JMS: CGI characters, etc
Jonathan Roy
JP out there... :) Also a little note about a script with a kid
in it, and a few other things. With GEnie's rates changing,
I'm going to be limited to about 1 GEnie pass per week, so I'll
start posting JMS's messages up on a weekly basis, regardless of
how many there are. :)
One message not included was simply "Could be." I think it was
a responce to my message asking if the highest technologicaly advanced
race (Which we haven't seen yet) was the secret race noone in the B5
universe (for the most part) had ever heard of. "Could be" was his
answer, I think. Not sure. :) This then begs the question... What is
the relationship between this high-high-tech possibly unknown race,
the shadow government manipulating things in the Earth Alliance
and possible elsewhere, and the Minbari Grey Council? Sigh.
Second SF&F RT
Category 18, Topic 2
Message 692 Sat Jun 26, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 17:32 EDT
Justin: most of the first half of your questions have been dealt with,
particularly as it concerns the planet. There are definite surface features
now, and if you watch it long enough, definite rotation. I don't know how
much memory the station requires now, but it's absolutely massive, Ron tells
me.
And yes, as Arne says, script #2 (whose title I'm holding back for the
time being) is very much a Delenn script...we'll learn something very
interesting about a conflict between her people and another group, and about
the Minbari religious system. We'll be introduced to some new and interesting
characters, including n'grath. We'll also see a VERY different side to
Delenn's character...and learn a little more about the Grey Council. Done
right, it could be a *very* offbeat, strange episode.
jms
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Second SF&F RT
Category 18, Topic 2
Message 697 Sun Jun 27, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 20:35 EDT
We've basically mapped out the entire interior of the station, and
assigned designations to all the areas we'll be using.
I don't think we'll need to hire someone to peruse our scripts in the way
you suggest because, for starters, it's just a different kind of show with a
different approach. What you describe is lazy writing; we don't do that.
We're very, very rigorous. And by the time it goes through the process of
being picked apart by our production team and directors, all of whom love
nothing more than to find ANYthing wrong in a script, if there's the slightest
hole in something...we hear about it. Believe me, we hear about it.
That's one very important thing about the way we run B5, both on the
pilot, and now on the series, that somewhat distinguishes us from many other
shows. If, say, Steven Bochco wants to do something a certain way, or
Cannell, they're rarely argued with by their subordinates, from what I'm told
by those who've worked there. There's a very definite hierarchy there. We
don't have one. Basically, anybody can say anything to anyone, at any time.
I, and my other exec producer Doug Netter, and our line producers, basically
everyone is available to anyone who has a question and all questions are
listened to. If one of us doesn't have a good answer, we find one.
If anything, some of our people take great delight in picking apart the
scripts in excruciating detail, just to give me a hard time...and I don't have
a problem with that, because if they can find a hole, others will as well.
Same with all of our department heads...wardrobe works with prosthetics,
prosthetics works with props, props works with sets, each free to comment on
or question things being done by the other. What is great is that it's not
fractious, not argumentative...everyone has checked their ego at the door in
order to concentrate on the only thing that matters: doing a good show. We
carefully filtered out anyone who we thought wouldn't work that way, so we
have a nice synthesis going for us.
jms
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Second SF&F RT
Category 18, Topic 11
Message 564 Sat Jun 26, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 17:36 EDT
Finally saw JP this weekend. Story ain't much, acting ain't much to
write home about, but yeah, from a technical standpoint, those are very
believeable dinosaurs. They almost trigger off a subliminal, genetic reaction
that goes back a few million years into our DNA..."I've seen that before
somewhere and I didn't much like it." Anyway, very well done, and I plan to
tell Ron that he has to deliver that good or better when he finally starts to
deliver CGI characters.
jms
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Second SF&F RT
Category 18, Topic 14
Message 371 Sat Jun 26, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 17:39 EDT
Moriarty: thanks. (Sherlock says hello, and asked for you to meet him at
noon over by the Falls in Reichenbach.)
Yeah, it's a difficult balance to strike...you don't want to give away
the surprises, but you want to keep the dialogue going, and that requires
giving out some hints here and there. It has been, and continues to be a
fascinating process.
jms
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Second SF&F RT
Category 18, Topic 16
Message 168 Sat Jun 26, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 20:42 EDT
The header is no kids or cute robots, not cute kids and robots. There
is a difference.
There's a kid in the story David Gerrold is currently writing, but this
kid has the good grace to be more or less unconscious for the bulk of the
story.
jms
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Second SF&F RT
Category 18, Topic 11
Message 569 Mon Jun 28, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:33 EDT
Yeah, I'm sticking with Wordstar. More grief I don't need.
Thought the JP book was quite good; the book was carried by the story and
the science, the movie was carried by the lizards.
jms
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Second SF&F RT
Category 18, Topic 24
Message 105 Mon Jun 28, 1993
STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 04:37 EDT
Brett: those aren't the fighters, though. Those have yet to be seen
anywhere (except on my computer; I have nifty new wallpaper for my Windows).
And yes, we'll be filtering in a lot of info re: the EA/Minbar war as we
go.
jms
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--
F F Jonathan Roy, of the Free Access Foundation Email: ni...@faf.org
A Mail f...@halcyon.com for information, or FTP to halcyon.com: /pub/faf/
F F Vorlons, of the Galactic Bloodshed Development Team GEnie: J.ROY18
"Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design." - _RotJ_
Gary Hoo
[much omitted, fore and aft]
>Second SF&F RT
>Category 18, Topic 16
>Message 168 Sat Jun 26, 1993
>STRACZYNSKI [Joe] at 20:42 EDT
>
> [...]
>
> There's a kid in the story David Gerrold is currently writing, but this
>kid has the good grace to be more or less unconscious for the bulk of the
>story. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^
>
> jms
This is the best portent yet that B5 is going to be a quality series.
Jonathan, as many have already said, thanks for passing on JMS' posts.
/gh
--
ga...@futon.sfsu.edu
DISCLAIMER: I do not speak for San | In the short term ... I'd suggest
Francisco State University, and I | some _really_ good scotch, preferably
trust SFSU is suitably grateful. | consumed in Aruba...--Vince Gibboni