Subject: JMS compiled messages [9/14/95] (1/1)

From: [email-masked] (Bill Bottke )
Date: 14 Sep 1995 16:34:14 GMT

=================================================================
Comments, questions, or additional information should be sent to: 
Bill Bottke  (E-mail: [email-masked])

JMS Archives found at: http://www.hyperion.com/lurk/lurker.html 
=================================================================

===============
USENET POSTINGS
===============

Date: 7 Sep 1995 20:34:27 -0400
Subject: jms - Advertising budget for 3

     There is an advertising budget for year three, but I don't yet
know what that is in toto.
 
                                                         jms

Date: 7 Sep 1995 20:34:29 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: Season 3

     I am thus far *very* happy with season three; we've got three shows
in the can (edited, not yet scored or mixed), and shooting number four
as I type this.  I think we're already a notch above our general episodes
from year two, and "Convictions" is extremely intense, with a very
different look and feel from anything we've done before.  Has kind of an
NYPD Blue feel to it.
 
     Next week we start filming "Passing Through Gethsemane," directed by
Adam Nimoy, guest-starring Brad Dourif.
 
                                                                     jms

Date: 7 Sep 1995 20:34:31 -0400
Subject: JMS: Casting Suggestion: Edwar

     Woodward, we're told, generally doesn't do syndicated TV.
 
                                                                jms

Date: 7 Sep 1995 20:58:13 -0400
Subject: ATTN: JMS Please Keep Writing

     You learn to write by writing.  You learn to write better by never
settling or getting too comfortable with your own work.
 
                                                                    jms

Date: 7 Sep 1995 20:58:16 -0400
Subject: Attn JMS - Is con Con-Rad Real

     We've been contacted about an awards ceremony, but details are still
being worked out.
 
                                                                  jms

Date: 7 Sep 1995 20:58:18 -0400
Subject: Re: Shadows and Numerical Prog

     Never said you're seeing their entire fleet, you're seeing what they
can afford to send out at any given moment on relatively low-priority jobs.
 
                                                                jms

Date: 9 Sep 1995 02:59:12 -0400
Subject: ATTN: WB Legal Dept

     A is fine; B may get dicey since admission is charged...if it ain't
direct admission, that's different.
 
                                                                 jms

Date: 9 Sep 1995 03:31:58 -0400
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: TLTS battle (spo

     "Why didn't the fighters do anything?"
 
     They did.  Look more closely.  They engaged the Narn fighters in
dogfights all over the place.  They're hardly more than specks against the
huge ships, but they're definitely there.
 
                                                                 jms

Date: 9 Sep 1995 03:32:52 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: Interplanetary Exped

     Interplanetary Expeditions will figure *prominently* in at least one
year three episode.
 
                                                                      jms

Date: 9 Sep 1995 03:34:07 -0400
Subject: Re: I fondled a Celebrity!!!

     <fweeet!>*  Okay, folks, look, I spoke to Claudia, and the story as
recounted is fairly accurate.  Claudia was in RenFair mode, which to her
is another role to be played, and it was just in jest, horsing around.  The
thing about Claudia is she doesn't back down from any kind of challenge,
a trait she shares with Ivanova, and when called upon, responded.
 
                                                                     jms
 
     (*ten credits to the comics fan who recognizes that cry)

Date: 9 Sep 1995 03:47:00 -0400
Subject: A Few Questions for JMS

     We'll see more of the Epsilon 3 complex this coming season, yes.
 
	                                                            jms

Date: 9 Sep 1995 04:01:43 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Request younger

     Excuse me, but I don't believe in ageism on either end of th
spectrum.  I don't hire old writers, I don't hire young writers: I hire
WRITERS WHO CAN WRITE.  Period.  Some, like Scott Frost, are in their late
20s/early 30s; some like Peter David and Marc Zicree are in their 40s;
some like David and Dorothy and Harlan are older.  Young writers are not
intrinsically better or worse than old writers, and vice-versa.  This is,
frankly, a dumb discussion; substitute "white" or "black" for young or
old, and the stereotyping and illogic of the discussion should be evident.
 
                                                                     jms

Date: 9 Sep 1995 04:06:09 -0400
Subject: Takishima -- SPOILERS for "Div

     Mike: your assessment is pretty much correct.  Laurel was to be the
traitor initially; as I noted long, long time ago, and you quoted, she was
not, in fact, acting entirely under her own volition.  There would indeed
have been an implanted personality there, acting without even her knowing
about it.  And it would've been this implanted personality that would've
shot Garibaldi.
 
