Babylon 5 - DVD Movie Collection thread

[cornholio1980]

Originally posted by iamsheridan
It says: "If you copy this product and sell it to a third party, the ancient forfathers will take all your libido stamina away so that neither [endangered] rhinoceros horn, [endangered]whale penis, reindeer antlers or Viagra will make it possible for you to ever, ever, conceive a child or even make a woman happy."

Uh oh... well, good to know. Thanks for the warning, iamsheridan!

[WalkingEagle]

Personal preference... they can canonize stories all they want. JMS can canonize... but for me if he hasn't written it himself then its not really the story. To me its just... Expanded Universe.

But I understand. Novels can take a long time to write and JMS is very busy doing other things in relationship to his creation BABYLON 5. That is why others are allowed to write story. Like I said... personal preference. I'd rather get all the facts directly from the author either as a written work or as a tv or theatrical production.

In that case, maybe, I can be considered a purist.

[Jan]

Originally posted by WalkingEagle
In that case, maybe, I can be considered a purist.

You're missing out on some good stories.

Jan

[CRONAN]

A quote from jms on the tech tril:

I'm reading the first installment of the Technomage trilogy now, and though I'm
only about halfway done, I think it may be the best of the bunch. If there's
any one of the books that I think could be considered Nebula material...it's
this one.

[NotKosh]

Originally posted by WalkingEagle
Personal preference... they can canonize stories all they want. JMS can canonize... but for me if he hasn't written it himself then its not really the story. To me its just... Expanded Universe.

But I understand. Novels can take a long time to write and JMS is very busy doing other things in relationship to his creation BABYLON 5. That is why others are allowed to write story. Like I said... personal preference. I'd rather get all the facts directly from the author either as a written work or as a tv or theatrical production.

In that case, maybe, I can be considered a purist.

You are operating on the assumption that they aren't JMS stories. They are.
You have been influenced by (I assume) the mass amount of ST crap that has been produced.

You ask for more B5, and it is there for the taking.

In this case, you are incorrectly denying yourself what you want.

More the tragedy is that you are so locked in your thinking that you won't even attempt it. The TM trilogy is what you should attempt.

[cornholio1980]

Originally posted by WalkingEagle
but for me if he hasn't written it himself then its not really the story. To me its just... Expanded Universe.

So "Believers", "Day of the Dead" etc. are just Expanded Universe?

[WalkingEagle]

Originally posted by cornholio1980
So "Believers", "Day of the Dead" etc. are just Expanded Universe?

I don't know...

haven't seen those.

[WalkingEagle]

Originally posted by NotKosh
You are operating on the assumption that they aren't JMS stories. They are.
You have been influenced by (I assume) the mass amount of ST crap that has been produced.

You ask for more B5, and it is there for the taking.

In this case, you are incorrectly denying yourself what you want.

More the tragedy is that you are so locked in your thinking that you won't even attempt it. The TM trilogy is what you should attempt.

If its isn't coming from JMS' hand and head, but someone elses, then to me it isn't really JMS'. Even if he said "ok".

But let's not disrespect STAR TREK. It was that 60s show that broke the ice for what you see today. Without ST there would never have been a B5 or many of the other SF shows that came afterwards. Many of the leading SF writers alive during that time wrote episodes for classic STAR TREK. So Roddenberry's show should not be spat upon. Even STAR WARS paid respect to Trek and all the forerunner ST shows and movies and movie series. In truth, B5 and SW stand on the shoulders of the others.

Like I said...I'm a purist to a degree. You know the old saying about too many hands in the pie. Things tend to get muddied. One great thing about seeing that 90%+ of the episodes written by JMS is that you see how he had evolved with the show on a psychological, emotional and even spiritual level. That's what made it so very enjoyable.

[jahkneebee]

The Eagle stood dejected on the Mountain and watched the B5 Universe go by.

I started the books with the Technomage Trilogy (great!), just finished the Centauri Trilogy (brought me to tears), and am going to tackle the Psi Corps T next. Or I may read 'The Shadow Within" or "To Dream" next, as they are getting really good comments in this and other threads.

I haven't cut myself off from these adventures and I am SO HAPPY!

Walking Eagle, you REALLY do not know what you are missing.

[Capt.Montoya]

The canon novels were not canonized after the fact, they were considered canon from before they were finished writing and published.
To repeat a point I made in another thread (for the very last time):
JMS gave the authors an skeleton (the outline) out of his own hand and head. The authors then put flesh upon that skeleton.
Yes, in the traditional SF franchises there isn't even a skeleton, instead the authors are given a pile of bones, they assemble something, they tell you is a stallion, but you can see it's nothing but a badly assembled donkey made with camel and buffalo bones.

