=========================================================================== | This text is compiled from posts by J. Michael Straczynski on the Usenet | group alt.tv.babylon-5. This document contains material Copyright 1994 | J. Michael Straczynski. He has given permission for his words to be | redistributed online, as long as they are marked as being copyright JMS. | This document, as well as other Babylon-5 related material, is available | by anonymous FTP at ftp.hyperion.com. =========================================================================== From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 1 Feb 1994 04:14:51 -0500 Subject: Scientific nit-picking Your description of Earth Standard Time (EST) is fairly accurate. RE: the Raider ships...they turned by a less effective system of thrusters put in here and there, not nearly as powerful as the systems used by the Starfuries. The reason -- verifiable by the shape of the Raider ships -- is that Raider ships are handicapped by the fact that they're made to function both in space *and* within an atmosphere (hence the aerodynamic wing shapes), which gives it something of a problem when dealing with the Starfuries, which are made ONLY for fighting in space, and are most ideally suited to it. The Raider ships make compromises for greater utility, which is generally okay unless they run into superior forces of ships designed for spaceborne combat. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 1 Feb 1994 04:17:14 -0500 Subject: Midnight Impressions (Possible The quote is correct. And thanks for the feedback, and glad you enjoyed the show. I think it's going to be quite a ride.... jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 1 Feb 1994 04:32:40 -0500 Subject: Re: CRITICAL COMMENTS: "Midnig We did the title sequence in letterbox as a partial nod to the fact that we're shooting the series in that aspect ratio, though for now only the regular portion is being broadcast. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 1 Feb 1994 04:35:18 -0500 Subject: *SPOILERS*: MOTFL Episode guid My suggestion: classify "Soul Hunter" under "Suspense." jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 1 Feb 1994 06:09:58 -0500 Subject: query to JMS....... I don't believe in monolithic aliens who all talk exactly alike, with the same accents, any more than I believe in humans who all talk exactly alike. Hence, the difference between Vir and Londo. When they're together in their quarters, they're talking in Centauri, which we hear as English, as in WW II movies, the Germans are obviously talking to each other in German, but we hear it in English. (The only other alternative is to subtitle whole lengthy segments of the show, which is both unworkable, awkward, and unfair to blind viewers.) jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 1 Feb 1994 06:10:51 -0500 Subject: sinclair piloting a fighter in You'll get a pretty good glimpse into why Sinclair jumps into a fighter any chance he can get in "Infection." Part of it is to escape from stuff...the other goes much deeper, and much darker.... jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 1 Feb 1994 07:42:38 -0500 Subject: Re: +/- Review: Midnight (SPOI The whole idea of Talia calling the Psi Corps and having Ivanova removed for not liking her is, as you state, utterly absurd. Life is like this...sometimes people don't get along. What do you do, call the cops? Second, Talia works for the Psi Corps, which is a *civilian* organization regulated by the government (though it certainly makes it (its) pretensions to military in dress and attitude). Ivanova is a military officer. A civilian has no authority over that. The Psi Corps does not issue orders to the Earthforce Military. The problem that I see so often, with some exceptions, is that people haven't stopped to think things through. They think, "Well, they should just be able to go in and make things right." Wrong. This not only doesn't happen in real life, it doesn't happen in 99% of all fiction. It is an ST artifact that doesn't touch reality at any two contiguous points. Just about half of the questions raised could be answered with a little thought, such as this one. Similarly, the "Why didn't the Council see that Carn Mollari was being forced to read the statement, and act," without stopping to consider a) that not all aliens read human expressions properly or well, b) suspicion isn't the same thing as proof, c) the smaller worlds would be loathe to take on the Narns, and d-f, which I'll list another time. The attitude again is, "Well, this is *obviously* what's right, so they should do it." People rarely do what is obviously right...and sometimes when they *do*, it's for the wrong reasons. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 1 Feb 1994 07:45:23 -0500 Subject: Re: Opening Narration The rotating narrator thing was something that I mentioned en passant at the LosCon screening of "Midnight." What I noted was that I was considering rotating the narrators each season; Londo for the pilot; Sinclair for year one; Ivanova for year two; Garibaldi for year three; G'Kar for year four; and Delenn for year five. Haven't decided yet if I'm going to do it or not.... jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 1 Feb 1994 18:49:49 -0500 Subject: PRESSURE SUITS: COOL!! Actually, as you'll see in "Sky," sometimes the Good Guys *do* get their ships hit; sometimes they blow up and kill the person (as you will see), and sometimes they do damage without destroying the ship, in which case there is an eject mechanism that separates the cockpit part from the rest of the fighter, which contains the volatile reactors. So in those circumstances, a flight suit is a *very* good idea.... jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 1 Feb 1994 18:50:33 -0500 Subject: WILL WE VISIT ANY PLANETS? We will be visiting a planet in the two parter, "A Voice in the Wilderness." jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 1 Feb 1994 18:51:00 -0500 Subject: Re: Midnight Comments (*SPOILE The inconsistency you mention is not an inconsistency. One fighter is always kept in lowered, launch-position when the others are out, so that it's ready to drop at a moment's notice. The fighter you saw was moving into standby position in case needed quickly. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 1 Feb 1994 18:58:14 -0500 Subject: Transportation on Earth in the There are *definitely* no transporters in the B5 universe. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 1 Feb 1994 19:00:09 -0500 Subject: Series premier thoughts (some Just a quick note re: the idea of sending B5 ships out to safeguard all incoming ships...can't really be done. There are only a very small number of fighters (comparatively speaking) on B5, and a *LOT* of ships coming in on a daily basis. Once they're through the last gate, to B5, they're safe. But there are gates in between, where they're vulnerable. You'd have to safeguard the whole galaxy, practically. Can't be done. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 1 Feb 1994 19:06:27 -0500 Subject: MOTFL's Title "Midnight on the Firing Line" as a title was more my feelings about the episode and the series. I knew we'd come under considerable fire, figured it was cool. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 1 Feb 1994 21:10:07 -0500 Subject: MOTFL Credits... There are definitely more credits at the end of the episode; the station is NOT alloweed to cut credits like that. They should be put on notice. Call them, and tell us who did it. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 1 Feb 1994 21:21:19 -0500 Subject: Re: BABYLON 5 To Include Gay/B I have not *made* a big issue out of this, and do not intend to do so. In addition, when a certain characteristic is revealed in someone, it won't be in the center of a story or made into a treatise because at the time of our story it *isn't* an issue anymore, any more than being left or right handed. No one frankly cares. And it will not be given any more weight than that. It will be treated fairly off-handedly. A note to those who have taken up this issue to popularize it: there is a Monty Python sketch called "The Value of Not Being Seen." Those who've seen it will get the reference. To the rest...until something is done in a show, particularly something along these lines, it's best to keep a fairly subdued profile, because if people start getting hincky about something before we've shown how something is actually going to be handled -- with taste, discretion and subtlty -- it might cause some folks to bring pressure *not* to do it. Let's all do one thing at a time...and let me do this according to the schedule that's set out for this. Don't jump the gun. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 2 Feb 1994 06:06:55 -0500 Subject: Babylon 5 Writers Guide Re: Mi Your pyramid of something happens, it's critical, confrontation, resolution, is not something *bad* in shows...it happens to be universal dramatic structure. Introduction of the problem, rising action, climax, and denouement. If you don't think this is appropriate, then you are dismissing literally 95% of all literature, all movies, ever created in the history of mankind. So B5 meets the standards applied to literature. I don't see a problem here. The rest of your note is little more than specious and petty. And I would defy you to find *any* way to categorize "The Parliament of Dreams" by this breakdown. Is there anything that you would *not* just go ahead and classify as a soap opera device? From your list, anything you decide is soap opera goes on the list. Specious and petty. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 2 Feb 1994 06:08:28 -0500 Subject: Re: Question to JMS (was Excel Yeah, I keep flip-flopping on "Purple" and "Midnight" for the number 4 and 5 spots...they're prety close. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 2 Feb 1994 16:04:48 -0500 Subject: Re: About the RFD Process Since you raised the question about the explosion of messages...I have a small suggestion. Right now, when I log onto GEnie and get the alt messages in my email via the Internet gateway, there are now about 200+ messages a day. I do read them all, but it's going to get a lot busier. If there is a message out there by someone that requires a response, or is a specific question for me, if you could begin the note with JMS, in the subject header, I'll know to read that one first. Others may have to sit in the box for a day or so until I can do a massive read. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 3 Feb 1994 14:47:29 -0500 Subject: Question about Kosh for JMS Correct, Christopher Franke designed Kosh's voice. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 3 Feb 1994 14:51:42 -0500 Subject: New GIFs BTW, have named an Earth Alliance Cruiser Hyperion, in notation of the library.... jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 3 Feb 1994 15:10:07 -0500 Subject: Question re Earth Alliance You are correct in that the Earth Alliance consists in the main of humans. Aliens are generally not integrated into the system, except in very low-level stuff. (In some bronze-tech worlds where humans have come in and pulled an India/England relationship, you may have colonial governors who are native aliens, but are basically puppets.) There's more than just Mars, Earth and the Sol colonies; there are a number of other worlds and systems out there into which Earth has made a dent. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 3 Feb 1994 15:10:17 -0500 Subject: Re: Pain in the butt? "...at least it has a fricative." HEY! Watch that kind of language. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 3 Feb 1994 15:11:11 -0500 Subject: Re: USA Today Review--Londo is Re: Londo as a romantic character...bless your heart. You are the first to have nailed it absolutely on the head. If I had to write a description of the character, I doubt I could have done any better than what you just wrote. There are a *lot* of episodes that bring this out in him, including the next one up, "Born to the Purple," which I suspect will end virtually all of the hair jokes once and for all. Anyway...yes, and thank you, that's it *precisely*. