Echoes of All Our Conversations

[Jan]

I've gotta say...I just LOVE the title of this series!!

Jan

[Triple F]

So, Joe, are you thinking of retiring any time soon. ; )

[Joe Nazzaro]

Based on the subject of this thread, I don't know if you're talking to me or JMS, but I think in this case, I suspect we probably feel the same way in that if you're doing what you love doing, A) you would probably do it for free, and B) you would never want to retire. Looking back at that period when B5 was such a big part of my career as a journalist, it was an incredibly fun and exciting time and I hope some of that comes through in the interviews.

[Wyrmling]

Pre-order away. This definitely seems like a great 6 book set to own.

[Karen]

With scheduled releases, Karen should be much less anxious.

Thanks for thinking of me, but I don't think I can afford them right now.
Hopefully I'll be able to get them before they go away forever, but, if there's one thing I DON'T want to be anxious about, it's the old bank account. Then again, I never thought I'd be able to get as much as I have so far, so I'm feeling OK with it.

[Jan]

So, Joe...something I've always wondered about those who've spent time on the set. Did having been there and seeing the show made change your perception of it any? Enhance it? Distract you? Interfere with your suspension of disbelief at all?

Jason, I'm pretty sure you've been on TV sets too, please share your thoughts on this, too.

Jan

[Joe Nazzaro]

Personally, if I've been on a set when a scene is being shot, it's very difficult to look at a scene objectively. To this day, if I watch a scene of B5 that I was present for, I could tell you exactly where I was standing on set, who was standing next to me, how many takes had to be done, etc. I guess part of the price one pays for being a journalist is that you can no longer pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. But on the plus side, you get to see how a scene is put together, how an actor plays with his llines, how difficult it is to get through a sequence when both actors are trying not to laugh and the different approaches that each actor takes. You can watch Peter Jurasik for example, joking around on the side of the set, but as soon as the camera rolls, he becomes Londo, whereas Andreas Katsulas often stayed in character before a difficult scene, because his performance was much more internalized.

Interestingly, one of the only times that I saw life imitating art was during the filming of 'Sleeping in Light,' where the actors were playing their characters not knowing if they were ever going to see each other again. When Delenn and Sheridan had their final scene together, there literally wasn't' a dry eye in the house. Even John Flinn, the gruff and tough DP, had tears running down his face and you could even see JMS having trouble keeping it together- I can clearly remember it, because I was literally standing next to them while it was happening.

So that's the trade-off I've always found, being on set.

[OmahaStar]

Joe, how did the script team get these interviews? I'm curious about that. You don't know the content of the books, beyond what's listed on the website, but they had to have gotten the interviews from you, right? I'm just not sure how that all works. Did you hand boxes and boxes over to them, and they're editing together parts of it for the books?

[NotSoWize]

Info on the Interview Books

I asked the B5 Books folks a couple questions that may be of interest to others, so here's their reply.

=================

Yes, the interviews are in chronological order and yes, re-watching the series while reading them is a great idea. Before each interview we state what is being shot at the time of the interview so you will know exactly what episode lines up with which interview.

Also know, that we want you to really love these books, so if for any reason they don't meet your expectations we will happily refund the price, the shipping fees and the cost to return ship so it's a $0 proposition for you.

Best regards,
Captain Jaclyn

[Joe Nazzaro]

'How did the script team get these interviews?' Well, they asked me and we came to an agreement. When I say I don't the contents, it's only because I didn't know how these books were going to be divided up. Because we're talking about a couple of hundred interviews, they could have been used in any number of ways. And no, I didn't have to hand over lots of boxes- probably to Jason's relief. I've always tried to be very organized in terms of my work, so the hard copy for every interview I've ever done- some three thousand and counting now- are all kept in rows on notebooks on a shelf in alphabetical order, so if you wanted to know what Bruce Boxleitner said in a 1994 interview, I could pull that book off the shelf and tell you in about two minutes.

What was interesting was that a few weeks back, Captain Jaclyn called me just on the off chance that I also kept the original audio recordings for those interviews and I was able to say yes. The upshot of that is that all of you are actually going to be able to listen to interviews that NOBODY but myself has ever heard. It is my understanding that these are additional interviews that will not appear in print; they're just added value. Obviously you know about the Peter Jurasik/Andreas Katsulas interview in volume one, which is a lot of fun but I hope you'll find the others equally interesting. And there is in particular that is one of the coolest B5 interviews I EVER did. I don't want to spoil it for you, but I think you're going to be blown away by it.

[Jan]

And no, I didn't have to hand over lots of boxes- probably to Jason's relief.

Yeah, no possibility of spiders!

Jan

[nottenst]

When I was leaving I got a "shop socially" coupon that might be good for orders of $65 or more until July 4.

JN66YYYKCXAB

I doubt that it works for B5 Books as every coupon I did try to use failed this time around. When I added an item to my order, it only counted the discount on those extra items.

This series looks pretty cool, though it is quite an expensive package - especially for a series to be issued monthly.

[Jan]

Captain Jaclyn has updated the information page with some great photos and interview excerpts: http://www.cafepress.com/b5books

Jan

[Joe Nazzaro]

It's interesting to look at some of those excerpts again. I remember interviewing Bruce Boxleitner for the first time within just a few days of his getting the job on B5 and I was immediately struck by how personable he was, and how dedicated he was to doing the best job he possibly could. One of the things people probably don't realize is that on an ensemble show, the cast (and quite often, the crew) quite often take their lead from the 'star' and how he acts on set. I think from day one, Bruce became Babylon 5's head cheerleader and did everything he could to promote the show. The Cheryl he mentions in that first interview is his publicist, who Bruce was paying for out of his own pocket and who he continued to use to try and drum up publicity. In many ways, he was a perfect fit for the show.

[Milkman]

Those are some good teasers... time to get a second job.