ATTN JMS: SciFi runs B5 late!
RobWired
This is a copy of a post I left at the B5 BBS over at SciFi. It explains a
problem that others have included in posts over there, too. I'm not sure what
you can do about it, except tell SciFi your fans are upset about SciFi not
being able to run on schedule; they have no one to run the trains!
My SciFi post:
''I was so excited about the auspicious debut of B5 on SciFi. I even set my
timer to add 2 to 3 extra minutes at the end. And know what? I STILL didn't get
all of The Gathering Part 1!
I'm not taping Part 2; I don't have all of Part 1! And -- AND -- is this how
it's going to be with all B5 episodes? Yes, the answer is to add an extra 5 to
10 minutes to the timer, but what if B5 starts early? What then?
What SciFi has shown recently with Farscape, for example, is that no one around
there knows how to read a clock. (Hey, SciFi, the big hand points to the hour
and the little hand points to the minute.) So now I have to wait for The
Gathering to be rerun -- in its entirety as a TV movie would be good (uh-duh!)
-- and probably babysit my VCR because SciFi can't be counted on to run on
time! Although that SHOULD be the network's responsibililty, running on time.
And I was so looking forward to this re-edited version with Christopher
Franke's score.
So how about it, SciFi? When are you going to rerun The Gathering, and when are
you going to get it right?''
rdf
Jms at B5
need to split it into two parts. It shouldn't be a problem in later episodes.
And they basically cropped the regular version to create a faux widescreen for
this broadcast of The Gathering, but on balance I think it was probably better
and easier to do it this way than to show the regular aspect ratio after they'd
been advertising the wide all this time and have to explain that it only
applied to this one, single movie.
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)
Tammy Smith
that "faux-widescreen" that JMS was talking about in this thread.
As for the weird starting & ending times, I knew TNT had done it a lot,
so I was prepared. I used a 160-minute tape & set it from 5-minutes
before airtime to 5-minutes after. I'll be doing this with the whole
series. It costs more, but to me, it's worth it!
Tammy
JMarien3
>Message-id: <20000925221418...@ng-fa1.aol.com>
Just a note in general: I learned A LONG TIME AGO when setting VCRs to record a
show to always set the timer to 10-15 minutes after the scheduled end of the
show, just in case there's a problem with the show being interrupted by a
special bulletin, or whatever. I've had this sort of thing happen to me before,
and after a couple times, you live and learn. Whatever "extra" stuff you end up
with at the end of the taping, you can always rewind and position the tape
accordingly for the next taping session. As I said, live and learn.
ReverendVader
>''I was so excited about the auspicious debut of B5 on SciFi. I even set my
>timer to add 2 to 3 extra minutes at the end. And know what? I STILL didn't
>get
>all of The Gathering Part 1!
>I'm not taping Part 2; I don't have all of Part 1! And -- AND -- is this how
>it's going to be with all B5 episodes? Yes, the answer is to add an extra 5
>to
>10 minutes to the timer, but what if B5 starts early? What then?
>What SciFi has shown recently with Farscape, for example, is that no one
>around
>there knows how to read a clock. (Hey, SciFi, the big hand points to the hour
>and the little hand points to the minute.) So now I have to wait for The
>Gathering to be rerun -- in its entirety as a TV movie would be good
>(uh-duh!)
>-- and probably babysit my
snip
It started on time but ran late because of the dramatic impact of where it
needed to end. They would have had to cut out part of the pilot in order to
fit it in the one hour timeslot.
Actually, my hat was off to Sci-Fi because they respected JMS' vision enough
NOT to cut it so it would fit in the hour. The remastered special edition
version of the Gathering was in 6 acts, instead of the original nine.
Unfortunately, that makes it difficult to DO it in two parts because it wasn't
really designed to be in two parts.
I suppose they should have mentioned that it would run over. But it won't
happen with any subsequent episodes because The Gathering is really the only
special case.
Jason
(If you want, I'll make you a copy of my TNT version... I have it recorded in
SP mode from my DirecTV system.)
Tammy Smith
ad-breaks--usually, their ads seem to go on forever. So I figured they
were airing The Gathering uncut. Good for SFC!
