Let's say that I for one would love to see some models made, and
am certainly pushing for it.

jms

So many questions, so few answers I can give....

1) In theory, yes, Sheridan should be around for the rest of the arc.
2) O'Hare is currently doing network guest-starring roles that will
give him broader appeal (for instance, playing a great bad-guy on a coming
episode of the Cosby Mysteries).
3) Senator Hidoshi is out of office.
4) Background walla is done by the background walla group.
5) You won't see Minbar this season, but you will almost certainly
see it the first part of next season. You will, however, see Centauri
Prime this season.
6) Lots of things will go BOOM soon.
7) The mess hall food is pretty good.
8) The D.Duck poster came from Warners, when we arranged (after much
negotiation) to get the rights to use his character. (This is the first
series, apparently, given the rights to do so.)

jms

I wasn't really happy with what we did with n'grath; it's not any fault of
Optic Nerve, they did a bang up job, it's just...it's a subjective opinion,
and when I looked at it, it never really worked for me. So we may not see
that group again.

jms

Well, they're interesting speculations, and obviously I can't say one
thing or another about them at this time.

But on another level, you're right; if the clues are properly placed, and
the story proceeds in a logical, consistent fashion, about 20% of the
people will guess correctly on where it's going (this from my years on
Murder, She Wrote).


jms

Yes, Ghar, and we all know what a bastion of patience and tolerance you
are, and that your tastes are the norm and nobody else could possibly
enjoy something if you do not unless they are an idiot, we've been down
this road before.

You are free to have your opinion. And I am free to hold mine. And in my
opinion, the Jeanne Cavellos book is probably the best one of all the Dell
books to date.

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.

In the past, it's been a question of outside writers coming up with a
notion or a scientific idea (expressed poorly or well is a matter of
opinion), and then trying to work that into the arc, or as a stand-alone.
This time the three books all fit tightly into continuity, and there
aren't any based on goofy nonscience notions. (The Sarrantino book is a
little off the mark in terms of the way the characters speak, and I sent
it back with some notes, whereas Jeanne's book went back without one
single, solitary note.)

In the past, the books have been primarily about the guest characters,
since that's what outside writers want to write about, the characters they
introduce. This time I insisted that our characters had to be at the
*center* of the story, not the periphery.

So overall, these three books are the best, especially Jeanne's. Now,
based on what went before, you may want to prejudge these. Such is life.
But I do object to you smearing Jeanne's ability or accuracy without any
information whatsoever on the content of the writing involved...she spent
a great deal of time researching archaeology and anthropology to use in
the background for Anna and the mission, and I think she's done a bang-up
job.

But like all things B5, the book will stand or fall on its own. And this
one will stand.


jms

Nothing is set yet. See my recent note on this.


jms

>-In season 2, we had all these cool 'exterior' kind of shots into
>Sheridan's Office and Earhart's. (Ex: the shot of Londo at the window
>of Sheridan's office in "Geo. of Shadows") What ever happened to them?
>
>

Bottom line...I keep forgetting to write them in.

>-I'm a columbia house guy, collecting all the tapes -I wonder what
>versions of the shows you are using. For instance, in the US, we lost
>the "Whole Garden Maze" in the ep with Londo and Morden in the Garden.
>Are we gonna get the complete UK version or the US version?

The US version was only for the first airing; all subsequent airings have been
correct, and should be correct here (they told us they burned the incorrect
master...we'll see).

jms

From: (jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com

>It seems to me that things are not progressing (plotwise) as quickly as
>they have in previous seasons.

Folks have repeatedly said that in the first season, they weren't aware there
WAS an arc until episode 16, "Signs and Portents." Then, later, they would
look back and see all the setups going on.

That will be much the same situation here.

jms

From: (jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com