It was impossible. > >Everyone was wrong. > >You *can* fight the system. First of all, congratualations. Permit me a paraphrase: "All you have to do is say `Yes" one more time than they say `No'". I was out of town, and only got to see "Intersections" on Friday, about 9 hours before Harlan made the announcement on Tom Synder. Sure felt like sychronicity to me -- or maybe just another instance of your "standing naked in front of 10,000 of my best friends"? However, with your 3 hours of sleep a night, and your saying that we'll never know all of what you've been through, and your recent comment here that TNT may want to run Season 5 straight through, with no breaks -- -- I have to hope that this morning's Epistle is *not* synchronic -- It was from Paul's second letter to Timothy: "I have fought the good fight...I have kept the faith...my life is already being poured out as a libation..." Brrrrrr! So be careful out there, okay? Don't let the cats nibble you to death. Aside from the personal distress it would cause all of us if something happened to you, the Babylon Experiment is a failure, and you don't *really* beat the system, unless you come out of this whole and healthy. Otherwise it's too easy for the nay-sayers to sneer, "Oh, yeah, sure, you can do quality SF on TV, on time and under budget, if you're willing to give yourself a heart attack/put yourself in the hospital/whatever." Yes, I know it's your life, to spend as you choose, and you feel that losing your own battles is more important than winning someone else's. But it's easy to get caught up in fighting the battle, and forget to look for less costly ways to win. And if I'm out of line to be saying these things, I most humbly ask your forgiveness, but I really felt that the Emperor needed to be reminded to check from time to time and be sure he's not running around wearing nothing but a Keeper :-) -- J.M. ("Jamie") Egolf jegolf@mcs.com B5 for 5 years, YES! "All you have to do is say `Yes I can" one more time than they say `No you can't'" =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 30 Jun 1997 00:57:44 -0400 Lines: 10 There are certainly moments when I feel like Sheridan in that small, windowless room, that's for sure...it's been a hell of a battle of wills. jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Tue Jul 1 06:15:17 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:54 2005 Subject: ATTN JMS: Gross or net? Message-ID: <199707011015.GAA08171@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: Peter Lawler Date: 29 Jun 1997 20:28:49 -0400 Lines: 17 Jms at B5 wrote: > What more can you ask for? > > jms More people like you in the world of broadcasting? I hope you got more than 6% of the CDs I've bought. I was wondering if this percentage thing covers stuff outside the US? I mean, I'm more than happy to fork out $50 bucks for some cutesy toy locally that I don't really need, as long as you get @ least $10, of which @ least half should go to your favorite charity (Bricklayers anonymous?). Pete. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 30 Jun 1997 01:00:37 -0400 Lines: 12 "I hope you got more than 6% of the CDs I've bought." Don't get a penny of those...those are soundtracks and not included in the merchandise area (don't ask why, I barely understand it myself). Ditto with videotapes. jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Tue Jul 1 06:20:19 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:54 2005 Subject: ATTN:JMS Season 5 on TNT-IS IT TRUE?!? Message-ID: <199707011020.GAA08196@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: Carl Date: 28 Jun 1997 11:41:51 -0400 Lines: 18 Just watched ET, 6/27/97, where they said next season would be on TNT. Can I dream of a season with one episode after another...without sets of reruns...by the station that apparently will support this wonderful show and your superb writing? What will happen to the remainder of season 4? Will shows overlap on different networks? Did the green poltice ($$$) cure all? If ET was right-CONGRATS, and thanks to TNT. Their efforts will not go unrewarded. -- ************************************************************** *TO BOLDLY GO WHERE EVERYONE'S GONE B-4!* *bluesdiver@pacificnet.net* *<*>* ************************************************************** =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 28 Jun 1997 19:39:08 -0400 Lines: 11 BTW, unofficially...one thing that TNT has mentioned, not yet settled, is that they may want to show the season *straight through*, no reruns. It's a challenge, but it's possible. jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From bbarrett at speedlink.com Tue Jul 1 22:52:54 1997 From: bbarrett at speedlink.com (bbarrett@speedlink.com) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:54 2005 Subject: JMS on CompuServe (Jul 01, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS* (1/2) Message-ID: <19970702025253890.AAA196@BBARRETT> !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The following posts may contain SPOILERS for upcoming Babylon 5 episodes. Continue at your own risk. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! S P O I L E R P R O T E C T I O N !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL IS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE RESPECTIVE MESSAGE AUTHORS AND CANNOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR. Note that JMS has expressed his public permission that all of his messages may be reproduced freely. I give permission for my summaries to be reposted in any form, however I reserve all rights to them and the right to revoke this permission at any time. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Archives of this material may be found at: ftp://ftp.johndelenn.com/pub/bbarrett/cis/ - or - http://www.johndelenn.com/ ********************************************** [ Summary of subjects in this section: ] Sb: #681726-#Delenn`s background Sb: #681738-#Last 4 - have to redo? Sb: #681809-#Last 4 - have to redo? Sb: #681872-B5 - tnt and WB Sb: #681876-#You the man Sb: #681976-Guest Editorial Sb: #681955-#You the man Sb: #681913-#Last 4 - have to redo? Sb: #681925-Warners... Sb: #681926-#B5 on TNT Sb: #682136-Last 4 - have to redo? Sb: #682137-#John Vickery in future? [ Summary: About how the Minbari society is structured, see the quote below. ] #: 681798 S5/Babylon 5: General 30-Jun-97 11:58:30 Sb: #681726-#Delenn`s background Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "Considering how they refer to "The Children of VALEN" and don't bother to mention the name of the WIFE of Valen, I'd say patriarchal." Or they pick the more well-known of the two. We often say "Mick Jagger's kid" because he's the more well known of the pair. Or they could be rather subtly ignoring what they might consider just a bit of scandal.... jms #: 681738 S5/Babylon 5: General 30-Jun-97 06:38:52 Sb: #Last 4 - have to redo? Fm: VADIM NARODITSKY Will you now have to rewrite/refilm the last 4 episodes? I assume they were ending the arc and now you have another year. Of course, I wouldn't be much surprised if you do what you did with Shadow war - end Earth conflict and write another one somewhere. Vadim #: 681799 S5/Babylon 5: General 30-Jun-97 11:58:32 Sb: #681738-#Last 4 - have to redo? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "Will you now have to rewrite/refilm the last 4 episodes? I assume they were ending the arc and now you have another year." No, there's just the replacement for 422, that's all. There's a difference between *ending the arc* and providing a *sense of resolution.* By the end of 421, things had been settled in a lot of areas...but far more were made very clear as being Out There. You could view it as an epilog, or a set-up for more down the road, depending on whether or not there was a fifth season. Hell, there's a great big fat setup for season 5 right smack in the middle of the Franklin/Lyta scene on Mars in "The Face of the Enemy." This isn't directed at you so much, Vadim, as in general...some days I wonder what the hell I'm doing on the nets. We busted our butts to get year 5, same as we do every year (though moreso this year), because it would be *the most satisfactory way to end the story*. It *could* end in year 4, I was prepared to do that if necessary, but it wouldn't be as satisfactory to all concerned as year 5. So now we have year five. And right out of the woodwork come people -- such as a particularly twit-like message forwarded to me from one of the usenet groups -- saying that the fifth season was going to be just filler now, that the story was over, used up, it's all tied up, there's nothing but "dumb old personal stories." No more arc. And I would love nothing more than to just thump them. I sometimes wonder if they think I was walking down the street one day, and I came across this Arc laying in the road. And it's a finite package, and once it's used up, it's used up. People, I THOUGHT THIS STUFF UP. You watch it, but I make it...and I'm not doing this for my health, I didn't fight this hard to do a season of filler. Where's the common sense here? My vested interest in making this a solid story is a hell of a lot higher than ANY viewer could POSSIBLY bring to the table. But again and again, not to you Vadim but in general, it's "Oh, it's all done now, it's just filler." Yes, I fought and bled to get a season 5 so I could do filler, instead of going back to a network show where they'll pay me double what I get on B5. Absolutely. That makes a LOT of sense. I dunno...maybe I'm over-reacting...hell, I probably *am* over-reacting, but it seems like they never let you rest. The end of the Shadow War came, and folks said, "Oh, the arc is over now, nothing interesting can happen now," and I said there was MORE interesting stuff even than that coming up, and sure enough that happened, and it's "Oh...okay," and this happens time and time again, and now we have a fifth year, and it's "Oh, the arc is over, nothing interesting can happen now." You'd think that by now we would've proven the point...but every year it seems like we have to prove ourselves again and again and again. The confetti has barely hit the ground and they move in the funeral draping. I just get tired of it some days. Jerks. (Not you, Vadim, a very nice man, just venting.) jms #: 681809 S5/Babylon 5: General 30-Jun-97 12:54:12 Sb: #681799-#Last 4 - have to redo? Fm: GARY WEINFURTHER Don't take it so personally, Joe. There are a lot of twits on the net (myself excluded, of course ). And there are a great many more of us that sincerely appreciate what you're doing. We not only support you all the way, but we THANK you for enriching our lives, for giving us so much to watch and think about, for sticking in there through thick and thin, for fighting for getting the show produced not just for season 5 but for each and every season, and most of all for being here interacting with us. You have broken many barriers and have changed the rules of SF TV. You have our gratitude. While I have your eyes, please pass on additional thanks and gratitude to Kathryn. I read B5 novels #1 and #7. I thought #1 was just your standard TV series exploitation novel, and #7 was better but IMO still limp (and Morden's character was completely unbelievable to me). But #9 was incredible! It pulled me in and hooked me immediately. I finally felt like these were the characters and universe I have grown to love these past 4 years. To see the characters grow and change, and to find the book actually *enhance* the B5 arc made it a very enjoyable and fulfilling read. ...Gary Weinfurther #: 681908 S5/Babylon 5: General 30-Jun-97 16:11:14 Sb: #681809-#Last 4 - have to redo? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI I know, I know, I know...I think it's just the way we're all hard wired. You can get 100 plaudits, but it's the one meroon who busts your chops for something you didn't even *do* that sticks in your mind. Never met anyone yet that was different. Ah, well...onward. jms #: 681872 S5/Babylon 5: General 30-Jun-97 14:43:12 Sb: #681260-#B5 - tnt and WB Fm: PHILIP HORNSEY TNT looks like a better home for B5 than SciFi. They seem like they would be willing to spend a little more for new production. SciFi always seems to be running on a shoestring... Phil^^^^ FREE MARS! #: 681909 S5/Babylon 5: General 30-Jun-97 16:11:14 Sb: #681872-B5 - tnt and WB Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Yes, TNT is definitely a better home. For one thing, B5 would get lost on the SciFi channel among all the other shows; here, TNT will treat it as something special. jms #: 681876 S5/Babylon 5: General 30-Jun-97 15:00:39 Sb: #681714-#You the man Fm: SCOTT BAKER Will you be writting all of season 5, or is the remarkable streak soon to end? --Scott #: 681910 S5/Babylon 5: General 30-Jun-97 16:11:16 Sb: #681876-#You the man Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI No, I have no intention of writing all of S5...I'll probably do about what I did in S1-2, writing 11-15, with the rest being assigned out of the arc. And Neil Gaiman has said he's now in a place where he can tackle one, so I hope to work out something with him, a story worth his doing, to make that happen at last. jms #: 681976 S5/Babylon 5: General 30-Jun-97 19:08:32 Sb: #678099-#Guest Editorial Fm: RICHARD M. PERRY Sorry it's taken so long to get back to... work keeps interfering in what I like to refer to as my life. << The question was one that I get a lot, and I finally decided to redefine the question and attack it from my own perspective. I'm glad it came out reasonably coherent.>> There are generally two questions I get that are on this level: "Why do you like *that* stuff?" (after answering "yes" to "You really like that stuff, don't you?") and "Why are you involved with Boy Scouts?" (when they realize that I don't have children or any other family in it as a reason) My answer to the second question has always been along the lines of looking toward the future and seeing a way to create some measure of hope that it will be better. I never really attributed that as an answer for the first question until I read the article. Now I've come to the realization that many of the things I do, and the manner in which I do them, are all to that end; an attempt at changing tommorow for the better. Thank you for helping me apply that perspective elsewhere. On a somwhat related note, did you happen to get the Kingdom Come limited edition slipcover? I picked mine up last week and read it over again, those extra twelve pages add quite a bit to the story, especially the last eight. And the sketch-book is wonderful too. May the Light shine forever, Rich "The dreamer. The thunder. The bat. The eagle. The angel. Whose will be done? Kindom Come" #: 682115 S5/Babylon 5: General 01-Jul-97 02:15:34 Sb: #681976-Guest Editorial Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Exactly. And the question is phrased to put you on the defensive when there is *nothing* one needs to be defensive about...it's "how long have you been beating your wife?" You have to redefine the question to something a tad closer to reality. Re: the Kingdom Come ltd. edition...no, I didn't know about that. Will definitely go out and pick it up next chance I get; that was one of the few series I read this year, and I liked it a lot. jms [ Summary: "Any chance we could see another episode penned by Peter David? How about Harlan Ellison?" ] #: 682116 S5/Babylon 5: General 01-Jul-97 02:15:36 Sb: #681955-#You the man Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI I was planning to speak to both those folks. jms [ Summary: (See below.) ] #: 682117 S5/Babylon 5: General 01-Jul-97 02:15:38 Sb: #681913-#Last 4 - have to redo? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "I say do that same thing you did when you first had this idea-write for yourself. Focus on what you want to express. Develop those ideas you deem important." That's the only way I can do this; only way I ever have or ever will. "And if you ever need a break, drop by Vegas and share some Corona's, limes, and a can of salt with me. We can laugh at the world together in the summer sun, watch some showgirls, and throw some bucks at the blackjack table." I don't drink, don't smoke, don't do drugs, don't gamble...I write. Sad, innit? "I'll steer you away from any Tyson boxing matches, though." I'm just *waiting* for him to get mad at somebody, and have that person reel back saying, "Hey, sorry, jeez, don't bite my head off, man." jms [ Summary: With respect to the change from WB syndication to TNT, this fellow says, "This was more of a lateral than a punt....true?" ] #: 682118 S5/Babylon 5: General 01-Jul-97 02:15:41 Sb: #681925-Warners... Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Not really, no...because the two organizations are *affiliated* but they continue to operate as wholly different companies, and neither side takes orders from the other. TNT *actively pursued* both the reruns (before the companies merged) and the fifth season. And they fought like hell to make the deal work. jms [ Summary: (See below.) ] #: 682119 S5/Babylon 5: General 01-Jul-97 02:15:43 Sb: #681926-#B5 on TNT Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "In hindsight, do you think that a deal like you've got now with TNT would have helped the show if you'd gone that route in 93/94?" Oh...probably, but only about 200%. jms #: 682136 S5/Babylon 5: General 01-Jul-97 04:46:38 Sb: #681908-#Last 4 - have to redo? Fm: ANNE L. WARNER Joe, >> You can get 100 plaudits, but it's the one meroon who busts your chops for something you didn't even *do* that sticks in your mind. Never met anyone yet that was different. Ah, well...onward. << In an effort to glue some praise in place.... I noticed, in reading the TV Guide stuff, that you have rearranged everyone's assumptions so thoroughly that they aren't aware you did it! In the article on the new Roddenberry show, "Earth: Final Conflict," one comment really stood out! "The late writer's notes were strong and specific enough to allow the team to map out a five-year story arc." I read that last night, and didn't know whether to laugh or cheer. There wasn't any indication that this is unusual, innovative, special. Just useful. Something that has long been discussed as unique to B5 is now *normal.* You've suceeded in remaking the industry, or at least a small corner of it. Thanks and kudos. Anne #: 682285 S5/Babylon 5: General 01-Jul-97 12:43:51 Sb: #682136-Last 4 - have to redo? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI I hadn't noticed that in the article...well, interesting.... jms #: 682137 S5/Babylon 5: General 01-Jul-97 04:46:38 Sb: #John Vickery in future? Fm: ANNE L. WARNER Joe, I've been brooding on a question, so I'll ask it. Perhaps in season 5, perhaps in Crusade... Couldn't you have John Vickery portray a nephew or cousin or even a son of Neroon, who also became a ranger? He's so good. I miss Neroon already. Anne #: 682286 S5/Babylon 5: General 01-Jul-97 12:43:52 Sb: #682137-#John Vickery in future? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI We'll keep our eyes out for a way to bring him around again, same as with Wayne. jms [ Continued in next section -- BB ] -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From bbarrett at speedlink.com Tue Jul 1 22:53:16 1997 From: bbarrett at speedlink.com (bbarrett@speedlink.com) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:54 2005 Subject: JMS on CompuServe (Jul 01, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS* (2/2) Message-ID: <19970702025316156.AAA313@BBARRETT> [ Continued from previous section -- BB ] !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The following posts may contain SPOILERS for upcoming Babylon 5 episodes. Continue at your own risk. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! S P O I L E R P R O T E C T I O N !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL IS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE RESPECTIVE MESSAGE AUTHORS AND CANNOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR. Note that JMS has expressed his public permission that all of his messages may be reproduced freely. I give permission for my summaries to be reposted in any form, however I reserve all rights to them and the right to revoke this permission at any time. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Archives of this material may be found at: ftp://ftp.johndelenn.com/pub/bbarrett/cis/ - or - http://www.johndelenn.com/ ********************************************** [ Summary of subjects in this section: ] Sb: #682147-B5 on TNT Sb: #682173-Last 4 - have to redo? Sb: #682183-#makeup in new movies Sb: #682210-Last 4 - have to redo? Sb: #682225-#B5 *only* on cable now?? #: 682147 S5/Babylon 5: General 01-Jul-97 05:15:31 Sb: #682119-#B5 on TNT Fm: SCOTT BAKER Could you have gotten a TNT like deal back then? --Scott #: 682287 S5/Babylon 5: General 01-Jul-97 12:43:52 Sb: #682147-B5 on TNT Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Since TNT wasn't making those kinds of deals back then, the point is moot. jms #: 682173 S5/Babylon 5: General 01-Jul-97 06:45:19 Sb: #681799-#Last 4 - have to redo? Fm: VADIM NARODITSKY Thank you for your reply. I think you take it too hard. First, I haven't seen a writer yet that created something that absolutely everyone liked (at least while he still was alive). Someone will always be unhappy no matter what you do and you know that. Second, most of your audience are americans, i.e. people who got used to stories and movies with just one culmination and with predictable happy ending. It is hard for them to imagine that there can be more than one ending and more than one culmination (it is quite natural for me since I am from Russia). I think your work is great. If you read my other postings you know that I don't agree with most that Sheridan is "all good" and Bester is "all bad". IOW, I don't think that "musketeers" are good and "cardinal" is bad. But this is your strenth: First it is real enough to think and discuss it as if were discussing a real situation and second, noone in your show is "all good" (except Marcus and Lennier?) and noone is all bad (except Cartagia?). You even took us away from "Vorlons/Shadows as good/evil" concept which was unexpected. The only bad thing about season 5 I can say, and it a very bad thing, that it it going to be the last. I can only hope that in 15 years my daughter will watch and like "B5:The next generation". Joe, do you or did you write anything besides science fiction or consider to write it? I'd like to read it. I think you would write excellent "global adventure", I mean something like Frederik Forsait (sp? - English spelling of names is most difficult for me). Vadim #: 682288 S5/Babylon 5: General 01-Jul-97 12:43:53 Sb: #682173-Last 4 - have to redo? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Yeah, I've often done non-SF stuff...comedy, cop shows, mystery shows, historical stuff, horror, essays, articles...a little of everything. jms #: 682183 S5/Babylon 5: General 01-Jul-97 08:07:54 Sb: #makeup in new movies Fm: CATHERINE BECIC I haven't seen The Gathering since it's original air date, so it was good to see cards in the new Special Edition set and see how things looked in the pilot. Of course we see how Delenn changed drastically in look, and Londo's hair got restyled. My question: For the move In The Beginning, which is then to be followed immediately by The Gathering on TNT in January, how will you be handling the makeup? Will it be some kind of blend between the pilot and the series? Closer to the series and forget that it looks different from the pilot? just wondering. Catherine Becic #: 682289 S5/Babylon 5: General 01-Jul-97 12:43:58 Sb: #682183-#makeup in new movies Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI No, we're using the series makeup, rather than add one more permutation. jms [ Summary: "HEY - YOU DIDN'T ADDRESS the showgirls, salt and sun!?" ] #: 682290 S5/Babylon 5: General 01-Jul-97 12:44:00 Sb: #682210-Last 4 - have to redo? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI I'm cutting back on salt, I never see the sun anyway, and the showgirls can take care of themselves. jms [ Summary: (See below.) ] #: 682291 S5/Babylon 5: General 01-Jul-97 12:44:01 Sb: #682225-#B5 *only* on cable now?? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI It'll only be on cable, that's correct. jms [END] -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Wed Jul 2 06:13:34 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:54 2005 Subject: Monthly B5JMS FAQ Message-ID: <199707021013.GAA25676@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> The B5JMS and B5JMS-DIGEST Mailing Lists FAQ Lists Copyright 1996, 1997 B5JMS Poster Version 1.4 NOTES: (1) This message is sent automatically each month. (2) This document may not be reproduced in any form without written permission of author. (3) If you have never seen this FAQ list before, it may be useful to store it some place safe where you can refer to it in the future. ### CHANGES FROM LAST COPY SENT: - none ### TABLE OF CONTENTS ### Section A: General Q1 Who are you? What do you want? Why are you here? Q2 What is B5JMS? Q3 What is B5JMS-DIGEST? Q4 Is this an open or closed list? Q5 What is included in these lists? Q6 What is the structure of USENET posts to B5JMS? ### Section B: Majordomo Q7 What is Majordomo? Q8 How do I send requests to Majordomo? Q9 How do I get general help on Majordomo? Q10 How do I subscribe to B5JMS? Q11 How do I subscribe with an alternate email address? Q12 How do I unsubscribe? Q13 How do I unsubscribe my old email address from my new job? Q14 How do I change from one email address to a new one? Q15 How do I get info on the list? Q16 How do I find out if I am subscribed, and to which list? Q17 I still don't know under what email addresses I am subscribed? ### Section C: List Problems Q18 I lost some mail at my site. How do I get those posts back? Q19 I used to be subscribed, and I just verified that I am not. What gives? Q20 I'm getting duplicates. I'm getting duplicates. Q21 I'm not getting any messages for several days. Q22 The volume of messages is too much and my quota is full. Q23 I replied to one of the B5JMS messages but JMS never saw it. ### Section D: Miscellaneous Q24 How do I send a message to JMS? Q25 How do I send a message to the moderated newsgroup? Q26 Where can I find more information about B5? Q27 I have information from JMS which I'd like to post to B5JMS. Q28 I have comments on the structure of your script-generated threads. Q29 What is the history of B5JMS? Q30 Are you in charge of the newsgroups or other forums? Q31 I have comments on this FAQ. ### Section A: General *Q1 Who are you? What do you want? Why are you here? My name is B5JMS Poster, and I am the maintainer of the B5JMS and B5JMS-DIGEST lists. My email address for anything related to these two lists is b5jms-owner@majordomo.cs.columbia.edu This is *not* the email address to send un/subscription requests. See Q10-Q11 below. What I want is to spread the word of Babylon 5 as much as possible, so as to see more seasons of the show, new spinoffs and movies based on it. I believe that my list helps people get just the right amount of information. In my opinion there is too much poor quality shows and SF on TV, and Babylon 5 is one shining beacon in that space in need of our help to survive and flourish. I am here because the universe has chosen an avid Babylon 5 fan with the right mixture of technical computer science skills, and sufficient access to resources, to enable this list to exist. *Q2 What is B5JMS? B5JMS is a mailing list which will send you posts from JMS (Joe Michael Straczynski), the executive producer and creator of Babylon 5). Messages on B5JMS are sent as soon as they are available. See Q10 below for subscription information. *Q3 What is B5JMS-DIGEST? B5JMS-DIGEST is a digest form of B5JMS. Messages to B5JMS digest are sent when more than 40,000 characters (bytes) are collected. Normally this means one digest on a slow week, or 2-3 digests during busy weeks. >From this point on, unless otherwise indicated, anything I say about B5JMS also applies to B5JMS-DIGEST. *Q4 Is this an open or closed list? B5JMS and B5JMS-DIGEST are open-subscription lists. That is, anyone can automatically subscribe to or unsubscribe from either or both of them, using the email address they came from. You cannot, however, un/subscribe someone else or even a different email address you have. If you ask for such a request, that request is sent to me, the lists' maintainer, for approval. Normally I do simple verification and then approve the request within 24-48 hours. B5JMS is a closed-posts list. You cannot post messages to B5JMS, unless you are an approved moderator of it. At the moment only the people who collect messages from JMS can post to B5JMS. Besides, there's no need for anyone else to post to it. Most people who think they want to post to B5JMS really intend to post their messages to JMS or one of the newsgroups, and that can and should be done directly from the subscriber's site, not through my lists. See Q24-Q25 below on how to post to rastb5 and how to ask JMS a question. *Q5 What is included in these lists? The messages on B5JMS come from various sources: - I collect JMS' messages from rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated (rastb5m, the USENET newsgroup) and correlate them to the messages he replied to, with the use of my automatic scripts of course. - Brent Barrett and John Hardin collect JMS messages from Compuserve (CIS), and send out "JMS on CIS" digests. - David Strauss collects messages on AOL when they are available. Note that Genie digests do not include the message JMS replied to. They are posted in B5JMS because I still think they are useful, and better than not having any. If you are willing to help in the effort of collecting JMS messages on Genie (correlating replies to original posts, receiving posting permissions, dealing with copyrights), please let me know and I will get you in touch with the right people. Only the messages I collect on USENET are small and short. The other ones I get from CIS and AOL come in digest form, each of them, and are usually longer. For mostly legal reasons, and the effort involved, I am unable to separate these CIS/AOL digests into heir individual messages. It is through the efforts of Brent and others, that I am able to post these digests to B5JMS. (Thanks folks!) So what happens is that B5JMS gets individual messages from USENET and CIS/AOL digests. That oddity causes some B5JMS subscribers to think that they are on B5JMS-DIGEST. B5JMS-DIGEST gets everything in digest form, and since it includes he CIS/AOL pre-made digests, it is in many ways a digest of