In the case of the B5 novels considered canon they were built upon a true pure bred stallion skeleton: the outlines given by JMS.

If you are that much of a purist that you'll reject those it's your choice... you are indeed missing on quite good material that really belongs to and adds dimension to the true fabric of the Babylon 5 universe.
You will never convince the rest of us that the canonical B5 novels aren't official, if we can't convince you either I see no point continuing this discussion.

Even if such a discussion would make a much amusing easter egg in some B5 related DVD.

[WalkingEagle]

LOL!!

I'll pass on the stories, my friend.

I will eagerly await THE MEMORY OF SHADOWS. That is good enough for me. I don't need miscellanous authors' ideas of the B5 universe.

[Dr Maturin]

<<But let's not disrespect STAR TREK. It was that 60s show that broke the ice for what you see today. Without ST there would never have been a B5 or many of the other SF shows that came afterwards. Many of the leading SF writers alive during that time wrote episodes for classic STAR TREK. So Roddenberry's show should not be spat upon. Even STAR WARS paid respect to Trek and all the forerunner ST shows and movies and movie series. In truth, B5 and SW stand on the shoulders of the others.>>

They meant the ST novels. The novels. Not the show. They thought you were jaded by the ST novels, which you no doubt didn't read anyway, as you are a "purist."

Pukist is more like it.

[Dr Maturin]

<<hat is good enough for me. I don't need miscellanous authors' ideas of the B5 universe.>>

They aren't miscellaneous authors' ideas!

[WorkerCaste]

Personal preferences vary, but hereÆs a sampling of some of the context from JMS.

http://jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-12085

One reason for the difference in these next batch of books is that I got
deeply and intensively involved with the books this time around, which
time didn't permit me to do in the past. I made the time, because I felt
that they needed improving. I worked closely with Jeanne on the backstory
(Anna's experience leading up to, and on, the Icarus), made sure she got
scripts prior to airing so she'd know what was being done, and so on. The
third book (based on an assigned premise) follows Sinclair to Minbar and
starting up the Rangers, and though I haven't seen the manuscript yet,
it's easily the most comprehensive tie-together of the B5 universe that
I've seen yet. The second book (this is in order of publication) by Al
Sarrantino is also based on an assigned premise, set on Centauri Prime
around the time of the first 4 episodes of season 4.

http://jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-2434

This book stands to be the first one (closely followed by
Jeanne Cavelos' forthcoming B5 book) that's 100% canon...to be
considered a true chapter in the B5 storyline.

What's fun about it is that it ties all the books and comics
together with the show, and puts it all in chronological order, and
weaves in and out of events in the second season. I think this is
going to be a fan favorite. The Cavelos book follows Anna Sheridan as
she comes to join the crew of the Icarus, and the details of their fate
at Z'ha'dum.

http://jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-478

>Now that Crusade has been canceled, have you considered answering some of
>the questions that you left hanging in the series for Crusade to pick up on
>in the books that are coming out (for example, adding some more hints about
>the Telepath War in the remaining CP books, or in the Technomage Trilogy).

A lot of that stuff will be covered in the later books in the Centauri trilogy,
and in the Technomage trilogy.

http://jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-874

The usual length of my outlines tends to be about 15-18 pages per book, so
45-54 pages total per trilogy. It's fairly extensive and has all the major
beats worked out.

http://jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-11000

Frankly, if anyone asks from now on, "What happened to Sinclair
after leaving B5?" I can point to this book and say, honestly, "It's all
in there."

IÆm not really trying to influence your decision on read/not read, that canÆt be anything but your call, but I have to disagree with the conclusion that they arenÆt part of The Story given JMS own remarks of which the above are just a few.

P.S. You mentioned the Shadow Within. If you want to pick just one, might I suggest ôTo Dream in the City of Sorrows.ö That author in particular had unprecendented access to JMS and his thoughts. SheÆs JMSÆ wife.

[Capt.Montoya]

We've been trying to convince Walking Eagle of the quality and canonical nature of the three trilogies and the two republished novels (the only two canonical from the original nine).
I'll say it's a lost battle... or to repeat myself for the last time:
[Kosh] He is not ready to accept the truth [/Kosh]
My last word on the subject... let's let these three threads go back to their original topics.