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      Thank you...it was hard doing that to the character, but it was the only way to handle the situation with any integrity and honesty.  Very hard to write.

                                                                    jms

Fm: WILL CARAWAY

Joe,
    just finished watching Rising Star;  my congrats on another great ep.  I do have a couple of questions in light of how management things turned out.  If you had known that a fifth season was coming would you have done Delenn's speech differently, and if so how?  I realize you have a policy against detailing ships that have already sailed and so I'm not looking for specifics for question 2 just broad strokes about what direction you might have taken.

Happy 5'n

Will

PS.  Sorry if you get two copies of this the new forum caught me off guard.

      I don't know if I would've done hre speech differently or not, to be honest...knowing it now, I'm not sure how I'd improve it.

                                                                    jms

Hi Joe,

As a reader of the relay list, I've been seeing some posts that I'd like to address in general. I'm not against nitpicking, as long as it follows the line of something akin to constructive criticism. However, I've been lately amazed at how much of it address basically how you do your job.

As someone who holds your work/talent in high regard (you have such a way with characters ), I'm constantly floored by how many people nitpick not what you said in your story, but how you chose/choose to tell it. It really makes me wonder if Shakespeare were alive today, how long would he last around this world.

I've enjoyed all four seasons and am highly looking forward to season five. Deconstruction was a fabulous episode and I liked the little dedication at the end. : ) I don't give a rats backside how you choose to tell us your stories, just as long as you continue to do so. I've always found your story pace to be quite good and I really don't see why it's so necessary to nitpick it. Perhaps I just don't get it?

I mean, afterall, I wouldn't expect you to tell me how to do my job. Why should I tell you how to do yours? One would think that you haven't won a highly prestigious award two years in a row. Seems to me that you're doing something right. I'm someone who really doesn't mind that John and Delenn's wedding was a quiet, off-camera deal. Those characters are private people when it comes to things like this and they would not have wanted a state deal. Just something simple. At least, that's the impression I've gotten. Of course, I could be mistaken.

Anyway, because I'm not so sure you've been hearing this enough lately, *thank you.* I think you're doing a fantastic job. I'm thoroughly entertained by your tale and like a child with a bedtime story, I anticipate the next chapter.

Happy All Hallows Eve and have a great weekend....

Thanks....

I think a lot of the nitpicking comes out of people feeling they *have* to express an opinion about something. It's something you learn as a writer; if somebody goes into a bookstore and buys a book, they bring it home, read it, and if they like it, they like it; if they don't, they don't, and that's really kind of it, just the broad strokes. If you write a book and give it to a friend, the friend will feel s/he has to go through it and give you critical responses..."I just didn't buy it when John bought the vanila ice cream cone on page 47, a guy like that would buy chocolate."

Once the creation of the show is over, I think that it'll fall back into the general reaction category.

jms

And of course we had those who wondered what else there would be to fill in a fifth year...not understanding that I have this story worked out in at least broad strokes for the next 1,000 years....

"How can this story ever end??"

The story never ends. It's this part of the telling that will end.

jms

Thanks.

jms

Fm: DEONAHA M. CONLIN

Joe, that was so surreal! That went BEYOND surreal. I'm still sorting it all out in my head, but I enjoyed it.

Looking at what was done in the increments he chose, I kinda wonder about the 'history' we have been taught as fact. Just how much of it has been altered or edited to satisfy the sensibilities or agendas of a given time? How will Watergate look in 2072? How did WWII *really* look?

Delenn's attack of the panel was......Delenn. Tell it like it is. And again - how much of what we read in the news has been altered or spun by the authors, their papers or networks, etc.? Words to the effect of "what you do not know you will invent" seem to ring so true NOW.

The half-millennium sequence was creepy. The *new and improved* Sheridan may not have been such a far stretch from the Sheridan we know. Based on what most people saw at the time and believed (remember the captain who was sure his crew would be taken prisoner and killed when nothing could have been farther from the truth?), fivehundred years later, it wouldn't be a hard thing to believe. The change in Franklin was the one that really shook me up. His very cool, clinical, matter-of-fact discussion of vivisection, and then experimenting with children....Joe, as usual, you know how to get down to what gives people the crawls, and that did it for me. I felt nauseous.

