"Not to cast aspersions on the physique of JMS, but he's not the
youngest buck in the forest, forest, nor the sveltest. What if he dies?"

HEY! I'll have you know I'm just 40 years old, and at 6'5" I'm maybe
ten pounds more than I should be. Granted it all seems to have settled in
one or two places, but I attribute that to the gravitational influence of
a pinhole black hole that must have drifted past recently.

As to the question, "What if he dies?"...what happens is that they
come and pick me up, bring me to the nearest mortuary, I'm autopsied,
needles are inserted in my heel and elbow, the blood is removed from my
body, embalming fluid is subsequently pumped in, I'm dressed in an
ill-fitting suit, displayed briefly (against my wishes), shoved into a
crematorium, my remains are transferred to ash, and I spend THE NEXT TEN
THOUSAND YEARS HAUNTING YOUR ASS FOR ASKING A MORBID QUESTION LIKE THAT!!!

All my notes are triple-encrypted. Only I know the password. So it's
in the best interests of EVERYBODY to keep my ass ALIVE for the next 3.5
years.

jms

I'M FINE! DO YOU HEAR ME!? I'M ABSOLUTELY, BLOODY, BOLLICKY,
BUGGERY JUST PERFECTLY AND ABSOLUTELY ****FINE!!!**** I'VE NEVER BEEN
BETTER, I'M FINE...I'M....I'M.....AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHH.......

....................................................<thunk>

jms

Re: writing "The Quality of Mercy" while half-dead with the flu...my
staff knows well enough to *never* get between me and a script. As Vir
says, the consequences would be *profoundly* unfortunate.

jms

(To Jim Batka...thanks.)

jms

I hope to make this my last message on the subject, in hopes that this
topic will finally...er...die off. It's really kinda morbid when you're
on this end of the modem.

Bottom line...it ain't a matter of making sure somebody gets my notes
on the overall storyline. If you're a painter, you can give someone your
notes on how to finish the painting in case something happens, but it won't
be done *exactly* the way you would want it. So better to leave it
unfinished, with that part which *is* finished being 100% what you wanted
it to be, than let it be completed by others, and not necessarily as well.

This show has to be done exactly, a certain way, or it won't be what
I *want* it to be. My notes are for my own use. Maybe that sounds selfish
or self-indulgent. Maybe it is. There are lots of writers out there as
good or better than I am. That ain't the problem. Give 10 writers the
same basic parameters and you'll get 10 different stories. This is my
story. And where I go, it goes.

jms

"How about if I found out I have terminal cancer and am going to die
in one month. Will you tell me how B5 is going to end?"

My condolences to your survivors.

jms

"..it's still unfinished. A shame if B5 were to turn out the same
way."

(sound of meaty fists clapping together) Yeah...nice place y'got
here...drapes, yeah, I like dat, real purty...be a real shame if something
were to, maybe, *happen* to it, y'know? So...you wanna put these jukeboxes
in your diner or not...?

jms

All TV series are in essence owned by the studio that produces them.
Hence, B5 is copyrighted and owned by Warner Bros./PTEN.

jms

All TV series are in essence owned by the studio that produces them.
Hence, B5 is copyrighted and owned by Warner Bros./PTEN.

jms