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 3 Feb 1994 15:11:12 -0500 Subject: Re: Centauri Hair??? (attn: JM Generally speaking, yes, hair = status. Very peacock-ian (to coin a phrase). Certainly, you could wear your hair longer than your status permits, but it's like pretending to a status you don't have, which is viewed as pathetic. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 3 Feb 1994 15:31:16 -0500 Subject: My personal review of the B5 p Sinclair's line, "Cut accelleration," was in regards to forward momentum, so he could more easily spin the fighter around. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 3 Feb 1994 16:59:51 -0500 Subject: Midnight on the Firing Li Thanks. What you say is correct; we have to look to the past, and determine its influence, and either learn from it, or be destroyed by it. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 3 Feb 1994 17:04:46 -0500 Subject: Millenial...? The turn of the century with B5's conclusion is coincidence. Mostly. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 3 Feb 1994 17:05:07 -0500 Subject: BABYLON 5 PILOT EPISODE ON CFT Most B5 viewers that I've heard from call themselves Fivers, when they identify themselves as anything other than what they are, people of infinite taste and sensibility.... jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 3 Feb 1994 17:05:17 -0500 Subject: MOTFL's title (was Re: Musings Ah, another Chapin fan. Yes, I definitely love his work, albet there is, sadly, not nearly enough of it. Also Billy Joel, Indigo Girls, everything except country. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 3 Feb 1994 17:11:04 -0500 Subject: TV Guide advertisments? Local ads are placed by local stations, not Warners. If there's no ad in your local TV Guide edition, the problem lay with the local station. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 3 Feb 1994 17:11:42 -0500 Subject: Centauri Precognition and Mili Re: precog and Centauri...here, as best I can recall, is exactly what I wrote for Londo: "My people, we have a way, you see...we know how, and *SOMETIMES* even *when* we are going to die...." jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 3 Feb 1994 17:14:34 -0500 Subject: Questions for JMS Starfuries dock in the central docking bay, are repaired, prepped and lowered into the cobra bays. And yes, you'll see this. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 3 Feb 1994 17:58:42 -0500 Subject: Midnight Complaints? To have a station commander *and* a rep for Earth can be cumbersome in many ways, when someone has to give orders. It's cleaner this way; and no different than any of the sailing vessels of the 18th century and before, when each captain was viewed as, and expected to perform as, the official representative of his country. There is, however, a second agenda at work here, which you'll find out about a bit in "Raiding Party." Re: Sinclair taking risks...watch "Infection" and its tag. As for jumping in a fighter every show...no, that we don't do. Of the 17 or so episodes we've shot to date, Sinclair only goes out in a fighter in maybe 3 episodes. Ivanova, Garibaldi, or other fighter pilots go out elsewhere. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 3 Feb 1994 18:01:53 -0500 Subject: questions... The item on the back of Sinclair's hand is a Link, which is their personal communications system/powerbook/mainframe access system/pager. The blue and green painting on the Starfury is probably the Sea Witch, a personal design. The stylized EA seen on the wings, and on the EA command staff, is the Earth Alliance symbol. (The EA silhouette is then altered within the lines to accommodate different divisions, command with a crosshatching, security with a gun sight, and so on.) No comment. Some alien fonts, yes. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 3 Feb 1994 18:10:48 -0500 Subject: Re: Musings from my Garden. SP Here's what I find curious (not necessarily in direct response to anything you said, but in general on this topic)...is that when Ivanova makes her remark to Garibaldi about snapping his hands off at the wrists, many people have assumed that she was insulting him, berating him, being bitchy, truly disliking and threatening him. But the same words, put in the mouth of another male, wouldn't have drawn that reaction, and would've been classified under, "kidding around" or affable sarcasm. Which is exactly what it is in this case. In this place and this time, they're comfortable enough to mess with each other without it being taken seriously (among these characters, that is). There are times they kinda like to phuque with each other a bit, just for the hell of it, as comrades will sometimes do. ("Babylon Squared" has a great example of Sinclair and Garibaldi messing with Ivanova.) jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 3 Feb 1994 20:35:26 -0500 Subject: nit-picking, my 2 cents worth. We considered for a while using lots of subtitles, but the problem is that this is a fairly dialogue-intensive show, and after about 10 exchanges of dialogue, it becomes hard to keep up with subtitles. The other problem is that there is a large viewership, particularly in SF circles, of blind people, and thus subtitles seemed a bit unfair. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 3 Feb 1994 23:20:38 -0500 Subject: Starfury launch sequence and m Incorrect. The Starfuries are launched from the rotating part of the station. They're launched from the cobra bays, which are the cobra shaped projections alongside the round front of the station, and attached to it. They definitely rotate. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 4 Feb 1994 01:20:44 -0500 Subject: So when does the merchandising Frankly, I'm not in any hurry to see the show merchandised, though we're up to our ears in inquiries. I think it's important, at least in the early stages, to keep all that stuff at arm's length. Otherwise you end up in a situation where the tail begins wagging the dog. Let's make the series as good as we can, first, and then worry about the toys later. jms* (*who already has his B5 patches, watch, shirt, belt, mug....) From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 4 Feb 1994 21:30:37 -0500 Subject: Kosh's First Words The scene was trimmed for time. It may show up again later. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 4 Feb 1994 21:46:42 -0500 Subject: What are those blue fins? The blue fins at the back of B5 are, as I recall, for the purpose of radiating internal heat out of and from B5. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 5 Feb 1994 06:43:00 -0500 Subject: Re: Opening Narration Nope, "Purple" wasn't moved up to replace "Infection." The former was always scheduled for #3, followed by the latter. The episodes for this first batch were put together to alternate action/character, so "Midnight" has lots of action, there's a fair amount in "Soul," so we give a break in "Purple." Then lots of action in "Infection," not as much in "Parliament," and "Mind War" is an absolute blow out. These first six are really very much stand-alones, and fairly straightforward. Starting with "Parliament," we *really* begin to cook, though. The concern was that if we started out too complex, we might lose a lot of people. Better to bring them in gradually. Starting from "Parliament" onward, each episode gets more ambitious as well, in terms of character, story, EFX, sets, you name it, to where we've got 3 stories running in "Mind War," all interesting, all with great performances, nifty character moments, and killer EFX. That's why I've made it a point to say, just stick with us for the first six. If you don't like what you see after that...you're not going to. I don't think anyone should support a show just because it's SF. (Though that's not much of a risk here; I've *seen* "Parliament" and "Mind War," y'see....) jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 6 Feb 1994 18:52:28 -0500 Subject: MOTFL: Mars Colony & G'Kar's f Just as an advisory, I'd ask you to be more careful in your language, "...makes me wonder if JMS has lifted some ideas and milieu from Kim Stanley Robinson's 'Red Mars.'" I do not "lift" ideas. My ideas are my own. The B5 storyline goes back 7 years. There seems to be some conception in the public eye that TeeVee folks just sorta go out there, look at books, and start lifting things. This is not only inaccurate, but I find it personally offensive. Partly because I *know* Kim Stanley Robinson, albeit slightly. I know you meant no harm, so don't take this as a flame. I just felt that it required a response. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 7 Feb 1994 02:15:55 -0500 Subject: prejudice in B5(was:Re: BABYLO You may perceive "alien" as a negative word. It is also a correct word. Now, one could refer to them as "atmospherically challenged," or "genetically other-abled," or "adhering to DNAlternatives," but among humans, talking to one another...they're aliens. And to them, WE'RE aliens. No, it ain't polite. Who said it had to be? jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 7 Feb 1994 03:18:46 -0500 Subject: Replay in LA B5 is replayed on Channel 13 at 11 p.m. Sunday nights. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 7 Feb 1994 10:32:56 -0500 Subject: Clive Revill on next week's ep Correct, Clive Revill is in "Born to the Purple" this week. We've actually had a *lot* of quality actors, drawn by the material, in our first season: Clive, David McCallum, David Warner, June Lockhart, Theodore Bickell, Morgan Shepherd, William Sanderson, Judson Scott and Walter Koenig, to name but a few. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 7 Feb 1994 11:59:19 -0500 Subject: Re: Opening Narration So who says that that order was final or official....? jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 7 Feb 1994 12:32:15 -0500 Subject: Where's JMS The Genie/Internnet gateway was down for a few days, hence the silence. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 7 Feb 1994 16:35:43 -0500 Subject: B5 comments (spoilers) Just quickie responses: to your charge of sexism -- no female security guards, no female pilots -- you've only seen two shows so far. In further episodes, we DO have female security guards, AND female pilots (including Ivanova, who goes into combat), AND female doctors (one of whom is Hispanic, and plays a major part in an episode), and females in every other capacity on board the station. Virtually every female shown on this show has a career, responsibility, and for the most part is as content with that career as the men are. Further, not only are our cast members equally male and female, we've taken this *behind* the camera...half or a little over half our crew are female, many in non-traditional jobs (traditionally male in Hollywood terms, in any event). It's not just wardrobe and makeup, it's set and prop design, set *construction*, editorial, you name it. As for the militarism needing to be repressed...there are already two other shows which feature repressed (or absent) military aspects; let's have something a little different. I don't think all SF shows should look and feel alike. As for the notion that it could use "a little of Trek's humanism," I don't much like the way that's been defined there. Seems to me that that version of "humanism" is placid, unpassionate, orderly and for the most part, with some exceptions, bloodless. To me, humanism means embracing our flaws as well as our nobilities, and saying that we don't have to shed our basic humanity in order to go to the stars, but that we remain *humans*, with all that entails. And we somehow persevere in SPITE of our flaws. I find the process of overcoming more interesting, and more human, than assuming that we've already overcome everything. The kind of humanism you're referring to isn't humanism, by my book. It's "we should all be nice to one another, and nobody should have any problems except the ones forced on us by bad guy aliens"...it's humanity as written by Barney the Dinosaur. In any event -- and none of this is directed at you, it's more generic woolgathering than anything else -- my feeling is that you've GOT two shows already that advance that kind of thinking. We're not Trek, we have no obligation to BE Trek, and if we just do what Trek is doing, what is the point? It just becomes the same old thing. I didn't fight for seven years to get this show on the air, to do Trek's vision of the future. (The funny thing, of course, is that when TNG went on the air, people complained roundly about the lack of militarism and action in the show, that Picard surrendered too quickly, that it was too passive and too let's-all-be-nice. Now a show that has action and an element of military is told that now we have to be like TNG is. TNG was faulted for not being TOS. We're faulted for not being TNG. This stuff goes 'round and 'round. The series will find its niche.) jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 8 Feb 1994 05:33:28 -0500 Subject: Soul Hunter -- B+ / D (Spoiler When you say that you don't understand how the small thrust of the coffin could've carried it away from the statino since "anything released from the statin must also be in orbit," I can't help but wonder how closely you were paying attention. A shuttle leaves B5, and moves well away from the station, and the coffin is launched from the shuttle, NOT from B5. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 8 Feb 1994 12:02:25 -0500 Subject: Music change from Gathering to Copeland decided he wanted to tour, and do another album. That kinda took care of doing this season. And in the long run, it's worked out well, because Christopher Franke has in many ways, I think, far exceeded what Stewart did for us, good as that was. There's some killer stuff coming, very aggressive, very moving and powerful. His piece for "And the Sky Full of Stars," -Requiem for the Line-, is brilliant, sad, emotional, brave...just nifty. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 8 Feb 1994 13:07:08 -0500 Subject: Re: Midnight: thoughts... Actually, only a portion of the music for any given episode of B5 consists of synthesized music. Much of it is performed by Christopher's orchestra in Berlin, which is hooked via digital lines to his studio here in town. Not all, certainly, but more than you might think is from that live orchestra. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 8 Feb 1994 16:11:59 -0500 Subject: Re: Thoughts on why some "just Your theory that the two different internal-mind views are inconsistent is, of course, *entirely* contingent upon the assumption that all minds work -- human and alien alike -- work the same way, see themselves in the same way, perceive the world around them and their part in that world in exactly the same way. And, of course, if all minds thought exactly the same...we wouldn't be having this disagreement about inconsistency, yes? jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 10 Feb 1994 00:55:55 -0500 Subject: teeny problem with soul hunter There *is* a beep there; it's just soft. We learned after making that episode that some stations crunch down the sound a bit, dropping the highs. We later bumped up the lows to make it more apparent. It can be heard in most stations, unless they crunch the sound. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 10 Feb 1994 00:56:11 -0500 Subject: Ivanavah is my hero I like Ivanova as well; she's got a very sly, very *sharp* intelligence going there. She can deadpan you and whap you upside the head with a comment delivered almost as an aside, or an afterthought. It's the difference between wit and humor. She doesn't tell jokes, but she's got a great sense of wit. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 10 Feb 1994 00:59:40 -0500 Subject: soul hunter, ferengis & fired First, I'm not "star trekkin" anyone re: the translation on the soul hunter (not needing a machine). He *has* been to earth. Whether or not I have the opportunity down the road to get into this, that happens to be the truth within the B5 "backstory" that's been created. In other episodes, when a translation machine is required, it's used. (In addition to Kosh's and n'grath's translation devices, we use them in other shows, as in "Legacies" with a race called the Pak'ma'ra.) In this one instance, he knew the words. I don't consider that "star trekkin' anybody. Re: your statement that the headwear of the S.H. is "stolen" from the Ferengi...may I be so bold as to respond to your rather loud note with some volume of my own? To wit: watch something other than Star Trek, and maybe spend a little time learning stuff about your own world. The headware is based upon the kind used in various african and aboriginal tribes. Trek didn't invent it; we have photos of its use through history, as well as sketches going back further. As it happens, the costume designer has never seen "DS9," doesn't watch TNG, has no idea what a Ferengi is. Neither do I intend to not do something, based in real history, just because some other show has done drawn on that same background. You clearly think that if something appeared in ST, then ST must have invented it, and that if it appears anywhere else, it must've been influence by ST. Wrong on both counts. I would suggest that you have been watching too much ST, and not nearly enough of the Discovery Channel. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 10 Feb 1994 01:05:44 -0500 Subject: Q to JMS: Make-up Time Makeup takes anywhere from 2-3 hours for our main characters on a regular basis. In some cases, we've done something pretty close to full body prosthetics on G'Kar, and that is nearly double the normal time. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 10 Feb 1994 01:14:54 -0500 Subject: Re: Religion in B5 vs religion Yes, ST says that religion is dead by the 23rd century, but a) this ain't ST, and b) I think it's hogwash. I'm an atheist, and certainly I wouldn't object to more people sharing that attitude. But the reality is that the religious/spiritual impulse has been with us for as long as we've been alive, and it's not going to just stop suddenly in the next 200 years. If anything, if you look at Eastern Europe, you're seeing a resurgence there. Your statement is predicated upon a) something massive and profound permanently changing the belief system of b) every person on the planet. At what point does it change for every single person on the planet? And elsewhere? Where is the switch thrown? People run into problems in extrapolation when they make the assumption that things will be *drastically* different (barring some kine (kind) of real disaster, obviously; if a meteor crashes into the central United States, it's going to have a pretty substantial affect on the people living there) from what's going on now. Fr'instance...the B&W SF *musical* "Just Imagine," made in the 1930s, set in the 1980s. In the movie, people have numbers instead of names, they eat pills instead of food, all the usual cliches. And, of course, they were wrong. You're looking at 200-300 years as if it's a long time, which is a uniquely American point of view. Go to Europe some time, stand in buildings that've been around longer than this nation, five, six, seven hundred years. Go to New Grange in Ireland, stand as I did in the burial mound, the oldest man-made structure in the *world*, made before metal tools had been invented...and you get a sense of what *time* is. 300 years is a blink. I am an atheist. But I'm also a writer. And a writer is charged with the responsibility of being as honest as he can in his work. The religious impulse, little as it appeals to me, remains one part of our species' attempt to define itself, and our place in the universe. And it must be dealt with with a modicum of respect, and honesty. What you like in ST may be more what you like, what you hope, but neither of us genuinely *knows* for certain what's going to happen 250 years from now, so they're both equally valid views. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 10 Feb 1994 01:14:54 -0500 Subject: Ship Type Grumbling Re: non-sleek starships...the commercial transports we use (like the one attacked in MOTFL), the Iksha Battleglobe ("Deathwalker"), a very interesting ship in "Mind War," and a few others. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 10 Feb 1994 09:41:35 -0500 Subject: Re: BABYLON 5 To elicit attent "Tell you what, as soon as JMS publishes a note to the effect that he's going to have a realistic hetero character, I'll send him a nice note of appreciatoin and support, and see if I can get all the hetero newspapers to carry articles about why we should give B5 a chance, because it will have unfashionable hetero types in it." I'm going to have a realistic hetero character in B5. Several, in fact. Your serve. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 10 Feb 1994 09:53:42 -0500 Subject: JMS: Larry DiTillio, RPG? No word yet on any B5 RPGs, though it would be a perfect candidate. And Larry's the right one to write it (assuming I'm not keeping him busy on other stuff). jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 10 Feb 1994 10:02:46 -0500 Subject: Re: USA Today Review--Londo is The hairpiece used for Londo is woven backwards, so it'll hang upward, for lack of a better term. Held in place with spray. The costume is notable for its detail work...lots of medals, intricate symbols (scarab/beetle type jewels on the shoulder and collar), with many layers. Beyond that,it's kinda hard to describe. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 11 Feb 1994 01:10:38 -0500 Subject: Re: BABYLON 5 To Include Gay/B I must admit that I am amazed by your ability to fortell the future. This must come in very handy in Vegas. You start with an assumption of what I might do -- your opinion based on what someone else has said -- then make that into a fact that I AM going to do it, and then say you have trouble with my decision; you assume it's going to be handled in a certain fashion, and then condemn that fashion; you say that issues are going to be raised, and you have trouble with that issue; you say the genetic factor will be brought up, which hasn't been proven, and then question the ethics of doing so. Let me state this as simply as possible: 1) You are wrong in just about every particular. You do not know what I am going to do. To make a guess, based on zip from me, then condemn actions based on a guess that is TOTALLY INACCURATE is truly the ultimate straw-man. Let me restate: you are completely and totally wrong in your speculations on the issues, and how this will be handled. You don't have to guess, you don't have to assume, I'm telling you straight out: you're wrong. 