ATTN JMS: Enjoyed Rising Stars #1, you dream-shaper you!
Lee Hutchinson
It strikes me as particularly amusing that Joe Straczynski has been a
part of my life for so long.
When I was kindergarten-age, "Masters of the Universe" was one of my
favorite shows, right up there with "Dukes of Hazzard." I watched every
single episode every single day, for as long as the show was on. I had
all the action figures, all the playsets, and all the vehicles. I loved
that cartoon.
As time passed, I latched onto a new offering: "Captain Power." Though
rather short-lived, I also had all that show's paraphernalia, and I shot
the screen with the rest of the rabid children, and it scared me to death
when one of those CGI dragon-things got me and my CAptain Power action
figure came shooting out of the spaceship/gun thing. But my young mind
was also intrigued by the story.
My focus shifted as I grew older, and after "Knight Rider" went off the
air, I latched onto "The Real Ghostbusters." That became my favorite
television show, and the episodes I now know were written by Joe I
remember as being among my favorites. I loved any episode that hinted at
an overall continuity to the show, and Joe's were some of the best.
"Murder, She Wrote" has entertained me on and off for most of my
adolescence, and as I entered my senior year in high school I stumbled
across "Comes the Inquisitor" one eve on the telly. I was at the height
of depression over the sudden end of a two-year relationship, and the
show struck a chord in me. Although the pilot episode of B5 had solidly
turned me off a couple of years earlier, I decided to give the show
another chance. "The Fall of Night" blew me out of my chair, and I
became a rabid, slavering fan ever since, hungrily gobbling up any bit of
B5-related stuff I can find, both on the Internet and IRL.
"In Valen's Name" is the only comic book series I've ever purchased.
"Rising Stars" will be the second. RS seems like a wonderfully crafted
story with a strong emotional core. I'm eager to read more of it...plus,
the narrator is an obviously disturbed individual who shares my first
name and who can set things on fire with his mind. Cool.
As I begin my fourth year of college, I cannot help but wonder if this
has been a part of Joe's plan all along--snag a generation of people by
his writing, control their youths with constant suggestion and messages,
shape their adolescence and teen years, and now, as they prepare to enter
the job market, snap his fingers and turn us all into Straczynskoids, who
will take up arms and fight for his Holy Cause, whatever that may be.
We're ready, Supreme Commander Joe!
(Damn, I need to get out more often...)
--
Lee Hutchinson
pokr...@texas.net
http://pokrface.home.texas.net
"It's a hundred and six miles to Chicago; we got a full tank of gas,
half-a-pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses."
"Hit it."
Jms at B5
into adulthood. (I started selling to TV in 1984, so that's...fifteen years.)
Suddenly I feel absolutely ancient....
On the other hand, if it causes some folks to grow up asking questions and
thinking about stuff, then it's a good thing and a service to the commonweal.
Was it Emerson? "Be ashamed to die until you have performed some service for
humanity." It's just TeeVee...and there ain't much that's more trivial than a
TeeVee writer...but I do hope it's had an effect.
jms
(jms...@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com
Pelzo63
>When I was kindergarten-age, "Masters of the Universe" was one of my
>favorite shows, right up there with "Dukes of Hazzard." I watched every
>single episode every single day, for as long as the show was on. I had
>all the action figures, all the playsets, and all the vehicles. I loved
>that cartoon.
<snipped lotsa stuff>
we must be about the same age(i'm 20), except, i still have all my old he-man
toys(wayyyy too many to list). <g> and several captain power toys(captain
power, power-on base, powerjet, and interlocker. :-) and even one of the
"interactive video" things. and i also loved real ghostbusters, but never got
any of those toys. i was never much of a fan of murder she wrote, but i liked
jake and the fatman. but...not until recently did i realize JMS was involved in
all these things. (even enjoy the episodes of walker from the jms time moreso
than newer ones). but, i haven't gotten to rising stars yet. too busy reading
anything asimov i can get my hand on at the moment, and never much liked
comics, though i might someday give it a try. (i'd rather buy "Crusade: the
untold journeys" in book form though, hint hint ;-)
think i rambled enough, now i'm gonna go get skeletor and man-at-arms and have
them battle with my cat for a while. <g>
--Chris AOL/AIM--pelzo63
http://members.aol.com/pelzo63/welcome.html
"ohhhhhhhh....Call arnold slick, from turtle crick!!!"
J. Keith Jackson
>It's just TeeVee...and there ain't much that's more trivial than a
>TeeVee writer...
Except maybe a soundtrack album producer..........
J. Keith Jackson
jke...@bellsouth.net
John W. Kennedy
> It's just TeeVee...and there ain't much that's more trivial than a
Oh, I can't let _that_ pass! (Bonus for spotting the quote.)
The amiable Jane was more sanguine about her art.
"Yes, novels; -- for I will not adopt that ungenerous and impolitic
custom so common with novel writers, of degrading by their contemptuous
censure the very performances, to the number of which they are
themselves adding -- joining with their greatest enemies in bestowing
the harshest epithets on such works, and scarcely ever permitting them
to be read by their own heroine, who, if she accidentally take up a
novel, is sure to turn over its insipid pages with disgust. Alas! if
the heroine of one novel be not patronized by the heroine of another,
from whom can she expect protection and regard? I cannot approve of
it. Let us leave it to the Reviewers to abuse such effusions of fancy
at their leisure, and over every new novel to talk in threadbare strains
of the trash with which the press now groans. let us not desert one
another; we are an injured body. Although our productions have afforded
more extensive and unaffected pleasure than those of any other literary
corporation in the world, no species of composition has been so much
decried. From pride, ignorance, or fashion, our foes are almost as many
as our readers. And while the abilities of the nine-hundredth abridger
of the History of England, or of the man who collects and publishes in a
volume some dozen lines of Milton, Pope, and Prior, with a paper from
the Spectator, and a chapter from Sterne, are eulogized by a thousand
pens,--there seems almost a general wish of decrying the capacity and
undervaluing the labour of the novelist, and of slighting the
performances which have only genius, wit, and taste to recommend them.
