From judge@america.net Fri Nov 21 19:53:39 EST 1997 Article: 2230 of rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.info Path: newsstand.cit.cornell.edu!news.acsu.buffalo.edu!news.sunydutchess.edu!zombie.ncsc.mil!newsgate.duke.edu!dent.deepthot.cary.nc.us!zdc!super.zippo.com!lotsanews.com!www.nntp.primenet.com!globalcenter0!news.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!news-out.internetmci.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!207.69.200.61!mindspring!news.mindspring.com!usenet From: judge@america.net (Dirk A. Loedding) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.info Subject: JMS Usenet Posts - 11/21/1997 Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 13:46:16 -0500 Organization: None Lines: 204 Sender: judge@america.net Approved: b5-info-request@callisto.pas.rochester.edu (DL) Distribution: world Message-ID: <4bdd08MBA7UW090yn@america.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: user-37kb59d.dialup.mindspring.com X-Server-Date: 21 Nov 1997 21:38:36 GMT X-Auth: None judge@america.net rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.info X-Disclaimer: The moderators do not check accuracy of information posted, nor do they endorse any views expressed or products described. >Warning: This edition contains spoilers for all episodes up to and >including the season finale: >JMS quotes and answers: :Doesn't that Fan Club do phone orders? We're not set up for phones yet. :I just got two of the Antioch B5 Calendars Uncomyn Gifts. They're :incredible! Yeah, they're great :Antioch calendars, and some other items through the Fan Club to give to :some B5 buddies for Christmas. Snail mail may not make it in time. A :phone number for orders would cut the time in half. As it happens, either today or tomorrow the B5 fan club website (www.thestation.com) will be finally set up to take orders via the site itself, with a *very* secure credit card server. So you can log on as soon as it's up, put in the info, and it'll get processed fast. (Especially for initial orders, before things start to get busy.) jms >Are the ranger pins I saw in Blackpool in July legit? Yes, the Ranger pins are illegal, pirate merchandise. Also crap, from what I've seen. We're moving as fast as we can to get high-quality pins out there to cut the knees out from under the crooks. Earth Alliance pins are now available through thestation.com, and the Psi Corps pins just came in. We hope to have Ranger pins soon, though they will be a little more costly since they're huge and require a great deal of work to produce if they're going to look like what they're supposed to be. jms >Someone wrote a long post about Marcus' death, and even wrote a some >poetry in honor of some of the final four: Thank you for the kind words, and the sonnet. It was lovely. As for Marcus...the characters will have more time to grieve down the road, and the repercussions of his life and death will be felt long after his passing, and echo through parts of the fifth season. Thanks again. jms >Someone asked JMS about the accuracy of an article that appeared in >Yahoo's magazine. The URL for this article is: >http://www.zdnet.com/yil/content/mag/9712/scibab5.html I'm not quoted at ALL. I never, at any time, said that B5 fans were in any way smarter than ST fans. The person who wrote the article came up with that as a lead that has, and had, nothing to do with anything I said. All I talked about was the close relationship with B5 fans through treating them with respect. I think he may have been looking for a quote like that, but I didn't give him one, and thus it didn't appear. Never said it. If I had, it'd be there. jms >A request from JMS: Harlan has asked me to ask y'all if you could do him a favor: He is looking to get as many copies as he can of the Science Fiction Book Club "Things to Come" booklet/circular for December listing his book "City on the Edge of Forever" and any flyers that went with it. If you have these on hand still, if you could send it on to Harlan Ellison c/o Babylon 5, 14431 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 260, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423, it would be *very* much appreciated. jms >JMS answers a question about a UK TV show: The UK series was named Space Patrol, but when it came time to show it in the States, they renamed it Planet Patrol to avoid legal complications and confusion in the marketplace. As it happens, I'm getting a full run of the tapes in about a week from the distributer, and looking forward to it, as it was one of my favorite shows as a kid, though nobody else I ever spoke to in 20 years had ever heard of it. jms >JMS quotes and answers: :I was interested in how you're able to direct the CGI creations to match :the story so well. They would work from scripts I'd expect - are there :story boards you use as well? How much lead time does all that CGI :creative process need? Sometimes there are storyboards, based on what's in the script, if it's a very complex sequence. Usually, it's shot for shot what's in the script, though the animators find ways to visualize that in creative and exciting ways, making it dynamic. Each numbered scene calling for CGI is done individually, then sent back for my and John Copeland's approval. Usually that means just saying yes, but sometimes we ask for adjustments. It takes about 52 days to finish all the CGI for one episode. jms >Some comments on widescreen B5: My reply was in reference to a widescreen film release, or at least that's what I thought I was replying to. To go to film for widescreen would take some work and recompositing the stuff to film stock. Yes, B5 is shown in