Interesting JMS Facebook Posts & Tweets

[JoeD80]

I dropped my best, are there gonna be more script books, question in there as I could. It seems even as much as he has let out before about his B5 ideas he is not willing to let out even now as much as he was then (the time of the previous script books). I understand what he is saying now but he did not even used to say that it hurt him this much. He seems in a different space in his life (which we are all entitled to, just surprised it showed up now).

[Ubik]

Interesting to see it put that way by JMS.

Personally, I remain surprised that anyone is holding out hope for a Crusade reboot, or continuation. It's definitely not going to happen. I think it was a stretch even at the time, and what I've gleaned form the Crudade WTHH books, something JMS somewhat regrets doing in terms of stretching the B5 thing a bit thin due to the cast wanting some form of continuation.

The Velvet Alley, as he put it. He gave into temptation when the aim was initially to "get in, tell the story, get out". I've never been too into Crusade, it had promise, but felt dated even at the time of production, TV had moved on, and it just looked horrendously cheap and rushed IMHO. TNT definitely had a large part to play in that. I tried so hard to find value in it, but only really enjoy one or two episodes.

[Triple F]

Getting attached to characters he’s created is pretty understandable. But – and here I go again : ) – I don’t fully buy into the idea that he felt things like Crusade where a step too far. . . . . Way back in the day Babylon 5 was envisaged as a TWO part story covering TWO series each 5 years long. He spoke about it to at least some of the crew (and possibly cast, I dunno) as early as the pilot movie! Somewhere along the line, and for whatever reason it morphed into a single 5 year story – and a few of his posts quite eagerly talk about the possibility of a spin off series which he wouldn’t be adverse to (I chose this one as it mentions TNT before Crusade was a thing) .

If I were to engage in predicting the future, here's what I think is most probable. The show will continue to go on, doing well enough in the ratings to continue for two more seasons. A comfortable level. In 1998, after we've finished our first run, we are
contractually already sold to the TNT cable network, which is *extremely* excited about the show, plans to promote it, and sees it as a way of breaking into the SF genre. There, for the first time, we will have a regular, *daily* timeslot on a national network.

Then, I think, suddenly we're going to be "discovered," much the same way ST was discovered in syndication after it left the network. Give it about a year or two for WB to notice this (see pre-Cambrian comment above), then suddenly they're going to start
running around seeing what they can do to capitalize on this.

At that point, I'm not sure which way the runes point. Certainly they'll start cranking out more merchandise stuff, which by contract I have to approve, to make sure it's quality stuff. If they want to do a feature, I'll have to be involved, and they'll have to negotiate with all the cast members, who by then will have moved on to other projects and may or may not be available. Ditto for any spinoffs.

Getting involved with spin-offs was something he’d apparently always envisaged - if things turned out well - but John Copeland made a quite telling remark during his interview on the scrolls.

I think that folks should just let Crusade go. It wasn't nearly as planned out in Joe's head as B5 was, he had five years to contemplate the intricacies of the series while we were trying to find a home for it on television and it is also hard to make lightning strike twice in the same bottle.

I strongly suspect jms’s remarks about the “velvet Alley” and doing more B5 than perhaps he should have because some actors wanted to do more (but wouldn’t be involved with Crusade other than the occasional guest role!?) is tinged with perhaps a bit of arse covering to explain why everything that came later – as John C put it- wasn’t nearly as well planned out as B5, and that it’s difficult to make lightning strike twice in the same bottle. Doing that trick with the bottle is down to a whole mix of events (Warner leaving him alone was a HUGE one as it turns out), and he wouldn’t be the first writer/producer who took a stab at trying to do it again but couldn’t for all kinds of reasons. At this stage of the game I suspect B5 is pretty much a dead duck . . . and I know this isn’t a popular idea, far from it, but I suspect – to some degree or another – that’s down to jms himself, and him perhaps being a little too independent, confident and confrontational with the people who gave him the money to make stuff like Crusade. . . . . Here’s a bit from an article back in the day where he describes what happened when TNT first tried to give him notes (before all the silliness erupted) . Now, after years of jms telling everyone TNT was being unreasonable with their demands (with notes that came after that initial meeting BTW), the common wisdoms is that it was TNT who were the ones digging their heals in.

"The scripts were very intelligent and well-rendered but extremely heavy on the talk and light on action," Safon said. "Joe was providing an adventure of the mind, and the network expectation was that it would be more visceral. That kind of back and forth between a network and a creator is part and parcel of what happens every day in Hollywood."

But Straczynski, who had free reign on "Babylon 5," would hear none of it.

"They went over the first five episodes and tried to give notes on those," he said. "They were on one side of the table, and I was on the other side. They went to turn the notes over and I said, 'No. No to the first, no to the second, no to them all.'

"They're used to doing in-house productions, so when the word 'no' was used, they had to have someone come in to explain it to them."

He knew best and wasn’t delivering the more action based show he’d promised TNT, and for a relatively small fish in a big pond (who wants money from the bigger fish), it might be an admirable stance to take but it's also not always the most prudent. I suspect (and it's very much just a personal opinion, obviously) because of this, and other things, that’s at least a part of why B5 isn’t on it’s third spin-off series and fifth movie. I think it’s a case of enjoy the show we have, and leave it at that.