digests. *Q6 What is the structure of USENET posts to B5JMS? Posts which come from USENET that I've collected using my scripts have a definite and recognizable structure. It was designed to be as terse as possible yet not miss any vital information. Here is an example: Subject: Re: What Do the Shadows want? -----+-------------+-------------------------------------------------- No. | DATE | FROM -----+-------------+-------------------------------------------------- s 1: Aug 19, 1996: Steve A. Ustin - 9: Aug 20, 1996: Martha S. Vineyard - 10: Aug 20, 1996: Joe M. Straczynski + 22: Aug 22, 1996: davegl@netcom.com (David G. O'Lite) * 23: Aug 22, 1996: Joe M. Straczynski The above is just the top of the message. After that you will get a printing of all the messages which are not marked with a '-' in the first column of the listing above. The actual messages include the "From:" field, the number of lines in each, and then the message itself. Each mini-message in a B5JMS message thread is separated by a one-line string of alternating '-' and '=' symbols. The header part above means the following: - the subject of the thread is "What do the Shadows Want?" - there were 23 messages in that thread. - Out of 23 messages in the thread, only five of them were selected as important to the thread. These include the first message in the thread, all of JMS' messages, and the messages immediately preceding JMS'. All other messages are ignored, but since I actually print the index numbers according to the thread, you can tell roughly how large is that thread. In the above example, there were 11 messages not listed or included between JMS' first message on the thread and his second. - the first (start) message is always included, and is marked with an 's' if it came from a regular user or an upper-case 'S' if it came from JMS. The first message is always included because it is the most likely one that started the thread and best describes what the thread is all about. - Each message from JMS which is actually included is marked with a '*'. - Each message preceding JMS' message is also included. It is very likely that the message right before JMS' is the one he is replying to, and if not, it is almost always on topic, and further help to explain the subject of the thread and JMS' own reply. Such messages are marked with a '+'. - Messages which have been seen before in the same thread (because JMS had replied to them more than once) are marked with a '-' and are not repeated. Only the authors of these messages are mentioned in the top listing. This saves on repeating old messages, and is especially useful when JMS participates multiple times in a long thread. - All other messages are not listed or included because they take too much space and add very little to the thread itself. Remember that the purpose of B5JMS is to show only messages from JMS with context, not whole discussions. If you want the latter, I suggest you subscribe to the rastb5m newsgroup. ### Section B: Majordomo *Q7 What is Majordomo? Majordomo is a popular mailing list processor written in Perl/C by Brent Chapman. It has many commands to assist list maintainers like myself manage the volume of requests, and configure the list to my liking. Majordomo is the list processor software used to manage B5JMS and B5JMS-DIGEST. *Q8 How do I send requests to Majordomo? All list related requests must be sent to this address: majordomo@majordomo.cs.columbia.edu Majordomo only looks at the body of the message, not the subject line! In the body of the message, you list your requests, one per line. Remember that whenever you see B5JMS in the next few "how to" questions, you can use "b5jms-digest" instead. *Q9 How do I get general help on Majordomo? Send this message body to majordomo@majordomo.cs.columbia.edu: help *Q10 How do I subscribe to B5JMS? Send this message body to majordomo@majordomo.cs.columbia.edu: subscribe b5jms *Q11 How do I subscribe with an alternate email address? Send this message body to majordomo@majordomo.cs.columbia.edu: subscribe b5jms john.doe@some.dom.ain *Q12 How do I unsubscribe? Send this message body to majordomo@majordomo.cs.columbia.edu: unsubscribe b5jms *Q13 How do I unsubscribe my old email address from my new job? Send this message body to majordomo@majordomo.cs.columbia.edu: unsubscribe b5jms john.doe@some.dom.ain *Q14 How do I change from one email address to a new one? Send this two-line message body to majordomo@majordomo.cs.columbia.edu: unsubscribe b5jms my.old.addr@old.dom.ain.com subscribe b5jms my.new.addr@new.job.org *Q15 How do I get info on the list? Send this message body to majordomo@majordomo.cs.columbia.edu: info b5jms *Q16 How do I find out if I am subscribed, and to which list? Send this message body to majordomo@majordomo.cs.columbia.edu: which or if you want to test if you are subscribed with a particular email address, send this message body to majordomo@majordomo.cs.columbia.edu: which john.doe@dom.ain.com *Q17 I still don't know under what email addresses I am subscribed? You can get the full list of all subscribers in both B5JMS and B5JMS-DIGEST. Send this two-line message body to majordomo@majordomo.cs.columbia.edu: who b5jms who b5jms-digest After you get the subscriber lists, you can search them using a variety of methods until you find what you were looking for. PRIVACY NOTE: I specifically allow Majordomo to report back the full subscribership in my lists, to anyone who asks for it. This is to be used only to find if you are subscribed to it. I disallow anyone from using this list to promote any particular agenda I do not approve of in writing, such as sending individual subscribers junk mail, promotion/purchase offers, selling lists of names, etc. So far it hasn't happened, and I hope it never will, but I have to be prepared. ### Section C: List Problems *Q18 I lost some mail at my site. How do I get those posts back? Use FTP to get archive copies of "B5JMS": ftp://ftp.cs.columbia.edu/mdarch/b5jms/ To get archive copies of "B5JMS-DIGEST": ftp://ftp.cs.columbia.edu/mdarch/b5jms-digest/ If you don't know what FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is or how to use it, please consult your local system administrator or Internet guru. *Q19 I used to be subscribed, and I just verified that I am not. What gives? Occasionally, I am forced to unsubscribe some people from the list. This is done as a last resort action after I've exhausted all others options. It happens when people's mail servers are broken for a long period of time (over one week), and I get many bounces which clearly indicate that the user's account no longer exists at that site. Worse off, there are many non-Unix and non-compliant mail-servers out there, and even more system administrators who do not know how to configure them correctly. This often results in lost mail and bounces back to me. I get on average 50-100 bounces each day and I try to deal with most of them. But, when I see some that have been going on for a long time, and are clearly the result of a "bad" or misconfigured SMTP (Simple Mail transfer Protocol) agents, I will unsubscribe all users from that site and save myself any future hassle. The Internet is based on mutual trust and standards. Particularly bad are sites which are so hideously misconfigured or use buggy mail-servers, that bounces from those sites return to the list itself, and wind up getting posted there without my approval! I take extreme prejudice with such sites, and unsubscribe all users from it immediately. This may seem severe punishment but consider that one such site could result in the bombardment of over 2000 other subscribers with undesired mail. Hence my reaction. There, I feel better now, having alleviated some of my frustrations of large list maintenance... :-) *Q20 I'm getting duplicates. I'm getting duplicates. First verify that you are not subscribed more than once in B5JMS or B5JMS-DIGEST. See Q16-Q17 above for how to check on that. If that did not help, send me (b5jms-owner@majordomo.cs.columbia.edu) the complete messages with all headers intact. It is very important that I get the hidden mail headers of the message included. Of particular interest to me are the "Message-ID:" and "Received:" headers. Without them, I cannot track the message and cannot determine if a problem was on my end, your end, or somewhere en route. *Q21 I'm not getting any messages for several days. First verify that you are still subscribed to B5JMS or B5JMS-DIGEST. See Q16 above for how to check on that. Then check to see if there had been any messages posted to B5JMS at all for the past few days. There are times when JMS is so busy at work that he does not have time to read and reply on CIS or USENET. When JMS is not active online, there are no messages on B5JMS. See Q18 above on how to find if there had been messages on B5JMS. If there had been messages posted to B5JMS and you are subscribed, yet you are not receiving messages, send me (b5jms-owner@majordomo.cs.columbia.edu) a note and I'll try to see where the problem might be. *Q22 The volume of messages is too much and my quota is full. Sorry, I cannot help you there. During busy periods, especially when new episodes hit the air, there is lots of discussion. This could result in a dozen or more messages to B5JMS each day. If you have a small mail quota, and you go on an extended vacation (can you hear me AOL folks? :-), you can easily fill in your mailbox. Make sure you have enough space for all of the messages which may come in, or simply read and then delete B5JMS messages as soon as they arrive. Remember that if you lose any B5JMS messages for any reason, you can retrieve them at any later date. See Q18 above for details. *Q23 I replied to one of the B5JMS messages but JMS never saw it. Replies to B5JMS mail are set to automatically return to me, the list maintainer (b5jms-owner@majordomo.cs.columbia.edu). There really is no other place more suitable than that, since many people participate directly or indirectly in messages which appear on B5JMS. So if you trivially reply to such a message, it may go to me. When I am very busy, I tend to ignore such misdirected mail. When I'm not, I kindly point the subscribers at the right place. This information is summarized at the bottom of every B5JMS post, so there is no reason anyone should have missed it. ### Section D: Miscellaneous *Q24 How do I send a message to JMS? The best way to get to JMS is to post your message to the moderated B5 newsgroup (rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated) and by prepending "ATTN JMS:" to the Subject line of your message. You can post to rastb5m via any Usenet News software you have available, or by sending email to b5mod@deepthot.cary.nc.us (the old and defunct address was rastb5@solon.com). When you post to rastb5m for the first time, you will get an auto-reply which asks you to "validate" your approval of the auto-moderation charter. Follow the instructions from there. (Also ask your local system administrator on how to read USENET newsgroups.) JMS had asked that people not send him private mail, unless the question is personal, confidential, or something you would not want to say on the Internet in general. If and only if your question falls into one of these categories, you can mail JMS at his preferred personal email address: straczynski@genie.geis.com. Note that I do not control the moderated newsgroup. I am just passing along this information. In addition, here are some additional tips how to get JMS' attention. JMS does not answer every question, esp. questions he had answered before many times ("why was Sinclair fired?") or when he is busy (e.g. when production is in full gear). He tends to ignore questions that ask for blatant spoilers ("what do the shadows want?"), or messages with many questions. Stick to 1-2 related and short questions per message. Finally, read over everything that was written in all the B5 FAQs and on www.hyperion.com. Yes that is a lot of material, but any who consider themselves enough of a fans of B5 to post JMS questions should have read that material at least once. That information alone would answer 80% of people's questions, and JMS tends to avoid answering questions for which the answer is in "obvious" or "official" places. *Q25 How do I send a message to the moderated newsgroup? See previous question. *Q26 Where can I find more information about B5? The best place is to check the Hyperion Web site at http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/lurker.html There is a lot of information there, and links to many other places. You should also read rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.info (rastb5i). Time permitting, you can also read the more voluminous newsgroups rastb5m (the moderated one), and rastb5 (the unmoderated one). Good luck. Remember on this planet there are only 24 hours per day... *Q27 I have information from JMS which I'd like to post to B5JMS. Contact me, the maintainer (b5jms-owner@majordomo.cs.columbia.edu). If this is a one time thing, I may forward the message myself to the list. If it is a more permanent source of information, I can enable you to post directly to B5JMS as a moderator. *Q28 I have comments on the structure of your script-generated threads. Send them to me (b5jms-owner@majordomo.cs.columbia.edu). I always like to hear comments on my list, messages that appear on it, and ways to improve them. Sometimes I get a single message from a subscriber asking for some feature of sorts. I may explain the subscriber that while I think the feature is a good idea, it takes too much effort to implement it, and I have to hold off on it. But I always store away subscriber requests, for when more of the same come in, I will most likely take action. *Q29 What is the history of B5JMS? In early 1995 I started subscribing to newsgroups and other mailing list related to B5. I quickly realized that as the popularity of the show grew, so did the number of posts. I was very pleased to find the executive producer of the show online, participating in the USENET newsgroup rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5 (rastb5); this was unheard of up until that point. JMS' presence kept me reading rastb5 every day. Unfortunately, it was getting obvious that the unmoderated newsgroup was being plagued by many irrelevant posts (flames, trolls, spam, u-name-it). These made it harder and harder to wade through the "noise" to get to the real "signal". After a while I realized I could no longer continue reading rastb5. Since I still wanted to at least read JMS' posts, I wrote a simple perl script that pulled those posts out of rastb5 and mailed them to me. The initial script was insufficient; it was missing the context of the discussion, namely, the posts to which JMS had replied to. Over the next few weeks I continued improving that script so that it would also do the difficult task of correlating JMS' posts with the ones he replied to. It was not an easy task. JMS' mail reader on Genie stripped many relevant headers such as "Message-ID" and "In-Reply-To", and also truncated the subject line half way. In other words, there was little information left in JMS' replies to rastb5 posts that made recreating threads of discussion easy. My initial script dealt with all of these problems with over 90% success rate. All along, there were people on the net who were collecting JMS' messages from various sources such as USENET and Compuserve, and posting them to USENET and the b5-review-l list. Their posts did not include context, the messages to which JMS replied. In September of 1995, Shelley Stuart, ex-moderator of b5-review-l, posted a message to her list saying that while many have been asking her for the context to JMS' messages, she did not have it, and knew of no one with that information. She asked for volunteers. Guess who volunteered. I spent the next week learning about Majordomo, the mailing list processor in use at our department. Once configured, I posted a message to rastb5 asking for alpha testers of my list. I got about a dozen people. I got their comments and adjusted my script and the way Majordomo was configured. A week later I posted a similar message asking for beta testers. I got about 25 testers. A few more days, a few more tweaks to B5JMS, it was now time for the grand announcement. I posted my official announcement in early October 1995, and also sent a copy to Shelly for posting in her b5-review-l list. Within 2 hours I had 50 subscribers, 100 subscribers by the end of the first 24 hours, and over 400 hundred by the end of the first week! On August 8, 1996, B5JMS got its 2000th subscriber. On March 24, 1997, B5JMS got it's 3000th subscriber. On one black December of 1995, JMS, sick and tired of personal attacks and flames on rastb5, announced that he is resigning from USENET. I lost 200 subscribers who thought that was the end of B5JMS, and gained about 100 subscribers who thought that B5JMS was the only place they could get info from JMS. At that time I started looking into getting more messages from JMS to post to B5JMS. I turned to Compuserve, Genie, AOL, and Prodigy. Initially I simply reposed on B5JMS messages from folks who collected JMS' words on other forums. Rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.info (rastb5i) was created shortly afterwards, but as an informational low-volume moderated newsgroup, not as a way to "bring JMS back to USENET". As if it wasn't bad enough that JMS had been out of USENET, a couple of months later, the Compuserve Copyrights debacle hit USENET: CIS and their subscribers started enforcing copyrights of material posted by them. JMS gave a blanket permission to post his messages anywhere, but permission had to be acquired from each and every person to whom JMS replied to, in order to post that person's message. I was forced to stop posting CIS digests for these legal reasons. Instead, I worked with people who got permission from Compuserve users to post their messages on Usenet, and those folks had been given direct permission by me, to post to B5JMS. That worked, and another crisis was over. Finally, a few months later, and a heck of a lot of debate about how to bring JMS back to USENET and avoid junk/flame post on B5 newsgroups, a new auto-moderated newsgroup was created: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated (rastb5m). JMS was now back online, and USENET users were finally able to freely converse with JMS. A few minor adjustments to my scripts, and B5JMS was again receiving JMS' words off of USENET. Subscribership had never slowed ever since. Today, B5JMS is the largest B5-related mailing list, with over 2800 subscribers (as of February 1997), surpassing even b5-review-l (at ~1840 subscribers as of September 96). About a year after my initial scripts, they now do an even better job, as JMS started using a real news-reader on his AOL account, and I made many additional tweaks the scripts. *Q30 Are you in charge of the newsgroups or other forums? NO! I do not control, and am not the moderator or maintainer of any of the following: - The Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5 - The Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.info - The Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated - The Babylon 5 reviews list b5-review-l - CIS/AOL digests If you need to get in touch any of the above lists or newsgroup, find out their individual maintainers or moderators (for those that are moderated). *Q31 I have comments on this FAQ. Send them in to me (b5jms-owner@majordomo.cs.columbia.edu). I want to improve this FAQ so that it covers all possible b5JMS list related questions. I'm especially interested to include questions which subscribers often ask me. Thank you for listening. B5JMS Poster. Maintainer, B5JMS and B5JMS-DIGEST lists. -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Wed Jul 2 06:08:24 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:54 2005 Subject: Ulkesh the Vorlon (Novel #9 spoilers) Message-ID: <199707021008.GAA25635@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: Andrew Johnston Date: 2 Jul 1997 00:45:19 -0400 Lines: 38 JamesPGee wrote: > > Spoilers ho! > % > % > % > % > % > % > % > % > % > %% > > % > % > % > % > % > % > % > %% > % > % > % > % > % > % > % > > Just got done with novel #9... a great read. One question: have we seen > the Vorlon ambassador to Minbar before? Is, perhaps, Ulkesh the same > Vorlon lovingly known as Kosh2? I'd wager Ulkesh is the Vorlon we saw on Minbar with Rathenn at the beginning of War Without End part one. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 2 Jul 1997 04:18:04 -0400 Lines: 8 Ulkesh was the one who came to B5, yes. jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Thu Jul 3 06:13:35 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:54 2005 Subject: update from jms Message-ID: <199707031013.GAA00166@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 2 Jul 1997 02:58:06 -0400 Lines: 60 A number of items, from fairly important to not at all. If you are anywhere in the Atlanta area, I suggest -- fairly strongly -- that you exert every effort to be present at the B5 Presentation on Sunday afternoon (I think it's 1 or 2 p.m.) featuring B5 producer George Johnsen. He will have the usual assortment of bloopers, clips from the two movies now in production, and other stuff...and the "other stuff" is something folks should be around for. You may possibly also want to tune in to Entertainment Tonight tomorrow (Friday) night. And definitely buy a copy of the TV Guide issue that hits the stands Monday on the West Coast, and Saturday on the East Coast. In fact, I suggest you buy two. All of this will make sense in the fullness of time. Also...on a wholly different note...we're continuing our updates on the B5 Fan Club. The new edition of the newsletter is in its final stages, and will likely hit the printers next week. We're going to be releasing some new items from thestation.com, including the new set of B5 trading cards from Fleer at a very competitive price, with another bunch of them for sale with the box autographed by some guy named jms...and next week we should be putting up our first in a series of B5-special ball caps, this one the exact same cap, made by the same people, used in "Knives": Sheridan's Agamemnon cap, which has a silhouette of the Aggy and its ship construction ID number below. It's *very* spiffy. More caps will be forthcoming. (The cards are now available via thestation.com, and the caps will be available there next week.) We're also totally redesigning the membership kits for those joining in the next few months, and are planning a massive facelift for thestation.com as well. We'll be announcing more improvements over the next 4-5 weeks. Keep watching the skies.... jms jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Thu Jul 3 06:08:33 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:54 2005 Subject: Attn: JMS--Your Notes Message-ID: <199707031008.GAA00134@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: Jean McKnight Date: 1 Jul 1997 22:00:38 -0400 Lines: 9 "I've just spent the better part of the evening laying out the basic structure of S5, uncorking all the notes I set aside for 5 in case we got the renewal, playing off the themes and incidents we brought up in year 4..." Curious as to what those notes look like, chocolate donut smoodges aside. Hasty reminders scrawled on literal or figurative cocktail napkins? Outlines? Just a few key words, or page after page of lavish detail? Jean McKnight =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 2 Jul 1997 03:52:36 -0400 Lines: 4 My notes are written in blood on the sand, same as every writer, silly. jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Thu Jul 3 06:18:37 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:54 2005 Subject: ATTN ANYONE: Crusade already picked up? Message-ID: <199707031018.GAA00216@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: Brent Schmidt Date: 2 Jul 1997 01:40:27 -0400 Lines: 15 As I was leafing through one of my 5 copies of the B5 TV Guide (just kidding, I only bought two . . . so far), and noticed this little gem at the end of the article: ". . . [Speaking about JMS] has just finished conceiving and outlining a B5 sequel, tentatively titled Babylon 5: Crusade. He envisions this series, which has already been sold to a studio . . ." ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Not being Mr. Hollywood, I don't know what "already sold to a studio" means. Does it mean that somebody has decided they like it and will buy episodes of it? Or does it mean something more insubstantial? -- -------------------------------------------------- Docking Bay 13 - http://www.mcs.net/~tvsbrent/ Brent Schmidt TVsBrent@MCS.COM -------------------------------------------------- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 2 Jul 1997 04:09:45 -0400 Lines: 8 No, Crusade hasn't been sold yet, it's still in negotiations. jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Thu Jul 3 06:23:39 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:54 2005 Subject: ATTN. JMS - Whiskers in real time????? (Minor spoilers) Message-ID: <199707031023.GAA00264@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: mbennett@iglou.com (Myron Bennett) Date: 2 Jul 1997 00:04:48 -0400 Lines: 23 As much as I was captivated by this strong episode (IiRT), I found myself noticing Sheridan's whiskers. And could not help wondering if the episode were shot over a period of days, or, if not, how the beard growth was accomplished (CGI? :-) ) You said, > The actors would come in in the morning, rehearse it as they would a > play, then we'd shoot it the way we'd shoot a play, straight through. which could be interpreted to mean the whole shebang was done at once, or not. I'm curious. Also, just to say what a tour de force this episode was. I remarked to my son about halfway through that by definitely NOT being an hommage to The Prisoner, it was an even stronger hommage. This from someone who saw TP on its original US broadcasts, and who bought the laser-discs of the series. In other words, Bravo! -- Myron Bennett mbennett@tso.cin.ix.net or mbennett@iglou.com =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 2 Jul 1997 21:32:50 -0400 Lines: 5 Bruce had some time between episodes, and began to grow the beard for real, and we darkened it down for later acts. jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From bbarrett at speedlink.com Thu Jul 3 14:26:35 1997 From: bbarrett at speedlink.com (bbarrett@speedlink.com) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:54 2005 Subject: JMS on CompuServe (Jul 03, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS* (1/2) Message-ID: <19970703182635359.AAA181@BBARRETT> !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The following posts may contain SPOILERS for upcoming Babylon 5 episodes. Continue at your own risk. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! S P O I L E R P R O T E C T I O N !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL IS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE RESPECTIVE MESSAGE AUTHORS AND CANNOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR. Note that JMS has expressed his public permission that all of his messages may be reproduced freely. I give permission for my summaries to be reposted in any form, however I reserve all rights to them and the right to revoke this permission at any time. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Archives of this material may be found at: ftp://ftp.johndelenn.com/pub/bbarrett/cis/ - or - http://www.johndelenn.com/ ********************************************** [ Summary of subjects in this section: ] Sb: #682117-#Last 4 - have to redo? Sb: #682107-The 5th Season Sb: #682522-#Last 4 - have to redo? Sb: #682536-Last 4 - have to redo? Sb: #682327-B5 *only* on cable now?? Sb: #682363-Now this is Scary... Sb: #682451-Honor the achievement Sb: #682455-What might be different? Sb: #682752-#The 5th Season Sb: #682734-makeup in new movies Sb: #682740-#B5 *only* on cable now?? Sb: #682652-#B5 finally on Video.DVD? [ Summary: (JMS realized that he had previously responded to someone whose name he recognized.) ] #: 682459 S5/Babylon 5: General 01-Jul-97 22:40:51 Sb: #682117-#Last 4 - have to redo? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Waitaminnit...just looked at the name again...is this *the* James Morrow? As in the writer? jms #: 682107 S5/Babylon 5: General 01-Jul-97 01:13:49 Sb: #The 5th Season Fm: RAY PELZER Joe: I've been kinda on the sidelines over this weekend, but I'd like to add my congratulations to the rest of the folks here. You have a lot to be proud of. You've bested Rod Serling's record of continuous episode-writing (and continue to boost that record with each new show). You've created a place where underestimated actors and actresses have been given the opportunity to shine and show their true mettle. You've created a science-fiction program that networks have fought over (and the winner wants to hold it up as a "shining beacon"). You have people around the globe clamoring to find out what's going to happen next at a level probably only close to Star Wars when it was first released. You've given we drivel-weary viewers a truly epic-proportion story to sink our collective teeth into for four (and now, five) straight years. You've put together a TV series that Harlan Ellison is proud to associate himself with (and we all know that THAT is no mean feat!). And probably most important, you've had the opportunity to tell YOUR story the way YOU wanted. Although we've never met in person, I'm proud to be able to say I've made your electronic acquaintance. Ya done good. :) Ray #: 682460 S5/Babylon 5: General 01-Jul-97 22:40:53 Sb: #682107-The 5th Season Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Thanks...not too bad for a day's work.... jms #: 682522 S5/Babylon 5: General 02-Jul-97 04:54:35 Sb: #681799-#Last 4 - have to redo? Fm: ALAN MULVIE Hi Joe, Don't worry I'm not going to ask about "fillers" in season 5. I'd just like to throw in my tupence worth as to what could continue in season 5 and beyond, although I know it should end and not continue ALA trek. (which is going down hill rapidly, or are my expectations more after Babylon 5?) Ive only seen up to 412, so some of this may be resolved before 421 so here goes loose threads or things I would like to see tied up. (some are best left to the viewers imaginations IMHO) Whats the score with Mr Garibaldi? Ditto Valen/Sinclair - his descendants? How did Babylon 5 get destroyed? (from flash forwards) Who/what was on the ship escaping? What/where are all the Shadow/Vorlon ships/equipment. Will the Narn and Centari find peace? Who where the enemys referred to in War without End (Delann in the future) Does Sheridan Die (in 20 years) or evolve Like Lionheart? Whats the score with Lionheart? Did the Vorlons genetically engineer Telepaths? What else did they genetically engineer? Will Clark get booted out? What happens to Centari Prime (in the future - war without end) What will Sheridans Son be like- Do? If Lyta can be "enhanced2 by the Vorlons, what did the shadows do to their servants? How does the army of Light cope with that? If "Mankind" has some of that technology, what will we do with it? Whats "The Rim" and whats beyond it? Why wont there be a Babylon 6? Will Mars become independent or unify with earth? Ditto Proxima. Now the big boys have gone, are the children gonna fight? Will JMS let someone else write a script? (you must have a time slowing machine, or never sleep) So thats 22 loose ends (from the top of my head) and 32 episodes that I havent seen (assuming 22 in season 5) so thats about 1.5 episodes per loose end. And their are plenty of other loose ends if I take time to think about it, so the question isnt if you will have a season 5 of fillers, but will you have enough episodes to wrap up everything by the end of season 5? IMHO I think youll still leave a lot to our imagination and hopefully force us to think. Mlv #: 682639 S5/Babylon 5: General 02-Jul-97 13:44:58 Sb: #682522-#Last 4 - have to redo? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI At least a third of those are resolved in the next batch; and a bulk of the rest in the fifth season, plus a lot of other threads you missed. jms #: 682536 S5/Babylon 5: General 02-Jul-97 06:48:53 Sb: #682288-#Last 4 - have to redo? Fm: VADIM NARODITSKY << Yeah, I've often done non-SF stuff...comedy, cop shows, mystery shows, historical stuff, horror, essays, articles...a little of everything.>> I meant a big book, a novel that will be a bestseller now and that people would still read in 20 years. (re: Forcait, Tom Clancy...). IMO you could create a masterpice in this geanre. Vadim #: 682640 S5/Babylon 5: General 02-Jul-97 13:44:59 Sb: #682536-Last 4 - have to redo? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI No big books, though I've had two medium-sizednovels published so far. jms #: 682327 S5/Babylon 5: General 01-Jul-97 14:23:43 Sb: #682291-#B5 *only* on cable now?? Fm: NEIL BLEVINS >It'll only be on cable, that's correct.< Is it possible that it will be picked up by Non-cable stations in such areas where TNT isn't available (such as here in Montreal)? - Neil #: 682792 S5/Babylon 5: General 02-Jul-97 21:36:22 Sb: #682327-B5 *only* on cable now?? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI I don't know the Canadian situation yet, but can't imagine that they would let that market go by the boards for long. jms #: 682363 S5/Babylon 5: General 01-Jul-97 17:15:36 Sb: #Now this is Scary... Fm: KEVIN P. KENNEY A coworkers' children have been utterly caught up in their dad's fanhood of B5. When listening to the 2nd CD in the car, they speak the opening passages. They compete in yelling out the names of the speakers of each phrase of the season 4 opening. The 7-year old daughter did a school report on B5, with crudely drawn shadow ships on the cover, "you must understand one thing: If you go to Z'ha'Dum you will die." (my misquoting) on the inside cover, and dowloaded pics from the Lurker's Guide... They have the card sets memorized... And I didn't think the father that rabid of a fan?!? The conversion process seems to be ahead of schedule... (Thirty years from now they'll be bugging you for one more sequel...) Remember the Pinky & the Brain's Beany & Cecil spoof? What are you REALLY creating here??? Just beginning to understand, KpK #: 682793 S5/Babylon 5: General 02-Jul-97 21:36:25 Sb: #682363-Now this is Scary... Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Give me them until they're 10 and they're mine for life...insert evil cackle here.... jms #: 682451 S5/Babylon 5: General 01-Jul-97 21:50:08 Sb: #Honor the achievement Fm: MERYL YOURISH Joe, Don't know if anyone has said this yet, but you deserve the biggest pat on the back you've ever received. Take the longest bow you can stand. Imagine all of the B5 fans applauding you at once. Because, Joe, you did it. You conceived Babylon 5 as a novel for television. You pitched it, successfully, to a major studio, and ignoring the thievery of that nameless Other Show that appeared at the same time. You outlined the five-year story arc, stuck to your creative guns, found the finest actors and writers and effects magicians and directors and crew, and you put on what I consider to be the best science fiction show ever to have aired. In fact, I consider Babylon 5 to be one of the best television shows ever to have aired. You broke ground that has never before been touched. You've set scriptwriting records while keeping the quality of that writing excellent. You have shaped your vision into something that we fans can't conceive of doing without. I, for one, am thrilled to death that you got your wish--and ours--and will have a fifth season to finish the story. If ever there was an occasion for kudos, this is it. This is what the Greeks invented the word for. So Joe--take that bow, and relax for a while, and watch yourself go into the television history books. And thank you, thank you, THANK you for giving us Babylon 5. Meryl #: 682794 S5/Babylon 5: General 02-Jul-97 21:36:27 Sb: #682451-Honor the achievement Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Thanks...y'know, someone else said that the other day, a reporter during an interview, that there were now two paradigms of the best SF ever prouduced in this country: ST and B5. That's a weighty compliment, and my first reaction was to get really, really tired...but bottom line, we did what we set out to do, kept every promise we made, and nothing can ever take that away. We went the distance. jms #: 682455 S5/Babylon 5: General 01-Jul-97 22:00:07 Sb: #What might be different? Fm: CARL CANTARELLA Joe, This has been bugging me a bit every since the great news about the fifth season got reported, and I can't help but wonder ....if you had been assured of a fifth season going into season four, are there many things you would have done differently? Is season five a mixed blessing for you, coupled with any regret about having had to expedite the arc to end by season four, a year ahead of your predetermined five year game plan? #: 682795 S5/Babylon 5: General 02-Jul-97 21:36:30 Sb: #682455-What might be different? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "...coupled with any regret about having had to expedite the arc to end by season four, a year ahead of your predetermined five year game plan?" This is, again, a misnomer. The arc didn't *end* in year 4, nor did I end it. Which becomes utterly evident once you see the final episodes. All I did was to more or less isolate the incidents in year 5 from the preceding year, so we could go into them or not. What you have to do, which I've noted before, is to step back for a moment and look at the series as a whole. Every season, we do basically the same thing: we end on a cliffhanger, then the first 4-5 episodes of the next season resolve the threads and the cliffhanger from the prior season, and then we're off onto the next thread. They overlap by about 4-5 episodes. So what I did was to pull those 4 episodes from the start of season 5 into season 4, which would otherwise have ended at 418 as the cliffhanger. So there wasn't really that much crammed into 4, and everything that was going to be in 5 is still there, with room for about 3-4 standalones, which will be a nice break. jms [ Summary: (See below.) ] #: 682848 S5/Babylon 5: General 03-Jul-97 03:20:54 Sb: #682752-#The 5th Season Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "When you look back and reflect on what you've accomplished down the road, I hope the reality matches the vision you had when you were pitching the idea lo those many years ago." A few glitches notwithstanding...it *exceeds* the vision. I'm happy. It's the main piece that I will end up putting on the mantle to remind folks I was here. "Now, when you're done, could you please do a fantasy series, so I can find a job for the troll in the well at the bottom of the hill near my barn? He's irritating the hoses and I think he'll work for scale. . ." ^^^^^ Irritating the hoses? May I suggest, rather than fantasy, perhaps a version of "Enema Mine." jms #: 682734 S5/Babylon 5: General 02-Jul-97 19:06:10 Sb: #682289-#makeup in new movies Fm: CATHERINE BECIC [[ No, we're using the series makeup, rather than add one more permutation.]] In that case, for the newbies, will there be some explanation of why Delenn changes looks from In the Beginning to The Gathering and then back for the episodes? #: 682849 S5/Babylon 5: General 03-Jul-97 03:20:57 Sb: #682734-makeup in new movies Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Well, I could run a crawl on the bottom of the screen...or insert a commercial explaining it...otherwise, I think just letting it go would be best. jms [ Summary: "Will the early episodes ever be released in a collectors video set?" ] #: 682850 S5/Babylon 5: General 03-Jul-97 03:20:59 Sb: #682740-#B5 *only* on cable now?? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Columbia House will be releasing the show on cassette via mail-order this Fall, I believe. jms [ Summary: DVD? ] #: 682851 S5/Babylon 5: General 03-Jul-97 03:21:01 Sb: #682652-#B5 finally on Video.DVD? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI We're *talking* to the DVD folks, and things look positive, but that's still a long bit down the road. jms [ Continued in next section -- BB ] -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From bbarrett at speedlink.com Thu Jul 3 14:26:40 1997 From: bbarrett at speedlink.com (bbarrett@speedlink.com) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:54 2005 Subject: JMS on CompuServe (Jul 03, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS* (2/2) Message-ID: <19970703182639875.AAA366@BBARRETT> [ Continued from previous section -- BB ] !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The following posts may contain SPOILERS for upcoming Babylon 5 episodes. Continue at your own risk. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! S P O I L E R P R O T E C T I O N !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL IS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE RESPECTIVE MESSAGE AUTHORS AND CANNOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR. Note that JMS has expressed his public permission that all of his messages may be reproduced freely. I give permission for my summaries to be reposted in any form, however I reserve all rights to them and the right to revoke this permission at any time. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Archives of this material may be found at: ftp://ftp.johndelenn.com/pub/bbarrett/cis/ - or - http://www.johndelenn.com/ ********************************************** [ Summary of subjects in this section: ] Sb: #682669-Tapes and DVD #: 682669 S5/Babylon 5: General 02-Jul-97 15:59:58 Sb: #Tapes and DVD Fm: ASHA DEVELDER Joe, I keep reading about Columbia House offering tapes of the B5 episodes. Is this confirmed? If so, are they also going to offer "In the Beginning", "The Gathering" and "Thirdspace" (after broadcast, one would think)? Any idea when these tapes will be offered? Also, there is a rumor about the series coming out in DVD? Any information on that? #: 682852 S5/Babylon 5: General 03-Jul-97 03:21:04 Sb: #682669-Tapes and DVD Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Yes, Columbia House has called to get graphics, so I would suggest that it's confirmed on tapes. Don't know the status on the movies, but I would imagine they'd be included...DVD is still in discussions. jms [END] -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Fri Jul 4 06:09:42 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:54 2005 Subject: Attn JMS: B5's best presentation on home video: DVD? Message-ID: <199707041009.GAA23436@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: starman@cnj.digex.net (Starman) Date: 1 Jul 1997 22:58:43 -0400 Lines: 17 Hi all, A few months ago I did something I'd thought I'd never do: scrap my laserisc collection for something new. This is NOT intended to be a LD vs. DVD thread, but I've found that the DVD format would probably be the absolute BEST way for Babylon 5 to be presented on home video. You could fit two, MAYBE three episodes on one layer, an there are 4 layers possible on a DVD disc. That gives you the possibility of one ENTIRE season on only TWO DVDs. Since Warner has been putting out scads of DVDs since March, I'd say that the entire B5 saga on 10 DVDs would be well worth the time and money. It would be a serious space saver too, better to have 10 discs than over 100 videotapes. I'd have a VERY hard time buying anything but DVDs since I have most of the series on SVHS tape. Has anyone at B5 (Joe?) or Warner thought of this? Mike =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 2 Jul 1997 21:25:38 -0400 Lines: 5 We're talking to the DVD people; we'll see. jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Fri Jul 4 12:54:48 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:54 2005 Subject: Intersections in Real Time ( *Spoilers* ) Message-ID: <199707041654.MAA27179@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Unavailable article: Message-ID <19970622022701.WAA06613@ladder01.news.aol.com> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 27 Jun 1997 14:49:36 -0400 Lines: 19 "Also, didn't advance reports on this episode describe it as taking place literally in "real time", with the hour episode covering just one hour in the characters' lives?" Yes, those were in the spoiler pieces people were posting around the nets. Those have little or nothing to do with me, or the reality of the show, on the average day, so I really can't comment...except to note that I hate the goddamned things because it seems like I constantly get hit with grief from people who read the things, get a faulty idea about something, then come yell at me about it...then when the show airs, go "Oh..." and realize their information was wrong. And then there are the cases when I have to go and explain why it wasn't like the spoiler. Just grumpy...I got hit with this earlier today. jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Fri Jul 4 13:00:04 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:54 2005 Subject: ATTN: George - production scheduling Message-ID: <199707041700.NAA27330@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: davidw.smith@amd.com (David W. Smith) Date: 25 Jun 1997 22:20:12 -0400 Lines: 21 Hi George! Thanks for all your support on rastb5m! A question: If we actually have a season 5 (whether WB or TNT pays for it), how will the handoff from PTEN (or perhaps Babylonian production) to TNT go?? Won't you have to *finish* season 5 entirely *and broadcast it* before TNT needs it? At about one year per month on TNT, won't you need year 5 done and over on your regular stations, to hand it off to them before the end of month 4 (Jan 18 prequel day + 4 months + some intermediate movie = about 4m. 4d.) ?? Elsewise they would do what? Rerun episodes after season 4, waiting for 5 eps? Curious, David Smith ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | David W. Smith | AMD ARD ADL | DavidW.Smith@amd.com | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------| | "... all alone in the night... Babylon5" | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: George Johnsen Date: 1 Jul 1997 18:07:53 -0400 Lines: 27 Hey David- With all the activity on Season 5 rumors, I guess this might have already been answered BUT.... The TNT reruns will start in January with the airing of "In the Beginning", and then roll through the 88 episodes of season 1 thru 4. This is independent of anything for Season 5. The end of Season 4 is contracted to the current outlet channels, so they will air there. When Season 4 is over, they will air no more shows IF the deal with TNT is finalized. Should there be a deal with TNT for Season 5 the plan is to air S5 on Monday nights at 10p eastern. This will overlap the airing of the the S1 thru S4 package, which will be on 5 days a week at 6p eastern. Confused? Don't be. When the deal gets done, we will publish a schedule. All prayers appreciated! George Johnsen CoProducer, B5 -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Sat Jul 5 06:14:32 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: Season 5 **OFFICIAL** Message-ID: <199707051014.GAA05851@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Unavailable article: Message-ID =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 28 Jun 1997 19:21:26 -0400 Lines: 13 "OK, who's studios will it be filmed at? That's ashitload of equipment to move. Will WB rent thier stuff out (not likley) Does TNT have studios in the LA area equiped for this??" We never shot on the WB lot. We have our own off-lot facilities, which will be the same for future episodes. jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Sat Jul 5 06:19:35 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: from jms re: foreign markets & seattle Message-ID: <199707051019.GAA05896@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 4 Jul 1997 13:49:04 -0400 Lines: 17 Two quickies: 1) I'll be at Westercon in Seattle this weekend, the 4th. 2) I've been flooded by people decrying the notion that since the fifth year of B5 will only be available on TNT, they won't get it. Let me clarify this here, and save myself a lot of private mail. It will only be on TNT ***IN THE UNITED STATES****. The foreign market is essential to WB making its bucks on the show. So of *course* they're going to make it available in other markets. The whens I don't know, and never do, but they're not going to let it go. It's no different than the show being available only on PTEN affiliated stations IN THE US. It has *nothing* to do with foreign markets. jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Sat Jul 5 06:09:31 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: ATTN JMS: Gross or net? Message-ID: <199707051009.GAA05820@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Unavailable article: Message-ID <33B5DB6D.4720@erols.com> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 29 Jun 1997 19:05:39 -0400 Lines: 52 "Here's my question, if you don't mind my prying: Are you getting a cut of the gross this time or the net again?" No, the contract between me and WB for B5 is the same in that respect for every year of the series. I have a piece of the net...which means that I won't ever see a dime on this thing. For instance...we know, for dead-certain, that this show has shown a profit for WB every year. They've *said* as much to us, we know that the only reason the PTEN shows were kept on was that they had to show a profit. Okay, now with that in mind...here's my profit/loss statement on the show to date, and it shows we're $42 million in the red. C'mon...you believe that? For that to happen, not one single commercial would have ever been sold, not one piece of merchandising, not one foreign sale...nada. We both know that ain't possible. But that's the figure they show. How? They charge one project against another; hide profit in cross-collatoral books that are almost impossible to untangle...they charge interest on overhead and overhead on interest (I'm not making that up) so that it never ends. Because this was the first show I'd created, I wasn't able to get a good definition of what "net" means, and so basically I'm screwed ad infinitum. The only area where I *do* have a piece of the gross is, ironically, in the one area where I've dragged my feet from day one: merchandising. The Writers Guild stipulates a 6% royalty on all merchandise (not counting soundtracks, videotapes and other related areas). So by all rights I should be out pushing every deal I can get...but instead I'm fighting WB to keep the number of deals down so that we can control the quality. Go figure. But thing is, bottom line, I ain't in this for the money. For starters, if that was the End All, I'd've stayed at CBS and Murder, She Wrote, where my salary was almost double what it was to come and do B5. But I wanted to tell this story, and the simple reality is, you can only sleep in one bed at a time, eat one meal at a time, drive one car at a time...how much do you need? Yeah, in comparison with guys like Michael Eisner and other folks who run studios, I'm grossly underpaid; but in comparison with the people who do the *real* work that keeps this country moving, the important work, the nurses and the bricklayers and the teachers, I'm grossly *over*paid. So I'm not going to complain. Fact is, I'm being given the capacity to tell this story, in front of millions of people, and they're actually paying me to do something that I'd do for free anyway. What more can you ask for? jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From bbarrett at speedlink.com Sat Jul 5 23:47:48 1997 From: bbarrett at speedlink.com (bbarrett@speedlink.com) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: JMS on CompuServe (Jul 05, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS* Message-ID: <19970706034747484.AAA357@BBARRETT> !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The following posts may contain SPOILERS for upcoming Babylon 5 episodes. Continue at your own risk. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! S P O I L E R P R O T E C T I O N !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL IS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE RESPECTIVE MESSAGE AUTHORS AND CANNOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR. Note that JMS has expressed his public permission that all of his messages may be reproduced freely. I give permission for my summaries to be reposted in any form, however I reserve all rights to them and the right to revoke this permission at any time. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Archives of this material may be found at: ftp://ftp.johndelenn.com/pub/bbarrett/cis/ - or - http://www.johndelenn.com/ ********************************************** [ Summary of subjects in this section: ] Sb: #682892-Last 4 - have to redo? Sb: #682871-#General [ Summary: Speaks of the huge untapped potential of the Babylon 5 universe, including the stories of G'kar and the Narn, and Delenn and the Minbari. ] #: 682950 S5/Babylon 5: General 03-Jul-97 13:36:54 Sb: #682892-Last 4 - have to redo? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Thanks...there's an awful lot in those characters and situations. I've tried, as best I can, to create a living, breathing universe, with stories you follow in any direction and find something interesting. jms #: 682871 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers 03-Jul-97 05:09:09 Sb: #General Fm: ROSEANN M. CAPUTO Joe, Been reading some of the current postings and had to say I'm thrilled that you're speaking to Neil Gaiman about writing for B5! Sandman is one of my favorite comics and I really enjoy his writing. The return of Peter David is also much anticipated. I can only imagine what Harlan will come up with, but it will be good. Congratulations on Season 5! I've been spreading the word and I've got a few folks who are going to become converts as of January. They tried to pick up the show in the middle, but felt they were missing something. They liked what they saw, though, so they said they are definitely going to check it out in January. I wanted to share some of my thoughts on the arc of B5. When the Shadow war ended, I was like many who may have been surprised by this. Why? Because I EXPECTED it to last through the whole arc. That doesn't mean it was supposed to! I was caught off guard. I was slightly curious as to how the rest of the arc would go, but I was also aware that the arc had not yet dealt with all that was happening on earth. Did I have some doubts? Sure, I'm human. But, I learned something over the years. When you set out to question the work of the Master of a craft, do so carefully. They are Masters for a reason. Yes, I view you as a Master of your craft. Instead of saying anything, I kicked back and watched. Ya know, I have yet to be disappointed. So, all my doubts went south. I know that season 5 won't be filler, because that's not what a Master of his craft does. You wouldn't tolerate it from anyone else, so you surely will not do it yourself. I'm going to strap myself into this rollercoaster and hang on for the ride. Thanks, Joe. You definitley give Science Fiction a really good name. You don't drink, do drugs, etc? Wow, talk about the clean cut, all american boy! No vices, eh? Have a good one.... Roseann #: 682951 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers 03-Jul-97 13:36:56 Sb: #682871-#General Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "I know that season 5 won't be filler, because that's not what a Master of his craft does. You wouldn't tolerate it from anyone else, so you surely will not do it yourself." Bingo. Sometimes when I try to describe what's happening on my side of things, I don't find the right words. Thanks for doing so. "You don't drink, do drugs, etc?" Also don't smoke or gamble. "Wow, talk about the clean cut, all american boy! No vices, eh?" Two: Chocolate and coffee. jms [END] -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Mon Jul 7 06:07:27 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: ATTN JMS: B5 Renewed!!!!!! Message-ID: <199707071007.GAA19184@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Unavailable article: Message-ID =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 28 Jun 1997 19:25:50 -0400 Lines: 18 In 1992, we said this would be a five year story. Everyone we talked to laughed at us...at studios, in the press, even a number of fans. Except for the ST shows, no SF space series has gone more than 3 seasons in 30 years. Everyone said we couldn't do it. Wouldn't do it. It was impossible. Everyone was wrong. You *can* fight the system. jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Mon Jul 7 06:12:28 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: ATT: JMS: Any plans to reshoot final four? Message-ID: <199707071012.GAA19235@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Unavailable article: Message-ID <33B717C4.6E47@sirius.com> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 30 Jun 1997 00:59:22 -0400 Lines: 10 There were some alternate scenes shot here and there...but we're leaving it all as is. jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From bbarrett at speedlink.com Mon Jul 7 16:09:47 1997 From: bbarrett at speedlink.com (bbarrett@speedlink.com) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: JMS on CompuServe (Jul 07, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS* Message-ID: <19970707200946718.AAA303@BBARRETT> !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The following posts may contain SPOILERS for upcoming Babylon 5 episodes. Continue at your own risk. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! S P O I L E R P R O T E C T I O N !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL IS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE RESPECTIVE MESSAGE AUTHORS AND CANNOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR. Note that JMS has expressed his public permission that all of his messages may be reproduced freely. I give permission for my summaries to be reposted in any form, however I reserve all rights to them and the right to revoke this permission at any time. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Archives of this material may be found at: ftp://ftp.johndelenn.com/pub/bbarrett/cis/ - or - http://www.johndelenn.com/ ********************************************** [ Summary of subjects in this section: ] Sb: #683130-Season 5 Sb: #683044-Congratulations & Thanks Sb: #683578-Last 4 - have to redo? Sb: #683271-Last 4 - have to redo? Sb: #683266-B5 *only* on cable now?? Sb: #683024-B5 *only* on cable now?? Sb: #683065-B5 *only* on cable now?? Sb: #682986-#Renegade??? Sb: #683336-S5 in the UK? Sb: #683364-Script Smart Sb: #682973-#General Sb: #683534-#Updates from jms Sb: #683441- [ Summary: "Is season 5 going to be broadcast where I can see it or am I going to have to break down and buy cable?" ] #: 683643 S5/Babylon 5: General 07-Jul-97 02:49:07 Sb: #683130-Season 5 Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI If you're in the US, it's only available on TNT. jms [ Summary: "B5 is one of the best shows on television, and I thank you for putting it together." Plus a comment quoted below. ] #: 683644 S5/Babylon 5: General 07-Jul-97 02:49:09 Sb: #683044-Congratulations & Thanks Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Thanks.... "And I notice that one episode made the TV Guide list of the top 100 shows ever." No...don't think so, though it's a great idea. jms [ Summary: Didn't think B5 was so great at the start, but believes it has gotten better and better as time has gone by. He now doesn't miss an episode. ] #: 683645 S5/Babylon 5: General 07-Jul-97 02:49:11 Sb: #683578-Last 4 - have to redo? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Thanks. jms #: 683271 S5/Babylon 5: General 04-Jul-97 22:39:21 Sb: #681908-#Last 4 - have to redo? Fm: RICK COREY /NY Yup, it is astonishing how shallow the gene pool can get. On the bright side, if only one out of 100 of us are really offensive twits, then you've attracted a group of fans that are almost two orders of magnitude above average. (Sturgeon's Law) Of course, if "only" one M&M in each bag exploded in my mouth, I'd eventually stop eating M&Ms. I was so sad to think that B5 was almost over that I was chewing my lip to keep from whimpering. It felt like being about to loose a good friend. I really understood the woman whose first thought while falling through her attic floor was: "But I can't die *yet*! B5 has three more years to run!" Reprieved (for one more year)! If you hadn't said from Day One that it was to be a five year story, I would already be begging for yet another year. That way lies madness. Thank you (fervently) for all your blood, sweat and tears. Thanks to the actors, too. I blush to think how real their characters are to me. News of season five was the best birthday present I can remember. Thanks again Minister of the Cathode Ray #: 683646 S5/Babylon 5: General 07-Jul-97 02:49:13 Sb: #683271-Last 4 - have to redo? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Yeah, but if it were easy, I guess everybody'd do it. Thanks. jms #: 683266 S5/Babylon 5: General 04-Jul-97 22:07:53 Sb: #682792-#B5 *only* on cable now?? Fm: RICHARD E. COUTURE Joe: Speaking of special situations, what will happen to the final four that were being held by WB till the fall. Will they still be aired by the syndicated stations or will TNT show them? Rich #: 683647 S5/Babylon 5: General 07-Jul-97 02:49:15 Sb: #683266-B5 *only* on cable now?? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI No, the final 4 of S4 will show in October, on regular stations. jms #: 683024 S5/Babylon 5: General 03-Jul-97 18:49:53 Sb: #682850-#B5 *only* on cable now?? Fm: SYSOP DUPA T PARROT >> Columbia House will be releasing the show on cassette via mail-order this Fall, I believe. << Joe, Will this be something like Columbia House's special collector subscriptions? For example, you sign up and get a B5 tape every four weeks? At that rate, it'd take nearly five years to collect all 110 episodes, the pilot and two movies. Or would they offer the tapes individually or each season as a boxed set? -SysOp Dupa T. Parrot, Technical Consultant dupa@compuserve.com http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/dupa OzWin 2.12.2 O- #: 683648 S5/Babylon 5: General 07-Jul-97 02:49:17 Sb: #683024-B5 *only* on cable now?? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Dunno. jms #: 683065 S5/Babylon 5: General 03-Jul-97 23:44:52 Sb: #682850-#B5 *only* on cable now?? Fm: BURHAAN AHMAD >> Columbia House will be releasing the show on cassette via mail-order this Fall, I believe. << Renewal, sequel, Gaiman, and now videos! Thanks for delivering, Joe. I assume Columbia House will sell the videos through their catalog, the way they sell music and other movies, yes? #: 683649 S5/Babylon 5: General 07-Jul-97 02:49:19 Sb: #683065-B5 *only* on cable now?? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Insofar as I know, yes. jms #: 682986 S5/Babylon 5: General 03-Jul-97 16:05:50 Sb: #Renegade??? Fm: ANNE L. WARNER Joe, Did you write the episode of Renegade that aired (well...cabled) tonight on USA? We tuned in after the weather, since tornado warnings seemed worth checking out, and missed the credits. It was about a looney who escaped and tried to rob an armored car full of worn out money. One of the cops whose uniforms got stolen was named Straczynski, and the villain asked for "metazine" as a psychotropic drug. Or did my ears deceive me? Just curious. Anne #: 683650 S5/Babylon 5: General 07-Jul-97 02:49:21 Sb: #682986-#Renegade??? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI I don't write for Renegade, and thus have no information on this other than what you just told me. jms #: 683336 S5/Babylon 5: General 05-Jul-97 07:01:36 Sb: #S5 in the UK? Fm: COLIN HEAPS Hello Joe, Do you think it likely that TNT will be showing S5 in the UK? a) At all b) within a "reasonable" time period There is an awful lot of B5 fans over here who are probably wondering the same thing. Every thread I have seen so far seems to suggest that only the TNT network within the USA is likely to be showing S5 as and when it begins. I know it's early days, but you can blame yourself for us getting so involved . Colkai #: 683651 S5/Babylon 5: General 07-Jul-97 02:49:23 Sb: #683336-S5 in the UK? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI I haven't been apprised of the UK situation in full yet, but imagine that it'll go through WB as before, not TNT. jms #: 683364 S5/Babylon 5: General 05-Jul-97 11:10:03 Sb: #Script Smart Fm: BRENT BARRETT Joe, I finished my first pass through your scriptwriting book last week and wanted to let you know how much I really enjoyed it. I haven't had a chance to read much but technical manuals and journals in the last few years, so this was a nice change. Wait. This was a technical manual, wasn't it? D'oh! At any rate, I did really like the way you wove the technical information into a fabric of history and personal anecdote. And the samples you provided served to answer any questions your text did not. While I had the vaguest idea of television and movie scriptwriting, I had no clue whatsoever about radio and stage scripting, so even though the entire book was a treasure, those sections were especially fun. But, above all, I think your book goes to prove that while the final product may look like magic to those of us on the outside, participation in that magic potion isn't beyond the reach of the Average Joe. You just have to be talented, dedicated and persistent (bordering on "pain in the ass"), and you stand as good a chance as anyone of succeeding in the "biz." I'm definitely going to give the book another read-through in the near future to catch whatever gems of wisdom I missed the first time through, but I had to pause at this point and thank you for writing it. I know you say that this is the book you wished existed when you were starting, but you still didn't have to write it. I may never actually use the information contained in the book to write a script, but, as someone who loves knowledge in any form, I found it quite satisfying. And I'm sure those who are planning to make a career out of writing scripts will find it an invaluable tool. Sincerely, -- Brent #: 683652 S5/Babylon 5: General 07-Jul-97 02:49:25 Sb: #683364-Script Smart Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Thanks...I'm very proud of that book. jms #: 682973 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers 03-Jul-97 15:17:04 Sb: #682951-#General Fm: ROSEANN M. CAPUTO " Two: Chocolate and coffee." Do you do the gourmet coffee? I understand Godiva now has coffee on the market. I'm very into Chocolate myself, but absolutely cannot stand the taste of coffee. I have family from New York and many moons ago, my uncle brought us some cheesecake from a little bakery on Long Island. It was the first time I ever had chocolate cheesecake and marble cheesecake. That day I knew there was a god. Joe, any chance that you'll be at the big B5 convention in Pasadena in November? Roseann #: 683653 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers 07-Jul-97 02:49:28 Sb: #682973-#General Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI No one's talked to me yet about a B5 con in Pasadena in October, so I dunno. And yeah, I do the gourmet coffee thing. Big on Arabian Mocha Sanani, and Silewesi, and Sumatran. It's the one "trendy" thing I allow myself. jms [ Summary: (See below.) ] #: 683654 S5/Babylon 5: General 07-Jul-97 03:03:25 Sb: #683534-#Updates from jms Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "Basically, Warner Bros. was not willnig to fund a fifth season of B5 for syndication." Incorrect. Not just incorrect but *massively* incorrect. In the past, the PTEN deal had WB and the indie stations putting up the money for B5. For year 5, TNT *and* WB are both footing the bill for the fifth season. WB *wanted* to do the show, but was finding trouble in the current syndicated marketplace with more and more stations, and timeslots, being committed to other programs and networks like UPN. TNT provided a window, and WB went through it. jms [ Summary: Comments on Jerry Doyle not being in the two TV movies and wonders if it is any indication of the possibility of seeing him in the fifth season. ] #: 683655 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers 07-Jul-97 03:03:27 Sb: #683441- Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Jerry Doyle will be in season 5 of B5. jms [END] -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Wed Jul 9 06:13:18 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: ATTN: JMS TNT Airing of S5 Message-ID: <199707091013.GAA03566@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Unavailable article: Message-ID <33B926FE.738B@megsinet.net> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 2 Jul 1997 04:09:45 -0400 Lines: 9 No, the plan for now is to air one new S5 ep per week every week fo 22 weeks. jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Wed Jul 9 06:08:16 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: attn: jms - upcoming B5 comics Message-ID: <199707091008.GAA03547@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Unavailable article: Message-ID <01bc8697$b240b4e0$b9112ccf@hrwetzel> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 2 Jul 1997 04:11:30 -0400 Lines: 9 It's my understanding that the new B5 comic will come out in graphic novel form here in the US in December from DC. jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Fri Jul 11 06:09:09 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: B5 Set or Ship Blueprints? Message-ID: <199707111009.GAA05961@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Unavailable article: Message-ID <01bc7b4e$40cd6780$2546c497@steve.co.ha.md.us> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Unavailable article: Message-ID =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: George Johnsen Date: 1 Jul 1997 17:54:10 -0400 Lines: 11 Detailoholics- There are some of the blueprints and drawings for the station and ships included in the upcoming Boxtree Security Manual. They are approved and authorized. (and pretty cool, besides). George Johnsen CoProd, B5 -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Tue Jul 15 12:38:49 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: administrivia Message-ID: <199707151638.MAA25139@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> This is a message from the maintainer of B5JMS. JMS had said a couple for weeks ago that he would be very quiet and off the nets for some time, preparing busily to get us the fifth season. That is why there has not been much mail from him though B5JMS. B5JMS Poster. Maintainer, B5JMS and B5JMS-DIGEST lists. -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From bbarrett at speedlink.com Thu Jul 17 01:16:15 1997 From: bbarrett at speedlink.com (bbarrett@speedlink.com) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: JMS on CompuServe (Jul 16, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS* Message-ID: <19970717051614625.AAA292@BBARRETT> !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The following posts may contain SPOILERS for upcoming Babylon 5 episodes. Continue at your own risk. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! S P O I L E R P R O T E C T I O N !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL IS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE RESPECTIVE MESSAGE AUTHORS AND CANNOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR. Note that JMS has expressed his public permission that all of his messages may be reproduced freely. I give permission for my summaries to be reposted in any form, however I reserve all rights to them and the right to revoke this permission at any time. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Archives of this material may be found at: ftp://ftp.johndelenn.com/pub/bbarrett/cis/ - or - http://www.johndelenn.com/ ********************************************** [ Summary of subjects in this section: ] Sb: jms in san diego Sb: #683901-Updates from jms Sb: #683946-Congratulations & Thanks Sb: #684380-Internet World Article #: 685074 S5/Babylon 5: General 16-Jul-97 21:10:29 Sb: jms in san diego Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Just a quick note to let folks know that I'll be in San Diego this coming weekend for ComicCon, at the convention center downtown. I'll be doing two (fairly identical) major B5 presentations Friday and Sunday at 11 a.m., and a "spotlight on jms" presentation (whatever the hell that is) Saturday at 1:30. A word to the wise: in the past, these have always been the largest events held at ComicCon, which has about 25,000 guests on average. The room they set aside for B5 stuff tends to hold about 2400 people, so seating is kind of at a premium. Translation: try and get there early. I'll be bringing the season 4 bloopers, clips from upcoming shows, some nifty videos, and trailers for the two new B5 TV movies for TNT. Also, the official B5 fan club will be making its debut at a table in the dealer's room this weekend at SDCC, selling some nifty stuff including bunches of the Agamemnon cap worn by Sheridan in "Knives." It's identical to the prop in just about every way. See you there. jms [ Summary: Asks how he can get information on the boxes of cards signed by JMS and offered through the Official Fan Club. ] #: 685080 S5/Babylon 5: General 16-Jul-97 21:50:50 Sb: #683901-Updates from jms Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI You can get info on the boxes, and the fan club, at www.thestation.com. jms #: 683946 S5/Babylon 5: General 08-Jul-97 19:46:35 Sb: #683644-#Congratulations & Thanks Fm: CARL CANTARELLA >"And I notice that one episode made the TV Guide list of the top 100 shows ever."< >> No...don't think so, though it's a great idea. << Joe, ya definitely got gypped on that one. "Severed Dreams" *certainly* belonged in that so-called "Top 100," and I can think of several other potential candidates besides. You got the shaft because your show is in syndication and not on a network, pure and simple. I think the TNG episode "The Best of Both Worlds Pt.1" was the *only* syndicated show to earn a spot on their list. And BTW, someone was referring to the talk about Roddenberry's "five year arc" in one of the TV Guide articles last week, and I believe she stated at the time that this was related to TOS. It wasn't --it's for the lost script that his wife Majel has sold and a series based on it(mentioned on this week's cover of TV Guide as well) will be hitting syndication in the Fall. (just a little aside) #: 685081 S5/Babylon 5: General 16-Jul-97 21:50:52 Sb: #683946-Congratulations & Thanks Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Yeah, I know all about the project...they'd asked me to write it, and I read the material, but finally had to pass. jms [ Summary: ] #: 684380 S5/Babylon 5: General 11-Jul-97 15:08:57 Sb: #Internet World Article Fm: JONATHAN KASS sir, just opened my August Internet World, and what do I find in the back - a blurb about you being attacked (via a computer virus)! Is the story they have true? They said you declined comment, but "an assistant on the set confirmed the matter". Bummer if it is! Jonathan #: 685082 S5/Babylon 5: General 16-Jul-97 21:50:53 Sb: #684380-Internet World Article Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Yeah, it happened. I haven't seen the article, but apparently they chide me for not using a virus checker...but what did the most damage was the trojan horse program that use deltree to systematically start deleting my hard drive, and no checker can find those. jms [END] -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Thu Jul 17 15:52:35 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: Retrieving back issues of b5jms and b5jms-digest via email Message-ID: <199707171952.PAA14606@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> This is a message from the maintainer of b5jms. It is in response to several subscribers who noted to me that this facility was not working. It is now fixed, and below are new instructions on how to get issues of b5jms or b5jms-digest via email. This info is also now part of the updated b5jms-faq (which is sent monthly to the group). ============================================================================== You can use either FTP or email to get archives. To use FTP to get archive copies of "B5JMS", use this URL: ftp://ftp.cs.columbia.edu/mdarch/b5jms/ To use FTP to get archive copies of "B5JMS-DIGEST", use this one: ftp://ftp.cs.columbia.edu/mdarch/b5jms-digest/ If you don't know what FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is or how to use it, please consult your local system administrator or Internet guru. Alternatively, you can have issues or archives emailed to you. First, use the majordomo command index b5jms to get a listing of monthly archives of b5jms. Or use the command index b5jms-digest to get a listing of archived digests of b5jms-digest. Note that some files are compressed (using GNU Zip), while others may not. You do not have to worry too much about it. Now, use use the majordomo "get" command to have an issue emailed to you. For example, to get the first monthly issue of b5jms sent to you via email, issue the majordomo command: get b5jms archive.9510.gz To get the first archive of b5jms-digest sent to you via email, use get b5jms-digest v01.n001.gz You must specify the name of the file as was listed from the "index" command. Some files are compressed using GNU zip, and have the extension ".gz". Other files are not compressed and thus do not have that extension. In either case, you must specify the file name as was listed via "index". Compressed files will be decompressed before sent to you, for your convenience. ============================================================================== B5JMS Poster. Maintainer, B5JMS and B5JMS-DIGEST lists. -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Fri Jul 18 06:12:06 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: B5/TNT now a done deal? Message-ID: <199707181012.GAA26044@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: wrhbill@aol.com (WRH Bill) Date: 16 Jul 1997 23:07:08 -0400 Lines: 8 I noticed that today's (7/16) issues of USA Today and the Cleveland Plain Dealer contained brief items reporting TNT's acquisition of B5's fifth season. The PD item said the news was announced "today". However, of course, it was first widely reported a couple of weeks ago. Are these papers just behind the curve, or was there some final "dotting the i's and crossing the T's" this week that made the B5 on TNT deal absolutely official? =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 17 Jul 1997 01:42:13 -0400 Lines: 8 It's a done deal. We got the production order last week. It's official. jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Sat Jul 19 06:10:30 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: A Generation of Delenns? Message-ID: <199707191010.GAA08867@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Unavailable article: Message-ID =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Unavailable article: Message-ID <5p4gjp$nep@linet06.li.net> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Unavailable article: Message-ID <5p5uat$3m0_001@netcom.com> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: Theron Fuller Date: 9 Jul 1997 23:34:46 -0400 Lines: 48 Esore wrote in article <5p5uat$3m0_001@netcom.com>... > In article <5p4gjp$nep@linet06.li.net>, magick@li.net (Magick Man) wrote: > >Tauni Arntsen Sandy (ishmael@cybernw.com) wrote: > >: I plan to name our daughter Delenn, if we ever have one. [snip] > > > >This is something I just don't understand. It seems to me that > >a child's name is far too important to base on one's TV preferences. > >No matter how much you love B5, haven't you considered that the kid > >may not share your enthusiasm? > > > >Difficult as it may be to understand, some people hate B5 as much as > >other people hate Trek. Think about a show from your parent's time, > >the one you consider the stupidest and most unwatchable, and imagine > >how your relationship with your parents would be different if they had > >named you after a character from that show. > > > >MM > > > > Our second child is due in August and if it's a girl we plan to give Delenn as > a middle name. Most people I've mentioned this to know nothing about Babylon > 5 and their reaction is that it's a very pretty name. I'm scoring brownie > points with my sisters because both of them (Linda and Lillian) think I'd be > naming it after them! Well, she can join all those black kids from the previous generation that got tagged with "Kunta Kinte" after their parents saw "Roots" on t.v. (I even know one poor kid that got named "George" after "Chicken George." Score even more important brownie points and give your daughter a middle name based on one of the grandmothers. Or do a little genealogical research and pick a pretty name of one of your ancestors. Hardly anybody objects to having a family name, particularly one rich in tradition. Hardly anybody doesn't object to being named after some fictional character, or some media star. Particularly if it's a real dumb name like "Delenn." Anybody who remembers the Babylon 5 series is going to comment, "Oh, you were named after the bone-headed/horny character in the series. Were your parents really that weird?" Regards, Theron Fuller =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: gfarber@panix.com (Gary Farber) Date: 11 Jul 1997 12:54:35 -0400 Lines: 20 In <01bc8be1$74f5cea0$11149cce@tfuller.jic.com> Theron Fuller wrote: [. . .] :(I : even know one poor kid that got named "George" after "Chicken George." Your parenthesis is leaking. But you bring up a good point: naming someone "George" *is* pretty creepy, and darn weird! What could the parents have been thinking to be so cruel? [. . . .] Gary "has anyone told Mr. Johnsen?" Farber -- -- Gary Farber gfarber@panix.com Copyright 1997 Brooklyn, NY, USA =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: George Johnsen Date: 11 Jul 1997 19:21:39 -0400 Lines: 23 Gary Farber wrote: > : even know one poor kid that got named "George" after "Chicken George." > > Your parenthesis is leaking. > > But you bring up a good point: naming someone "George" *is* pretty creepy, > and darn weird! > > What could the parents have been thinking to be so cruel? > Gary- Can I see you in my office please? George Johnsen CoProd, B5 (PS- I think I was named after my great grandfathers, both of whom were named George. "Pretty Creepy" or "Wierd" it hasn't been, but I rarely think about it except in therapy.....) -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Mon Jul 21 06:10:13 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: from jms re: claudia quitting B5 Message-ID: <199707211010.GAA14969@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 19 Jul 1997 15:07:27 -0400 Lines: 72 There have been some questions raised as to what has happened regarding Claudia Christian and Season 4. In simplest possible terms, which can be verified through every cast member, and in the press, what happened was this: In early June, WB asked for, and received, one-month exensions on their contract options from all cast members except Claudia, for the purposes of allowing WB time to work out the co-financing deal with TNT for year 5 of B5. There was a great deal of red tape left over from the PTEN deal to finish unraveling, and other business aspects, to work out in going from syndication to cable, and it was taking longer than expected. Claudia said, repeatedly, that she was on board for the fifth season, but that she didn't want to give the extension for business reasons of her own. We took her at her word and allowed her to not give the extension. Assurances were made to us, and to her fellow cast members. While we were all together (cast, some crew, and I) in Blackpool for Wolf 359, word reached us of the articles in Variety and Reuters reporting that Claudia would not be returning to B5, and was looking for other work. This was the very first indication we had that she would not be in season 5. TNT was upset by this, WB was upset by this, and we were called on the carpet asking why we had trusted her about the fifth year. When spoken to in Blackpool, she was still, at that point, saying that she was going to be in season 5...but did nothing to address the situation with WB. She was told that WB had to know, for sure, if she was in or out by last Friday. All she had to do to be in season 5 was to pick up the phone, or have her agent do so, and call WB and say, "I'm in." This did not happen. Friday came, and went. It was clear that she had no intention of being in season 5, and wanted instead to pursue movies. She is more well known now after B5, after all. Cast members prevailed upon her to change her mind over the weekend. Bruce, Jeff Conaway, others took it upon themselves to try and talk her back onto the show, tried to get her to call on Monday in case she might be able to repair the bridges burned the prior week. On Monday, she left the convention early, and never called WB, never called Doug, never called anyone. Bottom line is...she passed on season 5. She chose not to be there. I know that she has now told some people that WB doesn't want her...but if that is the case, why the articles planted in Variety and Reuters saying that the B5 producers were "bummed" that she wasn't available, that she had chosen not to return to the show? (Again, at the time the articles appeared, this intent had not even been conveyed to us or to WB; we had to learn about it by reading it in the trades, in articles no one had even discussed with us.) Why did she not give the extension, as was also reported? Why was it announced in the press (in articles reprinted right here on the nets) that she wasn't coming back and was looking for other work long before we even knew anything about it? The offer was on the table. We extended it to the very limit. All the other actors signed on, and urged her to do the same. She chose not to. It was never a matter of anyone not wanting her. I personally urged her Thursday night to call her agent and talk this out and make her intentions clear if she wanted to come back to the show. She declined. Every cast member who was there in Blackpool saw what went down, and can verify this. And that, as they say, is the long and the short of it. While I will not recast the role, on the theory that she may come around someday and decide she wants to be in one of the TNT features or one of the movies, we will be bringing in a new character to fill that position in the B5 command structure. Fortunately, 421, already filmed, is structured to allow us to adjust for this without missing a beat, and the story will continue as planned with only a minor variation in the first two episodes to introduce the new character. jms jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Mon Jul 21 14:07:13 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: Claudia's Comments Message-ID: <199707211807.OAA19628@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> This is a message from the administrator of B5JMS. By now you should have heard of the rumors that Claudia Christian (Ivanova) had left the show. Last night JMS posted a long message confirming the rumors, which you should have received by now. The following are Claudia's comments posted on the net, in regards to the whole situation. While this is not directly in the charter of B5JMS, I feel it is only fair to hear her side of the story as well. My suggestion to all of you is to read Joe's comments, hers, and everyone else's on the net, and then judge for yourself. Hollywood as you know as replete with these kinds of things; the truth as always is somewhere it between. Allow me to "abuse" my powers and say that personally I'm saddened to hear of this. Claudia played a great Ivanova, and I only hope that Joe can find as good a replacement for the actress. Other people in the past have tried to go for greener pastures, not realizing the "greatness" they were in, but only a handful succeeded really big. Anyone remember "Tasha Yar" and "Ro Larren"? B5JMS Poster. Maintainer, B5JMS and B5JMS-DIGEST lists. ------- Forwarded Message Claudia Christian, has requested that the following be posted on her behalf. Dear Folks, Here's my side of the story and I should know because I was there. On June 20th, I was called into the B-5 office to find out the fate of the 5th season. With three other cast members present we were told that we could make the fifth season (yeah!). We were then asked to give up the residuals for that season (those are the things that pay the rent since syndication isn't exactly lucrative). Well, nonetheless I said okay-I even volunteered to talk the rest of the cast into it. I had expressed my hesitation in extending my contract renewal because I wanted to get their assurance that in the 5th season I could get at least 4 episodes off to do a film. That was the only thing I was asking for. No raise--accepting a paycut-- simply less episodes, period. Ask yourself this: why would I have done the TNT promos for the 5th season if I did not want to be involved? While I was in Europe (I was there for almost a month), I heard about the gossip column in Variety. It is a gossip column, nothing more. I have no idea who planted the gossip and frankly, I didn't think much of it since Hollywood is based on gossip. Because the producers and Joe were in Europe, I assumed negotiations for the 5th season would continue when we all returned. I was told quite curtly that my request for time off had been denied and that Ken Parks from Warner Bros. had told my agent to tell me to "Find another job, we'll replace her." After four years of working for a substantial paycut because I loved the show and the people involved, and felt that I was portraying a character that people really cared about, this hurt me immensely. At that point, I was in shock but I still went to Blackpool thinking that they would come around and give me the time I needed off. I knew Ivanova was in the first episodes. I figured we could sit down with my agent and come to a deal. In Blackpool, I was told by JMS that he would give me the episodes off but I could not get anything in writing. I trust him, however I know that he was not writing all of the episodes for the fifth season so I really felt that I had to have something in writing. I turns out my fears were justified because when my agent spoke to John Copeland (producer) and mentioned Joe's offer to write me out of a few episodes, Mr. Copeland responded by saying "That's not possible. If TNT wants her in every episode then she has to do all 22. That's the deal, take it or leave it." At this point, I was told that I had until Monday to call Warner Bros. to tell them I was on board. Well Folks, an actor does not call a studio. Our union has rules. The producers of B-5 never called my manager or agent to tell them of this deadline. Instead, I was told by Jeff Conaway. I called my agent and left word. We missed each other. On Monday, I found out that on the previous Friday my agent had received a fax stating that the offer for me to be in B-5 was withdrawn. In essence, I was fired. This fax was received on Friday, so what kind of game was being played by giving me false hopes throughout the weekend in England? And by the way, on Tuesday of that week, I was in London promoting the show and doing magazine interviews and TV talk shows for them on my own time. Why would I do that if I did not believe something could be worked out. If they really wanted me back, they would have accepted my plea through my agent to sit down and have a meeting. He was told by John Copeland that he was "a dollar short and a day late." They simply did not even want to sit down with me! Once again, I would do season 5...if I had less episodes. I am hurt and disappointed that I have not even received the opportunity to discuss my needs. I was dismissed coldly and simply. I want you to know that I have given my heart to the show and I love Ivanova as much as any of you. I did not "leave" the show. I did not ask for more money. I did not create this mess. Perhaps this is a great lack of communication. I would like to think that. Thank you all for your love and support. I would never abandon you. Claudia Christian ------- End of Forwarded Message -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From bbarrett at speedlink.com Mon Jul 21 22:26:03 1997 From: bbarrett at speedlink.com (bbarrett@speedlink.com) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: JMS on CompuServe (Jul 21, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS* Message-ID: <19970722022602796.AAA296@BBARRETT> !