     When I took Laurel off the board, elements of this were transferred
to other characters.  This is the kind of thing I mean when I say that even
with changes here and there, the story continues to go where I want it to
go.  We don't necessarily remember *which* general put the briefcase with
a bomb next to Hitler's chair in the bunker, only that it got done.  Some
chairs are moveable, some are not, as anyone who's ever written a novel
from an outline can tell you...you start moving the chairs around, but you
always keep going where you're going.
 
                                                                    jms

Date: 9 Sep 1995 04:18:59 -0400
Subject: Roswell Tape Rx

     I cannot have any kind of informed opinion about the Roswell films,
since I have no more information than anyone else, which is to say, just
that which was presented in the Fox special.
 
     I can only make one observation: whenever we have had an alien
character in the show get wounded, and bleed, it's a hideously difficult
process, and you run point-to-point tubes with blood; it spurts from one
location, the spot where the tube ends.  (Just getting G'Kar's hand to
bleed in one of the final four eps was a pain in the ass.)
 
     The body upon which they performed the autopsy bled smoothly from the
entire surface of each cut and incision.  Even with the best prosthetics
available to us right now, we couldn't do this.  So if it's a fake, it's
the most clever one in history, and uses technology nobody else has yet.
The person behind it could write his own ticket in the EFX/prosthetics
business *bigtime*.
 
	                                                                 jms

Date: 9 Sep 1995 04:19:40 -0400
Subject: JMS (or anyone else) -- Sex an

      "What kind of birth control do the Centauri use?"
 
      Conversation.
 
                                                                  jms

Date: 9 Sep 1995 04:33:35 -0400
Subject: jms - What time do you get up

     Unfortunately, in my case, I'm all over the map, depending on when
meetings are held...sometimes very early, sometimes later in the morning.
I'm usually up until at least 3 a.m. every night of the week, sometimes
as late as 4-4:30 a.m., so how much actual sleep I get is a very flexible
notion.
 
     As for the crew...crew call is 7 a.m. M-F, as a rule.  If an alien
is in the first scene, prosthetics crew can sometimes show up as early as
6:00 a.m.  Actors and crew actually hit the stage at 9 a.m.  (7-9 is spent
basically waking up, rigging lights, setting up cameras, other stuff.)
 
     We shoot until about 7 p.m., rarely any later.
 
                                                               jms

Date: 9 Sep 1995 04:35:03 -0400
Subject: ATTN: JMS,  Star requests?

     If we has the money ST has to offer, we could get major stars, but
we don't; most of the guest stars we get are drawn by the quality of the
material.
 
                                                                       jms

Date: 9 Sep 1995 04:51:48 -0400
Subject: Attn: JMS B5 franchise

     I can only reply to one message at a time, so this has to be a
public note, Greg.
 
     Yes, WB owns the copyright to B5.  Could they continue it past the
fifth year?  Technically, yes, they could, without my participation (though
as indicated, there's always been a side-story/alternate series, and that
would be the way to go, though I think the odds on that ever going ahead
are doubtful.)
 
     Which is why I made sure we shoved a bomb down B5's throat in the
early stages.  It's got a self-destruct mechanism built right into it.
 
     See, usually, when you make series deals with actors an
sub-contractors (like Foundating Imaging, our prosthetics people, others),
you go for 7 year options.  TNG, for instance, had 7 year options; as do
the other ST shows.  This is fairly standard.
 
     When we made the deals for B5, we made them...for five years.
 
     During those five years, salaries and fees are all set ahead of time.
This serves you well, in the sense that Foundation's name is already
growing, and somebody coming in now would have to pay more than we are,
also in part since we helped them get going.  Actors, once freed from the
pre-set salaries, on a hit show, come back and renegotiate.
 
     The result of all this...is that if WB wanted to do a sixth season
of B5, the costs of going back and making deals with all these people and
sub-contractors and others would be SO hideous, so terrible, that it
couldn't be done for anywhere near the money available.
 
     So, as stated...the show is designed to fiscally self-destruct at
the end of the fifth year.  What other projects may follow will have to
be totally separate situations, assuming they're done at all, which is
highly doubtful.
 
                                                                     jms

Date: 11 Sep 1995 05:55:26 -0400
Subject: Is the President really dead?

     President Santiago is dead as a doorknob.
 
                                                             jms

Date: 11 Sep 1995 23:40:38 -0400
Subject: Attn JMS: M,SW/Night Fear

     Actually, yes, I do have a pet theory about who the Ripper was, but
I'm so embarrassed over the west end/east end typo in one of our episodes
that I don't know if I'll ever have enough courage to broach it to anyone.
 