widescreen in France and Portugal. Bear in mind that these tend to be digital transfers from digital betacam to PAL format, as opposed to transferring all the CGI to film stock. At the end of the day, when the series is done, we'll transfer all the CGI to film so we can deliver the entire series on film stock. jms >An announcement about merchandise available through the fan club: The B5 emporium, allowing online ordering of all B5 fan club stuff (including the Great Maker t-shirts the crew made for 422, Agamemnon caps, Psi Corps hats, Earth Alliance pins, autographed boxes of Fleer cards, Ship Recognition Posters, and other cool stuff) is now up and working with a secure credit card server at http://www.thestation.com and taking orders. More cool stuff to come, including Psi Corps pins and the B5 informational CDrom and so on. jms >JMS repeats himself: For some reason my other message never showed up (and several others seem to have not shown up).... 1) Harlan Ellison asks that if you still have the December Science Fiction Book Club circular, Things to Come, mentioning his book City on the Edge of Forever, and/or the flyers that came with it, to send them along to him via the B5 mail drop, 14431 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 260, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423. 2) The B5 emporium is now available for online purchases at www.thestation.com. 3) I'll be Guest of Honor at LosCon in Los Angeles over Thanksgiving Weekend at the Burbank Airport Hilton showing clips from Season 5 and the prequel, and new bloopers. jms >JMS quotes and answers: :According to Ain't It Cool Coaxial News, TNT is currently test screening :In the Beginning. The person who reported it was very impressed. Ther :article is at http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/coaxial/971117/1.html but :it really doesn't say anything that we don't know. Actually, it wasn't a test screening, it was a screening for cast and crew. jms >JMS quotes and answers: :Zathra next is buying Portishead. Zathra put CD in player, and dog of :Zathra is starting to howl. Zathra is rarely ever hearing such terrible :noises. Zathra is now looking for Zathras. Zathra wants to be giving :Zathras very big wedgie. Zathras say Zathras has tin ear. Zathras say Zathras behind times. Zathras would say "feh" but Zathras not having background in Early Eastern European and Yiddish vocabularies would be stretching credulity. Zathras not like stretching credulity, always snaps back and hits poor Zathras in the face. But Zathras understand. Many different kinds of music in universe, not all Zathras like. Is why there are nine of us. All have different opinions, all speak opinions, all good people. One has tin ear. feh. jms -- +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Dirk A. Loedding <*> judge@america.net | | | | To subscribe, send e-mail to majordomo@gt.ed.net | | with "subscribe jms-posts" in the body of the letter. | | Back-issues available at http://www.america.net/~judge | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ -- rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.info <*> archive: http://ivory.ora.com/rastb5i/ another fine service submissions to: b5-info@callisto.pas.rochester.edu of ISN mars bureau comments to: b5-info-request@callisto.pas.rochester.edu From jstimson@neanderthal.ee.cornell.edu Thu Nov 27 11:06:23 EST 1997 Article: 235478 of rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5 Path: newsstand.cit.cornell.edu!HARLIE!jstimson From: jstimson@HARLIE.ee.cornell.edu (John J. Stimson) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5 Subject: Zathras on Zathras, Zathras, and Portishead Date: 27 Nov 1997 16:01:46 GMT Organization: Armageddon Computing Associates / Ithaca, NY Lines: 41 Sender: jjs15@cornell.edu (Verified) Message-ID: <65k5ha$a9u@newsstand.cit.cornell.edu> Reply-To: jstimson@neanderthal.ee.cornell.edu NNTP-Posting-Host: harlie.ee.cornell.edu >>JMS quotes and answers: >:Zathra next is buying Portishead. Zathra put CD in player, and dog of >:Zathra is starting to howl. Zathra is rarely ever hearing such terrible >:noises. Zathra is now looking for Zathras. Zathra wants to be giving >:Zathras very big wedgie. >Zathras say Zathras has tin ear. Zathras say Zathras behind times. >Zathras would say "feh" but Zathras not having background in Early >Eastern European and Yiddish vocabularies would be stretching credulity. >Zathras not like stretching credulity, always snaps back and hits poor >Zathras in the face. >But Zathras understand. Many different kinds of music in universe, not >all Zathras like. Is why there are nine of us. All have different >opinions, all speak opinions, all good people. >One has tin ear. >feh. > jms (Duly appreciated and saved in the humor bin for future perusal) Zathras hears about Portishead many places, yes many places. NPR, friends, Great Maker. Is many compelling reasons for Zathras buying Portishead. So Zathras buy. First thing Zathras notice is, Portishead is space age bachelor pad music. Scratchy record noise, 1960s Earth-style electronic instruments, is no doubt in Zathras' mind. Zathras is agreeing with Zathras that is very GOOD space age bachelor pad music, but Zathras also share Zatrhas' dislike of space age bachelor pad music. Zathras say that Zathras and Zathras are exaggerating. Is good that Zathras finds music that Zathras likes, but is not for all Zathras. Feh? Feh? Since when Zathras say "feh"? ZATHRAS sometime say "feh", but never Zathras. Who Zathras think Zarthras is, Zathras? Not likely, Zathras is thinking. jjs15@cornell.edu John Stimson http://harlie.ee.cornell.edu/~john/ HMC Physics '94