Charles, at risk of being terribly unproducerish...will you for chrsissakes
relax?

Everything you're saying about Lochley here -- and I mean EVERYTHING -- was
said about Claudia Christian when she came on board as Ivanova. "Oh, she's
wooden, she's trying to hard to be tough, get rid of her and bring back
Takashima."

I told people to give her time, they'd learn that there's more there than meets
the eye. They said I was making excuses for a poor casting choice. So let's
all just give the woman and the character a chance, okay? You've seen her now
in a total of 3 episodes, which were designed to put her toe-to-toe with
Garibaldi. There's more there.

And yeah, I wanted to give viewers a rest-up for a bit after the excesses of
S4. Okay, so you can't see where it's going. That's okay by me (you don't see
the coming telepath situation, for starters?)...people were saying in seasons 1
and most of 2 that they didn't see it then, either...then they saw it when I
chose to let it be seen.

This year has one of the most intense series of arcs we've ever DONE. And by
the end of it you'll be happy you HAD these few lighter episodes because I'm
going to kick the crap out of the viewers. We have not just one, but two and
maybe (depending on how it comes out) three episodes this season I'd put toe to
toe with Coming of Shadows for intensity, for arc, for major shifts.

Further:

People saw "By Any Means Necessary," and said it wasn't an arc episode...it was
just about a strike. But later, after what came up, this was seen as the FIRST
EPISODE in the real turn-around and reversal of Londo/G'kar...here Londo was
being the bad guy for the first time, and here G'Kar was showing a spiritual
side. That one episode marked the absolute start of that reversal...which only
became clear well AFTER the fact. DURING the fact, I had to put up with people
assuming that it had nothing to do with the arc.

How can you say you don't think it's going anywhere when you haven't seen where
it's gone?

Y'know if I were just an audience member, I'd be sitting back and enjoying this
show and wondering where it's going to go without making judgements based on
ZERO information on where it is or isn't going. Have you read the scripts? Do
you know what's in 518?

Have you seen the shot where a tearful Delenn embraces Londo for what may be
the last time? Have you seen the phoenix that rises out of Byron's actions?
Have you heard about the bombing of Psi Corps back home? Have you seen what's
living under the palace on Centauri Prime? Have you seen what the regent sees
when he looks up on the very last night of his life? Have you seen the
terrible darkness that Lennier discovers at the worst possible moment of his
life? Have you seen the REAL other side of Lyta, and what she can do? Have
you seen the Drazi homeworld, and the terrible secret they're hiding there?

Have you?

Because that's only a FRACTION of what is coming this season, the smallest
part.

Maybe you're getting reruns of episodes...I'm getting reruns of comments from
past seasons...which were shown to be wrong then, and they're wrong now.

Let's talk about Season 5 as a whole once you've actually SEEN it, shall we?


jms

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

As long as I'm being unproducerish....

>Still,
>continuity is earned and not promised; it develops organically and not
>merely retrospectively. Insisting that there is an arc on the basis of
>future developments amounts to a cheat, and an embarassing one on the part
>of a writer of JMS's stature.

I'm sorry, but this comment ranks in the top ten percentile of astonishingly
paralogical remarks I've ever seen. What you're saying here is that the ONLY
thing that constitutes an arc is if the audience sees it before it happens, if
it's told it's there...as opposed to an arc that becomes clear in the light of
FUTURE EVENTS.

But an arc IS A STORY THAT GOES INTO THE FUTURE EVENTS. That is the very
DEFINITION of it. How many people here said they started watching B5 in its
first season and didn't know there was an arc until "Signs and Portents?"
Plenty, I've seen them. So unless it's *predictible*, unless you've been
briefed ahead of time that something's coming, paying it off in the future,
which is how I'm writing it, doesn't count.

Yes, I referred to future developments because THAT IS WHAT AN ARC IS, future
developments.

This is the most astonishing conversation I've had on the nets in months.

Excuse me, I think I'll go get a ball peen hammer and bang myself between the
eyes for a couple of hours, it'd be easier and less painful in the long run....


jms

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