                                                                    jms

Date: 11 Sep 1995 23:43:27 -0400
Subject: Attn jms: An Absence of Rabbit

     No problem there.  In life, we kinda get to know what to expect on a
day to day basis...but that doesn't stop crises from coming at us out of
nowhere (though if we'd been smart enough we could've seen them coming),
and sometimes the worst thing is that we DO see it coming, and are sure we
can somehow avoid it...and still get hammered.
 
                                                                       jms

Date: 11 Sep 1995 23:44:49 -0400
Subject: JMS: What would you do if....

     Doesn't matter what I'd write; they'd never let me shoot it.
 
                                                                  jms

Date: 12 Sep 1995 01:47:30 -0400
Subject: = ATTN. JMS:  Proper Vorlons?

     We will see them.  Eventually.
 
                                                                  jms

Date: 12 Sep 1995 02:01:34 -0400
Subject: Just how many people watch B5?

     I have it on good authority that we're watched by at *least* seven
people.
 
                                                                     jms

Date: 12 Sep 1995 02:03:53 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: Where did Kosh go?

     First he returned to his encounter suit, then he went to his ship,
and stayed there for quite a while.
 
                                                                     jms

Date: 12 Sep 1995 02:04:50 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: Doors and such

     You'll notice the doors are wedged, with overlapping, key-like
sections into which the doors settle.  When they close, the sound you hear
is the door sealing shut, and pins extruding into place to keep the door
shut (in the key-wedges).  That's also why they slide down, rather than
part in the middle; it's totally airtight in case of pressure falls.  So
yes, we *did* think of it, and took care of it, by thinking of a new way
to do the doors.
 
                                                                  jms

Date: 12 Sep 1995 02:05:55 -0400
Subject: ATTN: JMS:  Pres. Clarke's car

     No, telepaths are generally excluded from holding high public office.
 
                                                                      jms

Date: 12 Sep 1995 02:26:39 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS: Season 3

     Brad read the script, fell in love with the part, and dived for it.
 
                                                                      jms

Date: 12 Sep 1995 02:35:32 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS:  Titles (was Message

    No, sorry, the titles kinda have to be where they are....
 
                                                                 jms

Date: 12 Sep 1995 02:35:59 -0400
Subject: ATTN: JMS Crew Autographs

     To get autographs, send a self-addressed stamped envelope, and what
you'd like signed, to the B5 mail drop.  (Note: WB doesn't pay for any
photos, the cast pay for those out of pocket, so it's hard for them to
oblige on this.)  The address is:
 
     14431 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 260, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423, and make
sure you put ATT: (CAST NAME), C/O BABYLON 5
 
                                                                    jms

Date: 12 Sep 1995 02:36:20 -0400
Subject: *JMS* ATTN: JMS *JMS* JMS (or

     The definition of "conversation"....ah, of course, you mean oral
intercourse.
 
     Ain't the language just one great big lovely pinata of unexpected
wonders...?
 
                                                                      jms

Date: 12 Sep 1995 02:49:58 -0400
Subject: ATTN: JMS (one question)

     At this point it's too early for me to even *think* about what I will
or can or can't do with the side-story...just getting this puppy out the
door is a full-time obsession....
 
                                                                       jms

Date: 12 Sep 1995 02:51:14 -0400
Subject: Shadows and problems...

     I would not create a race as potentially unstoppable as the shadowsx
(shadows) without making sure they had one -- but only one -- Achilles'
heel.  Though it may take our characters a long time to figure out what
that is...almost *too* long....
 
                                                                      jms

Date: 12 Sep 1995 02:51:45 -0400
Subject: Attn: JMS B5 Walking the Talk

     Correct; while one cannot deny the effects of poverty, and drugs, and
crime, and illiteracy, there's something numbing and destructive about the
death of myths, of a broader social mythology, and we're working hard to
provide that.
 
                                                                      jms

Date: 12 Sep 1995 02:52:12 -0400
Subject: Is Sheridan an Atheist?

     Basically, Sheridan believes in a lot of things; he's very eclectic
in his views, can incorporate lots of different perspectives, and has a
respect for all views.  In one of the early season 3 eps, in fact, one
character upbraids him for having "no clearly defined pattern of faith,"
to which Sheridan replies, "I'm eclectic, open-minded."
 
                                                                     jms

Date: 12 Sep 1995 02:52:28 -0400
Subject: ATTN JMS - How to Keep New Vie

     Of course, that would require lopping a minute or so of program
content to make room for that synopsis...and I don't think I want to do
that.
 