Tammy
Jim Ramsden
last time he said this, TNT) is not an archiving service. He had said that
in reply to logos on the screen and what not, and I extrapolate that to also
include minutes early or late.
I think they programmed too many commercials or something and when it came
down to the wire, did what they did to try to cover the error.
By people complaining that they can't get good copies of the show from
broadcasts, you're saying you aren't going to buy it. One of the aspects of
Babylon 5's success is how well it does in home video release. I'm waiting
for it to hit DVD before purchasing it, but still I think complaining about
this stuff hurts the show and makes us fans look like cheap whiners who
won't put our money up for our show... which is the last message we need to
send Warner Brothers.
I'm just excited that it's on every night at 6 again, and nestled in between
other shows of its ilk. I also caught the last few minutes of Sliders and
enjoyed it... and then stuck around and watched all three episodes of the
Outer Limits they aired next. It's great that Babylon 5 has a good home!
Yes, I got a little annoyed at the Outer Limits pop up, but I remembered the
above and thought 'small price to pay'.
Now is the time to start cheering Sci-Fi, not ripping them...
just my 2 cents.
--
-jim
http://www.jimramsden.com/
ICQ # 249832
"JMarien3" <jmar...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20000926010405...@ng-cc1.aol.com...
> robw...@aol.com (RobWired) on 9/25/00 wrote:
>
> >Message-id: <20000925221418...@ng-fa1.aol.com>
> >
> >Joe,
> >This is a copy of a post I left at the B5 BBS over at SciFi. It explains
a
> >problem that others have included in posts over there, too. I'm not sure
what
> >you can do about it, except tell SciFi your fans are upset about SciFi
not
> >being able to run on schedule; they have no one to run the trains!
> >
> >My SciFi post:
> >''I was so excited about the auspicious debut of B5 on SciFi. I even set
my
> >timer to add 2 to 3 extra minutes at the end. And know what? I STILL
didn't
> >get
> >all of The Gathering Part 1!
> >I'm not taping Part 2; I don't have all of Part 1! And -- AND -- is this
how
> >it's going to be with all B5 episodes? Yes, the answer is to add an extra
5
> >to
> >10 minutes to the timer, but what if B5 starts early? What then?
> >What SciFi has shown recently with Farscape, for example, is that no one
> >around
> >there knows how to read a clock. (Hey, SciFi, the big hand points to the
hour
> >and the little hand points to the minute.) So now I have to wait for The
> >Gathering to be rerun -- in its entirety as a TV movie would be good
> >(uh-duh!)
Jim Ramsden
preserve the way the episode plays out since it was not broken up to run as
two episodes. They would have had to cut it in the middle of the scene where
Lyta's going to scan Kosh. That means tonight's will probably be a few
minutes short. Starting tomorrow things will be fine.
--
-jim
http://www.jimramsden.com/
ICQ # 249832
"Jim Ramsden" <ma...@jimramsden.com> wrote in message
news:rV1A5.3750$4j7.7...@ratbert.tds.net...
Claudia Mastroianni
: By people complaining that they can't get good copies of the show from
: broadcasts, you're saying you aren't going to buy it.
Nonsense. I'll buy it the moment it comes out on DVD. (Sorry, I haven't
bought commercial videotape of anything but old movie musicals in years,
since before I got a DVD player... but my DVD library is a carefully-
cultivated thing.)
But what am I supposed to do in the meantime?
Watch pop-up ads, apparently.
I'm neither cheering nor ripping at this point. Wednesday will be the
first time we see what this run can really mean for us; that'll be soon
enough to say anything one way or the other.
Claudia
--
"Are you bluish? You don't *look* bluish."
David_C
>
> As for the weird starting & ending times, I knew TNT had done it a
> lot, so I was prepared. I used a 160-minute tape & set it from
> 5-minutes before airtime to 5-minutes after. I'll be doing this with
> the whole series. It costs more, but to me, it's worth it!
Or do what I do.
Since I want to keep the recordings, and I happen to have two VCRs in
the house, I have my timer record the episodes (with a 5 minute buffer
on either side). Later, I copy the episode to an archive tape, editing
out the commercial breaks as I go.