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The following posts may contain SPOILERS for upcoming Babylon 5 episodes. Continue at your own risk. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! S P O I L E R P R O T E C T I O N !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL IS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE RESPECTIVE MESSAGE AUTHORS AND CANNOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR. Note that JMS has expressed his public permission that all of his messages may be reproduced freely. I give permission for my summaries to be reposted in any form, however I reserve all rights to them and the right to revoke this permission at any time. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Archives of this material may be found at: ftp://ftp.johndelenn.com/pub/bbarrett/cis/ - or - http://www.johndelenn.com/ ********************************************** [ Summary of subjects in this section: ] Sb: #685130-jms in san diego Sb: #685152-jms in san diego Sb: #685146-Babylon 5 Credit Card Sb: #685816-Babylon 5 - The Cult Sb: #685937-#Claudia C fired! Sb: #685947-#Claudia C fired! Sb: #685890-#C Christian in Season 5? Sb: #685938-#Claudia sez this.. #: 685130 S5/Babylon 5: General 17-Jul-97 07:16:49 Sb: #685074-#jms in san diego Fm: PHILIP HORNSEY I'm surprised you'd go to San Diego, you never know when those terrorists are going to strike... Phil^^^^ FREE MARS! #: 685974 S5/Babylon 5: General 20-Jul-97 21:10:50 Sb: #685130-jms in san diego Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI It's okay, I know what date they hit the place, so I can be out of town when it happens. jms [ Summary: "Is there a future chance of you coming to a convention in Toronto? I'll be attending TorontoTrek this weekend (18th, 19th, 20th). This is the third one a cast member from B5 is attending." ] #: 685975 S5/Babylon 5: General 20-Jul-97 21:10:53 Sb: #685152-jms in san diego Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Thanks. I don't do any convention with a direct link to Trek in its name, so that would leave Toronto Trek out, despite many friendly talks with the con organizers. Bottom line, I get gigged by ST fans for "poaching," and it just ain't worth the grief I get. jms #: 685146 S5/Babylon 5: General 17-Jul-97 10:08:06 Sb: #Babylon 5 Credit Card Fm: SHAWN D. RATNER Dear Mr. Straczynski, I called the Babylon 5 Fan Club a few weeks ago concerning new Babylon 5 merchandise. I mentioned that I thought a Babylon 5 credit card would be a great idea. They said that they were actually thinking of doing a Babylon 5 credit card. Is that true? I think it would be great to have a Babylon 5 credit card. Thank you, Shawn Ratner #: 685976 S5/Babylon 5: General 20-Jul-97 21:10:56 Sb: #685146-Babylon 5 Credit Card Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI It's been discussed with other ideas, but nothing more. The Agamemnon caps made their debut at San Diego Comic Con, and were a huge hit. jms #: 685816 S5/Babylon 5: General 20-Jul-97 13:41:56 Sb: #Babylon 5 - The Cult Fm: DARRAN WILLIAMS Hello Joe, I see on the Sonic Images web site that a 5 volume CD set called Babylon 5 - The Cult is being produced. I noticed one of the soundtracks is for Walkabout. Does this mean the two songs you wrote will appear on this CD. Darran... #: 685978 S5/Babylon 5: General 20-Jul-97 21:11:00 Sb: #685816-Babylon 5 - The Cult Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Hmmm...I don't know. I'll have to check. jms [ Summary: A fan who listened to Claudia Christian at TorontoTrek explains her side of the story and asks fans to act. ] #: 685980 S5/Babylon 5: General 20-Jul-97 21:11:04 Sb: #685937-#Claudia C fired! Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI You must understand that Claudia is one of 10 or so actors on the show. The other actors understood and understand that we cannot renegotiate contracts in mid-stream, and they are *supportive of the show*, and gave us extensions on their contracts so that WB could have time to make the TNT deal work. They are all, to a man and woman, on board otherwise. Claudia opted to not give the extension, where the other cast did, and now wants (or says she wants to) renegotiate, now that all the other cast members are locked down. To do so in her case, when she did not give us the extension, and deliberately embarrassed WB by having an article appear in the trades saying she was out and looking for other work, would be an insult to all the other cast members who have worked with us to date. Further, yes, she's right, in that the contract could not be changed so that she could go out and do movies at a moment's notice. By contract, we must have first call on an actor's services. That is a requirement of ANY TV contract with an actor who is a series regular. That cannot be changed for ANY actor, ANYwhere. That said...I already *told* Claudia that, even though we couldn't put it in the contract, I would be happy to work with her *informally* on this, and that if she said she needed to be gone from X-date to Y-date, I would write her out of those episodes so that she could do the movies. SHE ALREADY GOT FROM ME THAT PROMISE. I've already done similar things for her and other cast members on the show, which is how many of them have appeared in other projects. So this is, for me, a non-issue. No, from my standpoint, she wanted off the show, and I have no idea why she is running up the fans like this unless she wants to avoid responsibility for this. Again, this isn't a case of my word against hers. EVERY SINGLE CAST MEMBER was there when this went down, and MANY of them tried to talk her out of walking off the show. If you don't want to take my word for it, ask any one of them who was there, especially Bruce or Jeff. I would suggest the fans *not* get into this, because a) you're not getting solid or reliable information from Claudia, and b) it is simply too late. She opted to pass on season 5, whether she wants to admit this or not, whether she's running from responsibility from that, I don't know...but it was her choice. I sat with her on Thursday night at Midnight and told her, flat out, that I would accommodate her request on a personal basis, and that she *had* to either contact WB herself or have her agent do so the next day, or she was off the show, because we HAD to get the show going. The train was leaving, and she could be on it or not as she chose. She chose not to get on board. What you also don't understand is that we start shooting season 5 in less than one month. We're in the process of writing scripts *right now*, and have been since we got the production order right about the time we went to Blackpool. You can't whipsaw the writing back and forth -- is she in, isn't she in, maybe she is, maybe she isn't -- and hope to have anything in shape to shoot. That was why we had to know at that date. Normally we have a longer lead time; this time we didn't, and this has already put the scripts back a bit. The script with the new character is written and in; if I take it out now I have to replace it, and there isn't *time*. Claudia knew this. WB knew this. We were up against it. She had to choose to be in, or out. She chose out. It's no longer our responsibility, and it's flatly too late to bring her back. The door is closed on season 5. jms #: 685947 S5/Babylon 5: General 20-Jul-97 20:17:58 Sb: #Claudia C fired! Fm: KEVIN P. KENNEY C'mon Joe, tell us the real story: the rest of the story... As with O'Hare and Thompson, you do a very complete job of telling one-half of the story, in order to preserve the mythos of "everything is always beautiful on the B-5 set". I consider these continuous half-truths of yours (the other half being missing instead of being a lie) a form of Roddenberry's disease. It may be needed to survive in Hollywood, but some of us don't buy it. The other 'fired' thread has Claudia's take on the situation. I believe it. And I don't like the fact that you didn't mention the contract negotiaions in your post. Maybe, somehow, you didn't know about them. Perhaps you should look up from your typewriter occasionally, to see how Claudia has been (laughingly) complaining about her character at conventions for years, and even in the interviews at the WB website. For now, I'm on her side, which I wasn't when I read your post. You say your postings here are a historical document: that document is turning out to be a highly spun variant of history, indeed. When the pit bull in you attacks back at this post(er), try including a few facts. Your propaganda is showing... KpK #: 685981 S5/Babylon 5: General 20-Jul-97 21:11:09 Sb: #685947-#Claudia C fired! Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI I answered this in the other thread. Once you read it, you may think differently. As for your tone, please take it elsewhere. I have no interest in hearing it. jms [ Summary: Another TorontoTrek attendee mentions that all Claudia wanted was to have some time to do a movie. ] #: 685988 S5/Babylon 5: General 20-Jul-97 21:35:00 Sb: #685890-#C Christian in Season 5? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI I personally told Claudia that we would work out the time for her to do a film project prior to the deadline coming for her decision. Other cast members knew this, and confirmed it to her. jms #: 685938 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers 20-Jul-97 19:11:40 Sb: #Claudia sez this.. Fm: ALAN L. RAVITCH I happened to check Claudia Christian's official web site tonight and I found the statement below which I am reproducing here uneditied, typos and all. I post this not to make anyone look or feel bad, but only in the hopes of having all sides presented, and perhaps, now that all have vented their spleens, maybe there is a chance of getting Claudia back. I make no further editorial comments, other than to say I support B5 as I have from way back, and I hope everything works out for all parties for the maximum possible happiness and the minimum possible aggravation. Peace, :-) Alan ---------- Claudia Christian, has requested that the following be posted on her behalf. Dear Folks, Here's my side of the story and I should know because I was there. On June 20th, I was called into the B-5 office to find out the fate of the 5th season. With three other cast members present we were told that we could make the fifth season (yeah!). We were then asked to give up the residuals for that season (those are the things that pay the rent since syndication isn't exactly lucrative). Well, nonetheless I said okay-I even volunteered to talk the rest of the cast into it. I had expressed my hesitation in extending my contract renewal because I wanted to get their assurance that in the 5th season I could get at least 4 episodes off to do a film. That was the only thing I was asking for. No raise--accepting a paycut--simply less episodes, period. Ask yourself this: why would I have done the TNT promos for the 5th season if I did not want to be involved? While I was in Europe (I was there for almost a month), I heard about the gossip column in Variety. It is a gossip column, nothing more. I have no idea who planted the gossip and frankly, I didn't think much of it since Hollywood is based on gossip. Because the producers and Joe were in Europe, I assumed negotiations for the 5th season would continue when we all returned. I was told quite curtly that my request for time off had been denied and that Ken Parks from Warner Bros. had told my agent to tell me to "Find another job, we'll replace her." After four years of working for a substantial paycut because I loved the show and the people involved, and felt that I was portraying a character that people really cared about, this hurt me immensely. At that point, I was in shock but I still went to Blackpool thinking that they would come around and give me the time I needed off. I knew Ivanova was in the first episodes. I figured we could sit down with my agent and come to a deal. In Blackpool, I was told by JMS that he would give me the episodes off but I could not get anything in writing. I trust him, however I know that he was not writing all of the episodes for the fifth season so I really felt that I had to have something in writing. I turns out my fears were justified because when my agent spoke to John Copeland (producer) and mentioned Joe's offer to write me out of a few episodes, Mr. Copeland responded by saying "That's not possible. If TNT wants her in every episode then she has to do all 22. That's the deal, take it or leave it." At this point, I was told that I had until Monday to call Warner Bros. to tell them I was on board. Well Folks, an actor does not call a studio. Our union has rules. The producers of B-5 never called my manager or agent to tell them of this deadline. Instead, I was told by Jeff Conaway. I called my agent and left word. We missed each other. On Monday, I found out that on the previous Friday my agent had received a fax stating that the offer for me to be in B-5 was withdrawn. In essence, I was fired. This fax was received on Friday, so what kind of game was being played by giving me false hopes throughout the weekend in England? And by the wayw, on Tuesday of that week, I was in London promoting the show and doing magazine interviews and TV talk shows for them on my own time. Why would I do that if I did not believe something could be worked out. If they really wanted me back, they would have accepted my plea through my agent to sit down and have a meeting. He was told by John Copeland that he was "a dollar short and a day late." They simply did not even want to sit down with me! Once again, I would do season 5...if I had less episodes. I am hurt and disappointed that I have not even received the opportunity to discuss my needs. I was dismissed coldly and simply. I want you to know that I have given my heart to the show and I love Ivanova as much as any of you. I did not "leave" the show. I did not ask for more money. I did not create this mess. Perhaps this is a great lack of communication. I would like to think that. Thank you all for your love and support. I would never abandon you. Claudia Christian #: 685989 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers 20-Jul-97 21:35:01 Sb: #685938-#Claudia sez this.. Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI 1) This confirms what I said in my note to Brian, that I personally assured Claudia of the chance for time off (so Kevin, bugger off). 2) Neither I nor anyone else in B5 told her that she had until Monday. I sat with her Midnight Thursday and said she had to talk to her agent and get this to WB *the very next day*, Friday, or that was it. Jeff took it upon himself to try and talk Claudia into trying to work it out on Monday, out of his concern and a hope that this could be saved. 3) Her agent was notified several days prior to the deadline that it was in place by WB business affairs. 4) As noted in my other message, there wasn't time to sit down leisurely after Blackpool and discuss this. The first script had to be in on July 6th. The second on July 12th. The third one on July 18th. Those are the hard and fast deadlines in order to meet production requirements for season 5. It is not July 20th. By the time anyone could "sit down" we'd be deep into episode 5 or 6, and then what do we do? Rewrite all 5 or 6 at the last minute? It's an unfortunate situation. Nobody's denying that. But what happened, happened. jms [END] -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From bbarrett at speedlink.com Tue Jul 22 17:19:47 1997 From: bbarrett at speedlink.com (bbarrett@speedlink.com) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: JMS on CompuServe (Jul 22, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS* Message-ID: <19970722211947234.AAA215@BBARRETT> !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The following posts may contain SPOILERS for upcoming Babylon 5 episodes. Continue at your own risk. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! S P O I L E R P R O T E C T I O N !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL IS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE RESPECTIVE MESSAGE AUTHORS AND CANNOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR. Note that JMS has expressed his public permission that all of his messages may be reproduced freely. I give permission for my summaries to be reposted in any form, however I reserve all rights to them and the right to revoke this permission at any time. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Archives of this material may be found at: ftp://ftp.johndelenn.com/pub/bbarrett/cis/ - or - http://www.johndelenn.com/ ********************************************** [ Summary of subjects in this section: ] Sb: #686413-Script Smart Sb: #686324-#Claudia C fired! Sb: #686397-#Claudia C fired! #: 686413 S5/Babylon 5: General 21-Jul-97 20:39:05 Sb: #683652-#Script Smart Fm: SHANE S. SHELLENBARGER Joe, Today I was talking to a friend who works for the Phoenix Public Library System. He told me that one of the two copies of the revised scriptwriting book has already been lost. We both agreed that stolen is more likely. It's hell being popular, ain't it? Best, Shane #: 686444 S5/Babylon 5: General 22-Jul-97 01:54:32 Sb: #686413-Script Smart Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Finally I'm popular.... jms #: 686324 S5/Babylon 5: General 21-Jul-97 16:01:00 Sb: #685980-#Claudia C fired! Fm: FUGAZI I'd just like to echo the general opinion that we are all behind you in your decisions on this matter. Otoh, I would like to echo the opinion that Claudia will be sadly missed. I do think she was out of order getting into this bickering to save her reputation (if that is the reason), but what's done is done, it cannot be changed now. I do have a question though. Why did you opt for a new character, instead of simply promoting Corwin? Was this simply to save changing Corwin's role in S5 or is there another reason? Cheers, Fug. OYLERS #: 686446 S5/Babylon 5: General 22-Jul-97 01:54:35 Sb: #686324-#Claudia C fired! Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "I do have a question though. Why did you opt for a new character, instead of simply promoting Corwin? Was this simply to save changing Corwin's role in S5 or is there another reason?" It involves some things that happen later this season that require a certain grade officer in place in S5, and would require Corwin to jump several ranks. He's too young and inexperienced for that job. jms #: 686397 S5/Babylon 5: General 21-Jul-97 19:30:50 Sb: #685980-#Claudia C fired! Fm: CARL CANTARELLA >>You must understand that Claudia is one of 10 or so actors on the show. The other actors understood and understand that we cannot renegotiate contracts in mid-stream, and they are *supportive of the show*, and gave us extensions on their contracts so that WB could have time to make the TNT deal work.<< Joe, There's one thing that really bugs me about this statement, and that is that WB went to the cast asking for an extension, and also telling them that they'd have to give up fifth season residuals if they wanted to be in on the fifth season. Now granted, I'm terribly naive when it comes to such matters since I'm not in the business, but somehow *that* strikes me as being a form of *renegotiation* on the part of the Studio --"Please give us a 30 day extension(which almost everyone did in good faith), and if you want in you must give up your season 5 residuals." In short, WB changed the terms and dictated new ones, and I can't condemn Claudia for her decision here. It seems as though there are legitimate issues on both your side and hers, and it would seem to me that the popular support fell heavily in your favor --fortunately. After all, you only lost *one* actor when you could easily have lost half the cast, or everyone. #: 686447 S5/Babylon 5: General 22-Jul-97 01:54:39 Sb: #686397-#Claudia C fired! Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI The information on residuals is not correct. NO ONE was aske to give up residuals on season 5 forever. That simply never took place. To explain: There are different residuals formulas for the various forms of TV. The best one is for network, where the fee paid per rerun is quite high; then you have syndication, which starts at a much lower level; then there is the basic cable residual, which is lowest of all. In year 5, B5 is going from syndication to basic cable. That means it must now use the basic cable residuals formula. But the cast had to be informed of this, and agree to it, otherwise there could not BE a fifth season. The basic cable deal is spelled out very clearly in the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) agreement, which is standard for all parts of the Industry. The rule is that the amount paid to an actor over double-scale is *credited against* residuals. Once that amount is earned out, the residuals come again. That is standard for basic cable. (The closest parallel would be a print author, who is paid an advance against royalties; once that advance is earned out, the royalties come to the author.) So to make it clearer: let's say for the sake of argument that scale is $5,000 per episode. (It isn't that exact figure, but I don't have the SAG book in front of me; still, that's close.) Double scale would be $10,000 per episode. So if an actor is paid, let's say, $12,000 per episode, then $2,000 over double scale per episode is credited against residuals, for a total of $44,000. That amount would get burned through pretty fast, and then the actor would again start getting residuals. That was the situation explained to *all* the actors. NO ONE was asked to permanently give up S5 residuals. That simply never happened, and *could not* happen under SAG rules. And the rule as specified above can be verified in the SAG agreement. BTW...it was stated to Claudia's people that WB *could* drop her down to 18 episodes if she wanted to be paid for only those 18 episodes, but her reps demanded that she should be paid for all 22 regardless, and didn't take that deal. You must understand that this sort of thing is common. For instance, when Stephen Furst wanted to do fewer episodes so that he could appear as a regular in the sitcom "Misery Loves Company," he said, "Look, I really want to do this, so if you could cut me down to, say, 8 episodes, and just pay me for those 8 instead of the contracted 13, that'd be great." And that deal was made, and made quickly. If an actor wants to be reduced in the number of episodes, but still be paid for the full number, that makes things difficult for a studio to go along with. And as of now, it's a moot point. The boat has left the pier. This is no longer an issue that can be altered. She opted out, for her own reasons. Heck, that was announced in the trades long before we knew what was going on. We have had no choice but to move on. jms [END] -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From bbarrett at speedlink.com Wed Jul 23 20:30:32 1997 From: bbarrett at speedlink.com (bbarrett@speedlink.com) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: JMS on CompuServe (Jul 23, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS* Message-ID: <19970724003032875.AAA217@BBARRETT> !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The following posts may contain SPOILERS for upcoming Babylon 5 episodes. Continue at your own risk. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! S P O I L E R P R O T E C T I O N !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL IS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE RESPECTIVE MESSAGE AUTHORS AND CANNOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR. Note that JMS has expressed his public permission that all of his messages may be reproduced freely. I give permission for my summaries to be reposted in any form, however I reserve all rights to them and the right to revoke this permission at any time. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Archives of this material may be found at: ftp://ftp.johndelenn.com/pub/bbarrett/cis/ - or - http://www.johndelenn.com/ ********************************************** [ Summary of subjects in this section: ] Sb: #686415-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Sb: #686539-Claudia C fired! Sb: #686730-Claudia C fired! Sb: #686474-#Clauduia Sb: #686514-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Sb: #686511-Clauduia #: 686415 S5/Babylon 5: General 21-Jul-97 20:47:28 Sb: #686400-#Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: TROY STARR Hi Sue - Ughh - I was away for a week and this is what I find waiting for me. :( In any case, I'd just like to chime in and say that I agree with Carl and you. I'm deeply saddened that Claudia won't be a regular part of season five. In the back of my mind, I wonder why Claudia, her agent, Joe, and the WB/TNT folks couldn't sit down together (or conference call, or whatever) and talk with each other on that final day. But, I think it's safe to say that dwelling on what-if's is probably counter productive. Still, this does lead me to believe now, more than ever, that Warner Brothers has lost its compassion about people - that's it's all about numbers anymore. - Troy Starr #: 686793 S5/Babylon 5: General 22-Jul-97 17:15:25 Sb: #686415-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "In the back of my mind, I wonder why Claudia, her agent, Joe, and the WB/TNT folks couldn't sit down together (or conference call, or whatever) and talk with each other on that final day." I did. That Thursday night, I sat with her for half an hour, urging her to call her agent, and have her agent call WB. Didn't happen. We never even heard anything from her or her people until literally 1 week after the deadline for scripts to start coming in. jms [ Summary: "Are the actors who played Major Ryan or Captain McDougal being considered to replace Claudia?" ] #: 686806 S5/Babylon 5: General 22-Jul-97 17:51:09 Sb: #686539-Claudia C fired! Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI I'd prefer to put a female in that position, to keep the cast relatively balanced. I've actually come up with some very interesting ideas on this, which are kinda fun...a way to put a lot more conflict into the inner circle, if you will. jms [ Summary: Thinks the whole Claudia issue comes down to a communications breakdown. ] #: 686807 S5/Babylon 5: General 22-Jul-97 17:51:12 Sb: #686730-Claudia C fired! Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Actually, this would be much simpler if it *were* a communication breakdown. But it ain't. Onward. jms #: 686474 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers 22-Jul-97 04:59:26 Sb: #Clauduia Fm: ROSEANN M. CAPUTO Joe, You're absolutely right. We don't work on the show, we weren't present and we shouldn't get involved and take sides. It's more or less none of our business and who are we to tell people how to live their lives or do their jobs. The same as everyone else, I am saddened by the loss of a wonderful character. One thing I would like to point out. Over the four years that you've done B5, you've shown a lot of integrity. To the show, the fans all the way around. It seems to me that you're a pretty straight shot. If, in the past, you've given your word to someone regarding something specifc, and you've kept it, why all of a sudden is your word not good? So there wasn't something in writing, if you've kept your word over the last four years, I can't see a reason why you wouldn't keep it now. You invite your folks to be creative, to push themselves farther. You did this show in your way, knowing you wouldn't make a ton of money, but you kept the creative control to be sure that what happened with other shows would not happen to B5. I would think that even though you're not writing the episodes for season 5, you still have creative control and if you say a character should not be in a few shows, I would think that you know what you're doing. When time is an issue, decisions have to be made hard and fast. I would think seasoned people in your profession understand time constraints and deadlines. Especially agents. As for what happened with Michael O'Hare and Andrea Thompson or anyone else for that matter. Things happen. I felt some of the answers were very politically correct, but we don't really need to know the details folks. It's not really any of our business. If there are folks out there that think because we watch and support the show, we have a right to know this information, I can only say this: Your starting to sound like a certain group in fandom - get a life. Joe, you shouldn't have to defend yourself personally for professional decisions. I'm happy to see that you are writing this in such a way that Claudia can come back for the movies if the details from this are all worked out. How many in your profession would extend that courtesy? Looking forward to season 5.... Roseann Caputo #: 686808 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers 22-Jul-97 17:51:14 Sb: #686474-#Clauduia Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Thanks. Yeah...ask any cast member, and they'll tell you that when I make a promise, it's kept, no matter what it takes. On the reaction...it goes with the territory. What's been difficult have been the emails that have come in suggesting that I "watch my back" at the next few conventions I attend. Disagreement or discussion is one thing; threats are another. jms #: 686514 S5/Babylon 5: General 22-Jul-97 07:45:19 Sb: #686510-#Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: TROY STARR Hi Guy - >> Business is always about numbers! << True, but to a certain extent. WB new that there is intense fan loyalty for this show, and I think tried to use that to justify asking the cast to take a "pay cut" for the last season. They new how much pressure there was to rap up the show that JMS had worked so hard on over the last several years, and hoped that the cast would have no choice but to accept their terms. - Troy Starr #: 686880 S5/Babylon 5: General 22-Jul-97 21:46:03 Sb: #686514-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI There was no pay cut for the fifth season for the cast. And the residulas formula is standard for basic cable. jms [ Summary: (See below.) ] #: 686881 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers 22-Jul-97 21:46:04 Sb: #686511-Clauduia Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "Joe could write sa character out of an episode or 4, yet the suits could insist that the actor be present on the set anyway (or be in breach of contract)!" Nope. Wouldn't happen. Has never happened. Would never happen. WB has not even given us a creative *note* in almost 2 years. This one's a non-starter. That would simply not happen. If you're not in the script, there's no need for you to be there. jms [END] -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From bbarrett at speedlink.com Thu Jul 24 16:31:41 1997 From: bbarrett at speedlink.com (bbarrett@speedlink.com) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: JMS on CompuServe (Jul 24, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS* (1/2) Message-ID: <19970724203140937.AAA131@BBARRETT> !