ATTN JMS: You and Star Wars
Chris Schumacher
1) what if, say tomorrow, you come home to find a call on your
answering machine from George Lucas saying;
"Oh shit, we fucked up bad time, the script is unproducable. We need
to start from scratch, we need you! Call me!" Beep!
What would you do?
2) You mentioend that you didn't like TPM. Quite some time ago someone
asked you the famous "what if you were in charge of Star Trek"
question. So, I ask a similar one. How would you have made TPM, and
the following prequels, different, if you were in chrage?
-==Kensu==-
Inspired by a "wouldn't that be great?" post on alt.fan.peter-david
Jms at B5
>answering machine from George Lucas saying;
>"Oh shit, we fucked up bad time, the script is unproducable. We need
>to start from scratch, we need you! Call me!" Beep!
>What would you do?
I'd pick up the phone and call before we even hit the Beep part.
>2) You mentioend that you didn't like TPM. Quite some time ago someone
>asked you the famous "what if you were in charge of Star Trek"
>question. So, I ask a similar one. How would you have made TPM, and
>the following prequels, different, if you were in chrage?
Interesting story about TPM....
I was in a cab not long ago, and the guy knew who I was, and he got to talking.
(Now as I write this, you have to hear it with a Russian accent, okay?)
So he says, "You are science fiction, yes?"
I nodded -- I knew he meant that I wrote SF, but it was kinda fun the way he
put it -- and he asked me what I thought of TPM. I told him in shorthand. He
paused, then:
"Did not have salt," he said.
"Salt?" said I.
"Yes. When you make stew, you put in salt. Salt makes meat more meat. Makes
potato more potato. Makes vegetable more vegetable. You understand? Movie
did not have salt."
And I have to agree with that. Of all the Star Wars movies, I think The Empire
Strikes Back is clearly the best of the batch, because it has, well, *salt*.
The emotions are stronger, there's more action that *counts*, more
characterization, and the story had an edge to it.
TPM was a toy commercial.
If I were writing the movies -- which I ain't, and in all likelihood won't be
-- I'd go more toward an Empire sensibility, go for the sweep and scope of the
thing...stop treating the characters as if they were made of fine bone china,
as though they might break...
Needs salt.
jms
(jms...@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com
(all message content (c) 2000 by
synthetic worlds, ltd., permission
to reprint specifically denied to
SFX Magazine)
Maia Bernstein
Haley Joel Osment (the amazing child actor from _The Sixth Sense_)
had played Anakin Skywalker...
Shaz
"Maia Bernstein" <mb...@columbia.edu> wrote in message
news:Pine.GSO.4.10.100062...@merhaba.cc.columbia.edu...
> Imagine Star Wars episode one if JMS had written the screenplay, and
> Haley Joel Osment (the amazing child actor from _The Sixth Sense_)
> had played Anakin Skywalker...
Don't make me drool. At least I might have stayed AWAKE!
Shaz
Mac Breck
news:20000628005518...@ng-fp1.aol.com...
> >1) what if, say tomorrow, you come home to find a call on your
> >answering machine from George Lucas saying;
> >"Oh shit, we fucked up bad time, the script is unproducable. We need
> >to start from scratch, we need you! Call me!" Beep!
> >What would you do?
>
> I'd pick up the phone and call before we even hit the Beep part.
>From a *purely selfish* standpoint, I hope this never happens. I'd rather
you pour that energy into a B5 feature film, and new Crusade episodes.
Mac
Maagic
Maia Bernstein wrote:
>
> Imagine Star Wars episode one if JMS had written the screenplay, and
> Haley Joel Osment (the amazing child actor from _The Sixth Sense_)
> had played Anakin Skywalker...
--
-Maagic
aka Bryan Foster
Webmaster of the Rick and Bubba Experience
http://www.rickandbubba.net
Scott Advani
So much Sci-Fi is too "sweet". Everything is pat, all the answers are
given, everything is super neat and tidy by the time the curtain falls.
The ending to "Mission to Mars" (MM) was "sweet" (perhaps from playing
with all the M&M's...) and so was disappointing. "Jurassic Park" was
also "sweet" (perhaps from all the ice-cream).
In a real sense, our lives are rarely sweet. Maybe before we reach
adulthood, it's sweet, but after we become aware of how things are not
"the way they're supposed to be," it's no longer as sweet or as innocent
as we remembered. At best, its bitter-sweet. More often, it's seasoned
with a variety of flavours... and salt does seem to bring out the best
of the flavour provided you don't overdo it.