The nice thing about this is that the episodes run 42-44 minutes long
without commercials. So you can fit 8 of them on a 6-hour tape.
I decided not to keep the SciFi broadcast of The Gathering, though. I
see no reason to keep a cropped version when I already have the
full-screen version from TNT's broadcast. (And that broadcast seems to
be better quality overall as well.)
-- David
David_C
>
> .... and to save JMS having to say it again... keep in mind that
> Sci-Fi (and last time he said this, TNT) is not an archiving
> service.
I would hope that everybody understands this by now. I won't complain
to the networks about it, because I understand the real purpose of the
broadcasts (to get you to watch the commercials). But it doesn't change
the fact that they get in the way. I have this opinion of popups even
when I'm not taping a show. (I get equally annoyed when my local FOX
affiliate decides to scroll weather and traffic advisories across the
bottom of The Simpsons.)
And yes, I will buy all of the DVDs whenever they are released, even
though I have VHS recordings of the entire TNT broadcast and am now
recording the SciFi broadcasts. (Hint, hint, to whoever in WB Home
Video that might somehow be watching this......)
> By people complaining that they can't get good copies of the show from
> broadcasts, you're saying you aren't going to buy it.
That doesn't necessarily follow.
I know that I will buy the DVDs, just as you say you will. But until
then, I want the best quality recording I can get.
> I think complaining about this stuff hurts the show and makes us fans
> look like cheap whiners who won't put our money up for our
> show... which is the last message we need to send Warner Brothers.
People see what they want to see. If WB sees the fans as cheap whiners,
then that's because it's how they already see us, and nothing posted
here will change that.
-- David
Mark D. McKean
<ma...@jimramsden.com> wrote:
> I think they programmed too many commercials or something and when it came
> down to the wire, did what they did to try to cover the error.
Actually, I suspected (when I first heard that they would be running The
Gathering in two parts) that this would be a problem, because the break
between acts 3 and 4 doesn't fall precisely on the midpoint of the
movie. So I wasn't surprised that Part 1 ran long and Part 2 had a few
extra commercials.
--
Mark D. McKean - The Quantum Panda - qpa...@iwaynet.net
Harry McDow
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"Jim Ramsden" <ma...@jimramsden.com> wrote in message
news:rV1A5.3750$4j7.7...@ratbert.tds.net...
> I'm waiting for it to hit DVD before purchasing it,
I'm with you on this. I hope, before I die, the whole B5 phenomenon
comes out on DVD. Movies, all 5 seasons, outtakes, and a cute
little picture of Joe in a tutu would be nice....
um... ok, maybe we can skip the tutu...
> but still I think complaining about this stuff hurts the show and
> makes us fans look like cheap whiners who won't put our
>money up for our show...
Oh, I don't know. Makes everyone sound like FANS. Not cheap
or whiners.... just fans. Don't tell me that SciFi didn't know B5 had
fans. Ones that like their show just so.... HEY, I'm a poet.
And I wouldn't hesitate to spend my moola on the DVDs. In a New
York second. (Which is weird since I'm from Texas.)
--
- Harry
____________________________
"Always use the word IMPOSSIBLE
with the greatest caution."
- Wernher von Braun
____________________________
Mac Breck
[ Some characters may be displayed incorrectly. ]
----- Original Message -----
From: "David_C" <sham...@usa.net>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2000 10:52 PM
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: SciFi runs B5 late!
> "Jim Ramsden" <ma...@jimramsden.com> writes:
> >
> > By people complaining that they can't get good copies of the show from
> > broadcasts, you're saying you aren't going to buy it.
>
> That doesn't necessarily follow.
>
> I know that I will buy the DVDs, just as you say you will. But until
> then, I want the best quality recording I can get.
Ditto! Who knows how far off the DVD's are, and even if they'll complete
their run on DVD (I own the partial Laserdisc run.)?
> > I think complaining about this stuff hurts the show and makes us fans
> > look like cheap whiners who won't put our money up for our
> > show... which is the last message we need to send Warner Brothers.