[Looney]

After reading that last bit from Triple F I have to wonder if TNT was willing to pay for a more action based show, i.e. the effects of having big battles in space? Or was TNT expecting JMS to come up with low budget action minus effects? Just curious to know if anyone has an idea.

[Jan]

After reading that last bit from Triple F I have to wonder if TNT was willing to pay for a more action based show, i.e. the effects of having big battles in space? Or was TNT expecting JMS to come up with low budget action minus effects? Just curious to know if anyone has an idea.

Exceedingly unlikely. The way it went was that while the fifth season was still on (and IIRC, also the reruns stripped), TNT did a study that (I'm sure among many other things) showed that when B5 was on, the regular TNT audience tuned out. And when the regular TNT programming came back on, the B5 folks tuned out so there was no actual gain in viewership.

By the time TNT realized it, Crusade was in production so they worked to make demands, often conflicting depending on which division was communicating) that couldn't be followed.

As for:

It wasn't nearly as planned out in Joe's head as B5 was...

That's not news to anybody I don't think. He said from the beginning that it wasn't going to be nearly as arc-heavy. That's nothing to do with his creation of the characters, however, or how he might feel about not being able to continue writing them.

ETA: This is the part that triggered the #FreeBabylon5 campaign - that it wasn't available to be discovered in syndication.

Then, I think, suddenly we're going to be "discovered," much the same way ST was discovered in syndication after it left the network.

[Jan]

Death of a fly. Do NOT be drinking anything while reading this!!

https://www.facebook.com/officialjmspage/posts/2072698476098338

[Kraig]

Before I retired I used to work rotating 12 hour shifts. Sunlight is the enemy when trying to sleep during the daytime. To keep the house dark inside, I installed 3/4 inch thick wooden shutters on the inside of the house to cover all windows. They also keep the house cool in the summer and keep in the heat in the winter. The other nice benefit is when a fly gets in, all I have to do is open the shutter at a window and stand there with a fly swatter. In less than a minute, the fly is at the window and at the end of its existence.

[B5-Stefan]

Death of a fly. Do NOT be drinking anything while reading this!!
https://www.facebook.com/officialjms...72698476098338

And: Londo after the beasty bug...

JMS tweet (08-12):
"So those of you who might be wondering where Londo got his obsession with bugs...now you know. So when you see that Centauri sunrise as he's going after the one in his quarters, just imagine me in his place and you've pretty much got it."

The fans demanding urgently a Comic version of this Fly War story.
B5-Stefan

--
"Perhaps it is time to stop sleeping on Minbari beds or breathing the air of the Vorlons chamber" [response to a jms tweet]

[babylonlurker]

That was such a funny story.
Even when telling a simple story JMS shows his story telling skills.

[Jan]

Folks who've wanted JMS to come to a con near you, contact those cons and have them contact JMS and inivite him!

[Looney]

DANG! Any Con even remotely near me is LONG before July 23rd.

[nottenst]

Folks who've wanted JMS to come to a con near you, contact those cons and have them contact JMS and inivite him!

I retweeted it to the Baltimore Comic Con twitter account. That is usually in September, so it would seem ideal.

To my memory, JMS has never been in the DC/Baltimore area since B5 started. Even when he was listed as a guest at the WorldCon 20 years ago in Baltimore, health reasons stopped him from appearing in person and he had to phone in.

Neil

[Jan]

I retweeted it to the Baltimore Comic Con twitter account. That is usually in September, so it would seem ideal.

Perfect! This is what I just wrote to MegaCon here in Florida:

J. Michael Straczynski (creator of Babylon 5, co-creator of Sense8) has an autobiography coming out in July 2019 and he's considering 'barnstorming' cons as part of that release. It's been a long time since he's visited Orlando. My suggestion is inviting him to any event you have after July 23 and possibly getting Babylon 5 or Sense8 guests as well. 2019 is also the 25th anniversary of the first episodes of Babylon 5 airing and its current availability on Amazon Prime and (soon) CometTV are re-invigorating the fans. Thanks for your consideration.

I didn't have space or I'd've mentioned some of the other roles that Sense8 actors have been in.

[B5-Stefan]

Amongst red heated discussions about early christianism, god, blasphemies and the whole bunch

JMS (re)tweet (sep-03):
"Difference is, B5 never claimed Divine Inspiration...if you want to lower the standards of the bible to a TV show, that's your call...."

Where
JMS (our, Jan) did retweet:
"But you're the Great Maker! Didn't you inspire Yourownself? <tongue firmly in cheek>"

It seems, JMS is to shy to answer this.

B5-Stefan


--
Lyssa Deradi : "Did they live happily every after?"
[Babylon5, In the Beginning]

[B5-Stefan]

Next step in JMS career

JMS today retweet on how to pronounce "Straczynski" correct

Jason Sorensen tweet: "@straczynski Question: I think your surname is pronounced "Struh-CHIN-skee", whereas my girlfriend overunit believes it's "Struh-ZIN-skee". Tensions escalated. The fridge is being guarded with tactical thermonuclear weapons. Please help before the ice cream gets it. I'm hungry."

JMS retweet: "Both are correct; the former is the technical European pronunciation, the latter the Americanized version that I use most often. So you both win.
May take on a new career as a relationship counselor."

B5-Stefan

--
Lyssa Deradi : "Did they live happily every after?"
[Babylon5, In the Beginning]