'I am no novel reader--I seldom look into novels--Do not imagine that
_I_ often read novels--It is really very well for a novel.'--such is the
common cant.--'And what are you reading, Miss ----?' 'Oh! it is only a
novel!' replies the young lady; while she lays down her book with
affected indifference, or momentary shame.--'It is only Cecilia, or
Camilla, or Belinda;' or, in short, only some work in which the greatest
powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge
of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the
liveliest effusions of wit and humour are conveyed to the world in the
best chosen language."
Northanger Abbey, I, v
--
-John W. Kennedy
-rri...@ibm.net
Compact is becoming contract
Man only earns and pays. -- Charles Williams
Rob Perkins
J. Keith Jackson <jke...@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:Zqmw3.1136$Yb5....@news4.atl...
> Except maybe a soundtrack album producer..........
Rob
Mike
>pokr...@texas.net wrote:
>
>>When I was kindergarten-age, "Masters of the Universe" was one of my
>>favorite shows, right up there with "Dukes of Hazzard." I watched every
>>single episode every single day, for as long as the show was on. I had
>>all the action figures, all the playsets, and all the vehicles. I loved
>>that cartoon.
> <snipped lotsa stuff>
>
>we must be about the same age(i'm 20), except, i still have all my old he-man
>toys(wayyyy too many to list). <g> and several captain power toys(captain
I'm 37, and I only saw a few Captain Power episodes. I wish it would
be rerun again because I thought the story was great, and the special
effects were amazing at the time, and Jessica Steen's acting was
incredible.
Power on!
Pelzo63
>I'm 37, and I only saw a few Captain Power episodes. I wish it would
>be rerun again because I thought the story was great, and the special
>effects were amazing at the time,
i still have one of the Play-Along videos(skill level 3, raid on volcania ;-).
and it proved that my power on base still works! it kept getting shot and
lighting up, really annoyed everyone in the room <g> didn't have any batteries
for the other 2 toys though :-(
>and Jessica Steen's acting was
>incredible.
i'm gonna have to watch again, and see which one she was. my memory is a bit
foggy on anyone except captain power himself.
--Chris AOL/AIM--Pelzo63
http://members.aol.com/pelzo63/welcome.html
"ohhhhhh...She wants to sell my monkey!"
J. Keith Jackson
Nah, Rob, you missed the reference..........
But I'm sure Joe and Jay will get it......
JKJ
Rob Perkins
What is it?
Rob
(A post ACTUALLY GOT THROUGH! WOW!)
J. Keith Jackson <jke...@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:2flx3.6679$Dv.8...@news1.mia...
Tony Naggs
>Uh, you're right! I did miss the reference!
>
>What is it?
You are probably better off not knowing, but I believe he's entertaining
the folk over in the unmoderated sister newsgroup at the moment. (Also
I have emailed Lukas Kendall's thaxton bio, as it would probably not be
appropriate for this newsgroup.)
ttfn
--
"Still . . . no worries, eh?", said Rincewind, somewhere on the Discworld.
j...@gte.net
Well, for most of TV, that is true. It _is_ pretty trivial and most of
doesn't seem to tax the grey cells at all (either of the viewer or the
writer). But once in a while along comes a guy with a great idea, a big
enough ego to say "MY WAY OR NO WAY" and the talent to back it up. It
hasn't happened often on television. Rod Serling, Gene Roddenberry, Joe
Straczinsky.
I happen to think Babylon 5 was a service to humanity, in the same way
as other great literature. I saw every episode when it was first
broadcast, through several time and day changes. I taped every episode
and encouraged everyone I knew with the intellegence to appreciate it to
watch. When it ended I did something I have never done for any other TV
show or movie. I went and fixed myself a drink, came back to the TV,
and played the episode again. When the words "Executive Producer J
Michael Straczinsky" came on the screen, I said "Thank you," raised my
glass to the screen, and drank a toast to you.
I have seen a lot of TV and movies in my more than half a century, and
nothing has been better.
Jon Schild
Salt Lake City
A. Safron
j...@gte.net wrote in article <37CF3CA9...@gte.net>...
> Jms at B5 wrote:
> >
> > I hear this from time to time from folks, that they grew up on my work
as kids
> > into adulthood. (I started selling to TV in 1984, so that's...fifteen
years.)
> >
> > Suddenly I feel absolutely ancient....
If they started watching when they were 6, they'd be 21 today. Us
homosapiens live short lives and pets even shorter. Like matches,
when lit, show a bright flame, then disappear into darkness.
> > On the other hand, if it causes some folks to grow up asking questions
and
> > thinking about stuff, then it's a good thing and a service to the
commonweal.
> >
> > Was it Emerson? "Be ashamed to die until you have performed some
service for
> > humanity."
Maybe Emerson and many others. To perform some service for humanity is
to live as the soul - as the soul's duty is service. There is no more
sweeter action than to live as a servant of humanity and the soul.
It's just TeeVee...and there ain't much that's more trivial than a
> > TeeVee writer...but I do hope it's had an effect.
An awful lot of people watch that box of light and moving colors.
In the past, people were inspired by painting, sculptures,
frescoes on church walls and books. Why not be inspired
by what's on television?
I think JMS has done a lifetime's worth of service just with the
five years he gave us with Babylon 5.
-Ann Safron