I think the sequence I most enjoyed, after the welcome back for Sheridan and Delen, not forgetting Londo's description of Centauri weddings as somber and reflective , had to be the thousand year sequence. The young monk talking about losing his faith, the older one counseling him, reassuring him without being obvious -- it took me a bit to realize that the older monk was a Ranger. And it didn't fully sink in until he pulled the uniform from the closet, and touched it so reverently. I got such a chill.

The million year part I found distracting somehow. Partly that I could detect the edge of the bald cap, and that bothered me some. Partly that I guess a million years a such a great dealof time to get one's head around. But it does make you ask if any of this will be remembered in a million years. As Delenn said, history will take care of itself - it always does.

This looks like it will make a nice transition into series five, another resting place such as we saw at the end of the shadow war, another place to look back and get ready for the next season. Should be fun.

Di Conlin, Wielder of the Lesser Salmon of Discipline, TUS (AKA Tigger)
Great Maker, huh? (Wolf 359, 1997)
"YOU! OUT of the gene pool!"

The interesting thing about revisionism is, as you say, that so much of it goes on already. John Copeland over lunch the other day was outraged over a situation where new Japanese textbooks are being introduced indicating that the rape of Nanking never happened, and that the bombing of Pearl Harbor was in retaliation for Hiroshima.

I'm constantly amazed....

jms

even the ending of the episode was not sufficient to turn it around. My overriding thought was after all that (everything that Sheridan/Delenn et al had done) nothing was accomplished. All of it was wasted. The way history looked back at them. The great burn. A destroyed civilization. What a waste.

Steve Simpson
ssimpson@mediaone.net

It depends on your point of view.

The fact, as I see it, is that no one and nothing will ever solve all of our problems at once, now and forever. People will always be people. You can't wave a magic wand and fix it all.

Yes, there was another war...but had the Shadows not been stopped by our characters, there likely wouldn't have been a human race at ALL anymore.

Yes, there was a war, and many died in it...as tends to happen in war...but the nominal right side in it came out on top, which would not have been the case but for Garibaldi's simulacra giving them a leg up on things.

We have had, continue to have, and will always have wars, and grief, and struggle...we will climb up and fall down...but each time we climb a little higher, and in the end, we *do* build the world that our ancestors would have wanted for us...we *do* leave the cradle at last, and we take our place among the stars teaching those who follow us.

For my money, that's as happy an ending as we or anyone can ever hope for.

jms

[Moderator] [Kaeori] to [Moderator]: My question: I was wondering - Is there anything you wish you had done in the past on the show that you cannot now, as far as storyline/characters go?
[JMStraczynski] Not that I can think of...I've pretty much done whatever I wanted to do, and the stories though taking some new directions, eventually ended up where I wanted. ga

[Moderator] Q: [Terminus] to [Moderator]: Would Ivanova have had a pivotal role in season 5, had her character continued?
[JMStraczynski] Yes, had Claudia not chosen to leave the show, there would have been a lot for her to do, as she knew given that Sheridan is now in a different position leaving someone else to command B5; and there's a certain character named Byron who would've had something to do with her, but that storyline now goes to Lyta. ga

[Moderator] Q: [ThomasJ] to [Moderator]: JMS: Re 422, do you think YOUR name will still be remembered in a hundred, a thousand, a million years?
[JMStraczynski] I think it'll take them a million years to learn how to spell it. ga

[Moderator] Q: [b5fanatic] to [Moderator]: Many critics and fans alike have called b5 a soap opera in space, what do you think about that?
[JMStraczynski] I think it's a way of denigrating a form that was enlivened and made perfect by Dickens and other authors, who put forth continuing stories one chapter at a time. A soap opera rarely really goes anywhere, and doesn't build toward an end. I don't buy into it, basically. ga

[Moderator] [Kurt] to [Moderator]: Do you consider yourself a screenwriter first, a science fiction writer -- or simply a writer?
[JMStraczynski] I are a riter. I write gud. I rite stuff for the TeeVee and buuks. I doesn't like labels. Aye write what I want. Labels are for detergent boxes. ga

[Moderator] Q: [PlaidLad] to [Moderator]: JMS, read in "ain't it cool news" that you may be considering another series other than "crusade". true or wild rumor that has no reason for being?
[JMStraczynski] I always have moreone project going at the same time, because you neverknow what's going to work. So yeah, there's some other stuff on the horizon. ga

[Moderator] Q: [Godzilla] to [Moderator]: Would you consider doing a different scifi story that has nothing to do with B5?
[JMStraczynski] Of my own? Yes, that's where the other projects of mine come in. Somebody else's? That would depend on the project. There were some preliminary talks (still ongoing) about my doing the pilot movie for the series to be based on Ben Bova's MARS, but that's still in the "we'll see" category. ga

