Date of 7-page arc doc from Volume 15
ekulrek
days of B5, by comparing some of the different documents available. I
have looked at:
1) Original "shower notes" from the Last Word column -- mid-1980s?
2) B5 Series Treatment -- Sep 1 1988
3) Early GENIE/Usenet posts -- Dec 2 1991, Dec 31 1991, Jan 1 1992,
etc.
4) B5 Season One Bible -- May 20 1993
I have read a review of the 7-page document JMS wrote for Warner,
reproduced in Volume 15 of the script books (unfortunately I don't own
or have access to the script books myself), but I'm unsure where it
fits in -- between 2 and 3, or 3 and 4?
I was wondering a) if anyone know of the date for this document/and
the "shower event"? and b) if there are any other key documents to
look at, or whether it's time to plough through JMS message
archives. :)
Thanks,
Luke
Jan
ekulrek says...
Judging from the introduction in Volume 1 of the script books, the 'shower
event' took place at least a month before the WGA strike ended on August 8, 1988
since he talked about developing his ideas for a month or so before returning to
work when the strike ended.
JMS wrote in Volume 15 that he wrote the arc synopsis document as he began work
on the first season. The one post where he seems to be referring to it is
http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-9239 on April 9, 1994 but that doesn't mean
it was just completed then.
I'd consider the document describing the League of Non-Alligned Worlds aliens to
be key. Larry DiTillio compiled it but it's undated.
The only other key document that I know of might be the Manifesto that Harlan
Ellison was working on at one point. I don't know if it ever actually
manifested, though.
Jan
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Joseph DeMartino
>
> JMS wrote in Volume 15 that he wrote the arc synopsis document as he began work
> on the first season.
My copy of volume 15 is out on loan, so I can't check, but I had the
impression he wrote that document out while they were shooting the
pilot. He mentions that some of the cast the crew were staying at the
Beverly Garland hotel, and that he showed Michael O'Hare the synopsis
at day or two later, over lunch at the hotel restaurant. (The detail
stuck in my mind because I stayed at the same hotel during my one and
only visit to California and ate many meals at the same restaurant.)
I assume that by the time produciton on the series had started O'Hare
(and the others) had made more permanent housing arrangements.
Regards,
Joe
Jan
Joseph DeMartino says...
>
>On Jan 2, 11:06=A0pm, Jan <janmschroe...@aol.com> wrote:
>>
>> JMS wrote in Volume 15 that he wrote the arc synopsis document as he bega=
>n work
>> on the first season.
>
>My copy of volume 15 is out on loan, so I can't check, but I had the
>impression he wrote that document out while they were shooting the
>pilot. He mentions that some of the cast the crew were staying at the
>Beverly Garland hotel, and that he showed Michael O'Hare the synopsis
>at day or two later, over lunch at the hotel restaurant. (The detail
>stuck in my mind because I stayed at the same hotel during my one and
>only visit to California and ate many meals at the same restaurant.)
>I assume that by the time produciton on the series had started O'Hare
>(and the others) had made more permanent housing arrangements.
>
>Regards,
>
What JMS wrote was
"As I began work on Babylon 5's first season, I felt it was important for me to
know where I was going not just in terms of benchmarks, as embodied by my note
cards with individual episodes broken out in varying degrees of detail, but as a
true narrative."
And then in the next paragraph, he mentions, as Joe D says, that the next day he
met Michael O'Hare at the Beverly Garland hotel "...where all the relocated cast
were being housed for work purposes."
Considering that JMS originally was expecting to go directly to series after
shooting the pilot, his working on Season One at the time the pilot was shooting
is certainly possible.
James A. Robbins
news:hhp54...@drn.newsguy.com...
> The only other key document that I know of might be the Manifesto that
> Harlan
> Ellison was working on at one point. I don't know if it ever actually
> manifested, though.
An unmanifested Manifesto! They're the worst kind!
--
James A, Robbins
A fine is a tax for doing wrong.