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The following posts may contain SPOILERS for upcoming Babylon 5 episodes. Continue at your own risk. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! S P O I L E R P R O T E C T I O N !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL IS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE RESPECTIVE MESSAGE AUTHORS AND CANNOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR. Note that JMS has expressed his public permission that all of his messages may be reproduced freely. I give permission for my summaries to be reposted in any form, however I reserve all rights to them and the right to revoke this permission at any time. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Archives of this material may be found at: ftp://ftp.johndelenn.com/pub/bbarrett/cis/ - or - http://www.johndelenn.com/ ********************************************** [ Summary of subjects in this section: ] Sb: #686862-jms in san diego Sb: #686876-Claudia C fired! Sb: #686822-#Clauduia Sb: #686862-jms in san diego Sb: #686841-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Sb: #686860-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Sb: #687099-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Sb: #687322-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Sb: #687100-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Sb: #686853-Claudia Opts Out-JMS #: 686862 S5/Babylon 5: General 22-Jul-97 23:40:59 Sb: #685074-#jms in san diego Fm: STEVEN K. ANDEWEG I'm looking forward to getting an Agamemnon cap. When will they be available through the club via mail order? Steve A. #: 687331 S5/Babylon 5: General 23-Jul-97 23:47:27 Sb: #686862-jms in san diego Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Yes, the caps can be purchased through the fan club, and thestation.com. jms #: 686876 S5/Babylon 5: General 23-Jul-97 00:19:22 Sb: #686447-#Claudia C fired! Fm: CARL CANTARELLA >> The information on residuals is not correct. NO ONE was aske to give up residuals on season 5 forever. That simply never took place.<< Gee, I sure wish I had signed onto CSI before going over to AOL first(I engaged in some rather dumb speculation over there as it turns out) --and little did I know once I read this post over there that it was addressed to me over here! Joe, thanks for going through the trouble and taking the time to explain some of this stuff to us. You're certainly a rare breed when it comes to the business of television, and it is much appreciated. ;) #: 687333 S5/Babylon 5: General 23-Jul-97 23:47:31 Sb: #686876-Claudia C fired! Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI One of the problems not just in this, but in general, is that there is so much mythology about how TV is done, and so much bad information. Any time that can be cleared up, the better. jms #: 686822 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers 22-Jul-97 21:11:08 Sb: #686808-#Clauduia Fm: ROSEANN M. CAPUTO " What's been difficult have been the emails that have come in suggesting that I "watch my back" at the next few conventions I attend. Disagreement or discussion is one thing; threats are another." Why, good sir, being Italian in decent and let's just say I have some "interesting" relatives, I would be honored to be at your back any time! I really get annoyed by folks like that. Buy a bloody vowel, get a *(&*^^** clue and solved the damn puzzle! It's none of their business!!!!!! No wonder why folks in your career get skittish about fans. I mean for the most part, we're probably here to help you appreciate normal people, but on the whole, I'd like to think that we're good folks. Just some fans are taking this waaaaay too seriously. I'm just as disappointed as everyone else, but it happens, yes? Why can't everyone just appreaciate you for the sick, twisted, lovable, demented, tortured, bizarre, clever, witty, devious, genius that you are? Roseann Caputo PS: Being as I'm only 5'2", it will be difficult for me to watch you're back and see what's coming also, perhaps my 6'5" boyfriend will help? #: 687334 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers 23-Jul-97 23:47:32 Sb: #686822-#Clauduia Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "Why can't everyone just appreaciate you for the sick, twisted, lovable, demented, tortured, bizarre, clever, witty, devious, genius that you are?" Kill me...just kill me now and get it over with.... jms #: 686862 S5/Babylon 5: General 22-Jul-97 23:40:59 Sb: #685074-#jms in san diego Fm: STEVEN K. ANDEWEG I'm looking forward to getting an Agamemnon cap. When will they be available through the club via mail order? Steve A. #: 687394 S5/Babylon 5: General 24-Jul-97 03:52:00 Sb: #686862-jms in san diego Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI They're probably available right now. jms #: 686841 S5/Babylon 5: General 22-Jul-97 22:13:17 Sb: #686471-#Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: BANCROFT GRACEY >> I didn't realize that. But do you think the Paramount people would let her do B5 at the same time? Or WB allowing allowing her to do ST? I really think she would have to choose one or the other. << Of course they would. They wouldn't like it, but they had to let a certain Mrs Roddenberry set a precedent... -bpg- Uncle-at-Large "....'Great Maker', huh?" #: 687395 S5/Babylon 5: General 24-Jul-97 03:52:02 Sb: #686841-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "They wouldn't like it, but they had to let a certain Mrs Roddenberry set a precedent..." 1) Majel isn't a series regular, with the contract requirements thereof. 2) Nobody messes with the Roddenberrys. jms #: 686860 S5/Babylon 5: General 22-Jul-97 23:31:48 Sb: #686456-#Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: RON CHUSID Message text written by Frank J. Furfaro >She knew that if she didn't sign, the option to leave the series was available and if the Borg role was given to her - goodbye B5.< Unless you have inside information, this is speculative. I don't blame her for looking around considering she didn't know if she had a job for the next year. We don't know that she would have taken the Borg role if she got a fifth season on B5 (on her terms). #: 687396 S5/Babylon 5: General 24-Jul-97 03:52:05 Sb: #686860-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI There is nothing amiss with an actor seeing work as a contingency if the current show is not renewed. jms #: 687099 S5/Babylon 5: General 23-Jul-97 14:46:59 Sb: #687079-#Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: HERO GAMES (SUE) Scott, If that's the case, then why wouldn't/couldn't he put it into writing? SSo far as I can tell, that's because although he can do everything in his power to keep Ivanova out of four episodes, there are higher powers within WB/TNT who could say otherwise. They're the ones who hold CCs contract, not JMS. Sue #: 687397 S5/Babylon 5: General 24-Jul-97 03:52:08 Sb: #687099-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "If that's the case, then why wouldn't/couldn't he put it into writing? So far as I can tell, that's because although he can do everything in his power to keep Ivanova out of four episodes, there are higher powers within WB/TNT who could say otherwise. They're the ones who hold CCs contract, not JMS." Every studio holds the contract on its actors; that's the same for every show. Nothing could be put into writing in the form of a renegotiation because all of the actors are on a favored nation basis...if one renegotiates in his/her favor, they all get to renegotiate. Any of our cast can take fewer episodes if they agree to be paid for fewer episodes since that favors WB. Or they can come to me and we'll do it unofficially, as has been done with every single cast member for 4+ years now. Peter wanted to do "The Late Shift," I wrote him out for a couple of episodes to accommodate that; Andreas wants to do a movie, he asks, and I write him out. This has never, ever been a problem. jms #: 687322 S5/Babylon 5: General 23-Jul-97 23:19:12 Sb: #687303-#Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: HERO GAMES (SUE) Tom, In other words, because he did not have the authority to because WB felt they should have those 'first rights.' Again, I'm not saying that JMS did anything wrong, but if the studio can supercede Joe (i.e. Joe can verbally say 'I'll do it', but the studio still has the right to say 'no'), then I can't blame CC for wanting something in writing Sue #: 687398 S5/Babylon 5: General 24-Jul-97 03:52:11 Sb: #687322-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "Again, I'm not saying that JMS did anything wrong, but if the studio can supercede Joe (i.e. Joe can verbally say 'I'll do it', but the studio still has the right to say 'no'), then I can't blame CC for wanting something in writing " Any studio can supercede the authority of an executive producer. The question, though, is one of logic. If Character X is not in an episode, is not written in an episode, there is no grounds on earth for a studio to force the actor to hang around the studio for that episode. Never been done to my knowledge on ANY show, anywhere, at any time. Nor would there be any reason to do so here. And WB doesn't write the scripts. I do. And they don't bother us on that one. We haven't had a creative note since year 2, episode 2, and that was mainly on a scene they wanted clarified. In the past, with every actor on the show, I have said, "Come to me, and we'll work out unofficially time for you to get away." There are some occasions when I say, "Look, I *need* your character for this episode, I can't do "Severed Dreams" without Sheridan," but that doesn't happen too often. We have never had a problem with WB over this. And never once have I given my word to an actor about being available, and not had it work out. jms #: 687100 S5/Babylon 5: General 23-Jul-97 14:51:56 Sb: #687082-#Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: HERO GAMES (SUE) Scott, I hadn't caught up on all my message reading and had missed this one (hence the reasons I said "I may have missed something ". However, this seems to be one point where JMS and CC contradict each other. In her message, CC has quoted Copeland as saying that if TNT/WB want her to do the 22 episodes, there's nothing that can be done about it. If it turns out that she *did* insist on full pay for 22 episodes but would only do 18, then yes, I would agree that she was making what sounds to me to be unreasonable demands. However, there still seems to be a question as to whether or not she was informed of the correct deadlines or if WB/TNT withdrew whatever offer was on the table before that deadline arose. Again, I don't think anyone is lying (it bothers me that some folks seem to automatically bassume that it's CC, which is what's driving me nuts ), but rather I think that there are two perspectives on a situation, each with different information from different sources and different times. Sue #: 687399 S5/Babylon 5: General 24-Jul-97 03:52:14 Sb: #687100-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "In her message, CC has quoted Copeland as saying that if TNT/WB want her to do the 22 episodes, there's nothing that can be done about it." What John said was that if she wanted to be paid the full amount (the 22 episode fee) she had to be in all 22. "However, there still seems to be a question as to whether or not she was informed of the correct deadlines or if WB/TNT withdrew whatever offer was on the table before that deadline arose." She was. They didn't. On the Thursday before the final Friday deadline, I sat in the bar of the DeVere Hotel in Blackpool with Claudia and said, "Claudia, the press has announced your departure from the show. WB takes it seriously, and I have to start writing *yesterday*. We have to know if you're in or out, and we have to know by mid-day (noon) tomorrow. If we don't get an indication from your agent that you're in, the offer will be withdrawn." The offer was withdrawn at mid-day Friday, as indicated. Because to wait any longer would damage the show, and our chances of getting going without missing airdates. jms #: 686853 S5/Babylon 5: General 22-Jul-97 22:39:47 Sb: #Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: HERO GAMES (SUE) Jonathan, <> That depends upon whether or not you take CC at her word (which at this point I see no reason not to). If I put together what JMS and CC have both had to say (and please correct me if I've missed something), it looks like this: 1. CC did not sign the extension but left things open verbally, ostensibly (according to CCs statement) because she wanted assurance of getting four episodes off in S5. 2. Before S5 was set, CC seems to have been offered a movie deal, the details of which are unknown. However, since her concern for getting four episodes of in S5 is what she claims caused her to not sign the extension, it seems to confirm that this deal was made quite some time before S5 was confirmed. 3. CC requested less episodes to make time for the movie and wanted this in writing. We do not know whether or not she was willing to or was offered less money. The impression I've gotten from what I've read (my opinion) is that WB/TNT would not change the deal under any circumstances since, as JMS said, 'none of the other actors had their deals changed.' 4. JMS tells CC that he will write her out of 4 episodes but will not put this in writing. CC trusts that JMS will do what he can, but feels that things might be out of his hands and puts the question to Copeland who tells her (via her agent) that what JMS offered is "Not possible." 5. A deadline is set for CC to get in touch with WB to confirm S5. According to CC, she was told this by Conaway and not informed via normal channels (i.e. via agent, manager, WB). She tries to contact her agent regarding this but they miss each other over the weekend. 6. Here's the point on which things seem to hinge and where the "she quit/she was fired" question comes in. JMS says she had a Friday deadline. CC says she was told Monday by Conaway and that neither her agent or manager were informed of this deadline. Regardless, according to CCs agent, the offer was withdrawn on Friday. He says she never answered and thus quit. She says the offer was withdrawn and she was fired. So far as I can tell (with only a slight amount of speculation on my part ), that seems to be a summary of what we know. Please feel free to add/subtract/correct me if I missed something....there's been an awful lot of posts on this issue in the last few days. Sue #: 687400 S5/Babylon 5: General 24-Jul-97 03:52:18 Sb: #686853-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "CC trusts that JMS will do what he can, but feels that things might be out of his hands and puts the question to Copeland who tells her (via her agent) that what JMS offered is "Not possible." It is not possible only if one wishes to be paid for all 22. "5. A deadline is set for CC to get in touch with WB to confirm S5. According to CC, she was told this by Conaway and not informed via normal channels (i.e. via agent, manager, WB). She tries to contact her agent regarding this but they miss each other over the weekend." Ken Parks of WB Business Affairs informed her agent. I personally informed her as well. "JMS says she had a Friday deadline. CC says she was told Monday by Conaway and that neither her agent or manager were informed of this deadline." After the Friday deadline passed, Jeff took it upon himself to try and convince her to go back to the show. He went to her and said that if she or her agent contacted WB on Monday, there might be a chance to patch things up. That was the full extent of it. Jeff does not represent the show, and was not asked to convey this to Claudia, and was acting on his own good will to try and help her out. It had nothing to do with deadlines. jms [ Continued in next section -- BB ] -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From bbarrett at speedlink.com Thu Jul 24 16:31:45 1997 From: bbarrett at speedlink.com (bbarrett@speedlink.com) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: JMS on CompuServe (Jul 24, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS* (2/2) Message-ID: <19970724203145515.AAA292@BBARRETT> [ Continued from previous section -- BB ] !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The following posts may contain SPOILERS for upcoming Babylon 5 episodes. Continue at your own risk. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! S P O I L E R P R O T E C T I O N !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL IS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE RESPECTIVE MESSAGE AUTHORS AND CANNOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR. Note that JMS has expressed his public permission that all of his messages may be reproduced freely. I give permission for my summaries to be reposted in any form, however I reserve all rights to them and the right to revoke this permission at any time. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Archives of this material may be found at: ftp://ftp.johndelenn.com/pub/bbarrett/cis/ - or - http://www.johndelenn.com/ ********************************************** [ Summary of subjects in this section: ] Sb: #687107-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Sb: #686960-Claudia C fired! Sb: #686965-Claudia C fired! Sb: #687209-Claudia C fired! Sb: #687083-Claudia C fired! Sb: #687085-Claudia C fired! Sb: #687093-Claudia C fired! Sb: #687249-The Couch Critic-Jeff Ja Sb: #687326-Script Deadlines Sb: #686832-Clauduia Sb: #686979-Clauduia Sb: #687154-New Character #: 687107 S5/Babylon 5: General 23-Jul-97 15:09:50 Sb: #687103-#Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: HERO GAMES (SUE) Tim, The only reason that I know of that it is being discussed and that 'it's our business' is because the parties involved *made* it public business by posting or having someone post the matter here on a public forum. Sue #: 687401 S5/Babylon 5: General 24-Jul-97 03:52:20 Sb: #687107-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Nothing was said about any of this online until Claudia began talking about it at a convention Toronto and indicating that she had been fired, which was not the case. She passed. jms #: 686960 S5/Babylon 5: General 23-Jul-97 08:45:00 Sb: #686806-#Claudia C fired! Fm: GERARD KEATING (IRELAND) Joe, >> I've actually come up with some very interesting ideas on this, << when will be get to hear this, and who is cast in the role.... Thanks #: 687402 S5/Babylon 5: General 24-Jul-97 03:52:22 Sb: #686960-Claudia C fired! Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI We'll probably start casting in the next 7 days. jms #: 686965 S5/Babylon 5: General 23-Jul-97 09:23:28 Sb: #686806-#Claudia C fired! Fm: VADIM NARODITSKY << I'd prefer to put a female in that position, to keep the cast relatively balanced.>> I just hope you are not doing this to be "politically correct." << I've actually come up with some very interesting ideas on this, which are kinda fun...a way to put a lot more conflict into the inner circle, if you will.>> The only 3 women that come to mind are: Lyta (unlikely but we can expect anything from you, can't we? ;-)), leader from Mars and First Officer from that EF ship (most qualified?). I assume that the idea of keeping this affair to humans is still in effect, isn't it? IAC, I am waiting. Vadim #: 687403 S5/Babylon 5: General 24-Jul-97 03:52:25 Sb: #686965-Claudia C fired! Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Nothing to do with being "politically correct," this is the least PC show on record. I just like to have a mix of male and female characters, and when it tilts too much in one direction or the other, I try to balance it out. jms #: 687209 S5/Babylon 5: General 23-Jul-97 18:46:21 Sb: #686965-#Claudia C fired! Fm: ROWAN KAISER >> The only 3 women that come to mind are: Lyta (unlikely but we can expect anything from you, can't we? ;-)), leader from Mars and First Officer from that EF ship (most qualified?). I assume that the idea of keeping this affair to humans is still in effect, isn't it? << I don't think it's any of them, they wouldn't really spice things up like JMS said. Someone, however, like that daughter of Garibaldi's friend, oh, what was her name? Kaiser Rowan #: 687404 S5/Babylon 5: General 24-Jul-97 03:52:26 Sb: #687209-Claudia C fired! Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI It will be a new character. jms [ Summary: (See below.) ] #: 687405 S5/Babylon 5: General 24-Jul-97 03:52:30 Sb: #687083-Claudia C fired! Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "....but for all his good points he still USES this forum for free advertising and only HIS side of any syory is heard." In reverse order: No. Claudia's statement got posted here as well. Many of our cast members are online, including Claudia, who has three or four web sites devoted to her. She's not exactly out in the cold here. Her comments at the convention were here instantly, the Variety and Reuters articles were here very quickly, and her online note showed up within hours. I don't exactly see that as only one side being presented. Second, your observation is cynical and untrue. I've been online at CIS since 1984-85; I was one of the first people on CIS on my block. I've been here for going on 13 years. I got on here to hang out with fellow fans, and talk about shows, and meet people. I'm still here now for the same reasons. You can speak to events and specifics all you want, but stay out of my motives unless and until you can hire a teep to probe around in my cerebellum. jms [ Summary: (See below -- same person.) ] #: 687406 S5/Babylon 5: General 24-Jul-97 03:52:33 Sb: #687085-Claudia C fired! Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "I merely wanted to point out that JMS has seemed to USE this forum to put over a very onesided point of view." You're right. I put across one side. Mine. You put across yours. How many people are supposed to inhabit my body? It's not my place to speak for Claudia or you or anybody else. I have not used words in the same way you have used them, either; unlike you, I have not characterized the people here. You have called me arrogant without a) any meaning of the word, or b) anything to back that up other than bile and spirit messages. I have not called anyone in this stupid, or malicious, or arrogant. In reviewing your messages here, however, I'm nearly prepared to make an exception to the rule. jms [ Summary: "If he wasn't always so arrogant then perhaps I'd go a bit easier on him but all I was really saying is that he should keep the business side of the show off of this forum." (And see below -- same person.) ] #: 687407 S5/Babylon 5: General 24-Jul-97 03:52:35 Sb: #687093-Claudia C fired! Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "I do not have to sound like I'm in control ALL THE TIME." I don't think you will find anyone in this forum who feels, on reading your messages, that you're in control. Mission objective achieved. jms #: 687249 S5/Babylon 5: General 23-Jul-97 20:20:40 Sb: #The Couch Critic-Jeff Ja Fm: SHANE S. SHELLENBARGER Joe, I caught this in next weeks issue (July 26-Aug 1) of TV Guide. about ROAR, Jeff Jarvis says , "But after watching two episodes (and rewatching the first), ROAR grew on me. I saw it in a new light. ROAR has the moral, mystical mood of a sci-fi series-BABYLON 5 in the Iron Age. And it has the intrigue and evil of, yes, a soap opera. This is Fox, after all." There's a compliment in there somewhere...but for whom? Shane #: 687408 S5/Babylon 5: General 24-Jul-97 03:52:38 Sb: #687249-The Couch Critic-Jeff Ja Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI I think it's the closest he will ever come to speaking well of the show. jms #: 687326 S5/Babylon 5: General 23-Jul-97 23:32:22 Sb: #Script Deadlines Fm: JOHN M. GRAHAM Some of your comments concerning script deadlines in the Claudia Christian posts got me thinking. With the exception of 501 (airing in the 422 slot), you should have about 2 extra months to get the episodes in the can. They won't, after all, air until January, when they previously aired in November. Why then, was the deadline for Claudia to make up her mind left so short? Is the problem the lack of reruns (meaning you have to get further ahead in case you fall behind without the planned holds in the countdown)? (Also, will Claudia appear in 501 aring as 422, and how does she get paid for 422, since that whole residual problem raises its ugly head? ) -John #: 687409 S5/Babylon 5: General 24-Jul-97 03:52:40 Sb: #687326-Script Deadlines Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "With the exception of 501 (airing in the 422 slot), you should have about 2 extra months to get the episodes in the can. They won't, after all, air until January, when they previously aired in November. Why then, was the deadline for Claudia to make up her mind left so short?" Because you can't just come in and shoot one episode, then tell everyone, "Okay, we're taking a break for two months." The moment you begin shooting, the clock is ticking. SAG regulates the span of time you have the actors, equipment is rented...on and on. We had to come back in time to shoot 501/422, and it's going to be close as it is. It takes 52 days of post to finish an episode once it's filmed, so with 501/422 shooting August 18th, just do the math to see how close this is going to be. And once we pull the trigger on 501, we have to go immediately into 502. And on and on. Even if this were not an issue with the 422 business, we would *still* have to start shooting in August because of the schedule of holidays, and TNT's desire to run S5 *straight through* without reruns or breaks. That means you have to start early and be finished with a lot of shows, and vault them, to be able to then run through them all sequentially in 22 weeks. jms [ Summary: In reference to why Claudia would put up a fuss about getting Joe's promise in writing, this poster offers, "I would assume that any producer who wanted to cast her would see that on paper she was bound to B5 for the entire period, assume that she would not be available, and not offer her the part. Even if Claudia had no doubt that Joe could steer her around any trouble with the suits, the verbal agreement wouldn't carry any weight in the outside world." ] #: 687410 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers 24-Jul-97 03:52:44 Sb: #686832-Clauduia Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "Even if Claudia had no doubt that Joe could steer her around any trouble with the suits, the verbal agreement wouldn't carry any weight in the outside world." Y'know, up until this very moment, the whole 4-eps-in-writing thing hadn't made sense to me, I couldn't get my brain around it. I don't know if that's it, but it's a helluvan interesting thought. jms #: 686979 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers 23-Jul-97 10:52:26 Sb: #686881-#Clauduia Fm: PHILIP HORNSEY Ya know...I've been thinking... When MOH left at the end of S1 (under somewhat different circumstances), I changed the whole character of that season, without harming it or the storyline. I am currently introducing another vict...friend to B5 and as a result we watched about 2/3 of S1 over the last weekend (need I digress to describe the impact...I think not). At any rate, S1 now has the character of a prelude. It serves the function that the pilot does in other shows. It introduces the supporting characters, their thoughts and dreams, etc. and uses Sinclair as a focal point to do so. Then he leaves. Then we get Sheridan. He starts out boyish, grinning, a real lightweight compared to the supporting cast and then slowly evolves into the Messiah. It's SO *cool*. Now we get S5. CC leaves...well...sh!t happens. This does, however give you the opportunity to lend even more verisimilitude to the story. In life, people leave, stay, do whatever. Ivannova *is* ambitious, that ambition has been on hold of late, but the shooting is over...for a while...CC is ambitious, that ambition is likely the material cause of her leaving (all things summed up). There is a certain symmetry here, though we may not like it much as fans. It's a pity you don't have an ep or two to ease her out though...and since she *is* in Sleeping a cameo in S5 would be nice, but that likely is not your call. I look forward to your solution with great anticipation. Phil^^^^ FREE MARS! #: 687411 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers 24-Jul-97 03:52:46 Sb: #686979-Clauduia Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Yeah, it's another chance to make he show even more interesting. jms #: 687154 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers 23-Jul-97 16:41:08 Sb: #New Character Fm: KAREN E. BAHNSEN I've tried to post on the rastB5.mod a couple of times now and haven't seen my posts, so I decided to send one here. I feel a little guilty giving you one more thing to read, but I want you to know that I've always deeply appreciated the candor in your posts. What you say has the ring of truth. I don't doubt you for an instant. I'm distressed that you've gotten hate mail over this. (this is not intended as criticism of CC, nor as flame bait) I've enjoyed your Ivanova character very much. I'm so glad she won't be dead and gone forever. I'm *really* looking forward to the replacement, though. You've given us so many excellent characters, I can't wait for the next. It could be as good as Cartagia, Zathras, Neroon... etc. Your characters are one of the things I enjoy most about the show, and with some extra eps in season 5, you'll even have room to develop him/her a bit. Exciting! Karen #: 687412 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers 24-Jul-97 03:52:48 Sb: #687154-New Character Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Thanks...it'll be an interesting addition to the mix, given what happens in the latter part of the season. And no, she won't be "dead and gone forever." There's the third TNT movie, and a possible feature film, and if she wants to approach us about those projects, we'll be more than happy to have the discussion. That's precisely why I'm not recasting the role. jms [END] -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Fri Jul 25 06:23:59 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: ATTN: JMS - Sean Connery on B5? Message-ID: <199707251023.GAA17033@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Unavailable article: Message-ID =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: woogazoid@aol.com (Woogazoid) Date: 16 Jul 1997 14:29:31 -0400 Lines: 25 In article , "McNamara, Sean (macn)" writes: >The other night I was watching some of my old tapes and I ran into >something interesting in the episode "Exogenesis." In the very beginning >of the episode, a transport is docking at B5. After receiving docking >instructions, the pilot says, "Thank you, Babylon Control. Have a nice >day." I immediately recognized the voice as Sean Connery's. Just to be >sure, I watched it a few more times and am convinced it's him. No one else >has a voice like that. Could you or any one else out there please confirm >this? He's said it definately was *not*. Woogie Links and homemade pages! Actors and Actresses! Music! Television! The Paranormal! Leisure Activities! Sports (including every Houston sports team)! Writing coming soon! The Woogazoid's Homepage -- http://members.aol.com/Woogazoid/woogie.htm =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: George Johnsen Date: 18 Jul 1997 16:29:09 -0400 Lines: 11 Sean Connery as a Wallla person? No, it is Doug Cook, one of our Walla people doing a fair Sean imitation which was not his intention. I will pass on your post, as Doug will find it quite amusing. George Johnsen CPB5 -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Fri Jul 25 06:29:00 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: ATTN JMS: Replacing Cladia Christian Message-ID: <199707251029.GAA17065@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jpotapof@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca () Date: 23 Jul 1997 22:09:14 -0400 Lines: 37 I'm not going to take sides on this topic, it sounds like a case of "his word against hers" and quite frankly it doesn't really matter. What matters is that Ivonova won't be back for Season 5 and now she has to be replaced with a new character. It's too bad for the show but hey change can be good as well. It's bad timing with the Kay Howard character not returning for the next season of Homicide, as that means TV will have lost too quality female characters next season. But that brings up the reason why i'm making this post. JMS, you said you have allready created Ivonova's replacement. Any word on who will play that part? Maybe you should consider Melissa Leo? I'm not sure if you are planning on replacing Ivanova with another female character or what sort of character the replacement will be. But Melissa is probally available, she's a great actress, she has very good range, she can play a tough character or considerably softer characters. I really think you should consider her for the role. Hey think of the extra viewers you will get, with all of the die hard Homicide viewers who are annoyed that Leo was let go and are likely going to flock to the next thing she does. BUt seriously, Melissa Leo is a fantastic actress and she would make a great addition to the cast. In fact she's probally a better actor than anyone currently on the show (no offence to the actors on B5, just shows how high I hold Leo's acting skill). If she joined the cast that would easily deflect the disapointment of losing Christian. P.S. If you reply, and it's not too much trouble please crosspost your reply to my E-mail address or the B5JMS-DIGEST as I do not read the news group on a regular basis. ### ./\. ### JASON POTAPOFF. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada ### _|\| |/|_ ### Email: jpotapof@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca ### \ / ### "Life... it's like a box of chocolates. A ### >______< ### cheap, thoughtless perfunctory gift that ### / ### nobody ever asks for." =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 24 Jul 1997 03:31:48 -0400 Lines: 5 We haven't even gotten into the casting part, but we're open to whoever walks in the door and knocks our brains out. jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From bbarrett at speedlink.com Fri Jul 25 20:35:18 1997 From: bbarrett at speedlink.com (bbarrett@speedlink.com) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: JMS on CompuServe (Jul 25, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS* (2/2) Message-ID: <19970726003518609.AAA244@BBARRETT> [ Continued from previous section -- BB ] !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The following posts may contain SPOILERS for upcoming Babylon 5 episodes. Continue at your own risk. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! S P O I L E R P R O T E C T I O N !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL IS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE RESPECTIVE MESSAGE AUTHORS AND CANNOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR. Note that JMS has expressed his public permission that all of his messages may be reproduced freely. I give permission for my summaries to be reposted in any form, however I reserve all rights to them and the right to revoke this permission at any time. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Archives of this material may be found at: ftp://ftp.johndelenn.com/pub/bbarrett/cis/ - or - http://www.johndelenn.com/ ********************************************** [ Summary of subjects in this section: ] Sb: #687671-Hour of the Wolf Sb: #687762-Clauduia [ Summary: (See below.) ] #: 688148 S5/Babylon 5: General 25-Jul-97 14:30:53 Sb: #687671-Hour of the Wolf Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "Were any publicity shots taken of G'Kar wearing Garibaldi's hat?" None that I know of. jms #: 687762 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers 24-Jul-97 16:35:45 Sb: #Clauduia Fm: BRUCE "FIRESTORM" S. >has not even given us a creative *note* in almost 2 years. JMS, Is a creative note kind of like a warning or an order? Just wondering. #: 688149 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers 25-Jul-97 14:30:55 Sb: #687762-Clauduia Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI A creative note is often, "Can you clarify this scene a little so that new viewers will get it?" That was, I believe, the last creative note we got, back in episode 2 of year 2. They're mainly in the form of story suggestions, rarely if ever a Do It Like This situation. jms [END] -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From bbarrett at speedlink.com Fri Jul 25 20:35:13 1997 From: bbarrett at speedlink.com (bbarrett@speedlink.com) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: JMS on CompuServe (Jul 25, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS* (1/2) Message-ID: <19970726003513562.AAA287@BBARRETT> !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The following posts may contain SPOILERS for upcoming Babylon 5 episodes. Continue at your own risk. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! S P O I L E R P R O T E C T I O N !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL IS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE RESPECTIVE MESSAGE AUTHORS AND CANNOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR. Note that JMS has expressed his public permission that all of his messages may be reproduced freely. I give permission for my summaries to be reposted in any form, however I reserve all rights to them and the right to revoke this permission at any time. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Archives of this material may be found at: ftp://ftp.johndelenn.com/pub/bbarrett/cis/ - or - http://www.johndelenn.com/ ********************************************** [ Summary of subjects in this section: ] Sb: #687093-#Claudia C fired! Sb: #687319-#New Character Sb: #687420-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Sb: #687569-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Sb: #687419-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Sb: #687660-Tim's Apology Sb: #687514-Claudia C fired! Sb: #687659-Claudia C fired! Sb: #687379-Pathfinder pix? Sb: #687477-Scripts; 501/422 [ Summary: Yet the same person comments on JMS' presence on CIS. ] #: 687847 S5/Babylon 5: General 24-Jul-97 20:42:21 Sb: #687093-#Claudia C fired! Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "all I was really saying is that he should keep the business side of the show off of this forum." Then you miss two important points. 1) This came up at Claudia's convention appearance, and the result has led people to ask questions. As in, "What the hell's going on?" 2) The whole reason I'm *here* is not publicity, but to create and maintain a dialogue about How Television Is Done and Why Things Are Done The Way They're Done. The business side of it has comprised about 60% of the discussion from day one. To answer questions about all the other business aspects, but pointedly *not* answer them here, goes against the reason I'm here, and would imply there's something to hide. Besides, last I heard, you didn't define the range of what can be discussed here, that's up to the sysops. If it's jake by them, it's jake by me. The problem is yours. jms #: 687319 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers 23-Jul-97 20:03:03 Sb: #687154-#New Character Fm: RAE AUGENSTEIN >> Zathras, << "Zathras have many sisters, yes. Zathra. And Zathra, Zathra, and Zathra. Zathra being very honored to help command Babylon 5 for Army of Light." Could this get funny or what? Rae ^^^^ #: 687848 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers 24-Jul-97 20:42:23 Sb: #687319-#New Character Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI The Sisters of Zathras...now *there's* a convent worth joining. jms #: 687420 S5/Babylon 5: General 24-Jul-97 04:02:35 Sb: #687398-#Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: HERO GAMES (SUE) Joe, My question then is, what about the supposed conversation between CCs agent and Copeland? Did this never take place? is the agent lying? You said you could do it, Copeland supposedly said you couldn't. I refuse to sit here at my computer and make a judgement on anyone. I don't know you, I don't know Copeland, I don't know CC, her agent or her business manager. You say she quit, she says she was fired. You say she didn't want on the show, she says she did. I am not going to assume that CC is a liar on your say so, or vice versa. Sue #: 688138 S5/Babylon 5: General 25-Jul-97 14:30:28 Sb: #687420-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI The conversation was not fully reported. If an actor wants to be paid for 22 episodes, then yes, it is impossible for ANY studio to put in writing that they will pay for 22 while getting only 16 or 18. None of them will ever do that. Now, if an actor wants to 16-18 and be paid for only 16-18, then that's another issue. But the former is not possible, and that was what John was addressing. He's kind of gotten a bad rap in this, without cause. jms #: 687569 S5/Babylon 5: General 24-Jul-97 12:04:26 Sb: #687398-#Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: HERO GAMES (SUE) Joe, Let me begin with an apology if anything I have said has been misconstrued. Between an upcoming convention I need to do work for and having my arm in a brace, my replies have been shorter than I'd like. My point in this discussion has been twofold. 1. We as fans do not have even the beginning of enough information to render any kind of a judgement in this whole mess, one way or the other. 2. We have been getting conflicting information from different sources (primarily you and Claudia), and I am bothered somewhat by the fact that there are people who seem to be dissing Claudia because they perceive your word to be the be all and end all of the discussion. 'Joe said it, therefore it must be true.' If I sounded as if I was venting at you, that was not my intention, nor do I wish you to think I believe you are spreading any disinformation or are in any way being dishonest with folks here. Simply put, as you yourself said, you are telling your point of view. I don't expect anything else nor do I think there is anything at all wrong with this. Claudia has also aired her views her, albeit indirectly, and because she is not active here (which I don't fault her for), she has not been available to expound on any commentary as you have. My problem is that there are definitely some points on which your stories conflict. Since I don't think anyone here knows both parties involved, I find it...I don't know...unfair sounds too strong of a word, really...but it bothers me that people who don't know Claudia seem to be dismissing her word and her perspective in favor of yours. I don't believe either your word *or* hers should carry more weight with us, or that it's right to assume that because you are an honest, forthright person that Claudia must not be. This just seems to be the impression I'm picking up from a few folks here on the forum (not all and not even a majority) The responses I've seen here on this forum have been threefold: 1. Against you, and that response has been torn into so many tiny pieces I didn't think it was worth the time to stomp on what was left 2. Folks who don't think we can make any kind of judgement. 3. Those who put the blame primarily if not completely on Claudia. Now from what I understand, you've been getting negative flack from elsewhere on the net, yet there has been very little here. The main reason I see for this from the years I've been lurking is that this is home turf for you where you have a large fan base. No, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that . However, I have noticed that there is a tendency for some folks to immediately take your side in whatever the argument/discussion is simply because of who you are. In this case, it is, IMO, to the detriment of another's character and reputation. I, for one, don't see any reason to give more or less weight to your word or Claudia's. As I've said, from all I've seen and read, you are both fine people who are open and honest with folks. You are both human and have an equal chance in my eyes of being right or wrong, of making mistakes or miscommunications, of being biased or totally objective, and of letting yor feelings on a subject cloud your perspective. You are a fine writer and I have been a tremendous fan of the show and your work there since the pilot. I have the utmost respect for both you and for Claudia (as well as the rest of the cast and crew) and I applaud the wonderful story you have given us the honor of sharing with you. I admit that Ivanova has always been my favorite character in the show and that not having her around in fifth season has put a damper on my enthusiasm, but I haven't stopped being a fan as a result. I will not, however, make a judgement one way or the other since it would force me to take your word over hers or vice versa, and I don't feel that anyone here is in a position to know for sure who is correct and who is not. I don't think anyone is lying, but I do think too many folks here seem to be reaching that conclusion, and I would be just as quick to leap to your defense should someone (besides the one...umm...shall we say inane response?) have laid the blame at your feet. > Sue #: 688139 S5/Babylon 5: General 25-Jul-97 14:30:31 Sb: #687569-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI I have little to quarrel with in any of that, though I will make the point that there isn't really *that* much dissimilarity in our reports, as others have pointed out...it's the behind the scenes stuff and conversations and dates that get jumbled up in some of the reports. It's also a matter of perception...here you perceive that my "side" of it, if you want to call it that, is getting more support. But on other nets, I've gotten a hideous amount of hate mail, and some threats, disguised and outright. So it's a matter of what you see, vs. what is. (Kinda like the overall situation.) Finally...as you say, you have no reason to give more weight to one side or another in this. But there is one aspect of this to bear in mind. People can argue after the fact about how a tossed coin came down, can debate whose coin it was, whether it was a dime or a quarter, who said what about the ground it came to rest upon...and no one down the road may have any reason to believe one report or another...but it *did* come down, and it *did* come down either heads, or tails. jms #: 687419 S5/Babylon 5: General 24-Jul-97 03:59:06 Sb: #687401-#Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: HERO GAMES (SUE) Joe, No offense, but it's your word against hers, and my point is that we don't have any reason to believe either one of you over the other. i'm of the opinion that you are both honest, forthright people from everything I've read. Sue #: 688140 S5/Babylon 5: General 25-Jul-97 14:30:34 Sb: #687419-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "No offense, but it's your word against hers, and my point is that we don't have any reason to believe either one of you over the other." Actually, that's not quite correct. There were approximately 10 actors there in Blackpool when all this went down...and they can all verify the account that I have described in all this. jms [ Summary: The Same Guy apologizes, but continues to take a stand about JMS' practices on CIS. ] #: 688143 S5/Babylon 5: General 25-Jul-97 14:30:41 Sb: #687660-Tim's Apology Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "I am still of the opinion that this business side of the show should be kept under wraps and that a simple request for such, on this forum, by yourself would have dealt with this matter more swiftly." (sound effect: hysterical laughter) New to the nets, ain'tcha? jms #: 687514 S5/Babylon 5: General 24-Jul-97 09:06:41 Sb: #687406-#Claudia C fired! Fm: SCOTT BAKER Joe, I've been rerading through the messages, both here and in the UseNet forum, and have come to one, amazing, conclusion. No matter how much you give, there are some... less than polite people out there who get mad, and act childish, when things don't go their way. I can't speak for anyone else, but for me, being able to interact with you has been a true joy and pleasure. Even if there was no B5, I would enjoy talking with you, but to add B5 into the mix, it makes the experience that is B5 so much better. Thank you for Babylon 5. Thank you for exposing your inner self to us in both your art, and here on line. Thank you for standing up for the fans, and keeping us informed. And thank you for your hard work and patience. Please, try to look past the childish threats you've received, and the vile personal attacks thrown your way about this, and any other situation. --Scott #: 688144 S5/Babylon 5: General 25-Jul-97 14:30:43 Sb: #687514-Claudia C fired! Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Thanks...I'll try. jms #: 687659 S5/Babylon 5: General 24-Jul-97 13:19:04 Sb: #Claudia C fired! Fm: MORRIS L. GAVANT, M.D. Oh Great Maker, Every character but Ivanova has undergone great changes, I presume that her's were to come now with the challenges and stresses of the battle with Psi Corp/Earth and her assumption of Army of Light command? Will the new character be used, more or less, to complete Ivanova's development or will her thread be dropped? Will the new character only have a lifespan of nine years? Whatever it is, I'm sure with your skills and quirks the ride we've been on for four years will continue unabated into year 5! By the way, Elvis is still on board in down below. He was king of rock n roll. Could he be assistant king/commander? Cryptic messages not allowed!! Dr. G Give MEmphis Tennessee #: 688145 S5/Babylon 5: General 25-Jul-97 14:30:45 Sb: #687659-Claudia C fired! Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Whatever you're drinking, you're either not drinking enough of it or too much of it. jms #: 687379 S5/Babylon 5: General 24-Jul-97 00:00:52 Sb: #Pathfinder pix? Fm: HUGH KENNEDY Hi Joe, I seem to remember that your CGI people were able to work in some hubble shots as backcloths for some of the earlier scenes? Is there any chance of featuring a certain well known piece of Mars territory? Its just nice to tell sci-fi averse people, ok - its just a story but how can it be purely sci-fi when the backdrops are real? Hugh. #: 688146 S5/Babylon 5: General 25-Jul-97 14:30:48 Sb: #687379-Pathfinder pix? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI We do get lots of Mars shots from the Space folks, and those have been used in the establishing shots this season. jms [ Summary: (See below.) ] #: 688147 S5/Babylon 5: General 25-Jul-97 14:30:50 Sb: #687477-Scripts; 501/422 Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "1) will 501/422 have season 4 or 5 title screens?" It will be a season 4 title sequence. "2) since you're shooting S5 straight through, is it going to cost less money?" No, we're not shooting any differently than we ever do. We always start in the Summer, usually July, then have a one week hiatus midway toward Christmas, then there's the Christmas break, then we come back in January, and shoot through to the conclusion with one more one-week hiatus, which are given to keep from burning out the crew. TNT will be airing them straight through, without breaks for reruns, so we're going to have everything done ASAP to meet those deadlines. jms [ Continued in next section -- BB ] -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Sat Jul 26 06:12:10 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: ATTN JMS: Likelihood of CC guest appearance in S5? Message-ID: <199707261012.GAA26461@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: wsuddert@nr.infi.net (William Sudderth) Date: 24 Jul 1997 20:59:43 -0400 Lines: 17 Obviously, any definitive answer to this question depends on a lot of factors, not the least of which would be some kind of reconciliation between all involved. If such a reconciliation happened, and Claudia indicated her willingness, would it be possible that she might appear as a guest for a limited number of episodes? Thank you for having left the door open for her to join you for the third TV-movie and the possible feature, and for having been open and honest with us in the middle of chaos. Best, Will -- William Sudderth <*> Greensboro, NC Wandering aimlessly with a liberal-arts Master's degree.... =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 25 Jul 1997 02:25:20 -0400 Lines: 10 I don't think it's a matter of reconciliation, though a number of folks in the cast are more than a bit upset with her decision. But that aside.... In fifth year terms, given the situation, and contractual problems in bringing a departed regular in to guest star...my guess is that the odds are slim and none. It'll almost certainly have to wait for either the third TNT movie or feature projects. jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Sat Jul 26 06:17:27 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: My last word on CC (hopefully) Message-ID: <199707261017.GAA26481@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: Ray Martinez Date: 24 Jul 1997 19:11:38 -0400 Lines: 32 denebeim@deepthot.cary.nc.us (Jay Denebeim) wrote: >In article <33d79b60.0@netaccess.naxs.com>, James Bell wrote: > >> I think what would really put an end to this thread as well as the >> related hostility would be if JMS posted that he has no hard >> feelings against Claudia and that he would welcome her back to the >> B5 universe if circumstances ever allowed it. Also, if Claudia >> would post a similar statement that she and JMS remain friends and >> that she is open to return to the B5 universe at some point, that >> too, would soothe some feelings. > >It certainly would be. It can't happen while the hurt is continuing >though. The healing process can only begin once the trauma is over. >So, people shuddup already :-) Yelling and screaming is only going to >make matters worse, you'll end up backing people up against a wall and >making them say things that they'll loose face to switch positions >again. > >I personally would love to see CC working B5 again sometime in the >future. Exerting pressure now is the best way I can think of to >ensure this *WON'T* happen. > With respect, you guys are forgetting something. She WILL be back in "Thirdspace". She will be *all over the place* in "Thirdspace". In fact, she said in a recent interview that she would be the "lead" in "Thirdspace". (where this leaves BB I don't know.) So, at least there's that. -Ray =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 25 Jul 1997 02:25:39 -0400 Lines: 5 I've already stated that we will keep the door open for the third TV movie and the feature, should that happen. jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Sat Jul 26 06:22:29 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: Attn: JMS Season 5 writers Message-ID: <199707261022.GAA26500@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: naranek@ix.netcom.com Date: 25 Jul 1997 01:32:30 -0400 Lines: 4 Can you tell us who is and will be writing scripts for season 5 aside from your own self? Thanks =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 25 Jul 1997 18:41:40 -0400 Lines: 8 Well, Neil Gaiman just got his first assignment on the show.... jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From bbarrett at speedlink.com Sun Jul 27 14:12:44 1997 From: bbarrett at speedlink.com (bbarrett@speedlink.com) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: JMS on CompuServe (Jul 27, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS* Message-ID: <19970727181243937.AAA349@BBARRETT> !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The following posts may contain SPOILERS for upcoming Babylon 5 episodes. Continue at your own risk. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! S P O I L E R P R O T E C T I O N !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL IS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE RESPECTIVE MESSAGE AUTHORS AND CANNOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR. Note that JMS has expressed his public permission that all of his messages may be reproduced freely. I give permission for my summaries to be reposted in any form, however I reserve all rights to them and the right to revoke this permission at any time. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Archives of this material may be found at: ftp://ftp.johndelenn.com/pub/bbarrett/cis/ - or - http://www.johndelenn.com/ ********************************************** [ Summary of subjects in this section: ] Sb: #687742-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Sb: #688091-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Sb: #687648-Claudia C fired! Sb: #687731-Ok, how about this... Sb: #688047-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Sb: #688272-Claudia C fired! Sb: #688242-Tim's Apology Sb: #688512-#Tim's Apology Sb: #688282-#Third TNT film??? [ Summary: Discussing the possibility of Claudia Christian being a regular on two TV series at the same time, a poster brings up Armin Shimerman as an example. But another poster points out that Armin's role on Buffy the Vampire Slayer is not a regular role. ] #: 688578 S5/Babylon 5: General 26-Jul-97 15:22:11 Sb: #687742-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI No, it's almost impossible for an actor to be a regular on two shows at the same time; to make the Stephen Furst thing work, for instance, allowing him to be a regular on "Misery Loves Company," we had to support his request, and we were happy to do that. Most producers would rather not. In terms of guest stars, though, it's pretty wide open. Armin has even auditioned for B5 on one occasion. And some of our regulars, like Pat, have done work on ST, as well as Andreas, who reprised his character there. jms [ Summary: (See below.) ] #: 688579 S5/Babylon 5: General 26-Jul-97 15:22:14 Sb: #688091-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "JMS was simply not at that fatful alledged meeting between Claudis and managment (or at least I've never seen him claim to be there) so he only knows what others have told him about that meeting." There was no such meeting. "Now Claudia was alledgely present at that alledged meeting where they are alledged to have told her to find another job." Again, there was no such meeting. Claudia was in the UK, at the same convention I was attending, when all this went down. And *I* was the one who told her that she had to have her agent contact WB to tell them she was in, or they'd withdraw the offer. Kinda sticks a pin in that particular balloon.... jms [ Summary: (See below.) ] #: 688580 S5/Babylon 5: General 26-Jul-97 15:22:17 Sb: #687648-Claudia C fired! Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "case in point - Claudia's cut-of date was last week - yet Joe claimed that he had written stories that would have to be re-fitted around claudia and he didn't have time... but if thats so then he never had any intention of writing her in - so there is a whole there." No, the date is incorrect. This all happened at Blackpool, which was over the weekend of July 10th-13th. The Friday deadline that we have been discussing was July 11th. The weekend of the 17th I was in San Diego, which is when Claudia started talking about this at a convention elsewhere. I could not have been sitting in a hotel pub with her on Thursday night in Blackpool if I was in San Diego at the time. All this went down while we were in the UK. jms #: 687731 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers 24-Jul-97 16:06:08 Sb: #Ok, how about this... Fm: RANDALL A. SCHANZE Ok, so Claudia's gone, and both sides disagree about why. How about this paranoid theory about manipulation: CC has 2 major plot threads hanging over her, right? Her relationship w/ Marcus, and her latent telepathy. Crusade, though no real proof has been offered yet, has been rumored to have only ONE cast member from B5 as a regular: Marcus Cole. CC KNOWS her character can't die, as she's in the last episode. She also knows how much JMS hates to waste storylines. JMS has said somewhere that he's left her part open in hopes she'll come to her senses and want to do a B5 movie or something. OK, so she (or her agent, or someone's maiden aunt agnes, it doesn't realy matter who) engineers a little "Whups, misunderstanding" and CC is out for season 5. Publicaly, however, she's very apologetic, misunderstandings all around, really wants to be on the show. Suddenly, her 2 postponed arcs are moved from B5 to Crusade, and she trades in one year of steady work for FIVE! Is it plausible? Is it paranoid? Is it likely? Is it totaly stupid and inane? The ironic thing is that, assuming it's true, I kinda' hope it works... Mahatma Randy #: 688581 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers 26-Jul-97 15:22:19 Sb: #687731-Ok, how about this... Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Gone off the Prozac again, I see.... jms #: 688047 S5/Babylon 5: General 25-Jul-97 14:32:35 Sb: #686053-#Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: IAN & KATHY TAYLOR Interesting... (and thanks for posting it) I'm not sure either side is telling us the whole truth here, but this, he says without wanting to open old wounds, reminds me very much of what I was told by someone with good reason to know about the loss of Michael O'Hare from the show i.e. that the people in charge of the purse-strings basically made the decision. OTOH, it could simply be a case of mis-communication, he says, naively . Personally, I feel that the series benefits from two strong female characters & that the loss of Ivanova would be a serious, though probably not fatal, blow. Ian #: 688671 S5/Babylon 5: General 27-Jul-97 03:57:24 Sb: #688047-Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "reminds me very much of what I was told by someone with good reason to know about the loss of Michael O'Hare from the show i.e. that the people in charge of the purse-strings basically made the decision." See, here's what kills me about all this. When the Michael situation took place, I came out very openly and I said, "No, this was my decision, working with Michael," and very few held *me* accountable, they tried to blame WB...here, I came out openly and said I tried everything I could to keep Claudia on the show, and that her eventual departure was not my decision, it was hers, and I'm being given the rap for it. I didn't get it when I *did* make the decision (with Michael), and I'm getting it now when I *didn't* make the decision. Some days it's enough to make me lose my hair. Waitaminnit.... jms [ Summary: (See below.) ] #: 688672 S5/Babylon 5: General 27-Jul-97 03:57:27 Sb: #688272-Claudia C fired! Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "I won't say that there won't ever be an SF show as good as B5, as you've now set the yardstick, and the rest have something to aim at. Maybe, someday, someone will reach or pass it" I'm looking forward to that. I'll be the first one to stand up and cheer when it happens. "I'll say one thing about Trekkies, even though B5 fans often beat up on them - if Gene Roddenberry were alive today, and were active online, I just couldn't see him taking even a fraction of the flack from online Trekkies as you do from these excuses for B5 fans" Noooo...I don't think so...ask Majel about some of this sometime. Believe me, if Gene were online, he'd get the same thing. It's the medium, not the person, that's the problem. jms [ Summary: "Didn't this entire thing blow up in public because Claudia was at some convention 'spinning' this?" ] #: 688673 S5/Babylon 5: General 27-Jul-97 03:57:29 Sb: #688242-Tim's Apology Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Yep, that's what precipitated the discussion. jms [ Summary: The same individual that's been insulting JMS right and left over the last few days is now angry at JMS' response to his supposed apology. ] #: 688676 S5/Babylon 5: General 27-Jul-97 03:57:31 Sb: #688512-#Tim's Apology Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI What smug? You said that if I asked people not to talk about it, they would automatically stop. I've been on the nets a long time, and that sort of thing is so unlikely as to engender the response I noted. Hence my question. As if my saying, "Now, stop that" would work. How much power do you think I have? The problem isn't what I'm saying, it's your sensitivity over it. jms #: 688282 S5/Babylon 5: General 26-Jul-97 01:29:23 Sb: #Third TNT film??? Fm: CARL CANTARELLA Joe, I read in a Convention Report Newsletter earlier that TNT has commissioned a third film. Is this true? #: 688678 S5/Babylon 5: General 27-Jul-97 03:57:34 Sb: #688282-#Third TNT film??? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Yes, that's correct. jms [END] -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Mon Jul 28 06:10:48 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: Claudia Christian - one overlooked point? Message-ID: <199707281010.GAA21682@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: lisab@magicnet.net (Lisa B.) Date: 23 Jul 1997 21:41:01 -0400 Lines: 17 IIRC, it was mentioned in passing by more than one poster here, that Claudia at the recent Toronto convention said that yes, she had tried out for the role of "15 of 32" or whatever it is -- the new female borg role on Star Trek: Voyager. I can understand this -- the demise of B5 was reported from many quarters and a gal's gotta eat. And I guess the point should have been moot, if she didn't get the part and B5 was renewed. However, I wonder if this could have created some bad blood between CC & JMS prior to the current crisis. Maybe I'm talking through my hat, but if there's one thing that could alienate JMS from one of his stars, I think it would be the spectre of defection to Trek. LisaB =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 24 Jul 1997 05:28:35 -0400 Lines: 15 >However, I wonder if this could have created some bad blood between CC >& JMS prior to the current crisis. > >Maybe I'm talking through my hat, but if there's one thing that could >alienate JMS from one of his stars, I think it would be the spectre of >defection to Trek. > > Nope. Never came up. I asked Jeri Taylor about it over dinner at one point, but it was never really an issue. Any smart actor will have contingency plans. You have to. jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From bbarrett at speedlink.com Mon Jul 28 17:04:14 1997 From: bbarrett at speedlink.com (bbarrett@speedlink.com) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: JMS on CompuServe (Jul 28, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS* Message-ID: <19970728210414703.AAA345@BBARRETT> !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The following posts may contain SPOILERS for upcoming Babylon 5 episodes. Continue at your own risk. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! S P O I L E R P R O T E C T I O N !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL IS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE RESPECTIVE MESSAGE AUTHORS AND CANNOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR. Note that JMS has expressed his public permission that all of his messages may be reproduced freely. I give permission for my summaries to be reposted in any form, however I reserve all rights to them and the right to revoke this permission at any time. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Archives of this material may be found at: ftp://ftp.johndelenn.com/pub/bbarrett/cis/ - or - http://www.johndelenn.com/ ********************************************** [ Summary of subjects in this section: ] Sb: #688582-#An Open Letter Sb: #688702-#DS9 = Babylon 5 Sb: #688821-#Claudia Opts Out-JMS Sb: #688929-#Claudia Opts Out-JMS Sb: #688822-#Claudia Opts Out-JMS Sb: #688898-#Claudia C fired! Sb: #688765-#Tim's Apology Sb: #688945-Your Pasadena payback Sb: #689013-Onward and upward #: 688582 S5/Babylon 5: General 26-Jul-97 15:25:56 Sb: #An Open Letter AN OPEN LETTER TO J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Dear Joe, This represents the voice of over 300 people who you don't hear from very often. We understand that the last couple of weeks have been particularly stressful. We want you to know, though, that there is a large group of fans who have learned to trust your judgment when it comes to the story, despite all of the roadblocks you've had to face. We're members of the John & Delenn Forum and we still look forward to season five with the greatest of anticipation -- without any reservations. You get to finish what many thought was impossible -- complete your five year epic for television. That is what's important. The story gets to be told. We are particularly thankful to you for bringing us a realistic and engrossing portrait of a male/female relationship. It occurred to us that because we usually reside over in our little mailing list, you never hear the positive and encouraging voices of our members. We understand and appreciate that a saturation of negativity, as you've experienced recently, can have a warping effect on your view of on-line fans. We wanted you to know that we, and we're sure most of the on-line community, do not share the negativity of a few, very vocal people. You have often spoken with pride about how B5 can create communities amongst its fans. You helped create ours, a group of diverse individuals from all walks of life and sixteen different countries who have found a "home" rallying around your show and, obviously, our favorite couple. Thank you, Joe. Thank you for the show. Thank you for sharing a part of your wonderfully creative mind with us. Thanks for one of the most realistic and engrossing love stories we've ever been fortunate enough to witness. Thanks for sticking with it and making it a reality. Thanks for breaking a tooth and getting gray hairs so that we could all enjoy your story. Thank you for being on-line for us. And, most of all, thanks for doing right by us. Rest assured that we will never forget you for all that you've done so far and for all the wonderful things that are yet to be. Respectfully, Adrina Kathlene Whitmore Andrea O'Brien Kelly Matthews Alison Weinstock Kimberly West Alli Tyler Kristina Menzel Amanda L. Livingston Andrea Lawrence Lara Nicosia Annette Wells White Laura Cleveland B5PDA Laura Jorge Barbara Key Lia Marie Danks Beate Czogalla Linda Peting Beatrice Lauzon Lori Brenda Jean Carlson Lynne Buckley Brent Barrett Lynne Shandley, Corwin fanatic :-) Carol Hargreaves Maggie ("Magdalen") Pragnell Carol Thompson Maria Athanasatos Catherine Riche' Mary Lou Campbell Celeste Suliin Burris Mary M. Turner Char Stanley mary riley Charles & Carmel DeBruin Megan Dansie Chris Grzonka Miss Cecilia St.John Chrystie Uckotter Miss Lydie LaBarthe Clif Sawyer Moyra J. Bligh Coleen Flanagan Nerida Bridgford Connie Anderson Pat Woods Corinna Ong Patricia Flood Craig Cheslog Peggy Wargelin Debbie Penny Rothkopf Deborah Baudoin Robbie Knefel Degan Outridge Ronit Itzhari Diana English Ros Calverley Diane Banks Rosa Smothers Diane Denesowicz Roshan Perera Doreen M. Rymkiewicz Sally Urquhart Dr. Anne R. Wells Sandy Rohrbacher Elizabeth Angell Sarah Post Ellen Caldera Sharon Ann Campbell Ellen R. Sullivan Sharon Graves Erika S. Hanson Sharon M. Martin erin farrell Sheryl E. Coe Florence Butler Steffen Motzer Frieda W. Landau Stephanie Ault-Justus Gail Wallace Steven C Duarte Genevra Saint Clair Susan C. Gwyn Symonds Susan Kirn Heather Henley Tami Neuthal Heather Jack Teddy Clark Helen Drake Tish Jan Willekens Torsten Karsch (Germany) Janice Schnell Jay Sprenkle Jennie Furr Jennifer Bailey Jennifer Waer Jill R. John W. Weiss Joyce Choiniere Jude Nethercott Judi Eathorne-Gould Julie Watkins June #: 689020 S5/Babylon 5: General 27-Jul-97 22:54:21 Sb: #688582-#An Open Letter Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Thanks, to everyone on the J&D mailing list. There's been quite a bit of positive feedback lately, which has certainly helped. I'm considering strongly pulling back from the nets for a while. What a number of people don't seem to understand is that amidst all this, with all the name-calling and dead-catting and tar-and-feathering, I have to launch the fifth season. I have to write these first 5-6 episodes, and make them not just as good as year 4, but better. The only way I can write is to push away all the other voices until I can hear the small, still voice at the back of my head that speaks in the place of the characters. There has been so much going on (see above) that this has become difficult at best. Come January, if the shows are crap, from crap scripts, and people yell, "How come the stories suck?" it does no good for me to yell back, "BECAUSE EVERYBODY WAS YELLING AT ME!" That is a pretty silly excuse. The bottom line is: angry email is ephemeral; the shows will be on the air for a lot longer. And that is where I have to put my emphasis right now. So I'm not yanking the modem out of the wall, but my presence will be somewhat reduced over the next little bit, because I've fallen *desperately* behind due to all the turmoil over this. If people think they're upset over Claudia leaving, and the grief this has caused, the truth is they have no idea what those words mean until they've sat behind my keyboard and tried to push through it to find the words. And then to get yelled at for things I'm not responsible for...I can either read it, and get angry, or take a break and get the show in place. Even the positive email, welcome as that's been, and there's been a lot, has been a reminder of the whole situation, so I basically just have to pull back for a bit. I'll be here...but quietly, until I'm caught up. Similarly, with regrets (and as soon as I can find the darned email address for them), I'm going to have to cancel out on RebelCon in Massachusetts in order to try and catch up. I can't justify the time away when we're so close to the bone. jms [ Summary: (See the quote below from a message in the Trek Conference.) ] #: 689026 S3/Star Trek: DS9 28-Jul-97 00:14:22 Sb: #688702-#DS9 = Babylon 5 Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "But then I never watched B 5 even if Chekov was on it. I always thought of it as a copy of DS9 because DS9 was in the works longer." Just to correct: DS9 was not developed until about 1991/1992 (I'll have to go check which one for sure)...B5 was being shown around town in full pilot-script and artwork form dating back to 1987. jms [ Summary: "Any way you can conspire to bring back Turhan Bey as a different character? [...] Can't tell you how great it was seeing him again, even if you killed him off in that episode." ] #: 689027 S5/Babylon 5: General 28-Jul-97 00:14:25 Sb: #688821-#Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Re: Turhan...yeah, everybody on the set yelled at me when we had to kill off Turhan's character. He was one of the genuinely sweetest and nicest persons to come work on the show, and they all fell in love with him. If there's EVER a way I can figure out how to bring him back, I'm up for it. jms [ Summary: More talk about how Claudia could be in England and L.A. at the same time. ] #: 689028 S5/Babylon 5: General 28-Jul-97 00:14:28 Sb: #688929-#Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI No...let me stress this again: there was never any meeting here. The meeting you *might* be thinking of was the one where we brought in the actors to explain to them the differences in syndication vs. cable residuals formula. That took place some weeks before. If it helps, let me break down the dates for you a bit: July 9th: the Variety and Reuters pieces appear saying Claudia's has left the show. WB wants to know where Claudia stands, and we need to know because at this point I've finished writing the new 422, and am about to start on 502 (actually the first S5 episode). I hear about this when Claudia, I and the rest of the cast are in the UK at Blackpool. The WB need for urgent clarification is conveyed to Claudia's agent. July 10th: I reinforce to Claudia, at the pub in the DeVere hotel, that unless she confirms through her agent by noon Friday, the 11th, that she wants to be on the show, the offer will be withdrawn, that she will have, to all intents and purposes, passed on the offer. July 11th: there was no "final comment," no meeting...again, we are still in the UK. For there to be a final comment, she or her agent would have had to actually *speak* to someone. But no call came from either Claudia or her agent. There was NO response at all. Thus, the offer was finally and reluctantly withdrawn because we were simply out of time, and having been told that silence = a pass on the offer, there was no longer any reason to maintain the offer. She passed. July 12th: Jeff goes to Claudia and on his own, tries to convince her to try and work this out on Monday, that if her agent makes contact first thing, maybe this can be worked out. This is not a position that I told him to advance to her, he did this entirely on his own, hoping that she could still come back from her decision. Bruce and other cast members also try to talk to her about this, concerned about her decision. July 14th (Monday): Claudia leaves the convention mid-day, announcing that she is going to go to a photo shoot. The weekend of July 19th-20th: I'm at ComicCon in San Diego, where I learn that Claudia, at another convention, has announced that she was fired from B5. And that, to paraphrase, is where the blitz hit the fans. I know you keep trying to find some way that maybe I wasn't there, perhaps to save me from the situation...but I was there for every bit of it; having the room 4 doors down from Claudia at the time, I couldn't be *more* in the thick of it unless I slept on the floor of her room. jms [ Summary: Raymond Feist speaks out and explains (rather well) how the business of contract negotiations in the entertainment industry work, and why what happened with Claudia probably happened. Basically, he feels that it was a business move in which she or her agent felt that WB would come back to them on their terms. But he goes on to stress that this sort of business dealing is very common in the business and that it doesn't reflect one way or the other on any side of the issue. ] #: 689029 S5/Babylon 5: General 28-Jul-97 00:14:32 Sb: #688822-#Claudia Opts Out-JMS Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Ray: extremely, extremely well said. Better than I could have said it, and probably better than I *have* said it. You really ought to give this writing thing a shot sometime, y'know...? jms #: 688898 S5/Babylon 5: General 27-Jul-97 15:39:40 Sb: #688672-#Claudia C fired! Fm: RON CHUSID Message text written by J. Michael Straczynski > It's the medium, not the person, that's the problem.< Before coming to this forum today I was reading through a ST newsgroup on the internet. John Ordover was busy defending himself against criticism for things like ignoring rude messages. I'm sure you don't find this at all surprising. #: 689030 S5/Babylon 5: General 28-Jul-97 00:14:34 Sb: #688898-#Claudia C fired! Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "Before coming to this forum today I was reading through a ST newsgroup on the internet. John Ordover was busy defending himself against criticism for things like ignoring rude messages. I'm sure you don't find this at all surprising." Yeah, well, John also announced *definitively* (and with considerable joy, I suspect) on AOL that B5 had been canceled, and there would be no fifth season, so I'm probably the last person to ask about this.... jms [ Summary: The person who thought JMS was too smug in his acceptance of this person's apology suggests that JMS could have avoided the whole problem by not responding to messages in public. ] #: 689032 S5/Babylon 5: General 28-Jul-97 00:14:39 Sb: #688765-#Tim's Apology Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI "Surely you have the power to not reply to certain messages?" Of course I do. And I do frequently. The problem is that the nets are best able to spread complete misinformation even faster than they can spread real information. If something is stated once in error -- like the person who thought the deadline was the 19th rather than the 11th -- others pick it up and within a matter of a day or two, there are 10,000 people all with the same wrong information, and if you go back to them to correct it later, they say, "Well, no, that's not what I heard," even though they may not be able to remember where they got that info from. On the nets, the line between "speculation" and "fact" is very blurry on the best of days. My feeling has always been that in that kind of situation, you put out the facts as best you can, on the theory that the folks interested in the discussion are sharp enough to suss out the truth, and those not interested in it wil simply not bother to read the threads. Also, bear in mind that there was a request put out to email bomb me by people concerned about Claudia's situation. A request put out *by* Claudia and her people. Now, I can either spend ten thousand hours a day responding to each one of those in email, or by public messages put a lot of those concerns to rest and save a fair amount of hassle when I'm *trying* to put on a show here. jms #: 688945 S5/Babylon 5: General 27-Jul-97 17:22:53 Sb: #Your Pasadena payback Fm: MARA K. MALOVANY Joe, would you still prefer that people keep fairly quiet on the whole Pasadena prank and your revenge on Andreas & Peter, or do you figure that Wolf and the 're-enactment' has taken it as far as it's going? Mara (p.s., I couldn't resist saying hi to you when you were gathering the flock, as it were, outside the train in Blackpool station) #: 689033 S5/Babylon 5: General 28-Jul-97 00:14:42 Sb: #688945-Your Pasadena payback Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Well, certainly the more folks retell the story at cons, the less I can tell it, so there's that...but the joke has gone about as far as it's going to. Until I can think of something better. jms [ Summary: (See below.) ] #: 689034 S5/Babylon 5: General 28-Jul-97 00:14:45 Sb: #689013-Onward and upward Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI I'd say that the Cavelos book is pretty canonical, yes...I didn't work with the author as closely as with #9, but I agree with just about all of the major strokes there. jms [END] -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Tue Jul 29 06:10:53 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: Attn JMS Script Lead Time Message-ID: <199707291010.GAA09355@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Unavailable article: Message-ID <01bc969f$d1dcb480$37020178@NTSERVER> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 22 Jul 1997 23:30:40 -0400 Lines: 16 in the digest from compuserve, you mentioned scripts for season 5 were due July 6th, 12th, 18th. just curious, are the lead times for scripts always so short? did you write all three? if so, how did you cram in the scripts, cons, email, sleeping and eating, and production stuff?? No, they're not usually this short. The problem is that we got the go ahead for S5 one full month later than usual (actually a little more than that) because of the time required to nail down all the details of the TNT move, and then the Claudia situation. It's normally standard to have 5-6 scripts in hand on this show on the first day of shooting; we'll be lucky to have 4 at this point in final shooting condition. jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From bbarrett at speedlink.com Wed Jul 30 17:03:22 1997 From: bbarrett at speedlink.com (bbarrett@speedlink.com) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: JMS on CompuServe (Jul 30, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS* Message-ID: <19970730210322156.AAA121@BBARRETT> !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The following posts may contain SPOILERS for upcoming Babylon 5 episodes. Continue at your own risk. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! S P O I L E R P R O T E C T I O N !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL IS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE RESPECTIVE MESSAGE AUTHORS AND CANNOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR. Note that JMS has expressed his public permission that all of his messages may be reproduced freely. I give permission for my summaries to be reposted in any form, however I reserve all rights to them and the right to revoke this permission at any time. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Archives of this material may be found at: ftp://ftp.johndelenn.com/pub/bbarrett/cis/ - or - http://www.johndelenn.com/ ********************************************** [ Summary of subjects in this section: ] Sb: #689046-DS9 = Babylon 5 Sb: #689328-#DS9 = Babylon 5 Sb: #689391-#but Sb: #689535-Bailing on Rebelcon? [ Summary: "Are you really the guy who owns the show and has the finalle [sic] in an encrypted computer file at home?" ] #: 689560 S3/Star Trek: DS9 29-Jul-97 23:51:10 Sb: #689046-DS9 = Babylon 5 Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Yes, that would be me...and the finale's been filmed, so it's out of my encrypted file at last. Look for it at the end of season 5. jms [ Summary: In a Trek forum, a poster asks, "I was wondering when exactly B5 will be airing in reruns on TNT or TBS." ] #: 689561 S3/Star Trek: DS9 29-Jul-97 23:51:11 Sb: #689328-#DS9 = Babylon 5 Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI The show starts the weekend of January 4th on TNT, first with a newly filmed prequel, "In the Beginning," then the original pilot, then the next day, Monday, it starts from the very first episode of season one and goes straight through, Monday through Friday, 5 nights a week, at 7 p.m. Eastern. The fifth season starts mid-January. With the new airings on TNT, we will run through the entire first 4 years in 18 week cycles, so everyone will have a chance to catch up and see the whole thing. But this thread more properly belongs in the B5 section, so any further questions should probably go there. jms #: 689391 S5/Babylon 5: General 29-Jul-97 06:53:10 Sb: #but Fm: CHAD UNDERKOFFLER Joe: I know you're busy with Season 5 concerns, but I have a question about writing, and an insightful word or two from you would really help. After receiving my last story submission back in the mail yesterday, I sat down and looked over the form rejection letter and my manuscript. I finally came to the conclusion that it's just a collection of scenes with no real story underneath. I do scenes fairly well, can come up with fairly creative premises, my grammar and composition ain't bad, and I'm able (according to my workshopping group) to show good characterizations... but the most basic kernel there-- the plot, I guess-- is really lacking. My plots tend to be either skeletal or cliche. My characters really tend to wander about: some merely run through the plot as if it were a rat's maze, not really involved; and those that *do* care and are involved in the plot seem to lose all character depth during it. Many of the Writer's Digest books I own seem to assume that the hopeful author already has a plot, but needs characters. I think I'm the oppposite. This morning, I pulled down Dibell's PLOT, dusted it off, and am gonna re-read it today. Action in the story seems to elude me... other than purely external, physical action. I can't see the arc of a story: at most I see one leg of it. I'm having difficulty putting together three sentence summaries of my stories. ("Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy shaves his head.") Is there any way for me to strengthen this authorial muscle? Advice? Hints? Thanx in advance, and if REF or any other writer wants to jump in, hey, I won't mind. Rage Ranger of Washingdome "Mambo, baby, mambo!" #: 689600 S5/Babylon 5: General 30-Jul-97 00:57:30 Sb: #689391-#but Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Basic approach: if you know your characters, then find out what they want, how far they will go to get it, and how far someone else will go to stop them. From this comes structure, and from this comes plot. Put them in *motion*. As someone noted, "The king died and then the queen died" is not a story; "The king died and then the queen died of grief" is a story. Cause and effect. jms #: 689535 S17/Media Conventions 29-Jul-97 18:43:37 Sb: #Bailing on Rebelcon? Fm: ALAN L. RAVITCH Joe...is that a definite that you're now NOT going to do Rebelcon? Please advise! Thanks! :-) Alan #: 689601 S17/Media Conventions 30-Jul-97 00:57:33 Sb: #689535-Bailing on Rebelcon? Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Yeah...I notified the con people the other day. I'm *really* distressed by this, because it's the first time I've ever had to bail on a con due to work commitments (or any OTHER reason, there's never been one before this). But given the distance, the work involved, the deadlines looming up ahead of me, and all the rest...I can't justify doing it. The show has to come first. And I'm *really* bummed because it's John Flinn's first convention, and I really wanted to be there to see his reaction. jms [END] -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Thu Jul 31 06:10:24 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: ATTN JMS: Casting question and grief Message-ID: <199707311010.GAA13931@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Unavailable article: Message-ID =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 24 Jul 1997 05:37:58 -0400 Lines: 5 No actress has been set yet, we have to start casting now that we have script pages in hand to work with. jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to . From b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu Thu Jul 31 06:15:26 1997 From: b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu (B5JMS Poster) Date: Fri Jan 7 13:10:55 2005 Subject: ATTN JMS: Dinner w/Taylor? Message-ID: <199707311015.GAA13981@shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: cmdrselek@juno.com (Jon M Donenberg) Date: 29 Jul 1997 21:43:03 -0400 Lines: 7 <> What? Shmoozing with Voyager's Exec Producer? you devil, you! :-) Jon =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Date: 30 Jul 1997 19:26:05 -0400 Lines: 6 Jeri Taylor is a good and dear friend of many years, which is why you will rarely if ever hear me saying anything of a negative nature about Voyager. She's also a terrific writer. jms -*** -*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer, -*** . If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust -*** the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post to rastb5m, which -*** can be done by sending email to .