[Moderator] Q: [Krash] to [Moderator]: how often if ever do ideas from the fans or the general public make it into the story line?
[JMStraczynski] Never. My #1 rule is NO STORY IDEAS. Due to the concern about litigation, if I get story submissions on the nets, I stay away from the nets, and don't allow them anywhere else. (One story, "Comes the Inquisitor," was delayed almost a year because a fan suggested something that I was going to do.) ga

[Moderator] Q: [MacHal] to [Moderator]: Would You write for Star Trek if asked?
[JMStraczynski] Not for the current administration over there, no. One individual with Paramount has wondered aloud what I could do with the ST machine, but I don't put much stock in that. ga

[Moderator] Q: [tactical] to [Moderator]: Do you have any tips for those who are writing SciFi books and scripts now?
[JMStraczynski] Write what moves you to passion. If you write what interests you, it will interest others. If you write what you *think* you should write, what someone *tells* you you should write, you will fail. Follow your passion; the rest takes care of itself. ga

[Moderator] Q: [RabbiVideo] to [Moderator]: Joe, what's the word on Harlan writing for B5?
[JMStraczynski] The word is "wubble." We don't know what it means, but it sounds cool. (Actually, he's working on something now, and contributed the notoin that became "A View from the Gallery," for which he shares story credit.) ga

[Moderator] Q: [Elf] to [Moderator]: Once the series is done, will you reveal the original story outline so we can see how you had to change it to cope with events as the series was made?
[JMStraczynski] Would you ask a magician, after seeing him pull a live alligator out of thin air, to show you how he did it? Or just enjoy the trick? (And if the answer is yes, you're a terrible person and your mother dresses you funny.) ga

[Moderator] Q: [ThufirHawat] to [Moderator]: How much of B5 do you think is totally your own creation, and how much is borrowed (however slightly) from other shows/movies/books/etc.?
[JMStraczynski] It's my story. Through and through. In SF we all stand on the shoulders of giants, building on the work that precedes us, but nothing was borrowed from anywhere. ga

[Moderator] Q: [Terminus] to [Moderator]: Do you see the influence B5 is having on other SF series?
[JMStraczynski] I see more and more shows coming along now talking about using a 5 y ear arc, and other shows are starting to use our model of production, others are starting to take SF more seriously, and overall we've shown that a space series other than ST can survive, and that alone is significant and may, I hope, lead to more such shows in the future. ga

[Moderator] Q: [Laura17] to [Moderator]: jms how well did you think Peter David and Bill Mumy did with their script opportunity?
[JMStraczynski] There were some problems, and that script may have to be set aside for the time being. ga

[Moderator] Q: [Scarface] to [Moderator]: What do you think of the people on the net complaining about how bad they thought the last few episodes have been?
[JMStraczynski] There have been far more praising the episodes than complaining, as has always been the case. In any show, there will be some shows people like, some people don't; as long as more like it than don't, you're okay. I'm very proud of these episodes, and think they represent some of our best work. And 99% of the fans agree, from what I've seen and on the P5 poll. ga

[Moderator] Q: [RimRod] to [Moderator]: Would you, if asked, direct a Star Wars movie?
[JMStraczynski] No, I would be mind-bogglingly beyond my incompetence level, not a chance. Write one? Sure. But direct one? I barely survived directing SiL, let alone a movie like that. No, I would die. ga

[Moderator] Q: [ThufirHawat] to [Moderator]: Authors often say that when they write, their characters often go off in totally different directions. Has this happened to you with B5, and if so what characters?
[JMStraczynski] Yes, on many occasions; it was originally Londo who was going to kill Cartagia, but at the last moment Vir stepped forward (or taht part of my mind pretending to be Vir for purposes of the conversation) and said it would be betgter if he did it, because he'd have remorse, whereas if Londo did it, it'd be business as usual. And he was right. ga

[Moderator] Q: [Southerngent] to [Moderator]: Joe what are you going to do to Unwind after this season is over ?
[JMStraczynski] I won't have time to do that; we shoot S5 through March, we'd shoot the 3rd TNT movie in April, and in theory, should
[JMStraczynski] Crusade get greenlighted, we'd go into production in July, prepping from March through June. So I think I may get some rest around...1999. ga