                                                              jms

Date: 12 Sep 1995 02:52:49 -0400
Subject: JMS:  "Messages" Move?

     Both 7 and 8 would both be seen in the second round of episodes;
we did the switch to pair up the right episode with the right director.
 
                                                                    jms

===================
COMPUSERVE MESSAGES
===================

JMS CompuServe messages collected by The Green Meddler <[email-masked]>.

Subj:  B5 season Three			Section: Babylon 5
  To:  SysOp Dupa T. Parrot, 70040,104 Wednesday, September 06, 1995 11:52:20 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#324598

     No, since Theo is a fictional character and Theo Bikel is a real person,
and they're two different things.

                                                                       jms

Subj:  B5 Comics			Section: Babylon 5
  To:  Jeffrey Martino, 73477,1506	Wednesday, September 06, 1995 2:45:03 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#324077

     Yeah, as I understand it, because the book will be published on something
other than a monthly basis, subscriptions don't apply, that's exclusively for
their regular, monthly titles.

                                                                       jms

Subj:  Cast & Crew view eps?		Section: Babylon 5
  To:  Z. Michael Milutinovic, 71532,2231Thursday, September 07, 1995 10:19:00 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#325449

     Not really, no...sometimes, one or another cast or crew person will
ask to screen an episode, but it's very spotty; we don't provide personal
copies until after the episode airs, and only to direct cast and crew
members.

                                                                       jms

Subj:  Cast & Crew view eps?		Section: Babylon 5
  To:  Jeannette Fornadel, 76371,3057	Friday, September 08, 1995 2:29:01 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#325901

     Well, though they haven't seen the eps, they *have* read the scripts,
so they do know what happened in those eps.

                                                                       jms

Subj:  B5 move in SF			Section: Babylon 5
  To:  Thomas McDonough, 73641,474	Thursday, September 07, 1995 10:19:02 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#325450

     Well, I'm not surprised, in that stations generally don't run promos
when the show is in reruns; we'll see what they do closer to debut.

                                                                       jms

Subj:  B5 @ Emmys			Section: Babylon 5
  To:  Rae Augenstein, 72752,1653	Thursday, September 07, 1995 10:19:03 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#325451

     No, I won't be there, due to work.  The noms we've gotten are in hair,
makeup and  cinematography.  They're up against stiff competition, though,
so we'll see.

                                                                       jms

Subj:  John Shuck			Section: Babylon 5
  To:  Mojo Jones, 71555,271		Friday, September 08, 1995 2:29:02 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#325902

<I thought I recognized John Shuck as Draal, when he wasn't doing the
Draal voice.  Is that the Commissioner's assistant from McMillan and Wife?>

     Same guy.

                                                                       jms

Subj:  B5 makes "Jeopardy"		Section: Babylon 5
  To:  Richard P. Manny, Friday, September 08, 1995 11:04:03 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#326352

<If you haven't already been told, B5 became a Jeopardy question 
(answer?) last week.>

     Actually, it's a repeat of an earlier Jeapordy.

                                                      jms

Subj:  The Vorlons			Section: Babylon 5
  To:  Daniel M. Upton Friday, September 08, 1995 11:04:04 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#326353

     What, I should begin catering to prurient interests?  
Broadcasting picture postcards (likely French) of Vorlons 
in provocative poses, in lingerie?  A terrible thing, that 
a nice young man such as yourself should be asking about.  
Does your mother know you're out here doing this?  Good 
heavens.

     And who said they reproduce anymore?

                                                      jms

Subj:  The Vorlons			Section: Babylon 5
  To:  Jeannette Fornadel Saturday, September 09, 1995 6:33:27 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#327062

<"Wouldn't that Minbari bone be awfully hard on the mother?">

     Like elk antlers, they grow after birth.

                                                      jms

Subj:  Walter on QVC			Section: Babylon 5
  To:  Richard M. Perry, Friday, September 08, 1995 11:04:05 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#326354

     What's this fascination with underoos and sheets and uncut 
something or others...?

     Have you started rooming with Daniel or something?

     Sigh...y'know, I remember when this was a clean place to 
hang out, kids could play in the streets, mothers could take 
their babies out in strollers, you could hang out on the front 
stoop and talk to people...now it's all underoos and nudie 
cutie Vorlon pictures.

     What's the world coming to?