2) You're a boob. Please try to refrain from prophesy until and unless you are biblically empowered by a considerably higher source. jms From: straczynski@genie5.geis.com Date: 17 Feb 1994 02:18:39 -0500 Subject: Re: BABYLON 5 To Include Gay/B Let me respond only to two points in your message. The rest seem hardly worthy of response. I am not, as you imply, going for "brownie points" from anyone. I am telling a story. I am telling the story that I've wanted to tell for seven years. I have no interest in currying favor from any group, any organization, any fringe or mainstream elements. You don't work for seven years to create the chance to tell your own story just to turn it over to the influence of others. Did it every occur to you -- for even a *smidgen* of a second -- that maybe, just maybe, what I'm doing with B5 is being done BECAUSE IT ADVANCES THE STORY? Because it is a legitimate part of the story? You seem to think that if someone does something in this area, it HAS to proceed from either a personal political agenda, or the enforced agenda of others. Which is a load of absolute and utter crap. I don't care who signs on board, or who's offended. That's not my concern. My concern is in telling a story, as best as I am able. Period. To your second point, that if violence on TV is open to congressional inquiry, then nothing is wrong in "questioning (how) political and social issues are presented in entertainment programming." Well, I'm glad someone has finally come out of the woodwork on this one. This is exactly what happens in this situation. Everybody waves the big VIOLENCE bugaboo around to get pressure built behind them...and then they begin to use this huge stick to go after their OTHER agendas, the legislation of ideas, curtailment of notions and issues that they don't personally like. It's happened again and again, in comics, in kid's programs, in libraries across the country, in the recording industry, and now they're trying to do it to TV. The hard part is always getting them to ADMIT that this is on their minds. Thank you for breaking the silence. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 11 Feb 1994 06:07:47 -0500 Subject: Questions to JMS The only meaning to "All alone in the night" is in its surface; no hidden subtext. But it is a cool image. There's simply nothing that I can say about Kosh just now. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 11 Feb 1994 18:44:20 -0500 Subject: Re: Mojo answers FX question Mojo is incorrect. The regular footage of live-action stuff on B5 is shot widescreen, with the regular aspect ratio emphasized generally for initial broadcast in that format. We picked footage from various scenes already shot for use in the main title sequence; compare Delenn and Sinclair walking in the central corridor in the main title, with the same identical shot in "Soul Hunter." The widescreen is not a cropped image; there's more on either side. Ditto other shots in that opening. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 11 Feb 1994 18:44:23 -0500 Subject: JMS: Starfury question The engines being placed on the ends of the wings was primarily a decision based on maneuverability; but as you say, it would also make maintenance easier as well. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 11 Feb 1994 18:44:42 -0500 Subject: Mojo answers FX question Mojo...Mojo...c'mere, Mojo...I wanna talk to you...siddown...no, look, I'm not gonna hurt you, Mojo...Mojo...we don't film the live action stuff on this show in 3:1 aspect ratio. It's widescreen, Mojo. Super 1:78:1. Go pick up a copy of dailies, Mojo, it's right at the start of the tape. We crop the sides for normal broadcast. Look at the main title, Mojo, notice a slight difference between the main title shots from "Parliament" and the broadcast version in the episode itself...like...IT'S SUBSTANTIALLY WIDER AT EITHER END?! Don't run, Mojo...come back...stand still...it's just a baseball bat, Mojo...we're gonna play a little game...Mojo...Mojo...COME BACK HERE! jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 11 Feb 1994 18:45:05 -0500 Subject: JMS: Outtakes? Yes, we're keeping the outtakes...somewhere. I should check, see how much we've got now. Very funny stuff. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 11 Feb 1994 18:45:21 -0500 Subject: Re: Music change from Gatherin The "Requiem for the Line" music appears in "And the Sky Full of Stars," which airs in about 5 weeks. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 12 Feb 1994 02:24:01 -0500 Subject: Re: soul hunter, ferengis & fi You're correct; information is *not* willingly shared among the various races. It's hoarded and used and sold. And yes, humans would probably have *heard* of Soul Hunters, distantly, as a legend. I see no reason why they would believe they existed, particularly with a title like that, unless and until actually encountering one. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 12 Feb 1994 02:27:57 -0500 Subject: JMS : Babylon 5 legal question It's never come up, and probably never will, but in terms of backstory, yes, it was legalized quite some time ago. There are only a certain number of drugs not allowed on B5; those which would lead to destructive, violent behavior that would disrupt the station, and Dust, about which you won't be hearing for a while. Near as I can figure, all grass makes you want to do is sit around eating pizza and watching old Lucy reruns.... jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 12 Feb 1994 02:28:29 -0500 Subject: JMS? Who's Vice-Pres.? :-) The Earth Alliance Vice-President is a character named Morgan Clark. But you don't need to know that for a while yet.... jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 12 Feb 1994 02:30:27 -0500 Subject: Re: Universe Today on paper?! It's very easy to show things being different 250 years from now. You just have people running around using numbers instead of names, have people eating pills instead of hard food, using personal flyers, having their children raised entirely by machine.... In fact, all of that has been done...in an SF musical called "JUst Imagine," made in the 1930s, about life....in the 1980s. And it was completely, totally off-base. There's plenty of extrapolation in this show...phased plasma weapons, hyperspace, the Psi Corps, other political areas, on and on...and that has some great interest for me. But for me, what the show is *most* about is how we are the same, not how we are different. A key theme in this series is that this is US out there, in the stars, recognizeably US. You cite the date 1721 as how things were "different." People got married, held jobs, raised children, separated, had affairs, fought in wars, read books and the few pamphlets that were available, corresponded, on and on. We do those same things today. The *chrome* of technology has changed, but our basic human nature has not. Nor will it in the next 250 years. Re: "Universe Today." It's recycled material, light and portable, read it and trash it. Even Asimov noted that there is nothing quite so portable as a piece of paper, or as efficient. Computers were supposed to end the paper mountains inside corporate offices. Have they? No. One look at my (or any) office shows that computers have cause MORE paper mountains, not fewer. So why not extrapolate to "newspapers" that are tied into a major web, printed fresh in your quarters or thereabouts every day, with all the news you'd like to see printed, and the stuff you don't much care about left out? Customized newspapers, skewed toward your interests. THAT is "UT." I just don't much want to sit there and explain the darned thing because it's just more exposition. And who says the Dodgers won't be here 200 years from now? They're still going (reasonably) strong after nearly a century already. What will suddenly happen in the world that all the world's baseball teams will simply vanish? There seems to be this sense that at some point in the coming future, somebody will throw a switch, and suddenly 90% of the things we're familiar with will just vanish...and I think that's nonsense. What I want to do with this show is to connect our past, our present, and our future, melding familiar images with new ones. This isn't what you're used to seeing. But it's what I want to *do* with it. Otherwise all you have are unattainable futures about people who we barely recognize as being humans, doing things we can't relate to. I'm sorry, but that just doesn't interest me. There's plenty of extrapolation coming down the road. The first and foremost mistake people make about this show is seeing one or three episodes, that this is all there's going to be. Wrong. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 12 Feb 1994 05:15:04 -0500 Subject: Re: Concerns about Scientific Re: the question of consistency/inconsistency in the B5 universe: where you get inconsistency is generally when you have more than one voice in the show, creation by committee or different administrations. B5 is my show, and it's as consistent as I am...which means sometimes you'll catch something small, a glitch between scripts written far apart (calling the main console Station One instead of the Primary Console), but on the big issues...I doubt very much it'll happen. I've thought out this universe pretty thoroughly over the last 7 years. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 12 Feb 1994 05:17:03 -0500 Subject: June Lockhart (sp?) June Lockhart is *not* a regular or recurring character on B5; she appears in one episode, "The Quality of Mercy." jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 13 Feb 1994 00:42:08 -0500 Subject: Questions re Centauris in "Pur The correct term is the Centauri Republic. It can be called an empire, but that's the name. Trakis, Adira's owner, was not a Centauri, but (and this is something we may bring up at some point down the road), was at one point a Centauri slave. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 13 Feb 1994 06:41:27 -0500 Subject: Shoes & foreheads Don't know if GAribaldi's shoes have a custom tread or not; it's possible. Londo's spots don't vary with stress; sometimes they come through more depending on the lighting. And yeah, I love the costuming. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 13 Feb 1994 06:41:35 -0500 Subject: Commentary Yes, I try to log on here about once a day, and though it's getting tougher, I still read through *all* the messages in this area, though at times I skim a bit. From my perspective, I try not to get in the way of the discussion, by either encouraging or discouraging positive or negative comments. If I think someone is being unfair, or is just coming in to lob in a firecracker, watch everyone scatter and yell, and then run away (as the occasional spineless mindfucker among us is wont to do), I either fire back, or simply ignore the post. The one major reason I decided to begin this interaction, despite CONSIDERABLE discourgement and disbelief from my peers, is that I think it may be of some use, and because I think that one should be willing to stand publicly with what you create, and because though many criticisms are issues of taste or subjective preference, sometimes (fairly often, actually), I learn something from the discussion, or I'm corrected in something, and that realignment is eventually reflected in the show. I'm giving some serious thought to either revamping n'grath or killing him off given the reaction (paired with my own). I won't be dictated to, but in some cases, as with n'grath, I may be uncertain, but willing to try and see if the experiment works. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't, and the general perception here seems close to my own. In addition, I was initially going to gloss over some of the legal aspects of the Psi Corps in "The Quality of Mercy," but when so many people expressed interest in how that worked, and when I saw some measure of confusion about it, I took the time to indicate how the legal aspects work when it came time to complete that script, thus answering the questions. Sure, there've been more hostile or abusive or insulting messages posted here, primarily to get a reaction...I've seen that game before, and I'm neither impressed nor annoyed. The general level of the discussion -- pro AND con -- is still generally of a high level, and quite revealing. The experiment continues. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 13 Feb 1994 06:48:40 -0500 Subject: Re: Soul Hunter Re: Delenn's alien-esque qualities...I have two photos from the set that are favorites. I was walking through the offices to the stage, when I saw Mira in full make up in her Grey Council robes, picking up the day's shooting schedule. I saw her, said hi from down the hall, raised the camera. I snapped a picture. Raised the camera again. And in that one instant, she straightened, lowered her chin, something about her face and her body language absolutely altered. I snapped a second photo. Photo #1 is a picture of Mira Furlan made up to look like a Minbari. Photo #2 is a picture of Delenn. Damndest thing I'ved ever seen.... jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 13 Feb 1994 06:50:06 -0500 Subject: JMS-questions for ya There's still rock and roll, plus other new musical forms that have come along, and still some franchises. TZ3 is being played on various local stations, but not everywhere. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 13 Feb 1994 06:50:15 -0500 Subject: JMS? Actors & Arcs Some of the cast know the full extent of their character's story, some know a little, some know very little. In those cases where we need to set stuff up for down the line, we have to explain some of these things. Some of the cast want to know their future, some don't. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 13 Feb 1994 06:57:23 -0500 Subject: B5 Newbie with Brilliant Correct: Tristan Rodgers makes an appearance in "The War Prayer." jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 13 Feb 1994 21:12:24 -0500 Subject: How much does one episode cost The B5 budget is, alas, classified. As for more gif files...I wouldn't be surprised to see them down the road a piece. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 13 Feb 1994 21:12:29 -0500 Subject: Re: Starfury Launching Negative. If you'll look to the right of your ascii drawing, you'll see a square (round in the series) section. Several cobra-shaped arms surround that section. That's where the fighters are launched. You'll get a better view of this area as we go along, particularly in an episode called "Survivors." jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 13 Feb 1994 21:22:37 -0500 Subject: Re: Ban on creative works? Huh Let me put this another way, to see if this may have more influence on your thoughts. BABYLON 5 is owned by PTEN. The names, the characters, *and the situations* are all part of what is owned through copyright, trademark and other legal means. It can then choose to whom to license the right, for a fee, to produce material within that universe...novels, comics, whatever. That sub-entity then has the legal right to publish works that use the B5 universe. (And it's not just the names; if every character is the same, and the context is the same, and a work appears within that context with the names just changed, it is still copyright infringement.) It is in the vested interests of PTEN to maintain ownership of its copyright and trademarks. Otherwise why should any publisher pay for the rights to, say, publish novels in that universe? If a work appears in the public domain, using copyrighted characters/situations, and is NOT gone after legally, then that portion of the original creation has itself slipped into public domain. PTEN is currently going after several of the companies that have provided services to B5, and then have gone around and published ads in various magazines using photos from B5 *without* the PTEN copyright notice. Those specific images run the risk now of becoming part of the public domain. This has to be stopped and will be stopped, by PTEN. I understand the need, the utility, and the fun of fanzines. I've read many and own many. I, however, am not PTEN. I understand the desire to play with the characters, in electronic or printed form. But that has nothing to do with PTEN's desire to protect its copyright. The electronic medium -- BBSing -- has been found in several court hearings to constitute a form of publication. There are, in fact, now several electronic publishers who circulate books/stories via this medium. Any work appearing in this medium is subject to commonlaw copyright, so that the writer of that work owns it...which brings that writer into direct conflict if that work infringes upon the copyright of someone else. If a flood of B5 stories (or camoflaged clones) began to appear on this or any other net, it would force PTEN to intervene legally with injunctions, cease-and-desist letters, and so on. My own feelings about this really don't enter into it. It becomes a two-sided risk. On my behalf, I would simply have to withdraw rather than run the risk of being sued for something somebody might write that I might have seen. It doesn't have to be proven that I even saw it as long as I had *access* to seeing it. On the other hand, those doing so run the risk of entanglements of their own. Is it fun? No. Not for either of us. Part of the reason I created the B5 universe was to see what other people would do with it. But this is the law. And the law doesn't have to be fair. It simply is. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 13 Feb 1994 21:22:38 -0500 Subject: Harlan Ellison and Babylon 5 Harlan is our conceptual consultant. His job is to sit perched on my shoulder like Jiminy Cricket and point out to me the chuckholes, detours, and disasters-in-the-making that I might otherwise stumble into as I galumph my way through this show...and to harangue me and keep me on the SF straight and narrow and to challenge me constantly to do better. He also reviews stories, helped write the opening narration, has given us several good concepts on the running of the B5 station, and otherwise...well...consults conceptually. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 13 Feb 1994 22:17:43 -0500 Subject: Why do B5 command staff go out Why Sinclair goes out on missions: someone here just left a far better reply than I could write. Check it out. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 15 Feb 1994 17:58:00 -0500 Subject: Did one need USA Today's Permi "Universe Today" is a fictional newspaper, and thus no permission was required. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 15 Feb 1994 17:58:01 -0500 Subject: Babylon-5 Fan Clubs? Since the series began to air, there's been a flood of mail and calls, so some kind of organization will be necessary to handle this, though no framework has been finalized yet. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 15 Feb 1994 20:31:55 -0500 Subject: Re: B5 comments (spoilers) You ask, "Why would the Earth Alliance act this way?" The question is, why *wouldn't* they? Minus some limited supplementary contributions from the Centauri and the Minbari, the EA pays for this. It's their dollar, they get to call the shots. This isn't the Federation, where everyone's equally part of things. The EA provides B5 as a service to other species, and as a meeting place. It reflects the priorities and to some extent the prejudices of those who built it. No, it's not a perfect or polite setup. Nobody said it had to be. Nor do I feel it HAS to be perfect or polite. jms From: straczynski@genie4.geis.com Date: 15 Feb 1994 20:43:26 -0500 Subject: Soul Hunter and General Sinclair gets into some real strong arguments in many episodes; he is almost *constantly* at odds with Dr. Franklin in "Believers" (and just about loses it at one point), he's arguing and exhausted nearly the entire episode for "By Any Means" (and *does* lose it at one point, in a way that says get-the-hell-out, and is also weirdly funny). Anyway, it's definitely there. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 15 Feb 1994 22:17:47 -0500 Subject: I like everything but.... Errr....when the ships are hit, they don't just vanish/get totally consumed; debris *does* fly off. Check again. jms From: straczynski@genie4.geis.com Date: 15 Feb 1994 22:32:37 -0500 Subject: Re: +/- Review: Midnight The symbol Talia wears isn't a Link or any other kind of communications system; it is *strictly* a form of identification, tagging her as a telepath and a member of the Psi Corps. It serves no other function. jms From: straczynski@genie4.geis.com Date: 15 Feb 1994 22:32:42 -0500 Subject: Soul Hunter comments In my original B5 material, the leader of the Grey Council was always Dukhat, going back 7 years. I saw no reason to change it. The moment I begin whipsawing my show back and forth to avoid tripping over somebody else, I'm just going to end up tripping over my own two feet. And that was Johnny Sekka's actual accent (he's Nigerian-born). jms From: straczynski@genie5.geis.com Date: 16 Feb 1994 05:26:25 -0500 Subject: JMS Question: Earth Alliance The EA is fairly large, but not on a par with the Centauri at this point. There are various space platforms/colonies, colonies on the Moon, Mars, a major transfer point off Io...they've gone in and "helped" a number of bronze-tech worlds (that happened to have certain resources useful to EA), and are generally spreading like mice in a cheese factory. jms From: straczynski@genie5.geis.com Date: 16 Feb 1994 05:26:34 -0500 Subject: JMS: What else is tabu here be Fairly fleshed out stories or detailed suggestions are really the only thing that would cause a problem...everything else seems to be fair game. jms From: straczynski@genie4.geis.com Date: 16 Feb 1994 05:46:18 -0500 Subject: Re: +/- Review: Midnight She wore the Psi symbol on her belt. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 16 Feb 1994 10:53:30 -0500 Subject: B5 Versus Tekwar in LA Forget B5 vs. Tekwar in the ratings...I just realized that one of our best episodes in this first batch, "The Parliament of Dreams," is going to go right up against the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan skating part of the Olympics. We're doomed. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 16 Feb 1994 11:04:14 -0500 Subject: Re: JMS: Centauri Republic or Sinclair functions within the parameters of Earthforce Command, but much in the way as a provisional governor might function. He is answerable both to his superior officers in Earthforce, *as well as* the Babylon 5 Senate Oversight and Appropriations Committee. A senatorial liaison often works between Sinclair and Earthdome (the EA capital city). jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 16 Feb 1994 11:09:35 -0500 Subject: JMS: Centauri Republic or Empi It was a slip of the tongue, to some extent; it's the Centauri Republic. And very definitely there's a Roman influence on that particular civilization. Re: scripts...a topic for another time.... jms From: straczynski@genie5.geis.com Date: 17 Feb 1994 02:18:40 -0500 Subject: "Bab" prefix Re: your concern about putting "bab" in front of everything (the message to which you responded mentioned babcommand, babalert, babguard and so on)...it's not, and we don't. There is only one thing with that previx, BabCom. That's all. There ain't no more. The person who thought he heard bab-alert misheard MedAlert. The concern as raised has *nothing* to do with our show. jms From: straczynski@genie4.geis.com Date: 17 Feb 1994 03:35:48 -0500 Subject: Christy Marx Yes, this Christy Marx is the same as the one who writes games and has written comics as well. jms From: straczynski@genie4.geis.com Date: 17 Feb 1994 03:35:39 -0500 Subject: Re: What are those blue fins? For the record: B5 is *not* purely solar-powered. There's a HUGE fusion reactor at the far end of the station that takes up almost that entire long section. jms From: straczynski@genie5.geis.com Date: 17 Feb 1994 07:12:15 -0500 Subject: Babylon 5 '89 Don't really remember what the plan would've been if we'd gotten the Go order years earlier; but one way or another we would've made it, that's all I know. Nothing's stopping this thing. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 17 Feb 1994 07:36:15 -0500 Subject: Re: Ban on creative works? Huh "Why can't I write a story using the characters from B5 and publish it here for all to read?" Because it's a violation of copyright and trademark. What part of that sentence don't you understand? If you write a story and -- using your own terms -- "publish it here" that instance of commonlaw copyright is a violation of the PTEN copyright and trademark. My own personal feelings notwithstanding, *it's the law*. The only thing that really bothers me in this whole conversation is that I didn't want to get into a discussion of legalities, or lawyers, or copyright infringement...all I said at the beginning was that I would like to be here, to stay here, to participate in this experiment. And I asked, as a courtesy, to be kept away from any story ideas because it opens me up to legal liability. That's all. Just a courtesy, in exchange for the 3 hours a day I spend on this system, reading 500 messages a day now, to keep the lines of communication open. Why is the request for a courtesy insufficient, and people have to go to the legal aspect? jms From: straczynski@genie5.geis.com Date: 17 Feb 1994 07:12:15 -0500 Subject: Babylon 5 '89 Don't really remember what the plan would've been if we'd gotten the Go order years earlier; but one way or another we would've made it, that's all I know. Nothing's stopping this thing. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 17 Feb 1994 17:47:25 -0500 Subject: JMS Question: Where Were They? The Centauri Republic tended to go after species where they could get some advantage; they'd find a world on the fringe of being able to hit space, with a technological base, move in and take over. It's sharper and easier than taking over a world without tech; not much to offer. By the time we got to that point, they had begun the decline of their empire, and basically greeted us with a shrug. And there is no EA rule about non-interference. The only real rule applies to surveying distant worlds for mineral resources, and a restriction against strip-mining worlds that contain sentient life. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 17 Feb 1994 21:15:59 -0500 Subject: JMS: "Infection" -- no spoiler Thanks. Sinclair's final speech there is the simplest truth about space exploration that I can think of...and the most compelling..and the most overlooked. As Henry Kissinger once said, "It has the added benefit of being true." jms 10716 :::::::::::::: From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 18 Feb 1994 02:42:35 -0500 Subject: Born to the Purple (Minor Spo Fabiana didn't shave her head to play Adira; that's a prosthetic head piece. Ditto with all our Centauriy women. (Funnily enough, the one time we DID have a bald woman as a background extra, those not in the know on stage kept commenting on how fake the bald-cap looked....) The planet behind B5 ain't the moon. This is a LOT further out. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 18 Feb 1994 02:57:58 -0500 Subject: To JMS: They still use paper? It's not a paper,but synthetic material. A customized (to each person) copy of UT comes out in your quarters, you take it with you, read it, dump it in the recycler and get it again the next day. And the "help" given by EA to bronze-tech worlds is on a "whether you want it or not" basis. No prime directive here. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 18 Feb 1994 03:36:05 -0500 Subject: The annoying little space shot We did a lot of exterior transitional shots in the first few eps of B5 to reinforce where we are and what this is; it diminishes in frequency the deeper into the series you get. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 18 Feb 1994 04:42:36 -0500 Subject: Concerns about Scientific real Let me ask you a question: let's say we zip back in time for a moment. It's now the year 1944. Someone writes a science fiction story about life 50 years from now, 1994. And in the course of that story, which gets into nuclear powered vessels, Mars probes, space shuttles and laser surgery...you get references to such outrageous ideas as Psychic hotlines, crop circles, and other things. Does it stop being a science fiction story? Perhaps...but it is fundamentally more *real* than if you pretended none of that existed, or tried to explain it all away. The universe it too big, and 110 episodes is too short, to try and explain away *everything*. I think that there should be mysteries. Because mysteries will always be with us...and any attempt at SF that tries to deny that basic element of our existence is being untruthful to the history of human experience. The whole science fiction/science fantasy argument is fairly recent in SF, as various parties drew up sides and closed ranks. There's the Analog crowd, and the F&SF crowd...prior to Campbell and a few others really hammering down a set of rules, SF encompassed a whole *range* of ideas, and freely crossed borders, using various elements. The classic Mark Twain story, "Sold to Satan" (I'm pretty sure that's the title) combines SF elements (the purposes of this new discovery called radium) with the supernatural (said component is a prime ingredient in Satan's physiology). Now obviously I'm not going to do that, I have no desire to go that far. But I don't think that you have to sit down and quantify every single mystery in life and reduce it to a catchphrase or some technobabble; why can't there still be wonders and mysteries and the unsolved in 2258, as we have them today? Because you could write that 1944 story about 1994 without crop circles, or dial-a-psychic hotlines...and maybe it would be (by the lights of some) valid SF, it would *not* be valid extrapolation. It would ESPECIALLY not be valid social extrapolation. It comes down to: do you want an agenda behind a story, or do you want a story about where people may be in 200 years, and the kinds of things they might experience? jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 18 Feb 1994 05:22:29 -0500 Subject: (attn JMS) The New Group Debat Correct: when we've told our five year story, the B5 series comes to an end in terms of original episodes, and then will, like all other TV series, go into long-term reruns. There's one possible spin-off that has always been feasible, but it would not be a B5 series, rather following one thread in a different direction. But that also has a definite end, after which there *can't* be any more followups, for reasons I can't now go into. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 18 Feb 1994 06:11:25 -0500 Subject: Q: JMS: Station ownership The EA has owned all of the Babylons; 1-3 were sabotaged early in construction, so it wasn't too much of a loss. They dumped a BIG budget into B4, and when that died, barely passed the budget for #5, skimping all the way, cutting it down to bare bones operating expenses. They will and would never approve a #6. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 18 Feb 1994 11:17:48 -0500 Subject: JMS Query; ref n'grath Garibaldi is quite aware of n'grath...and knowing that if he just vanished, somebody'd take his place in five minutes, prefers the trouble he knows to the trouble he'd have to track down. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 18 Feb 1994 17:35:18 -0500 Subject: Re: Ban on creative works? Huh Obviously, I can't say anything officially here saying "Go write fanfic to your heart's content." Because PTEN would (correctly) stick my head on a pike in the middle of downtown Hollywood. However, let me be ABSOLUTELY clear in this: I have NEVER said, "Don't write it." All that I have EVER said is, "Don't put it in a place where I can see it or stumble over it." Email is a private system; so is a closed mailing list. I'm not here to be PTEN's eyes and ears; I really don't care what happens out there in that respect. My only real concern is that whatever it is that's happening, *I don't see it.* It's better for all concerned if I don't see it, or don't have access to it. So on a personal level, I have no real problem with what you propose. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 20 Feb 1994 05:29:46 -0500 Subject: Infection (spoilers) I allow a small smile...in the course of any given script, I put in little things that I figure nobody will ever notice, but which for me help just a bit to keep on track with the character, and which may resonate to anyone paying attention. You cite Sinclair's line about joining Garibaldi "on the LINE," and Garibaldi noting that Sinclair keeps putting his life "on the LINE," and the similarity to the phrase "the Battle of the Line." It was a throwaway...but a conscious one. He's still fighting the same battle. He's never stopped. In one way or another, he keeps putting himself out there, caught in a loop.... jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 20 Feb 1994 05:59:26 -0500 Subject: Re: Talia's badge The Psi Corps identification is worn both with pride and as a warning or advisory to others. No bikini-tags yet. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 20 Feb 1994 05:59:40 -0500 Subject: JMS: Psi Corps Symbol Er...the symbol Lyta wears isn't "an interconnected IU that looks an awful lot like the greek 'psi,'" ...it *IS* the Greek letter Psi, as is appropriate for a group of telepaths. That was always our intent. (Funnily enough, while in college getting my first degree in Clinical Psychology, I belonged to Psi Chi, the national honor society in psychology. Small world.) jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 20 Feb 1994 21:04:34 -0500 Subject: Little touches I live for (spo Re: "That kind of direction." Not to be nit-picky, but it was scripted that we would come to G'Kar just as she got to that line. Not everything is from the director.... jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 20 Feb 1994 21:05:30 -0500 Subject: JMS - two questions... Don't know re: Harlan's photo. The reader doing the Tennyson piece was just a regular voice-over actor. The piece is from "Ulysses." jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 21 Feb 1994 01:18:43 -0500 Subject: JMS: Generic EZ Q's The Earth/Minbari war started with a Minbari first encounter (by us) that went tragically wrong and resulted in a firefight, in which the leader of the Grey Council was killed. Kosh's ship is still on B5, except when he takes it out. Virtually all of the B5 story takes place within one galaxy. Yes, Earth religions have had to come to grips with the existence of alien cultures; and religions from both sides have filtered into human an alien life. We won't be dealing with that this season because we deal with the topic of religion a lot this season, and don't want to get too bogged down with it. Franklin's associate wasn't a Foundationist, no. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 21 Feb 1994 03:42:16 -0500 Subject: "Infections" vs. Guyver (spoi I've never been a big fan of japanese animation, and have never heard of Guyver before it came up in this discussion. (I actually thought that the Guyver references were some kind of reference to McGuyver for a long time, until finally I began to suss out that we were talking animation here.) jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 21 Feb 1994 04:47:58 -0500 Subject: Re: Infection Re: the scene in which Sinclair tells an INS reporter that humanity has to stay in space because eventually our local star will go out and make futile our million-year struggle through evolution and blood, you say, "It's also been done a zillion times before." Name five. jms From: straczynski@genie4.geis.com Date: 16 Feb 1994 04:47:25 -0500 Subject: Re: Babylon 5 Grade Report: "M For what it's worth, in "Raiding Party," there's a line or two of dialogue mentioning that the Raider ships are meant for atmospheric and space maneuvering, with the recommendation that someone "aim for the airfoils," as that's the most vulnerable spot. So that *is* specified at one point. jms From: straczynski@genie4.geis.com Date: 16 Feb 1994 04:47:31 -0500 Subject: JMS (et al.) A treatise on Cha Your analysis sounds just about right on from where I sit.... jms From: straczynski@genie4.geis.com Date: 16 Feb 1994 04:47:35 -0500 Subject: I liked it. Re: the shape of the doors...they're set to notch into the wall, and in the case of depressurization, bolts shoot through the "teeth" that insert into the wall, to lock it securely into place. It's much more airtight that way than a conventional door that swings or opens in the middle in case of an accident that opens a portion of the station to vacuum. jms From: straczynski@genie4.geis.com Date: 16 Feb 1994 04:47:39 -0500 Subject: Re: "Midnight" reactions There was a problem with the initial episodes using the garden: we kept turning in good looking shots, and couldn't figure out why they looked weird later. Turns out that the people at the color lab/video transfer facility (one person in particular) kept adjusting the color and gamma TO MATCH HIS MONITOR. We finally found out about this and yelled. jms From: straczynski@genie4.geis.com Date: 16 Feb 1994 04:47:42 -0500 Subject: Re: RFD: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylo "I certainly hope B5 can do (Battlestar Galactica) justice!" (whoah...must've hit him harder than I thought....) jms From: straczynski@genie5.geis.com Date: 16 Feb 1994 05:24:06 -0500 Subject: Re: query to JMS....... There are no immediate plans to expand on the Sinclair Aircraft piece; some things are best just left there. The logo is real, btw; we found it, and got permission to use it. jms From: straczynski@genie5.geis.com Date: 16 Feb 1994 05:24:13 -0500 Subject: Soul Hunter - A review of sort Doing the intro was something that PTEN wants for all its shows; if you check out Trax and Kung Fu, you'll see it there, as well. It's my hope that we can trim the narration down by 1/2 in second and subsequent seasons. jms From: straczynski@genie5.geis.com Date: 16 Feb 1994 05:24:57 -0500 Subject: WILL WE VISIT THE VEGITATED IN Yes, we will. In addition to the Zen garden, and the Fresh Air Restaurant, we'll be seeing the Orchard, the Pavillion, and the Maze, though you won't see the last one there for some time. I don't think it shows up until "Chrysalis." jms From: straczynski@genie5.geis.com Date: 16 Feb 1994 05:25:00 -0500 Subject: JMS at Icon? Yes, at this point, I do plan to be at Icon.... jms From: straczynski@genie5.geis.com Date: 16 Feb 1994 05:26:22 -0500 Subject: Transfer point at Io The transfer point off Io is a Jump Gate, the one most generally used by Earthforce. jms (It's not on Io, it's on a station *off* Io.) From: straczynski@genie5.geis.com Date: 17 Feb 1994 02:18:40 -0500 Subject: "Bab" prefix Re: your concern about putting "bab" in front of everything (the message to which you responded mentioned babcommand, babalert, babguard and so on)...it's not, and we don't. There is only one thing with that previx, BabCom. That's all. There ain't no more. The person who thought he heard bab-alert misheard MedAlert. The concern as raised has *nothing* to do with our show. jms From: straczynski@genie5.geis.com Date: 17 Feb 1994 02:18:39 -0500 Subject: Re: BABYLON 5 To Include Gay/B Let me respond only to two points in your message. The rest seem hardly worthy of response. I am not, as you imply, going for "brownie points" from anyone. I am telling a story. I am telling the story that I've wanted to tell for seven years. I have no interest in currying favor from any group, any organization, any fringe or mainstream elements. You don't work for seven years to create the chance to tell your own story just to turn it over to the influence of others. Did it every occur to you -- for even a *smidgen* of a second -- that maybe, just maybe, what I'm doing with B5 is being done BECAUSE IT ADVANCES THE STORY? Because it is a legitimate part of the story? You seem to think that if someone does something in this area, it HAS to proceed from either a personal political agenda, or the enforced agenda of others. Which is a load of absolute and utter crap. I don't care who signs on board, or who's offended. That's not my concern. My concern is in telling a story, as best as I am able. Period. To your second point, that if violence on TV is open to congressional inquiry, then nothing is wrong in "questioning (how) political and social issues are presented in entertainment programming." Well, I'm glad someone has finally come out of the woodwork on this one. This is exactly what happens in this situation. Everybody waves the big VIOLENCE bugaboo around to get pressure built behind them...and then they begin to use this huge stick to go after their OTHER agendas, the legislation of ideas, curtailment of notions and issues that they don't personally like. It's happened again and again, in comics, in kid's programs, in libraries across the country, in the recording industry, and now they're trying to do it to TV. The hard part is always getting them to ADMIT that this is on their minds. Thank you for breaking the silence. jms From: straczynski@genie4.geis.com Date: 17 Feb 1994 03:35:39 -0500 Subject: Re: What are those blue fins? For the record: B5 is *not* purely solar-powered. There's a HUGE fusion reactor at the far end of the station that takes up almost that entire long section. jms From: straczynski@genie4.geis.com Date: 17 Feb 1994 03:35:48 -0500 Subject: Christy Marx Yes, this Christy Marx is the same as the one who writes games and has written comics as well. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 21 Feb 1994 08:10:21 -0500 Subject: B-5: What are they wearing on The devices on the backs of their hands are Links, which function as communications devices, interface with the B5 central computer, can access the PA system and so on. They slap on and off easily. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 21 Feb 1994 08:10:21 -0500 Subject: Re: Concerns about Scientific Just a minor correction: I was never involved with the production or writing of the original V series or miniseries; I was hired by Warners to write a new (and as yet unproduced) 4-hour miniseries to revive the V series in syndication. The project was shelved when it was realized that it would be too expensive to try it for the syndicated market. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 21 Feb 1994 21:57:42 -0500 Subject: JMS: Parliament? A parliament is a gathering of officials, of representatives, which matches the story in terms of representatives of different places, and beliefs. The dreams are the belief systems. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 21 Feb 1994 22:10:25 -0500 Subject: B5 and Cronos The only Cronos movie that I know of is "Kronos," a mexican-filmed black and white film in which an alien device crash-lands and grows to skyscraper size and begins stomping its way across Mexico...looked like a cross between a rubik's cube and a peppermill. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 22 Feb 1994 02:57:23 -0500 Subject: Re: Concerns about Scientific "I object to the PSI stuff because the show was said to be SF." Yes, and telepathy has been dealt with considerably throughout the long history of SF. One of the finest novels in the genre is Alfred Bester's "The Demolished Man." Telepathy has also been used as a valid plot device in SF by Ray Bradbury, Larry Niven, Kurt Vonnegut, Brian Aldiss, John Brunner, Kate Wilhelm, Robert Sheckley, Eric Frank Russell, Walter M. Miller, Anne McCaffrey, Richard Matheson, Fritz Leiber and Samuel Delaney, to name but a FEW. If you want to argue that telepathy isn't a valid area for SF, or doesn't qualify as SF, then your argument is with them, not with me. And you'd lose. (With luck, this will close this discussion once and for all.) jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 22 Feb 1994 04:24:31 -0500 Subject: Re: No more gay talk and Ivano Actually, Ivanova gets to play hero a *lot* in this first season; in "Raiding Party," a little in "War Prayer," more in "Believers," and "A Voice in the Wildereness," and "Legacies," and a whole bunch more. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 22 Feb 1994 04:24:44 -0500 Subject: Stupid Question in "Infection" Actually, the reporter's question was *not* (from a 2258 point of view) stupid. Earth is far enough from the other major races not to have to worry about iminent invasion. At the time of the story, there is a VERY strong isolationist movement growing back home, which you'll hear more about as we go in. Space travel is *expensive*, even in 2258, and there are still a lot of problems to be resolved back home. While the Earth administration in Earthdome keeps pressing to go further and further, various nation/states in the Earth senate are taxed further to finance explorations which they don't always share in equally, the Mars Colony is threatening secession...things are falling apart by degrees. So in light of all that, the question is *absolutely* valid. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 22 Feb 1994 04:25:17 -0500 Subject: Re: MOJO responds to FX chat Re: boring textbooks and keeping you away from physics.... Ladies and gentlemen, the Amazing MOJO, one of the leading minds of the 14th century. I gotta get a bigger ball-bat. Go ahead. Tell Ron you just wrote that here. But wait until I get there first. This one I'd *pay* to see. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 22 Feb 1994 04:25:31 -0500 Subject: Re: ALIEN ACCENTS I quote your message verbatim: "What kind of accent (besides FAKE and FORCED) does the membari (spelling?) lady use? I mean, what country on earth did they model her character's accent from?" (rolling up sleeves) Allow me to show you why you are an idiot. There is a tendency, among the cerebrally impaired, to automatically decide that whatever they don't like is fake, or forced, or cheesy, when they are simply ignorant of what it means, or what it is. Because it isn't instantly familiar, doesn't instantly match what they've seen before, they -- like you -- assume it's being done incorrectly. Mira Furlan is a native-born Yugoslavian (back when that was the name of the country). She came to this country only a year or two ago, fleeing for her life. She had been that nation's premiere actress, having won any number of major awards, including the Palm d'Or at Cannes. But because she refused to endorse either side in that bloodbath, she was hunted by both. The "fake and forced" accent to which you refer...is her native accent. Maybe next time you will take the required moment to *think* before shooting off your mouth, and phrase your question in order to get the required information before making allegations based on your own lack of said information. One doesn't always have to attack something unfamiliar or insult someone's ability just because you don't like something. Because from time to time, you'll prove yourself a boob. Like this time. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 22 Feb 1994 04:26:45 -0500 Subject: Did you need Loyd's of London' No need for Lloyd's permission, just for a casual reference. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 22 Feb 1994 23:16:20 -0500 Subject: (JMS) Research Grants Thanks. And agreed; the state of research grants, particularly for pure-research, but even for more practical applications, is in sorry shape. Other nations invest *massive* amounts of money into research and development, we invest pennies...and we wonder why we're falling behind. No one's looking ahead. It's tragic, and worse than tragic, it's dirt-stick-stone stupid. My condolences. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 23 Feb 1994 00:32:10 -0500 Subject: SPOILERS:The Parliament of Dre "There was one big plot hole: Na'Toth should not have had such an easy time convincing the assassin that she had been assigned as backup." Hmm...as I recall the episode, she *didn't* convince him at all, and in fact was inches away from having him blow her brains out when G'Kar came barrelling down the hall at them.... Just a thought. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 23 Feb 1994 00:32:49 -0500 Subject: JMS: INFLUENCES BESIDES CLASSI In terms of visual-media SF, there have been a lot of influences over the years, mainly in informing my views of what constitutes SF. There are the obvious influences from Twilight Zone and the Outer Limits, as well as Blake's 7 and the Prisoner. Also loved Night Gallery, and still hold some measure of appreciation for the Invaders. My favorite SF films are still (for the most part) those from the fifties and sixties; 2001, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Twenty Million Years to Earth and so on, though clearly there's been a lot of good work since, with Aliens and the Terminator films being favorites. Anime has never really done much for me, I'm afraid. It's hard to really say why; it's not that it offends me or anything, it just hasn't pushed the same buttons for me that other venues have. jms :::::::::::::: gain, putting in phasing problems and other stuff. We're trying to backtrack further and keep it from happening again. (Part of the problem apparently sets in when they do the closed-captioning duping.) jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 23 Feb 1994 15:50:16 -0500 Subject: Re: BABYLON 5 To Include Gay/B Let me put this as simply as I can...in the year 2258, nobody *cares* about your sexual orientation. It doesn't come up. No one makes an issue out of it. There are no discussions, no proclamations, no inquiries, no "how will they react?" It's like being left-handed or right-handed; no one really cares one way or another. Can we now move on past all of this? jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 23 Feb 1994 15:53:58 -0500 Subject: B5mojo: Some things I want to You've already got your wish. You'll see big ships going *boom* in "A Voice in the Wilderness" and firing at each other, and the between the fins movement and other stuff even more outrageous in "Raiding Party." jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 23 Feb 1994 16:25:38 -0500 Subject: "Collision course" in SH (spoi Re: why soul hunter #1's ship was out of control...the second soul hunter comments that they've been tracking him, and caught up with him a few days ago. They attacked, "and he escaped, his ship damaged." That is what brought him here...and led his pursuers to this place as well. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 23 Feb 1994 19:27:51 -0500 Subject: JMS: talkshows Jerry Doyle was recently on the Dini Petty show up in Canada, but as far as I know, no talk show bookings yet, though a few things are in the discussions phase. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 24 Feb 1994 05:24:35 -0500 Subject: Re: JMS: Are you pulling a "St In your complaints regarding the commander flying off on occasional missions (and he only does it about 3 times out of 22 episodes, so I hardly see this as a problem), you are forgetting several other *realities* of military life. If you're a pilot, even as a commander, you have to log in X-number of hours flying time per month in order to continue to qualify for flight pay. This is a *requirement*. And it doesn't just mean flying around the station a few times. Second, many commanders -- as recently as Vietnam and afterward -- did and continue to go out on missions and sorties because it is rather expected of them, and because it maintains the respect of the rest of the squadron(s). Third, and possibly most important, Earthforce is the same as the contermporary Air Force in one important respect: promotion up the ranks is tied *directly* to combat experience and, in this case, combat flying. That's why women fighter pilots and helicopter pilots have been fighting so *vigorously* to be allowed to fly combat missions; they know that they can't be promoted fully up the line without that. Sinclair has no desire to be a commander all his life, he'd like to move on. Hence it behooves him to get in combat time whenever possible. Your statement that it "doesn't wash" has nothing to do with how the military *actually* works, and everything to do with the skewed and inaccurate portrayal of the military that you get from Trek. This is absolutely legitimate, and the B5 mailbox these days is partly crammed with letters from vets thanking us for getting this part right. I suppose I could mention this in passing in dialogue, but then it becomes a matter of sticking in dialogue not because it's important to an episode, but because some folks would like things explained to them. I don't think that's my responsibility. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 24 Feb 1994 10:49:18 -0500 Subject: JMS: Are you pulling a "Star I answered you elsewhere here on this topic earlier this evening. To just nit for a moment, to say that Sinclair picks up "every derelict ship" seems a little unfair...he's picked up *one*, and only one, and only picks up one this entire season. Why him? A) Because he's good at it, B) he could use the flight pay, C) it'll look good on his record, and D) because as he says as he leaves, it's a potential first-contact situation. (NOt to mention E, that he has a death-wish.) I would submit to you that this is NOT the same as having one character do a zillion different jobs on the station. I think that you're reacting to something you've seen on Trek, and are assuming based on an example of one that we're doing it in B5 as well. We're not. Also, in "Purple," Garibaldi sends a different team out to handle the gunfire, so there are others who do things. Question becomes, how many new and recurring characters do you want to introduce? There are currently *14* regular and recurring characters on B5, and there are many folks who are saying that's too many. As it is, we do introduce an aide to Garibaldi who takes care of some stuff for him. Just as Sinclair delegates to Ivanova, and Ivanova delegates to the observation dome techs. I just feel that you're leaping to a conclusion based on a paucity of evidence, built upon your experiences with another show. We're simply not doing this. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 24 Feb 1994 10:49:19 -0500 Subject: Earthdome: where is it? Earthdome is on Earth. In what used to be Geneva. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 25 Feb 1994 00:42:46 -0500 Subject: JMS: Parliament? Dreams? You'll get more on the varied Narn beliefs in "By Any Means Necessary." jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 25 Feb 1994 00:42:50 -0500 Subject: General questions for JMS I could've written B5 as a novel per se, as you say, having written published novels before...and it would've been one more SF novel. No one has really attempted this kind of multi-year story, on this kind of scale before for American TV. (The closest I can come to in terms of other shows is, interestingly enough, "Brisco County Jr." I've been very pleased to see them developing a real story over time.) It's more of a real challenge to try and do it for TV, for starters, and B5 has always struck me as better *suited* for TV. Generally I can get a good sense of what medium a story belongs in, and this one felt like TV.) I enjoy challenges, and doing a show like B5 for TV is a *real* challenge. As for the characters, for the largest part they were created new when they came into replace those characters who were removed from the story arc. There's not much carry-over. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 25 Feb 1994 10:08:16 -0500 Subject: Re: JMS: "See you next Wednesd No, Wednesday was just the day she was due to return; she mentions that her next job has to be finished by Tuesday, and this makes Wednesday the next day she could see him. I'm not terribly enamored of Landis, and would not deliberately stick ANY reference to his work in an episode of mine. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 25 Feb 1994 10:08:45 -0500 Subject: Something I'd like to see (was You've already seen a non-O2 alien wearing a breather in an O2 section; one of the two victims walking down a hall in "Infection" just before they get smeared. Also an alien or two in the gallery in "Midnight," though I don't know how clearly they can be seen. We do it from time to time.... jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 25 Feb 1994 10:08:49 -0500 Subject: Telepath a bad idea? The point you raise is exactly correct; which is why we've set up the Psi Corps in such a way as to *prevent* them from becoming a deus ex machina all the time. This is what's always bothered me about the way "empaths" are treated on ST; it's a terrible invasion of privacy. The Psi Corps has strict rules about who can and can't be scanned, and under what conditions. In "Purple," she couldn't just go scan Trakis; she had to be hired, had to be already engaged in a business capacity, and had to find it *only* in surface thoughts, no deliberate poking. And this is the ONLY -- repeat, the ONLY -- time this is done in the entire season, aside from the accidental run-in with Londo in the pilot episode. We'll get deeper into the rules and regs of the Psi Corps as we go, further establishing that there's a lot they're expressly forbidden from doing by law. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 25 Feb 1994 10:10:12 -0500 Subject: JMS: Some questions We won't see G'Kar's mate this season. In time. And yes, we will learn a little more about telepaths in the other species, and how they work, in "Legacies" and in "Eyes." jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 25 Feb 1994 13:36:29 -0500 Subject: RE: BTTP and semi-clad women ( I confess I don't see the problem. In real life, some women are scientists, and doctors, and atheletes...and some women dance in bars, some women hook part- or full-time. Some men are scholars and diplomats and teachers...and some men are gigolos and thieves and *also* dance in bars. Where exactly is the problem in portraying both sides of this? Have we become so concerned with being politically correct that we can not show a legitimate part of human existence? B5 has all kinds, and both sides of all kinds. Male and female, equally. I "chose" exotic dancers for a kind of sleazy, not-entirely legitimate operation, a backroom club. What would one *expect* to find there? Opera singers? You look at the situation, and you choose what is *appropriate to the situation*. I would also point out that the dancers didn't "eagerly rush forward to betray their friend." Londo was trying to find Adira in hopes of helping her. He didn't say he was going to do anything bad to her, and he was probably known to more than a few of them. He was simply trying to find her. The coin was an added incentive. Back when I was an investigative reporter, I did some research on strip joints while I was living in SAn Diego. Spent a LOT of time talking to nude dancers (when they had their clothes on, I hasten to add). And 99.9% of them had a rule: you want to ask questions, you pay. That simple. That's how this stuff *works*. My job is to keep the B5 reality as close as possible to our reality in that respect. Some of them probably wanted to help, knowing Londo was okay. Some probably didn't care. And some probably would've betrayed her at the tip of a coin. Life's like that. So again, where in this is the problem? jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 25 Feb 1994 16:35:53 -0500 Subject: Re: JMS Attn -- Re: Babylon 5 The video noise and audio problem is apparently happening between the time we deliver the episode on D2s and when it's uplinked to the stations. Apparently the show goes through 5 more generations, in order to add in commercials (1 pass), add in closed-captioning (another copy), and so on. We're trying to track it down and see where in the process the glitch is happening. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 25 Feb 1994 16:56:35 -0500 Subject: Comments on "Infection" In your review of "Infection," you ask where are the floating recorders we saw in the pilot. Just as a point of reference...they were in "Infection," in the last scene with the reporter. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 26 Feb 1994 00:23:58 -0500 Subject: Where is that weapon? The weapon to which you refer was not part of B5; it was on Space Rangers, and was shown as part of an overall SF-TV report. jms From: straczynski@genie.geis.com Date: 26 Feb 1994 06:12:53 -0500 Subject: What's Spoo? Re: your desire to make and eat spoo at home...deponds on whether or not you ever want to have children later.... jms