A tax is a fine for doing well.
ekulrek
> Judging from the introduction in Volume 1 of the script books, the 'shower
> event' took place at least a month before the WGA strike ended on August 8, 1988
> since he talked about developing his ideas for a month or so before returning to
> work when the strike ended.
OK - thanks.
> JMS wrote in Volume 15 that he wrote the arc synopsis document as he began work
> on the first season. �The one post where he seems to be referring to it ishttp://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id1-9239on April 9, 1994 but that doesn't mean
> it was just completed then.
My reasons for placing it after the pilot (was shot, not necessarily
shown) but before the season one bible were:
1) The synopsis doesn't mention the characters from the pilot that
weren't returning, suggesting that they were no longer part of the
arc.
2) But it also doesn't mention Ivanova or Franklin, who are in the
season one bible. (However, Lyta is mentioned in the bible, which
confuses me a bit.)
Of course, all my evidence is circumstantial. :)
> I'd consider the document describing the League of Non-Alligned Worlds aliens to
> be key. �Larry DiTillio compiled it but it's undated.
Interesting -- I am not familiar with that document. It is available
online?
Thanks,
Luke
Amy Guskin
(in article <hhpgro$qct$1...@charm.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>):
> "Jan" <janmsc...@aol.com> wrote in message
> news:hhp54...@drn.newsguy.com...
>> The only other key document that I know of might be the Manifesto that
>> Harlan
>> Ellison was working on at one point. I don't know if it ever actually
>> manifested, though.
>
> An unmanifested Manifesto! They're the worst kind! <<
Manifestly so!
Amy
--
Ten Thousand Questions
A Question a Day for Journaling, Self-Discovery, and Transformation
"2009 is the Year of Questions"
tenthousandquestions.com
Joseph DeMartino
>
> And then in the next paragraph, he mentions, as Joe D says, that the next day he
> met Michael O'Hare at the Beverly Garland hotel "...where all the relocated cast
> were being housed for work purposes."
>
> Considering that JMS originally was expecting to go directly to series after
> shooting the pilot, his working on Season One at the time the pilot was shooting
> is certainly possible.
You know, reading that excerpt again (and remembering how long the lay-
off between the end of shooting on the pilot and start of production
on S1) I think I'm wrong. <g> Michael O'Hare wouldn't have moved out
to California until the series was definitely a "go", so it is very
probably that he and some of the others were at the Beverly Garland
when S1 started shooting, and still house-hunting at the time JMS
wrote the 7-page arc outline. (I might have been thrown off by a
vague recollection that some of the cast had also stayed at the B.G.
during the shooting of the pilot, which is certainly possible.)
Regards,
Joe
Joseph DeMartino
> 1) The synopsis doesn't mention the characters from the pilot that
> weren't returning, suggesting that they were no longer part of the
> arc.
> 2) But it also doesn't mention Ivanova or Franklin, who are in the
> season one bible. (However, Lyta is mentioned in the bible, which
> confuses me a bit.)
Another way of looking at this is that synopsis doesn't mention any
version of the Doctor, the Executive Officer or the station telepath.
Not because these characters weren't going to figure in the series
(under whatever name), but because they were not important to the
synopsis, which is a very compressed telling of the main spine of the
story. It basically follows Sinclair's through-line, and other
characrters are mentioned only to the degree that they very directly
impact that story.
Lyta is mentioned in the season one Bible because of her importance to
the Kosh backstory and because JMS always hoped to bring her back in
one way or another. That was one reason he didn't simply recast the
role and instead brought in a new character in Talia Winters.
Regards,
Joe
ekulrek
> it was just completed then.
This earlier post (Sep 25, 1993) sounds like it could be referring to
the same document (and response from DiTillio):
http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?ID1-9806
"Just recently, btw, I gave Larry DiTillio a printout with just a
little
of the coming 5 year arc...if he's going to story edit, he needs to
know what
lines not to cross, and I can't ride herd on that all the time. He
took it
home, read it. Called me. Didn't even say hello. Began the
conversation
with, "You are out of your f'ing mind.""
Thanks,
Luke