Is there a writing metaphor for hardened arteries?
Part of why I so enjoyed "The Secret of Roan Inish" was because it was a
story quite unlike anything I'd heard before, and again not everything
needed to be explained - but as an entertainment it was extremely
satisfying. I could easly describe that movie as being full of "salt."
(And, it took place at sea, which is salty, right?) (Note: this does
not explain "Waterworld", which was also "sweet" for much of the time.)
I suspect that at some level a story rings false to us when there is not
enough "salt" in it, because we know life's never like that, not even in
the future. We may escape to a sweet fantasy, but we will not accept
that it could ever be that way. Of course, most don't set out to stage
a reality.
B5 tried to do this, and for the most part succeeded in portraying
people as people, in an amazing situation. You're never left with a
"happily ever after". Even when the story stretched forth 1,000,000
years in the future, there was a celebration of "leaving the cradle" as
the sun exploded and earth was destroyed. Not a sweet, tidy ending, but
another sort of beginning, or at least a continuation.
The "Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" were laced with salt throughout the
story, and despite the absolutely fantastic situations depicted in the
story, you were still left with a sense of being able to connect to the
characters because they were still just as flawed, just as torn, just as
imperfect as the rest of us. I enjoyed the story far more than I
thought I would, and now I begin to understand why.
-= Scott =-
Rob Hayward
<jms...@aol.com> writes
>Needs salt.
>
> jms
>
For some reason I get the mental picture of Zathras going
"Zathras says Star Wars needs more salt"
--
Rob
We eat for the one, we drink for the one.
,
,
,
We get fat for the one
Pål Are Nordal
>
> From a *purely selfish* standpoint, I hope this never happens. I'd rather
> you pour that energy into a B5 feature film, and new Crusade episodes.
I suspect the likelihood of those things happening (in addition to their
prospective budgets) would increase considerably if his name was
attached to one of the upcoming Star Wars movies.
--
Donate free food with a simple click: http://www.thehungersite.com/
Pål Are Nordal
a_b...@bigfoot.com
Glenn Saunders
wrote:
>Imagine Star Wars episode one if JMS had written the screenplay, and
>Haley Joel Osment (the amazing child actor from _The Sixth Sense_)
>had played Anakin Skywalker...
>
we've seen of him. Okay, so he can whimper "I see dead people". Who
cares?
Glenn Saunders
wrote:
>>From a *purely selfish* standpoint, I hope this never happens. I'd rather
>you pour that energy into a B5 feature film, and new Crusade episodes.
If B5's story arc is over, what do you do in a B5 movie?
I like the idea for a movie, but JMS shouldn't make a movie just for
the sake of making a movie.
Pål Are Nordal
>
> If B5's story arc is over, what do you do in a B5 movie?
>
> I like the idea for a movie, but JMS shouldn't make a movie just for
> the sake of making a movie.
I've gotten the impression he's been saving the Telepath War for it.
Greywind
Glenn Saunders wrote:
>
> On 28 Jun 2000 21:29:37 -0600, "Mac Breck" <macb...@access995.com>
> wrote:
> >>From a *purely selfish* standpoint, I hope this never happens. I'd rather
> >you pour that energy into a B5 feature film, and new Crusade episodes.
>
> If B5's story arc is over, what do you do in a B5 movie?
>
> I like the idea for a movie, but JMS shouldn't make a movie just for
> the sake of making a movie.
Has the purpose the Great Machine ever been explained?
I for one am interested in finding out what it's purpose
is 500 years in the future...
Pål Are Nordal
>
> Has the purpose the Great Machine ever been explained?
Fiona Avery did write something about it's history in one of the Babylon
5 Magazines, but I can't be bothered to dig it out right now.
Sam Black
To push B4 through time.
---------
- sam The tallest blade of grass
is the first to be cut by the lawnmower.
Bob Joesting
>If B5's story arc is over, what do you do in a B5 movie?
>
>I like the idea for a movie, but JMS shouldn't make a movie just for
>the sake of making a movie.
My guess is that Joe has a few B5 movie size
stories that he hasn't told. If not just give
him a piece of paper and tell him he can't write
anything else until he lists a few movie ideas
for the B5 universe. While the main story of B5
has been told, there are so many other stories
in that universe that Joe will have stories for
us for as long as the suits will approve them.
Bob Joesting <valen (at) psicorps (dot) com>