If all you do is complain, yes that's true. That *is* the last message you
want to send to Warner Brothers or the Sci-Fi Channel. For me, the tapes
I'm making now (SVHS SP on Fuji H471S ST-120 tapes) are just the best
possible stop-gap until I get the entire show on DVD in widescreen.
Mac
Mark Maher
<008701c02883$b3cc2060$3dd2...@cobweb.net>...
This from the scifi.com bboard:
============
Date: 9/26/2000
From: splunge714
I don't know how I can possibly prove to y'all that the people
in the promo department are ACTUALLY PEOPLE and fans as well.
We DO read the postings when we have a moment, and are always
interested in what you out there have to say.
We DO also have an obligation to promote the shows that air on
SCI FI, so you will know when they are on, you'll watch them,
you'll like them, we'll get ratings, and they'll keep giving us
money to buy cool shows like Babylon 5. That is the reason for
the Outer Limits banner. We are currently repackaging our "Outer
Limits" and "Tales From The Crypt" nights to match our
"Bat-Tuesdays" night that premieres soon, so we don't have an
Outer Limits Monday spot that we feel like running that we are
not sick of. So the only way we could think to promote Outer
Limits Monday was to run the banner.
I had assumed the banner would only appear in the black part of
the letterbox, but when it aired, it was obviously intrusive.
You pointed it out, and it's gone.(No we are under no
contractual obligation to run these things.)
===========
I hope that this clears this up.
__!_!__
Gizmo
Claudia Mastroianni
: I'm neither cheering nor ripping at this point. Wednesday will be the
: first time we see what this run can really mean for us; that'll be soon
: enough to say anything one way or the other.
It's beautiful. I'm hooked.
Claudia
--
"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed
or numbered.... I am not a number, I am a free man!" -- Number 6
Trek Barnes
Harry McDow <hmc...@snet.net> wrote in message
news:vycA5.27660$KI6.4...@typhoon.snet.net...
> [ The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set. ]
> [ Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set. ]
> [ Some characters may be displayed incorrectly. ]
>
> news:rV1A5.3750$4j7.7...@ratbert.tds.net...
>
> > I'm waiting for it to hit DVD before purchasing it,
>
> I'm with you on this. I hope, before I die, the whole B5 phenomenon
> comes out on DVD. Movies, all 5 seasons, outtakes, and a cute
> little picture of Joe in a tutu would be nice....
>
> um... ok, maybe we can skip the tutu...
>
'Twould go nicely with a picture of Andreas when he appeard at last year's
Orlando Vulkon.
(He clamed he was so shy that the only way he could come on stage was the
way he did; In a tutu, throwing candy out of a basket while skipping.)
Shaz
"Trek Barnes" <ask...@mediaone.net> wrote in message
news:FEyA5.6001$e6.1...@typhoon.jacksonville.mediaone.net...
TELL ME there's a picture of this somewhere.... PLEASE!!!!
Shaz <who can imagine it, but would really like to see the evidence!>
Trek Barnes
Shaz <hyp...@Dial.pipex.com> wrote in message
news:8quk4j$j03$1...@lure.pipex.net...
>
> "Trek Barnes" <ask...@mediaone.net> wrote in message
> news:FEyA5.6001$e6.1...@typhoon.jacksonville.mediaone.net...
> >
> > Harry McDow <hmc...@snet.net> wrote in message
> > >
> > > > I'm waiting for it to hit DVD before purchasing it,
> > >
> > > I'm with you on this. I hope, before I die, the whole B5 phenomenon
> > > comes out on DVD. Movies, all 5 seasons, outtakes, and a cute
> > > little picture of Joe in a tutu would be nice....
> > >
> > > um... ok, maybe we can skip the tutu...
> > >
> >
> > 'Twould go nicely with a picture of Andreas when he appeard at last
year's
> > Orlando Vulkon.
> >
> > (He clamed he was so shy that the only way he could come on stage was
the
> > way he did; In a tutu, throwing candy out of a basket while skipping.)
>
> TELL ME there's a picture of this somewhere.... PLEASE!!!!
>
> Shaz <who can imagine it, but would really like to see the evidence!>
>
Actually there were tons of pictures taken. Sadly, none by me. :-(
Shaz
Did anyone put them up on a website somewhere???
Shaz