                                                      jms

Subj:  Fury landings			Section: Babylon 5
  To:  Kenneth Porter Friday, September 08, 1995 11:07:15 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#326355

     We have shown, in other episodes, including "Survivors," 
that the starfuries come back in via the central docking bay, 
and are lowered into their proper bays from there, where 
they are recharged and repaired.

                                                       jms

Subj:  Theo				Section: Babylon 5
  To:  Jeannette Fornadel, Saturday, September 09, 1995 6:33:27 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#327061

<Not that I expect a straight answer on the first post <GDRVVF>, 
but what sort of character is this 'Theo'?>

     Here's a hint: he arrives with about a dozen of his brothers.

                                                       jms

Subj:  Theo				Section: Babylon 5
  To:  Daniel M. Upton, Saturday, September 09, 1995 10:51:06 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#327315

     Nope, not a technomage.

                                                       jms

Subj:  Theo				Section: Babylon 5
  To:  Bruce D. Sinclair Sunday, September 10, 1995 4:25:22 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#327850

<If Theo is part of another brotherhood you've established on the show, 
I think it's time to leave B5 - Pronto! <g,d,r>>

       Nope.

                                                        jms

Subj:  Theo				Section: Babylon 5
  To:  Lynn Dimock, Sunday, September 10, 1995 11:09:01 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#328201

     He's definitely human.

                                                        jms

     (Suddenly this has become "What's My Line.")

Subj:  Theo				Section: Babylon 5
  To:  John McAuley Sunday, September 10, 1995 4:26:02 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#327853

<How about Theo and his brothers being 
the first Organic ships (other than the Vorlon ship) to be 
stationed on B5?>

       Nope.

                                                     jms

Subj:  Theo				Section: Babylon 5
  To:  Tom Knudsen, Sunday, September 10, 1995 11:09:02 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#328202

<Is he one of the singing monks in the Moment of Perfect Beauty?>

     Nope.

                                                      jms

Subj:  The Dodgers			Section: Babylon 5
  To:  Randall A. Schanze, Saturday, September 09, 1995 6:33:29 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#327063

     Actually, much of what's been reported is misconception or 
actors who somewhat...misremember things.

     Bill was never considered a one-shot as Lennier.  It was always 
a recurring role.  That's what we put out in the casting breakdowns 
that went to agents, and that was the understanding when we did 
auditions, and when we negotiated with Bill, and did the main 
titles.

     Pat Tallman's character was *never* intended as a male; at one 
time, I'd considered making Delenn male to start with, then female 
after emerging from the chrysalis, but Lyta...never.

     So there really hasn't been as much divergence as might seem.

                                                       jms

Subj:  OTHERSYDE			Section: Babylon 5
  To:  Raggedy Ann Sunday, September 10, 1995 4:25:25 PM
From:  J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#327851

     Thanks.  Characters, for me, are the point of a novel, and 
any good story.  Long after the plot becomes fuzzy in memory, you 
remember the people...you remember Ahab and Michael Valentine Smith 
and Charles Dexter Ward....

     Re: not having adjective/adverb disease...there's something 
funny there you wouldn't know about.  See, when I was in high school, 
they had Career Day for the tops in various areas (dance, acting, 
athletics, whatever).  I ended up in the Writing group.  It was held at 
Southwestern College down by San Diego.  I was stuck in this little 
room, and nobody came by, because who wants to see writers when you can 
see athletes and dancers and mimes?

     Finally, a short fellow with salt-and-pepper hair wandered in, 
and went down the line of manuscripts-with-writers, paused at my table.  
(I was writing stories in the Lovecraft/dark horror vein at the time.)  
Took one of my stories, walked off, sat in one of the lawn chairs, 
read it through. Came back, returned the story, took another.  Read that 
one over.  Put it back.  Looked at me for a long moment.

     Then he said: "You have a great and substantial talent for your age. 
Two pieces of advice: one, don't ever let them stop you from telling the 
stories you want to tell; two, cut every third adjective."

     Then he walked off, and as soon as he was out the door, the faculty 
advisor came running at me at warp nine.  "What did he say, what did he say, 
whatdidhesay?"  I told her.  "Don't you know who that was?" she asked.

     I said no, though there was something kinda familiar about him, and 
remember it's always different when you see somebody out of context.  
"That was Rod Serling," she said, "he's here to speak at the college later 
today."

     Had there been a gun within easy reach, I would almost certainly have 
put a bullet into my brain.  By the time I ran out, he was gone.

     That was one of three weirdnesses in my life involving Rod.  
The other two...are stories for another day.

     So when you say I've managed to keep the adjectives down...
I'm very pleased.

                                                        jms